Something Big Is Coming

Although this tagline has long been a common meme for the Opacity Telegram community, I believe it has become prophetic for the future of Opacity. Opacity 1.0 development is already in progress, and it will include a host of changes and new features that will help Opacity grow and scale for the future.

This release will significantly move Opacity in the right direction to deliver our goals:

Establish cryptocurrency/tokens as a first class citizen and primary means of exchange for doing business.

Provide zero-knowledge accounts with encrypted data for file storage by default. No tracking, no personal information, no spying on you.

Create a censorship-resistant protocol through a decentralized network. It’s your data, you own it.

Provide feature parity with familiar storage providers to make Opacity user-friendly.

Create a platform for storage-related dapps to proliferate.

Enable the network to remain healthy for the long term.

By any measure, these goals are lofty, and many are being tackled across the crypto-verse with mixed success. For Opacity, it’s clear that our predecessor and the bear market has had an impact on our available funds and forced hard decisions to be made in order to develop core capabilities under tight restrictions. This makes this release extremely important to meet budgetary/time constraints, and we have made the necessary trade-offs to open the path to provide scalability options.

Architecture

By far, the most significant trade-off to be made is in the hosting architecture. The limitations of using the tangle for file storage were described in the whitepaper. Most notably, it is slow and resource intensive. Iota is still optimizing the system and has run behind on plans for improvements. This has prevented progress on everything else related to improving Opacity as a product. The bottleneck needs to be removed in the short term to make way for improvements.

Opacity will remove the tangle as the primary means of file storage. We need to move ahead while keeping the tangle as a possible option for the future. The related infrastructure will be decommissioned (lambdas and the tangle attachment process, etc.) which will reduce hosting costs significantly by removing all the transactional work required for storing on the tangle. Prior uploads will remain available, and we will manage the ability to download from new or old architecture, seamless to you.

The new structure will maintain the encrypted, chunked files from the client, but will push the file hosting into traditional storage solutions. This will drastically improve upload speed and allow us to provide large subscription plans so that we can expand the user base and increase the intrinsic value and utility of the OPQ token.

We are not giving up decentralization.

Let me repeat — WE ARE NOT GIVING UP DECENTRALIZATION.

We have not even entirely given up on the tangle as an option for the future. Since the code is already built to handle it, we could most easily return to it, if and when its limitations are mitigated.

We also have other options that we have outlined internally for a decentralized network. The primary dependency here is not technical, it is time and money. By enabling user-centric features first, we will be able to increase adoption, increase token value, and extend our runway to decentralize in a future iteration of the system architecture.

Opacity Logo

Design

One of the details that will make Opacity more appealing to a broader audience is an updated design. While the current design helped move Opacity forward, it was put together quickly and it needs a fresh look. Here is a preview of the new Opacity logo and subscription view on mobile, below.

The updated design will apply to both the storage interface and the main site, which will require an overhaul to include the details of the new system.

Opacity 1.0 Paid Plan, Mobile View

Subscriptions

Opacity 1.0 will provide upfront paid storage plans. As one of the first consumer applications that is natively crypto driven, we have an obligation to enable seamless payment using our token, OPQ. Paying in full upfront will remove any immediate hurdles to regular use and allow full access to your user account and on-demand file management.

Share or don’t share — it’s all yours!

Multi File Management

In addition to payments, it’s clear that uploading a single file at a time is hugely inconvenient and inefficient. To make the best use of file storage on a daily basis, there must be a way to upload and manage many files. While v1.0 will be limited in other bells and whistles functionality, uploading multiple files and viewing a list of secure file handles will certainly be available.

Marketing

While the budget needs to be considered, it’s important to ramp up and drive awareness of Opacity before and after the release. Now that the technical implementation is in progress, the marketing plan for the release is just getting started. It will include partnering with bloggers, YouTubers, and more community outreach. We’ll share more as this develops.

Summary

Opacity 1.0 will change the game for crypto file storage by making it easy to use and relevant for daily use. Opening up more features and capabilities will attract a broader audience and reduce friction for adoption. Focusing on the frontend user experience will enable a longer runway for backend scaling.

Opacity 1.0 is certainly not the final destination; it’s just the beginning.

Looking forward to talking to everyone in the Reddit AMA on Friday, February 22! Stop by and say hi to the team.