Orchid (OXT) was founded in 2019 as a decentralized virtual private network that enables its users to access the internet in a secure and private manner. It applies blockchain technology in providing anonymity to the users of the internet against any form of surveillance or censorship.
The idea was developed to solve the problem of digital privacy by decentralizing VPN services and giving more control back to the consumer over their internet access. The native utility token for the Orchid ecosystem, OXT token, pays for bandwidth and incentivizes node operators.
Orchid was founded by Dr. Steven Waterhouse, Brian J. Fox, Jay Freeman, Gustav Simonsson, and Stephen Bell. Waterhouse, cofounder of Pantera Capital, is a technology entrepreneur who contemplated the idea of Orchid and built it as the solution to bringing back internet privacy in a decentralized manner. Fox, as a leading figure in open source, brings extensive experience developing secure, high-scale platforms. Freeman, better known for devising the alternative App Store known as Cydia, contributes to its software design in a very user-friendly decentralized VPN approach. Their goal was to design a censorship-resistant internet to provide privacy, security, and freedom to users globally.
Orchid’s architecture integrates blockchain and VPN technologies to offer a singular privacy solution. Orchid runs a peer-to-peer VPN network in which users can choose bandwidth providers (nodes) and compensate them for their services in the form of OXT tokens. Users route their traffic via multiple nodes through multi-hop connections to add an additional layer of anonymity and render tracing impossible.
Orchid’s nanopayment system lets users pay the costs in the smallest denomination through OXT tokens for VPN services, making this quite cost-effective and flexible. Orchid is an open-source protocol that provides developers with integrated privacy for various applications, thus extending functionality well beyond VPN services.
OXT is an ERC-20 token that serves payment and staking purposes on the network. The bandwidth providers, or nodes, are incentivized in OXT tokens to route user traffic through them, ensuring greater participation and reliability of the network. Orchid operates on Ethereum and leverages Layer-2 solutions like Polygon to increase scalability beyond Ethereum’s base capacity of 15-30 TPS. Polygon supports up to 65,000 transactions per second (TPS).
Orchid uses a decentralized oracle network provided by Chainlink to create tamper-proof and accurate bandwidth pricing. In sum, this makes for a far more reliable and transparent ecosystem overall, where users can be provided with non-manipulated, consistent rates for the services offered. Integration with the Brave Browser places Orchid’s decentralized VPN right within the privacy-centric browser, enabling seamless access to Orchid’s services for millions of end users.
This partnership further scales Brave’s suite of privacy tools and massively increases Orchid’s exposure to new users. Orchid partnered with other initiatives for ecosystem expansion in the protection of online privacy, underpinning leadership in online privacy solutions and providing synergies for decentralized data security.
Recent updates range from the improvement of the Orchid mobile application concerning UI and onboarding:. These updates make it easier for users to connect to the decentralized VPN, fostering broader adoption across mobile devices. Orchid upgraded its staking model, increasing rewards for node operators who secure the network—rewarding more participants to become bandwidth providers and ensuring greater network reliability and scalability.
Orchid has implemented Layer-2 solutions, such as Polygon, to solve Ethereum’s high gas fees, which reduced the cost of a single nanopayment by a multiple order of magnitude and made VPN services more accessible to a larger number of users. It is considering further development of its suite of privacy tools beyond VPN with decentralized storage providers like Filecoin. Orchid has run global awareness campaigns to educate people and businesses alike about the importance of data privacy, with a benefit to Orchid in decentralized technologies, thereby establishing itself as one of the go-to resources in the space of privacy.
Aggressively scale its network of nodes while ensuring users all over the world have the best geographic coverage. Scaling bandwidth providers allows Orchid to guarantee faster and more reliable services to its ever-growing user base. Orchid launched a grants and rewards program to encourage developers to build on its platform, continuing to grow Orchid’s ecosystem by driving innovation in privacy-centric applications and tools.
Continued strategic partnerships, technological advancement, and a user-centric approach have sealed Orchid’s position in the Web3 privacy ecosystem. These initiatives underpin Orchid’s commitment to making sure that both individual and enterprise users can have a safe, open, and free internet.
As of December 24, 2024, Orchid’s native token, OXT, changes hands at approximately $0.12, up 11.17% over the last 24 hours. Its market capitalization stands at $117 million, placing it in a continuous leading position within the decentralized privacy space.
Orchid reached its all-time high (ATH) of $1.02 on April 5, 2021, and its all-time low (ATL) of $0.046 on June 15, 2023. Growing concerns regarding data privacy accelerate the demand for Orchid’s VPN services. Collaboration with Brave and Chainlink increases the presence and usability of OXT. Once implemented, Layer-2 solutions make transaction processing cheaper and more efficient, attracting a higher number of users.
Orchid is a decentralized VPN that’s setting the game right for online privacy—thereby making sure one could securely and anonymously browse the web. Through smart partnerships, innovative nanopayment systems, and ongoing technological innovations, Orchid takes over in the leading slot regarding decentralized privacy solutions. Meeting a high demand for freedom of data and security makes the Orchid Protocol fully ready to remain relevant in the ecosystem of Web3.
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FAQs
Q1. What is Orchid used for?
- A: Orchid provides VPN services in a decentralized manner to provide privacy and security to internet users.
Q2. What is the utility of OXT tokens?
- A: OXT token is used to pay for services and stakes, in addition to incentivizing bandwidth within the Orchid network.
Q3. What is special about Orchid?
- A: Orchid decentralizes VPN services through multi-hop connections with nanopayments that are more private than others.
Q4. How does Orchid scale?
- A: Orchid leverages Polygon along with other Layer-2 scaling solutions to improve transaction throughput, making Orchid cheaper.