At the Cosmoverse 2023, Park Feierbach, Head of Community at Heliax and contributor to Namada UM, introduced the ambitious Namada protocol.
With a vision to introduce modular privacy to the inner chain, Namada aims to revolutionize the blockchain landscape.
Namada serves as a Layer 1 Proof-of-Stake blockchain protocol, prioritizing interchain asset-agnostic privacy. By leveraging cutting-edge zk-SNARKs technology, it ensures secure and confidential transfers of both fungible and non-fungible tokens.
Moreover, the protocol introduces shielded swaps, a groundbreaking method for transacting without compromising private information.
Operating as a non-profit blockchain infrastructure organization, Namada has collaboratively partnered with the Anoma Foundation. To fuel retroactive public goods funding, a significant proportion of the Namada genesis block has been allocated.
The Cosmos Ecosystem and Its Core Values
Park emphasized the core values of the Cosmos ecosystem, which revolve around app chains and interoperability.
App chains are specialized ecosystems designed for specific purposes, enabling direct and efficient implementations.
Interoperability, on the other hand, allows different protocols to interact and become interdependent.
This collaboration among various chains renders the concept of a single dominant chain obsolete, as they can collectively address each other’s challenges.
However, she acknowledged that privacy poses a challenge due to the public nature of most blockchains. In a public blockchain, all accounts, transactions, and interactions are visible to anyone.
This lack of privacy raises concerns regarding individual anonymity and the potential exploitation of user activity tracking by businesses.
Retrofitting privacy into existing public blockchains is challenging, as it requires incorporating privacy into the core design of the blockchain.
The Vision of Namada & the Namada Protocol
According to Park, Namada seeks to address these challenges by providing privacy as a service.
Namada is designed to retrofit privacy to public blockchains that can accept this implementation and are connectable through technologies like Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC).
The core components of Namada include a protocol, a community, and a native token, all working together to enhance privacy.
She described the Namada protocol as a cubic proof-of-stake layer one blockchain that offers asset-agnostic privacy to connected domains.
It consists of three key modules: the unified shielded set, the ability to commit shielded actions within the set, and a cubic proof-of-stake model.
The unified shielded set allows users to pool their assets anonymously, increasing privacy as more assets are added to the pool.
The ability to commit shielded actions lets users transact outside the pool without revealing their identity, and the cubic proof-of-stake model ensures network efficiency, honesty of validators, and automatic reward compounding.
The Namada community consists of users, validators, developers, and all those who contribute to the network’s growth.
Users are encouraged to hold assets in the multi-asset shielded pool to increase privacy for themselves and others.
Validators can participate in securing the network, and developers can nominate privacy projects for public goods funding.
Namada has its native token, the NAM token, which is used for fee payments and as an incentive for staking. It plays a crucial role in the Namada ecosystem, rewarding users for engaging in privacy.
The outcome and future
During her presentation, the Head of Community shed light on Namada’s central objective: to enhance privacy within interconnected blockchains.
By focusing on privacy, Namada aims to elevate the level of confidentiality within the Cosmos ecosystem and other related domains.
To support this goal, a new website was launched, providing comprehensive details about the project. The Head of Community also revealed plans for an incentivized testnet program, specifically designed for validators. As an exciting bonus, Atom holders can anticipate a substantial airdrop of NAM tokens coming their way.
