In the interest of safeguarding investors from potential staking penalties, Chorus One is proud to partner with Nexus Mutual, the leading decentralised coverage provider, to introduce a range of staking coverage options for our customers. As an industry leader, we are the first node operator to purchase on-chain staking coverage to protect our customers through Nexus Mutual’s innovative tokenised cover.
Our aim is to shield our diverse clientele—including custodians, trusts, enterprises, individuals, and others—from any risks associated with staking penalties, to ensure peace of mind and uninterrupted growth. This coverage reinforces Chorus One’s risk management strategies to proactively fortify our customers’ staked funds.
Complementary base cover on staked ETH
In light of our partnership with Nexus Mutual, we are pleased to offer complementary base coverage on Ethereum staked through OPUS for all customers until the end of 2023. Additionally, clients may opt for upgradable coverage on other networks supported by Chorus One upon request. For information regarding this promotion, or to explore coverage options for other networks, please reach out to us at staking@chorus.one.
Nexus Mutual
Nexus Mutual is a decentralised coverage protocol that allows its members to join and share risk. Members are empowered to purchase cover products that protect against various kinds of risks, including staking penalties like slashing. By leveraging their infrastructure, our clients can conveniently access cover, underwrite risks, manage claims, and build resilient risk management strategies through Chorus One.
How does it work?
Nexus Mutual’s tokenised cover permits Chorus One to acquire coverage for various digital assets, represented as ERC-721 NFTs. They offer transparent and auditable claims assessment, which can be accessed by anyone through the Nexus Mutual protocol on Ethereum. Storing data on-chain allows anyone to review Nexus Mutual’s history of claim decisions and payouts.
Unlike traditional insurance, claims are processed in a matter of days and payouts are redeemable as soon as a claim has been approved. Nexus Mutual provides an enhanced claims experience for our customers by eliminating the need for third-party involvement or delays. Additionally, the protocol is designed to reward honest behaviour and penalise fraudulent activities. Learn more about the claims design and how Nexus Mutual protects against fraud protection in their documentation.
What is slashing?
Proof-of-Stake (PoS) networks offer immense growth potential for blockchain transactions. However, not all PoS networks are equal, and they introduce new responsibilities and risks for token holders. One such risk is slashing, which involves penalising validators who engage in dishonest or inactive behavior on the network. Slashing can take different forms, such as losing a predefined percentage of a validator's stake or being completely removed from the network for the current epoch or permanently.
At Chorus One, we recognise the severity of such circumstances. That’s why our robust, on-chain coverage forms an integral part of our comprehensive risk management strategy, aiming to protect all of our clients. Stay tuned for an upcoming article where we will delve further into staking penalties and Chorus One's proactive risk management practices.
"When staking your ETH, even with the best technical set-up and expertise, mistakes can happen and slashing can occur. The most professional operators recognize this and put in place protection for their users. We're excited to work with Chorus One to make staking your ETH safer." - Hugh Karp, Founder, Nexus Mutual
"At Chorus One, security holds the utmost importance as we deeply value the trust and peace of mind it brings to investors. As responsible node operators, we prioritise establishing a solid foundation of trust with our investors, ensuring the safety of their assets. Through our partnership with Nexus Mutual, we aim to offer comprehensive protection against potential asset loss arising from staking penalties." - Vic Kaul, Business Development Lead, Chorus One
About Nexus Mutual
Nexus Mutual is a decentralised insurance alternative built on the Ethereum blockchain and the leading provider of crypto-native coverage. To date, Nexus Mutual members have protected more than $4.4b in crypto assets and have paid out $17.9m in claims. The mutual was created to give people a way to hedge against the unique risks in on-chain markets.
Learn more about Nexus Mutual by visiting nexusmutual.io.
About Chorus One
Chorus One is one of the biggest institutional staking providers globally operating infrastructure for 40+ Proof-of-Stake networks including Ethereum, Cosmos, Solana, Avalanche, and Near amongst others. Since 2018, we have been at the forefront of the PoS industry and now offer easy enterprise-grade staking solutions, industry-leading research, and also invest in some of the most cutting-edge protocols through Chorus Ventures.
We're proud to announce that Qredo, a premier self-custody protocol and platform, has joined forces with Chorus One to expand staking accessibility for investors. From seamless staking to enhanced security measures, this partnership aims to empower users with a secure and efficient staking experience.
What is Qredo?
Qredo offers institutions and traders a secure way to store assets while maintaining complete control. Through their unique distributed multi-party computation (dMPC) technology, users can confidently take custody of their own digital assets and readily engage with the DeFi ecosystem on a trusted, institutional-grade platform.
Stake to Chorus One through a Qredo Wallet
As part of the partnership, Chorus One's OPUS users can now directly stake and unstake multiple crypto tokens through Qredo Wallets. This eliminates the complexities associated with managing multiple wallets and platforms, making staking more accessible to a broader range of investors.
Key benefits of staking with Chorus One for Qredo customers:
The Qredo-Chorus One partnership garners strengths of both entities, empowering investors with a seamless and secure staking experience. By combining Qredo's innovative self-custody solutions with Chorus One's expertise in institutional staking, individuals and institutions can confidently participate in staking activities while maximizing their rewards and maintaining full control over their assets.
"Chorus One's OPUS shines brilliantly in the realm of staking. The potential to simplify staking for both individual investors and institutions is truly remarkable. We look forward to complementing OPUS with our secure self-custody solution, and firmly believe that this collaboration will bring immense value to our shared customers."
– Josh Goodbody, Chief Operating Officer, Qredo
"Qredo's robust self-custody solution is a valuable addition to OPUS. This partnership strengthens the security foundation of OPUS, empowering our customers to enjoy a frictionless and secure staking experience. We are truly excited about this partnership and the continuous collaboration between Chorus One and Qredo's products."
– Vic Kaul, Business Development Lead, Chorus One
To learn more about OPUS and how to get started, visit: https://chorus.one/staking-api-opus
About Qredo
Qredo is a leading provider of institutional-grade digital asset self-custody solutions. The company's distributed multi-party computing (dMPC) technology provides a secure and regulated environment for users to store, transfer, and manage their digital assets.
About Chorus One
Chorus One is one of the biggest institutional staking providers globally operating infrastructure for 40+ Proof-of-Stake networks including Ethereum, Cosmos, Solana, Avalanche, and Near amongst others. Since 2018, we have been at the forefront of the PoS industry and now offer easy enterprise-grade staking solutions, industry-leading research, and also invest in some of the most cutting-edge protocols through Chorus Ventures.
Chorus One is proud to announce the launch of Red Horizon; a new way to interact with your Urbit server, identity, and community.
Red Horizon is built on an open source project that redesigns the internet from the ground up. The main thesis is that the way the current technology of IP addresses, DNS, and other elements of the present-day internet create massive problems that can only be addressed by MegaCorps that are just as massive (and flawed) in scale.
We all benefit from the ease of using these MegaCorp services at the expense of our privacy, data ownership, and "black box" interference of our connections.
Instead of relying on MegaCorp server farms, what if it was easy enough to run your own personal server? What if you didn't have to search for a new user name? What if you didn't have to deal with spam? What if you didn't need to pass a CAPTCHA test ever again? What project could ever make that happen?
Urbit. It's more than a profile. It's a Turing complete computer with an identity baked in at its lowest levels and it talks to other computers just like it. This creates a truly decentralized and private peer to peer network of computers. It is a complete reimagining of the internet, it works today, and it is getting easier to use every day.
Mostly.
While it is relatively straight forward to run Urbit compared to running your own Linux servers, anyone who wants to use it still needs a fair amount of technological skill that is beyond the average MegaCorp user.
That's where Red Horizon enters the picture.
Our mission is completely removing the technical skills required to use Urbit so people can get to the good stuff right away. That includes a permanent identity that nobody can ever revoke; a toolkit for building communities around groups, interests, chats, blogs, and more; decentralized program distribution; contact management; and more tools built every day.
We keep your Urbit server up and running 24/7. You can access it from your phone, your laptop, or desktop computer through a browser. With a simple log-in you can access all your groups, your chats, write articles, and build your community without having to figure out any of the "how does this work" stuff going on behind the scenes.
If you ever want to run things yourself, then you can take over at any time. Since the Urbit server is entirely code-based, we can get it to you, and you're now the total owner and operator of your own data and network. Exit is always an option. That's one of our core principles.
And that comes from experience. Our parent company, Chorus One, is a major player in the institutional crypto scene since 2017. Chorus One has managed millions of dollars through bear markets, bull markets, crypto winters (too many to count), and remained steadfast through it all. Chorus One remains a trusted steward and leader of high stake investments which is why they are the perfect company positioned for this person-to-person level project, too.
That is why we have already partnered with several of the most promising projects in the space including Uqbar which is focused on developing blockchain-integrated development tools for the Urbit environment. We are also working with Native Planet, which is dedicated on making at-home hosting hardware accessible to people. Vaporware Network is working tightly with us to help bring their vision of high-leverage NFTs to the market. And, finally, we are building a strong relationship with the Urbit Foundation to get more developers into the world of Urbit.
Our waitlist is now live at redhorizon.com. You can also find our Urbit group at ~doldys/red-horizon, and follow our Twitter @redhorizonhost for the latest updates.
Chorus One is one of the biggest institutional staking providers globally operating infrastructure for 40+ Proof-of-Stake networks including Ethereum, Cosmos, Solana, Avalanche, and Near amongst others. Since 2018, we have been at the forefront of the PoS industry and now offer easy enterprise-grade staking solutions, industry-leading research, and also invest in some of the most cutting-edge protocols through Chorus Ventures. We are a team of over 50 passionate individuals spread throughout the globe who believe in the transformative power of blockchain technology.
Blockchain has revolutionized various industries by offering decentralized, secure, and transparent systems. However, challenges such as privacy and scalability have emerged as significant concerns. This article explores how Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) can address these challenges and shape the future of Web3 technology.
What are zk-Proofs?
Zero-Knowledge Proofs are cryptographic protocols that allow a party to prove knowledge of a certain fact without revealing any information about it. In other words, they enable verification of the truthfulness of a statement without disclosing the underlying data. ZKPs were introduced by Shafi Goldwasser, Silvio Micali, and Charles Rackoff in the 1980s. However, it wasn’t until the development of the ZK-SNARK protocol in 2014 by a team of researchers led by Eli Ben-Sasson, that ZKPs gained significant attention for their potential applications in various fields, including the crypto space.
There are different types of Zero-Knowledge Proofs, each serving specific purposes:
Enhancing Privacy and Scalability
Zk- proofs have a profound impact on privacy. By using ZKPs, users can prove the validity of their transactions or data without revealing the sender, recipient, or the transaction amount. This feature enhances anonymity and confidentiality, making blockchain systems more appealing for applications where privacy is crucial, such as financial transactions, healthcare records, identity management, and secure voting systems..
ZKPs also enable scalability improvements by reducing the amount of data that needs to be processed and stored by blockchain nodes. This is achieved through a process called ‘batching’, where multiple transactions are combined into a single proof, reducing the computational load on the network. For example, ZKSync Era, a trustless Layer-2 protocol, is a zk rollup that scales Ethereum by using cryptographic validity proofs to provide scalable and low-cost transactions. In zkSync, computation is performed off-chain and most data is stored off-chain as well. However, all the transactions are still verified and validated on the Ethereum mainchain, ensuring that users have the same level of security as they would with regular Ethereum transactions.
The Challenges
Despite their potential, zk-Proofs face several challenges:
The Future Outlook of ZKPs
Looking ahead, we can expect advancements in zk technology that address the current challenges Some potential developments include:
ZKP’s offer a promising solution to the privacy and scalability challenges faced by current Web3 technologies. By enabling secure, private transactions, they pave the way for a future where decentralized applications can thrive while protecting user data. While challenges exist, ongoing research continues to enhance the efficiency, scalability, and usability of ZK technology, shaping the future of blockchain and its potential impact on other industries.
Our 2023 Q1 Quarterly Insights dives deeper into the different applications of zk-Proofs, presenting an introduction to the problems being tackled in the frontier. It also focuses on specific use cases, shedding light on notable teams building innovative projects that take advantage of zero-knowledge. Check it out here.
About Chorus One
Chorus One is one of the biggest institutional staking providers globally operating infrastructure for 40+ Proof-of-Stake networks including Ethereum, Cosmos, Solana, Avalanche, and Near amongst others. Since 2018, we have been at the forefront of the PoS industry and now offer easy enterprise-grade staking solutions, industry-leading research, and also invest in some of the most cutting-edge protocols through Chorus Ventures.
