In the dynamic world of blockchain protocols, security remains a paramount concern for users. Today, we invite you to explore a groundbreaking solution that redefines privacy in multichain interactions: The Namada Blockchain.

What is Namada?

Namada is the first fractal instance of Anoma, a multi-chain vision designed to achieve a unified architecture with diverse security measures. Developed by Heliax, a prominent organization within the Anoma ecosystem, Namada is set to launch its mainnet soon, providing users with unparalleled multichain privacy.

Namada operates as a proof-of-stake Layer 1 blockchain, focusing on interchain, asset-agnostic privacy. It leverages specific components of Anoma to enable shielded transfers for various assets—both fungible and non-fungible—regardless of their originating platform, such as Ethereum or IBC-compatible chains. This allows users to transfer assets like ETH, DAI, ATOM, or OSMO privately, with minimal transaction latency and near-zero fees.

To enhance user accessibility, Namada is vertically integrated and will soon feature user-friendly interfaces.

Unique Features of Namada

Asset-Agnostic Shielded Transfers

Namada supports the transfer of any fungible and non-fungible tokens with privacy similar to Zcash. This capability is powered by advanced zk-SNARKs technology, enabling both native and non-native tokens to be transferred privately.

Namada Shared Shielded Set

A key feature of Namada is its shared shielded set. This means that a shielded transfer involving an Ethereum NFT is indistinguishable from a transfer of ATOM or NAM. The Multi-Asset Shielded Pool (MASP), an upgraded version of Zcash’s Sapling circuit, allows all assets to share the same shielded set. This ensures that privacy guarantees are not fragmented and are independent of the transaction volume of any specific asset.

Fast ZKP Generation on Edge Devices

Namada’s vertical integration allows users to interact with the protocol and send shielded transfers via browser applications. This is facilitated by fast Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) generation, even on edge devices.

Low Transaction Latency and Near-Zero Fees

Thanks to rapid proof generation and modern Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus, Namada supports transaction speeds comparable to Visa, with finality. Similar to Anoma, Namada scales through fractal instances.

IBC-Compatible and Trustless Ethereum Bridge

Namada is compatible with any fast-finality chain that supports IBC. For Ethereum interoperability, Namada employs a custom trustless Ethereum bridge designed for maximum safety. This includes flow controls for all bridge connections and treating faulty Ethereum transfers as slashable offenses. To ensure liveness across the Ethereum bridge and enhance user experience, incentivized relaying to Ethereum is incorporated.

Privacy as a Public Good

The Namada protocol incentivizes users holding shielded assets, contributing to the shared shielded set. The latest MASP circuit update includes the novel Convert Circuit, making the shielded set a non-exclusive, anti-rivalrous public good. The more people use shielded transfers, the better the privacy guarantees for each individual.

Notable Features of Namada

Cubic Proof-of-Stake (CPoS)

Namada combines Cubic PoS and Tendermint BFT for consensus. Validators, selected by staked assets, create and sign blocks. Assets are locked for security; withdrawals require a 21-epoch wait. Initially, Namada will have about 257 validators. Rewards, based on stake, follow an upgraded F1 gas distribution model and are automatically consolidated and distributed.

Cubic PoS penalizes validators per block, with penalties increasing cubically for rule violations, encouraging diverse validator and infrastructure setups to mitigate correlated faults.

Multi-Asset Shielded Pool (MASP)

The Multi-Asset Shielded Pool (MASP) is an extension of Sapling, a technology developed by the Electric Coin Company for Zcash. MASP is used to control the creation and destruction of protected assets called notes when transitioning between shielded accounts on Namada.

With MASP, Namada has a shared protected pool for all assets, including both fungible and non-fungible assets, instead of having separate pools for each asset. This enhances privacy, especially for unique or low-volume assets. If these assets had separate pools to protect their privacy, tracking transactions in and out would easily reveal identities.

Convert Circuit (CC)

Convert Circuit (CC) is a separate circuit that operates in parallel with MASP and enables the conversion of programmable assets supported through a conversion table using the mint and burn mechanism. CC allows for the additional functionality of requesting asset withdrawals from MASP to other blockchains through Namada. This feature provides interoperability and allows assets to be moved between blockchain networks.

The main purpose of the Convert Circuit (CC) is to provide separate rewards for NAM senders through MASP. Additionally, CC can be utilized for various other applications, including voting, prediction markets, and lending/borrowing, all of which are ensured within the system. These additional functionalities enhance the versatility and utility of the CC within the Namada ecosystem.

Bridge

Namada is integrated with IBC to enable interaction with Cosmos and, more importantly, Ethereum. Therefore, Namada is building a bridge based on a light client with Ethereum. The bridge will be operated by Namada validators as a core part of the protocol. Namada validators will run full Ethereum nodes and monitor Ethereum bridge contracts to know when assets are transferred to Namada.

In practice, the merging of transactions into batches, similar to a sequencer grouping and ordering them in Layer 2, is common practice. The difference in Namada’s bridge is that it allows anyone to initiate the process of verifying transactions in the pool without relying on a trusted sequencer.

Discover: Namada Ethereum Bridge

Roadmap

Updating…

Teams

The development team of Namada consists of members who are co-developers of the Anoma blockchain and are managed by Heliax, a technology company based in Switzerland.

Prominent members include:

• Adrian Brink: He is currently the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Heliax.
• Awa Sun Yin: She is currently a Co-Founder of Heliax.
• Christopher Goes: He is currently a Co-Founder of Heliax.

Conclusion

As we navigate the complexities of the blockchain universe, Namada stands out as a beacon of innovation and security. With its groundbreaking approach to multichain privacy, Namada is not just a protocol—it’s a revolution. By enabling seamless, shielded transfers across various assets and platforms, Namada is set to redefine how we think about privacy in the digital age.

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