TLDR; Kinode presents a new paradigm, blending blockchain's biggest benefit (global consensus) with the speed and efficiency of offchain tooling. Kinode's peer-to-peer structure enables developers to seamlessly build applications that are privacy-focused by default.
Despite the flourishing of certain areas like decentralized finance, over the last few years we have seen stagnation in the progress towards a fully decentralized, permissionless internet. It is our belief that one of the main causes of this stagnation is an underdeveloped offchain computing substrate. Many protocols have been forced into operating within a purely-onchain paradigm, which has led to countless failures.
It is clear that the category of networked operations that do not require global consensus is much larger than the category of those that do benefit from being transactions – so what if there were a simple way to build upon the immense potential of blockchain technology without the limitations that arise from attempting to put so many operations onchain?
That’s exactly why we’re building Kinode: to create permissionless computing infrastructure that empowers developers to build with a blend of on- and offchain components. We consider three pillars as absolutely central to this:
Caption: Kinode helps you build fast and with ease, Kinode integrates blockchain components, and Kinode is privacy-focused by default
Keep reading as we break down each of these points to illustrate why we envision Kinode as the next stage in Web3’s evolution.
By virtue of its configuration, Kinode streamlines processes to make building fast and easy. We’ve handled primitives like identity, peer-to-peer, and chain integrations by building them straight into the OS and making it simple to get applications up and running.
While Kinode is written in Rust, its processes, or applications, compile to Wasm and are platform neutral. Why Wasm? Because it’s predictable, portable, and offers flexibility to developers. You can write your app in Rust, C, Python, Java, or even Scala, if you really want to.
As a decentralized operating system, Kinode helps circumvent common issues surrounding system compatibility. Once it’s running on Kinode, your app will be accessible anywhere via the App Store. Deployment targets are also easy, and no maintenance is required once an app is published. Plus, it’s backward-compatible.
Blockchain-powered apps often struggle to compete with centralized mainstream options because they squeeze the user experience through the “transaction” bottleneck. Although smart contract blockchains excel at providing access to the global consensus state for provenance over digital assets, blockchains themselves are not optimal structures for most computing tasks.
Kinode offers the benefit of global consensus, which is a vast improvement over Web2 structures, while eliminating the need for it when it isn’t required – an improvement over the current Web3 paradigm. Kinode adds direct peer-to-peer networking, personal compute, data storage, and standard web client and server tools to the equation.
Kinode can be used to easily write apps that use crypto assets. Kinode’s Kimap unlocks onchain data reads/writes without the need to write smart contracts, and apps can be designed as protocols, producing revenue without the governance of a corporate entity.
Thanks to its decentralized nature as a peer-to-peer network, it’s easy to design for data privacy with Kinode. Censorship resistance is built-in and distributed code can’t be censored or blocked from users. Kinode also enables end-to-end encrypted private peer-to-peer communication without the need to write your own networking code.
Peer-to-peer applications eliminate middlemen and match intuitions about real-world communications better. When one node messages another in Kinode, no one else need intermediate, unlike with centralized messaging services in which a middleman passes messages between you. Thus peer-to-peer infrastructure is intrinsically more private than its centralized counterparts.
Kinode also offers data sovereignty that centralized platforms lack. Your data lives on your Kinode, and doesn't leave it unless you want it to. Once again, Kinode is default-private, compared to centralized services which are default-exposed.
There are lots of reasons to build on Kinode, but in short — Kinode streamlines the deployment process, offering scalable infrastructure that helps you, a developer, focus on what you do best: creating innovative applications.
Run your own Kinode or get started with development by reading our docs. If you want free access to Valet*, which offers hosting, sign up to the waitlist here. As always, you can also reach us directly via Discord or Telegram.
See you on the network.
*Valet is developed and offered by Uncentered Systems, a US-based p2p consumer app developer.
