Overview
Keep Network is building a privacy layer for the Ethereum Blockchain. Whereas it is the nature of public blockchains to create immutable and transparent records designed for auditability, it is the ambition of Keep to enable privacy and confidentiality on the very same blockchains. The service that Keep Network is providing is called “a keep”, which essentially is an off-chain container for private data.
What are the tokens used for and how can the token value appreciate?
The native network token will be called KEEP. The token is required for providers of services to participate in the network and to be able to run a node. Once a provider has staked KEEP tokens to the network a two weeks period enters into effect before withdrawal becomes possible. The service that these nodes then are allowed to provide is the “keep”. Providers of “keeps” will receive fees for their services, which need to be paid by users or organization requesting “keeps”. The price of the token will increase with the usage of the Keep Network.
How advanced is the project?
Keep Network has completed the white paper and the initial seed round to fund the project. The team has partially completed the team formation and hiring process. Development of the privacy layer is open source and visible on github. Currently there are five people contributing to the code base. Further details of the roadmap have not been publicly announced. Given the strength of the team and the solid investor base it is unlikely that the team will not deliver on building the product.
Team
Keep Network currently lists 14 people as team members that are involved with the project. They work mostly in development but also in fields such as operations, growth and community management.
Matt Luongo is the co-founder and Project Lead at Keep Network. At the same time he is the CEO of Thesis, a cryptocurrency venture production studio which is building Fold, a consumer payment app, and Keep. Therefore we can expect that Matt will split his time between Keep and Fold. Matt previously had several years of experience as a software engineer and as a CTO. He completed a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science at Georgia Institute of Technology.
Corbin Pon is also a co-founder at Thesis and hence also involved in the development of Keep Network. He is another co-founder of Fold and previously co-founded Scholrly. His education is also a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology.
Antonio Salazar Cardozo is the Head of Engineering at Thesis and the Tech Lead at Keep Network. He previously worked as a software engineer in a number of companies, among them being Lift and Vico. His education again is a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology.
The list of advisors of Keep Network reads like the who-is-who of the Ethereum ecosystem. Among them is Luis Cuende, who is the co-founder and CEO of Aragon, a governance system for applications on the Ethereum blockchain, Joseph Urgo, the co-founder of district0X, Axel Blikstad and Brayton Williams, both blockchain investors, John Packel, who is involved with ConsenSys, and James Prestwich, who is the founder of Summa.
Product
The private container provided by Keep Network (“keep”) operates off-chain, while the network engages with smart contracts on-chain. This way the details provided in smart contracts remain completely private which empowers a new generation of applications that require confidentiality. Among these possible use cases for the Keep Network are decentralized singing of transactions, Dead Man Switch functionality, which enables to disclose and lock private information, and the selling of digital goods such as music or ebooks.
Strength and Opportunities
Keep has convinced the strongest venture capital firms that are active in the blockchain space. Among them is Polychain Capital, one of the most recognized, successful and early cryptocurrency investment firms, and Andreessen Horowitz, which is a top tier generalistic Silicon Valley VC firm. Further investors are DHVC, Draper Associates, and Distributed Capital Partners.
Keep counts with high profile advisors who are among the most important actors in the Ethereum ecosystem, such as leading people from Consensys, Aragon and district0X. It is almost impossible to get more recognized investors and advisors compared to Keep. At the same time Keep counts with an active community on reddit and a large follower base on Twitter.
Weaknesses and Threats
Since Keep is building initially for the Ethereum network, its success will be linked to the adoption of Ethereum vs other public cryptocurrencies. Despite this it will be possible to use the technology on other public blockchains through amendments to the code base. This means that Keep does not entirely depend on the success of the Ethereum platform, which gives more flexibility to the project.
Verdict
Next to scalability, privacy seems to be one of the major challenges that public blockchains need to solve before they can see mainstream adoption. Keep is trying to build a solution to this problem for the Ethereum blockchain and this way helps Ethereum compete with other cryptocurrencies such as Zcash. The early stage investors of this project look incredibly solid. Keep seems to be one of the missing pieces for the Ethereum ecosystem to flourish and the team seems to be capable of building that piece.
? URL: https://keep.network/
? TG: https://t.me/KeepNetworkOfficial/
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* The information contained in this article is for education purpose only and not financial advice. Do your own research before making any investment decisions.
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