2023 will be a game changing year for the Oasis Network and all of Web3. We’re excited to share our engineering roadmap, community events, and more with the global network of Oasis developers, users, advocates, and ambassadors.

Here’s what you can expect from Oasis in 2023:

• Launching Oasis Privacy Layer on Sapphire
• Laying groundwork for a trustless bridge to Ethereum
• A new Oasis Explorer that supports Sapphire
• Leveraging Metamask Snaps for an improved wallet experience
• Improving the robustness and security of Oasis Core

Keep reading for a deep dive. 

The Oasis Privacy Layer Launch

The Oasis team is thrilled to announce the Oasis Privacy Layer (OPL), which will launch in early 2023. OPL fulfills a core component of the Oasis Network’s overarching mission to provide a privacy layer to all of Web3. OPL is not a parallel runtime (ParaTime) or a new network. Instead, OPL enables Solidity developers building on any EVM-compatible network to use the confidentiality features of the Oasis Network. 

In addition to Sapphire, the confidential EVM, the two key components that underpin OPL are a cross-chain messaging bridge and a gas relayer. 

A soon-to-be-announced cross-chain messaging bridge will be integrated with Sapphire on mainnet so developers can use OPL to communicate with applications on their home networks. 

The GSN gas relayer allows users to interact with OPL dApps while paying gas fees in any token of their choosing. Users are thus able to interact with the confidential features of their application while Oasis abstracts the details of Sapphire away from users as much as possible. The relayer is key to creating a seamless user experience so that users can interact with these newly enabled confidential features of their application without needing to directly acquire ROSE.  

OPL is scheduled to launch on Sapphire in early 2023 complete with all the tooling, documentation, and code samples needed to ensure the highest quality experiences for developers and users. With this technology, unprecedented privacy capabilities will be unlocked for DAOs, on-chain auctions, gaming, decentralized identity, and so much more. To learn more about OPL, visit the Oasis blog here.

The New Oasis Explorer

This year, Oasis will improve on the current block explorer experience with the new Oasis explorer, which has first-class support for runtimes like Sapphire and Emerald. Robust and versatile explorers are a vital tool for blockchain ecosystems. The Oasis explorer will support all the standard features Web3 natives expect. Beyond the usual information on blocks, transactions, and assets, the Oasis explorer will also allow users to connect their wallets to access privacy-related features and provide support for contract source verification and parsing transaction data inputs. 

A Trustless Bridge to Ethereum

Consistent with its goal to maximize interoperability with all of Web3, Oasis will lay groundwork for a trustless bridge to the Ethereum and other Layer 1 networks. The goal is to support a bridge that prioritizes gas efficiency and a trustless, zero-knowledge architecture to accomplish what few other networks have: a simple and secure user experience for moving assets and sending messages from Oasis to another blockchain. Completing this project first requires some changes to Oasis Merkelized data structures and a Rust implementation of an Ethereum beacon chain client. Oasis is excited to continue working towards this goal of building a next-generation bridge to Ethereum offering unprecedented efficiency and security. 

Oasis Core Security Improvements

Oasis will also deploy upgrades for Oasis Core to continue improvements in protocol robustness and overall security. Oasis engineers are working to make runtime bundle distribution easier and automatically verifiable. Node operators can then opt into runtimes more easily. Oasis also plans to improve state synchronization with peer-to-peer auto-discovery instead of requiring manual configuration by node operators.

Other upgrades include improving forward-secrecy for ephemeral encryption keys, which limits potential exposure resulting from a key being compromised. Also, periodic long-term state key rotation is planned, which prevents future secrets from exposure in the event of a compromise at a specific point in time. Some of these changes will require a major release (e.g., Oasis Core 23.0) and a coordinated network upgrade. These changes are expected to be released in Q2 2023.

Oasis Wallet User Experience Improvements

Oasis is planning substantial optimizations to its wallet experience, which in part involves leveraging Metamask Snaps for supporting Sapphire’s privacy features. Snaps are programs that can customize a user’s wallet experience, and they run in isolated environments. With the power of Snaps, the Oasis wallet will create a radically new privacy-enabled Web3 wallet experience that was impossible before now. With the Oasis wallet, users can expect the same seamless experience that other crypto natives have come to expect when interacting with assets and dApps on other EVM networks. 

Oasis Community Hackathons

In tandem with the OPL launch and other network improvements, the Oasis Network will foster an engaged, supportive developer community by hosting hackathons, technical workshops, and other public events. Whether virtual or in person, the Oasis team will provide ample opportunities for everyone in the Oasis ecosystem to engage with each other and other crypto natives who are passionate (or curious) about privacy. At these events, the Oasis team will partner with other industry-leading Solidity developer communities to highlight Oasis privacy features and how to leverage them in dApps built on any EVM network.‍

Summary

For the Oasis Network, the best is yet to come… and a lot of it will ship this year as we continue serving flexible privacy infrastructure to all of Web3 – any developer, any dApp, any blockchain. Stay connected with the Oasis community of developers, users, and ambassadors by joining us on Discord, Reddit and Forum or following Oasis on Twitter.

‍