For anyone not familiar, what is Oasis Network?

Oasis Network is a privacy-enabled and scalable layer-1 blockchain. It combines high throughput and low gas fees with secure architecture to provide the next-generation foundation for Web3.

Thanks to the support of top industry backers, Oasis recently announced a $200 million Ecosystem Fund to support projects to build on the network and has secured several Fortune 500 partnerships, including the CryptoSafe Alliance with Binance and the BMW Group among others. Oasis is also one of the top two invested blockchains by leading VCs and has one of the fastest-growing developer networks in the industry, according to Messari.

We foster a passionate global community of innovative developers dedicated to building a better future where blockchain is more accessible, easily understandable, and usable by everyone; while at the same time being secure and private. Our vision is to propel Web3 forward, scaling it and evolving it from infancy to mass-market adoption.

Can you ELI5 us what is the paratime layer?

I’ll give it a try! This is one of my favorite exercises. 

To begin with, Oasis Network has two main architectural components, the Consensus Layer and the ParaTime Layer.

1. The Consensus Layer is a scalable, high-throughput, secure, proof-of-stake consensus run by a decentralized set of validator nodes.
2. The ParaTime Layer hosts many parallel runtimes (ParaTimes), each representing a replicated compute environment with shared state.

Separation of consensus and execution allows multiple ParaTimes to process transactions in parallel, meaning complex workloads processed on one ParaTime won’t slow down faster, simpler transactions on another. The ParaTime Layer is entirely decentralized, allowing anyone to develop and build their own ParaTime. Each ParaTime can be developed in isolation to meet the needs of a specific application, such as confidential compute, open or closed committees, and more.

On top of that, Oasis Network is the only layer-1 blockchain with native support for Rollups at the Consensus Layer.

There are 3 ParaTimes built by the Oasis core team already on the network.

• Emerald ParaTime, a new Smart Contract environment offering full EVM compatibility and 99% lower gas fees
• Cipher ParaTime, the confidential Smart Contract ParaTime that allows privacy-preserving smart contracts. 

Parcel ParaTime, the confidential data storage, governance, and compute ParaTime. Parcel enables governance, confidential computation, and private analysis of data.

What are your privacy features?

Our privacy features are what makes Oasis Network stand out. Data in a blockchain is transparent and open to everybody. Ethereum and other fully public blockchains are beneficial when you want the information to be publicly available. But this is less compelling when you think about more sensitive information like your genomic data, health records, or credit data. Privacy is critical for DeFi to capture more of the traditional finance market. Investors might not be open to having their wallet activities or a complete trade record shown to the public. 

The Oasis Network is a privacy-first layer-1 blockchain with built-in features designed to support confidential Smart Contracts. Since data is never leaked to the node operator or application developer, sensitive information (social security numbers, health records) can be safely used by blockchain apps on the Oasis Network.

Cipher’s confidential Smart Contracts and confidential compute to the blockchain will enable:

• Private and under-collateralized lending
• Private DEXes with no MEV
• Private stablecoins that protect the identity, balance, and transactions of their users
• Private payments that preserve the privacy of the sender, receiver, and the transaction amount

Also, we recently announced confidential NFTs. A confidential NFT allows certain sensitive information or access to services to only be accessible by the owner of the underlying NFT. A regular NFT is mostly about ownership, where a confidential NFT goes beyond ownership and can further contain sensitive information or allow access to products/services that can only be accessed by the respective owner. This will essentially bridge Web 2.0 with Web 3.0, where real world use cases like digital rights management, data privacy and access control can be entertained.

What is the function of the ROSE token?

ROSE is the native, capped supply utility token for the Oasis Network. It is used for transaction fees, staking and delegating at the Consensus Layer and gas fees at the compute layer .

• Supply: The total supply of ROSE tokens is capped at 10 billion. The current circulating supply is around 3.5 billion.
• Token utility: The ROSE token is used for staking, and delegation at the Consensus Layer as well as transaction fees at the Consensus and the ParaTime Layers.

Check out our official OASIS wallets here

Who are your biggest partners, and what do they add to your ecosystem?

In 2021 we brought in 20 new partnerships, adding on to our established ecosystem partners with companies such as Nebula, Cryptosafe Alliance by Binance & BMW.

Other partnerships include Genetica, Asia’s fastest-growing genome sequencing company, and MetaMirror, whose MBuddy is the first-ever Web 3.0 identity service built for the metaverse. Those partners are directly utilizing the power of Parcel, better privacy and control for their customers’ sensitive data.

Our Ecosystem not only has grown, but it now has applications in various industries such as Healthcare, Finance, Genomics, Cybersecurity, and more. Now more than ever, it is critical to enable privacy, and our vision is to break data silos and empower individuals to own and control how their data is used.

What are some of the biggest protocols right now on Oasis?

Oasis Network is ideal for DeFi applications due to its instant finality, 99% lower gas fees versus Ethereum, high throughput, privacy protection, and defense against MEV. DeFi on Oasis is moving forward at lightning speed. In fact, in record time, in less than 12 hours TVL exceeded $100 million! 

Currently, we have many DeFi projects and protocols built on our network. The Oasis community now has access to instant, low-cost cross-chain value transfers to and from other bridge-supported blockchains and Layer-2 networks, thanks to our partnerships with cBridge and Wormhole. Learn how to get started with DEFI on Oasis here. Some examples:

• YuzuSwap, being the first community-built Decentralized Exchange (DEX) on the Oasis Network, with steady growth, has great features such as trade once mine forever and an auto-buyback price support system. Oasis Network surpassed $100 million in TVL within 12 hours of YuzuSwap’s launch.
• Fountain Protocol is the first community-built Oasis native lending platform. The protocol enables users to experience high capital efficiency and one-stop management of DeFi assets. 
• The GemKeeper DEX supports standard AMM features that will allow users to swap tokens, enter liquidity pools, and create new liquidity pools in a 100% permissionless manner.

In the future, we’re looking to bring more of DeFi 2.0 and Play-to-Earn DApps to our ecosystem. This year, we’ll roll out many more initiatives to builders and entrepreneurs to grow our ecosystem.

You recently announced a massive 200 million dollar ecosystem fund, backed by Binance Labs and others. What will this be used for?

Right, the objective of this fund is to help support projects and developers who want to build natively on Oasis. To power this next wave of dApps, the fund has been backed by renowned investors such as Dragonfly Capital, Pantera, and Binance Labs. Focusing on supporting the backbone dApps in DEFI, NFTs, Metaverse, and data tokenization dApps – the fund and technology we provide attract some of the major blockchain builders. Additionally to this ecosystem fund we’ve launched several initiatives, such as Grant programs, two accelerators, and a $200K hackathon.

What comes next for Oasis?

So much, but I can only share a few!! This year we’re primarily focusing on growing our ecosystem with DeFi, NFT, and crypto gaming. We are currently supporting artists and builders developing some amazing NFT & GameFI collections on Oasis.

Secondly, we are looking to grow our developer community. Our Ecosystem Fund and many developer-focused activities will support the onboarding of Web 3 developers along with Web 2 developers looking to make the leap. So during the year, you’ll see many exciting events and hackathons, funding programs, and more incentives following the recent announcements of the $200 million Ecosystem Fund and Grants Program, that will target developers and help amplify our voice.

Finally, after spending much time behind walls, we can now go out – meaning we’ll organize and participate in many in-person events around the globe. We want to meet our community, as supporting our amazing community remains our highest  priority.