Oasis launches Ethereum-compatible privacy blockchain Sapphire

July 18, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Blockchain

The new developer environment aims to drive privacy-first, cross-chain DApp development for the Ethereum ecosystem and smart contract blockchain networks.

Decentralized applications could tap into improved privacy features as blockchain firm Oasis launches its confidential EVM-compatible blockchain Sapphire.

Sapphire and the Oasis Privacy Layer (OPL) are now live, allowing existing decentralized applications (DApp) on Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) networks to make use of the blockchain’s privacy-first features without having to carry out cross-chain swaps for respective tokens.

Cointelegraph reached out to Oasis to unpack the core components of the Sapphire blockchain and how it could help drive cross-chain Web3 development focused on privacy features for smart contracts.

Oasis Foundation director Jernej Kos said that OPL in particular allows developers that have built DApps on any EVM network to integrate a variety of Sapphire’s features without having to migrate to the Oasis blockchain:

“Being fully EVM-compatible means that developers can build private smart contracts in an environment that they are already familiar with, for example Solidity smart contracts running on the EVM as known from Ethereum.”

Kos added that the functionality also improves the ability to deploy DApps across different chains and make them compatible. Another example would be having a core DAO smart contract on Ethereum (ETH) while handling fully private voting on Sapphire, with end-results being sent back to the core DAO contract.

“In this way the privacy capabilities of Sapphire are exposed to any other chain.”

According to the Oasis Foundation director, the majority of DApps being developed on Oasis are privacy-centric and enable users with full control over their on-chain data to control how that gets shared and accessed. This is also evident in a list of different tools and platforms that have been built within the Oasis ecosystem.

Kos highlighted confidential decentralized exchanges, privacy-enabled blockchain gaming, account abstration, confidential NFTs, private voting, sealed-bid auctions, key management and decentralized identification as use cases that have come to the fore from builders on the Oasis chain.

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DeFi platform Oasis to block wallet addresses deemed at-risk

August 11, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Users report that their sessions were disconnected when trying to interact with Oasis with allegedly high risk wallets.

According to a new community Discord post on Thursday, decentralized finance platform Oasis.app says that sanctioned addresses will no longer be able to access the application. As a result of the change to the terms of service, wallets flagged as high risk are prohibited from using Oasis.app to manage positions or withdraw funds. Instead, such category of users must interact directly with the relevant underlying protocol where funds are stored or find another service.

In explaining the decision, Oasis.app team member Gabriel said:

"We've recently needed to update the Terms of Service of the Oasis.app front-end to comply with the relevant laws and regulations. In line with the latest regulations, Oasis.app has an updated Terms of Service. Any sanctioned addresses will no longer be able to access Oasis.app functionality."

Raising a $6 million Series A in 2020, Oasis has grown to become a popular platform for DeFi borrowing and lending. The protocol has processed $4.6 billion worth of transactions in the past 30 days and manages $3.42 billion in deposits.

At the time of publication, it is not immediately clear which tools Oasis is using to identify wallets deemed to be high risk. Similar to Oasis, decentralized exchange Uniswap recently began to block wallets allegedly associated with illicit activities by using TRM Labs' data. TRM Labs helps entities detect and investigate crypto-related financial crime via on-chain analysis. Thus far, feedback regarding Oasis' new measure has been mostly negative. One Discord user, Eagles#2541, claims:

"I'm actually just interacting with Oasis with an account that has had direct exposure to Tornado Cash. I can't reproduce the issue that others are getting, so it's probably just that the team is incompetent and has applied some very wide net with arbitrary holes in it.

It appears https://t.co/S7tb5tREIC, following Uniswap, has started sending all your data to TRM Labs. This is what happens when you connect with an address they don't like. No way to close positions from the UI, no explanation or anything. pic.twitter.com/n2ocN8jQTq
— banteg (@bantg) August 11, 2022

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Oasis Foundation announces implementation of Tidal DeFi insurance platform

April 10, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

A renewed focus on DeFi could drive traffic for the Oasis Network.

The Oasis Foundation, an offshoot of Oasis Network developers Oasis Labs, announced in a blog post on Friday that decentralized finance (DeFi) insurance and coverage provider Tidal Finance will be implementing a version of their platform on the Oasis Network.

The blog post noted that insurance will be important for users of the platform as Oasis scales its DeFi offerings, and that by working with Oasis’ “confidential smart contracts” Tidal will be able to deploy new claims methods, such as “anonymous, democratized voting” that preserves voters and user privacy.

The move mirrors similar ones being made in Ethereum’s DeFi ecosystem, where multiple projects are launching new insurance platforms or planning to bake coverage directly into their offerings at the protocol layer.

New Focus?

The privacy-focused blockchain, founded by one of Cointelegraph’s Top 100 in Crypto entrepreneur Dawn Song, has pursued various strategies throughout the years in an effort to attract traffic and adoption. In 2018 the company raised a monster $45 million as the rest of the crypto market stalled, and use cases such as medical records and individuals selling personal data were touted as part of a privacy-preserving computational network.

By the time the network’s November 19, 2020 mainnet rolled around, they were instead focused on decentralized finance, promising under collateralized loans using real-world credit checks. The mainnet launch was followed by a November 25 token sale, which netted the company an additional $10 million.

The company’s current strategy consists of a patchwork of initiatives focused on big data, data privacy, and decentralized finance. Last year they announced a project with Binance to allow exchanges to confidentially share threat assessment information regarding fraud and hacks, and earlier this year worked with automaker BMW to enable cloistered information storage to protect privacy while sharing data internally.

The partnership with Tidal may signal a renewed focus on DeFi, however. The press release notes that Tidal’s insurance on DeFi pools will be key for Oasis’ “rapidly expanding” DeFi ecosystem, and that multiple “lending protocols and DEXs that will be integrated into the Oasis Network in the coming months.”

In February Oasis’ Anne Fauvre-Willis weighed in on the Gamestop/Robinhood saga, saying the fiasco “clearly highlighted the need to build systems that are decentralized and put users and individuals in control of their own data and finances.”

DeFi has been on a monster tear as of late, having recently eclipsed $100 billion in Total Value Locked.

Oasis

New Focus?

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