Keep Network and NuCypher, the two data encryption and protection protocols, have announced plans to integrate around a new network called “Keanu.”
It has been reported that the projects are proposing a “hard merge,” with onlookers describing the move as “the world’s first decentralized protocol merger.”
However, proposals were published to the respective forums of Keep and NuCypher’s DAO on March 8 by revealing discussions have been underway between the two projects for several weeks.
1/ Recently, a couple @keep_project and @nucypher community members reached out to broker a call. Two whirlwind weeks later, and the teams are putting a joint proposal in front of our communities. The proposal? To join forces in the first on-chain protocol hard merge. — Matt Luongo (@mhluongo) March 8, 2021
MacLane Wilkison, the CEO of NuCypher, notes that NuCypher’s 2,000 nodes would become signers to tBTC, increasing its node-count by 1,000% and providing a robust foundation for tBTC’s coming v2 overhaul. The proposals recommend a phased roll-out for the integration.
A new staking contract would first be launching, maintaining support for both NU and KEEP as work tokens. Each community will be granted a combined 50% stake in Keanu.
If successful, the proposed merger will see the two projects’ node networks integrate, with NuCypher stakers becoming signers to Keep’s tokenized Bitcoin protocol, tBTC. https://t.co/NT2mMk1ARH — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) March 9, 2021
The report said that a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) managed by the new contracts would shortly follow, followed by tBTC v2’s deployment and integration of the respective client networks. Despite the networks planning to integrate, the development will be driven by two independent teams working toward shared objectives.
Matt Luongo, the Project Lead of Keep Network, said:
“The Keep and NuCypher networks have built similar technology with similar goals. Rather than continuing to split the market, we think we can achieve significantly more together. And while both dev teams will remain independent, we’ll all be focused on a single protocol.”
Likewise, on Twitter, Luongo also predicted the integration will pave the way for layer-two integrations by suggesting users will soon be able to mint tBTC on Optimism, Arbitrum, Polygon, or zkSync.
7/ It also means bandwidth to do more. The combined network will have 2 independent dev teams. More developers doesn’t always mean things are faster… but it does mean more can be done at once. Think tBTC v2 minting on L2s like @optimismPBC , @arbitrum, @zksync, and Polygon. — Matt Luongo (@mhluongo) March 8, 2021
Viktor Bunin of Bison Trails noted that Keanu would offer the projects’ existing stakers greater modularity.
He said:
“Keep and NuCypher are both modular. They can add support for new use cases, which stakers can opt into supporting. Stakers on the new network will have a greater selection of modular components […] via which they can earn fees.”
Thus, Bunin added that Keanu will diminish each network’s “reliance on inflationary incentives,” allowing the new network to become “sustainable off of fees alone much faster.”
Source: Cointelegraph | Image: Wallview