Crypto

Web3 Warriors: Oasis Network’s Privacy Crusade

M6 Labs
M6 Labs
May 23, 2023 · 9 minutes

This Privacy-centric L1 Aims to Provide a Secure Foundation for Web3

There is no such ideal for online privacy and security. Hackers routinely breach corporate firewalls to obtain private information from customers, and scammers are constantly attempting to trick us into disclosing our passwords.

Maintaining privacy in the digital world is becoming increasingly difficult. Internet behemoths have made it their mission to collect as much information about their users as possible. There are even companies whose sole purpose is to collect and sell user data, with or without consent.

Blockchain technology has been lauded as a solution to many contemporary online issues. Web3, the blockchain-enhanced internet, can assist users in regaining personal anonymity.

Web3 promises a better internet based on transparency, decentralization, and ownership. Its supporters argue that it will be a stark contrast to, and a superior replacement for, today’s controlled and monopolized web. Web3 will be more intelligent and interactive. It will be motivated by equality and distrust. Users will no longer rely on a few providers to control internet access and data.

2023 will be a game-changing year for the Oasis Network, built as the privacy-centric layer-1 blockchain network and all of Web3.

🌟 What is Oasis?

Oasis is a privacy-focused layer-1 blockchain network built for scalability, high throughput, and low gas fees.

Oasis Network aims to provide a secure foundation for Web3 by supporting DeFi, GameFi, NFTs, Metaverse, Data DAOs, and other technologies.

The Oasis Network aims to power private, scalable DeFi with its high scalability and privacy-preserving architecture, expanding beyond traders and early adopters to a mass market.

The privacy features of the Oasis Network can also generate a new type of digital asset known as Tokenized Data, which allows users to take control of their data and earn rewards for staking it. The network employs the novel ParaTime Architecture, which separates consensus (Consensus Layer) from computation (ParaTime Layer), allowing it to be more scalable and to support a wide range of specialized computation needs.

📜 Oasis History

Oasis Labs, the company behind the Oasis Network, was founded in 2018 by the University of California, Berkeley professor Dawn Song.

Experts with extensive experience in leading corporations such as Apple, Google, Amazon, and Goldman Sachs created Oasis Network.

The first public testnet for the Oasis Network went live in November 2019, allowing users to run a node on the network but with certain limitations, such as no staking or delegation.

Oasis Labs announced the Amber Network, the first mainnet release candidate chain for the Oasis Network, on June 18, 2020.

🏛️ Oasis Architecture

The Oasis Network is a decentralized Layer 1 blockchain network that is scalable, privacy-first, and versatile. The novel ParaTime Architecture separates consensus from the computation. It consists of two major architectural components, the Consensus Layer and the ParaTime Layer:

The Consensus Layer is a decentralized set of validator nodes that runs a scalable, high-throughput, secure proof-of-stake consensus protocol.

The ParaTime Layer has many parallel runtimes (ParaTimes), each representing a replicated compute environment with a shared state.

A few key benefits of the Oasis ParaTime layer include:

  • Because consensus and execution are separated, many ParaTimes can process transactions in parallel, which means that complex workloads processed on one ParaTime will not slow down faster than simpler transactions processed on another.
  • The ParaTime Layer is entirely decentralized, allowing anyone to create their own ParaTime. Each ParaTime can be created independently to meet the requirements of a specific application, such as confidential computing, open or closed committees, and more.
  • The network’s verifiable computing method with discrepancy detection makes Oasis ParaTime architecture particularly efficient, requiring a lower replication factor for the same level of security as sharding and para chains.
  • The network has widespread support for secure computing technology. The open-source Oasis Eth/WASI Runtime is an example of a confidential ParaTime that uses secure enclaves to keep data private while processing.

💎 Oasis Tokenized Data

Tokenized Data is a new paradigm enabled by the Oasis Network’s combination of confidential computing and blockchain. Blockchain enables high-integrity, auditable logging and enforcement of usage policies.

Confidential computing ensures that data remains private while being processed and cannot be reused without permission. This data + policy capsule creates a new type of digital asset that can be consumed according to the specific fee or value exchange guidelines.

The Oasis Network can use Tokenized Data to power the next generation of privacy-first applications and usher in a new responsible data society. Oasis Network data providers can use Tokenized Data. They can earn rewards by entrusting their data to apps that want to analyze it or controlling how their services consume their most sensitive data.

🌹 Oasis Network ROSE Token

ROSE is the native token with a capped supply of 10.000.000.000, used to power the whole Oasis ecosystem.

Like other native cryptocurrencies, ROSE also serves some essential functions:

Utility token: The ROSE token is used for transaction fees, staking, and delegation at the Consensus Layer.

Staking Rewards: Apart from on-chain payment, around 2.3 billion ROSE tokens will be sent to stakers and delegators as staking rewards for contributing to the network’s security.

🔒 How is Privacy Implemented in the Oasis Network?

Nodes in a secure ParaTime must use a secure computing technology called a TEE (Trusted Execution Environment.) TEEs are a fictitious black box for smart contract execution in a secure ParaTime. Encrypted data enters the black box with the smart contract, where it is decrypted, processed by the smart contract, and then encrypted before leaving the TEE. This procedure ensures that data is kept private and is never disclosed to the node operator or application developer.

The open-source Oasis Eth/WASI Runtime is an example of a confidential ParaTime that uses Intel SGX. Other secure computing technologies, such as ZKP, HE, or other secure enclaves, can also be used. We hope to support additional computation techniques in the future, such as secure multi-party computation, federated learning, and others.

Confidentiality allows personal or sensitive data, such as social security numbers, bank statements, and health information, to be used by apps on the Oasis Network, which is extremely risky on other Layer 1 networks.

💰 The Oasis Network and DeFi

The Oasis Network provides critical advantages that will allow it to support the next generation of DeFi:

  • Private smart contracts allow for creating an entirely new generation of decentralized applications that see privacy as an incentive to build trust with their users.
  • Private state and transaction details prevent malicious players from gaming the system to maximize profits while restricting the participation of smaller DeFi users.
  • Keeping data public or private allows DeFi Dapps to comply with regulations while protecting commercial interests and allowing financial institutions to participate.
  • High throughput reduces/eliminates transaction fees, which disincentivizes all but the wealthy from participating in DeFi.
  • Multiple customizable runtimes enable DeFi developers to meet the needs of their applications and implement the set of incentives that are best suited to that application.
  • Tokenization of data, which brings reputation and records (such as a credit score) to DeFi by encapsulating and protecting user information and allowing the creation of ad-hoc scoring models.
  • Secure computing paves the way for the development of data lending, in which the underlying data, rather than tokens, is the object of lend-borrow transactions.

💠 Oasis Sapphire

Sapphire is a game-changing developer environment because it is the first ParaTime compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). This runtime can aid in the rapid scaling of blockchain towards Web3 and allow EVM developers to quickly lay the groundwork for privacy-enabled blockchain dApps, which are becoming increasingly important as users demand data sovereignty.

Sapphire provides Solidity developers with a familiar, Ethereum-compatible building environment and the benefits of Oasis’ privacy technology, which is critical to enabling blockchain to be a part of the Web3 world.

As the official confidential EVM-compatible ParaTime on the Oasis Network, Sapphire allows for the following:

  • Confidential state, end-to-end encryption, confidential randomness
  • EVM compatibility
  • Easy integration with EVM-based dApps, such as DeFi, NFT, Metaverse, and crypto gaming
  • Scalability — increased throughput of transactions
  • Low-cost — 99%+ lower fees than Ethereum
  • Cross-chain bridge to enable cross-chain interoperability (upcoming)

🤖 The Future of AI with Oasis

One of the most difficult challenges in the development of AI is determining how to create responsible AI systems that are safe, ethical, and fair. This necessitates addressing issues such as AI bias and privacy concerns and ensuring the transparency and trustworthiness of AI systems.

Oasis approaches AI privacy challenges with the same zeal that it approaches every other aspect of Web3. Oasis is uniquely positioned to address the privacy challenges posed by advanced AI tools by leveraging the resources of industry partners and the utility of its private infrastructure.

Oasis collaborates with industry leaders to design and implement robust primitives for responsible AI. Here’s a quick rundown of our collaborative efforts toward responsible AI:

  • Oasis is developing solutions for fairness and bias in AI models through its partnership with Meta. As a design and technology partner, Oasis created an MPC-based system for Meta that meets this critical requirement.
  • Oasis is collaborating with Personal.ai to develop AI pipelines that safeguard the data shared by individuals for use in developing conversational AI models.
  • Oasis is creating flexible confidentiality tools for NFTs that protect information associated with an on-chain asset from public scrutiny. NFTs are increasingly being used to establish digital identities and reputations, in addition to being high-resolution images. Confidential NFTs enable creators and collectors to set conditional permissions that prevent an inquiring counterparty from accessing data tied to their on-chain assets. Data NFT is a token based on Oasis’ Confidential NFT that allows users to run computations on the data that backs the token by the data owner’s data use policies.
  • Oasis created the infrastructure for Data DAOs to support individual data rights, compensate data owners for data use, handle data with confidentiality and privacy, and operate with verifiable transparency. This enables data-sharing DAOs to be used for analytics and AI model training in a decentralized setting.

🌱 The Oasis Ecosystem

The Oasis Network is supported by a thriving and rapidly expanding ecosystem of industry-leading app developers, blockchain infrastructure teams, node operators, universities, and others.

The Oasis Network also has the most extensive University Program of any Layer-1 blockchain, with over 25 top university departments, blockchain clubs, and other organizations spread across five continents.

The following are some of Oasis’s key partners and community members:

🌍 Where Has the Oasis Network Technology been Applied?

Here are just a few examples of projects being developed on the network:

Binance CryptoSafe Alliance

The CryptoSafe Platform, created by Oasis Labs and Binance, enables exchanges to share threat intelligence data. The Oasis Network’s support for confidential computing ensures that exchange data remains private even when compared. More information can be found here.

BMW

Oasis Labs is collaborating with the BMW Group to test differential privacy applications in their internal systems. To enable consent-based auditing, all accesses can be persisted on a ledger. The Oasis Labs platform can validate all access policies before running queries and returning results.

Fortune 500 Healthcare Provider

A Fortune 500 healthcare provider wanted to share data with third parties while maintaining control and protecting patient data confidentiality. This leading healthcare company can track, trace, and control data usage even when shared with third parties using an Oasis Labs-built API.

The $235m Ecosystem Fund

The Oasis Foundation gathered some of the industry’s most influential supporters, including Binance Labs, Pantera, Dragonfly Capital, Jump Capital, and Electric Capital. They all share our belief that privacy is a critical component of successful Web 3 development and have pooled $235 million in funding for developers and projects looking to build the next generation of Web 3, DeFi, Metaverse, DAO, and NFT projects on the Oasis Network.

🛣️ The Oasis 2023 Roadmap

🔚 Conclusion

Since its beginning in 2018, Oasis has made inroads into cryptocurrency by establishing a privacy-focused network.

The Oasis Network is actively working to be a top destination for Web3 developers now and in the future. The Oasis Network, with its emphasis on privacy and robust multi-layered architecture, can support a wide range of projects aspiring to be the architects of the new internet.

With its prominent features, such as high security and user privacy, Oasis Network has the potential to be widely adopted soon.