About

Orchid is a decentralized marketplace specializing in bandwidth provision. It operates through a server network on the Ethereum blockchain, using OXT for stake-weighted service requests. Orchid's offerings include a VPN application supporting iOS, macOS, Android, and multi-hop circuits using various protocols. The platform also employs a L2/L3 "probabilistic rollup" for off-chain payments.

History

The Orchid protocol is an open-source overlay network that aims to provide private internet access. Its first offering is the Orchid VPN client, a tool that connects users to a marketplace of service providers that put their surplus bandwidth up for sale. Providers must stake Orchid tokens, OXT, to activate their internet-connected device as an Orchid node. The list of available bandwidth providers is stored in an Ethereum smart contract that is accessible to prospective users. Users can choose which providers they want to route through for increased privacy.

Orchid began in 2017 to create a decentralized marketplace for bandwidth. The initial founding team includes Dr. Steven Waterhouse (Co-Founder of Pantara Capital, board member of Bitstamp, and Co-Founder of RPX), Brian Fox (the author of Bash and has over 20 years of open source contributions), Jay Freeman (the author of Cydia, the App Store for jailbroken iPhones and Impactor software for the iPhone), and Gustav Simonsson, a white hat hacker and ex-security researcher for the Ethereum Foundation).

Orchid Labs, the team that initially built the Orchid protocol, raised $48 million through SAFT offerings from VCs like Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, FBG, DFJ, BoxGroup, Blockchain Capital, Polychain Capital, MetaStable, Kinetic Ventures, and Foundation Capital. The company also received support from angel investors such as Roger Ver, Naval Ravikant, Gavin Wood, Matt Roszak, Dan Boneh, and Paul Bohm.