Authored by: @hetty-rowan

Apparently crypto is very dog friendly

In recent months, of course, a lot of tokens have been added that for some vague reason all have to do with a dog breed. And they all carry a dog as their logo. Now I have to say, I don't see the REAL dogs coming back here yet. A coin with a German Shepherd, for example, has yet to be invented, while in my eyes that is a real dog. Anyway, I'm a bit biased when it comes to dogs.

Now I have a lot with dogs, but the dog coins, no, my confidence in it is actually not that great. And because I was getting tired of looking at coins with a dog in the logo, and getting a dog coin shilled from various sides, I thought it was time to look for other things in the crypto.

Now of course we all know that coins with names from the food industry also do well. For this we only have to look at, for example, CAKE and BAKE, SUSHI also participates nicely. And a PIZZA from time to time is also welcome.

But uh, don't we have anything but dogs or food? Well, of course we have WEED, so crypto can also participate in the garden. And when I thought about the garden, I wondered if there are more coins that owe their name to something completely different.

And that's where we come to ORCHID (OXT).

Ah, a beautiful flower in the crypto jungle. So hurry on… because what is it? What does it do? What can it do?

What are the characteristics of Orchid?

Orchid offers its users the possibility to use the internet without tracing what you are doing there by means of a decentralized VPN (Virtual Private Network). Normally when you connect to the network you are anonymous to a certain extent and your data is therefore also protected with restrictions. Your IP address can be traced and what you send, receive or view also.

A VPN

On a virtual private network, what you do is not visible to others. This is because all data you send over the network is sealed. Furthermore, it masks your IP address and the VPN can block trackers and sites. This is all possible because everything goes through an encrypted server. The disadvantage of this centralized VPN is that there is a third party that facilitates the server. This makes this network potentially unsafe for a possible attack by hackers. And the question always remains whether this third party will actually protect your data. There have been VPNs in the past that still shared information with governments, so that the idea of ​​​​privacy was somewhat lost.

This is where Orchid differs from existing VPNs, because Orchid is a decentralized virtual private network. With a decentralized system, there is no longer a need for a third party to facilitate the server. This is arranged with smart contracts and by the blockchain. The Orchid protocol runs on Web RTC, which is a common web on which data from videos and audio is transferred. The Orchid VPN is a peer to peer system, so a network of equivalent units, nodes.

These nodes offer bandwidth. You need bandwidth to send your data or to move around on the wild wide web at all. Bandwidth indicates the maximum speed at which data transfer takes place on the Internet. Orchid ensures that providers can offer their bandwidth to users with their platform. This does not come from a central provider, but from different providers, so decentralized.

Providers connect with users based on the bandwidth they can offer. In this way, supply and demand are aligned in the Orchid ecosystem. Orchid uses the WEB3 technology of the Ethereum blockchain for the ecosystem. It all sounds familiar and good so far, doesn't it?

You also do not pay for the bandwidth with a subscription, which you would have to take out with a provider. You only pay when you use the bandwidth with a pay-to-go system. The payments are made by the user as probabilistic nano payments and the payments are made in the native token OXT. Ah, now we come to what we understand. So we need crypto to be able to use this. But, uh ... probabilistic nano payments?

What the hell are we talking about here. What is that?

How do probabilistic nano payments work?

A user first creates an account for these nano payments. You do this by capturing OXT tokens in an Ethereum smart contract. A ticket is required to claim the OXT tokens for the bandwidth used. This ticket is in the form of a probabilistic nano-payment. As a user you make a lot of these payments.

Probabilistic has the word probably, in it. So you make a lot of probable payments in nano size. This sounds a bit shady, because with only probable payments you will not get your groceries at the checkout of the supermarket. But in the case of the likely payments in the Orchid system, there is a real ticket in between, claiming the OXT tokens tied up in an ethereum smart contract. So when a ticket is received, there is a chance that it is a real payment and a chance that it is not. I have to say that Orchid has lost me a bit here. This principle is a bit over my head. I get what they mean, but I don't understand how it works anyway. Perhaps I have a probabilistic understanding of this… Sorry!

It's like a lottery!

In any case, some of those payments are actually made and some are not. So it's like the lottery, someone always wins, and in this case it's the provider of your choice. Ultimately, the bandwidth provider thus receives the agreed amount via the probabilistic nano payments. The nano payments ensure that transaction costs remain relatively low. And so the anonymity of the users is guaranteed even better, because traceability back to the user becomes very difficult. The principle is clear to me… but can I appreciate it? Whether it's really something for me ... I'll leave that up for now. Because somehow I'm starting to get the idea that all these nano payments can still be quite pricey in the end. I could not find out whether this is always a fixed amount that is involved with the nano payments. Now it may also have to do with the fact that my head still seems to be in an indecisive mood after I had a day yesterday when I was mainly dizzy.

I probably should have looked for a simpler coin … but then again, there is not a whole post to write about that. So, forgive me!

In any case, this way you can use a network with bandwidth providers where no third party is involved. And Orchid does more!

Rabbits hopping all over the place

How is your anonymity and privacy even more guaranteed via Orchid's decentralized VPN?
If you look at the Orchid site, you will notice that the developers have a thing for rabbits. The rabbit probably suits Orchid because of the tunnels he digs, which allow him to get to other places without anyone seeing how he got there. This is how you travel digitally with Orchid. A rabbit also hops from one hallway to another. Orchid also calls a routing of data, from the start via a node to the final destination, a hop. The hop on Orchid's VPN makes it unclear how exactly the route runs, like a corridor underground. Orchid creates layers that hide the details of your route IP address or physical location. This makes it impossible for the ISP (internet service provider) to see which sites you visit. You have free access to the internet without ISP firewalls restricting access. By making a string of hops, a multi-hop circuit, you make it even more difficult to trace.

Safety

Orchid's protocol is solid in this way, but this system and the tokens are not 100% safe for hacks either! A weak spot in the system is the user's own security. If it is hacked via one of the exchange platforms, it is theoretically possible that hackers can trace transaction data of an Orchid user here. The system is therefore not yet guaranteed to be safe, but it does have important innovations that have increased safety many times over.

How do you use Orchid?

Now perhaps the most important part. Because how exactly do you use Orchid? Read carefully! You can use the Orchid VPN via the Orchid site. You can access the network in various ways. For example, you can share an Orchid account with someone, you can create an account with iOS or purchase one with OXT tokens. Then you have to make sure that you have Ethereum tokens for the network fees in your wallet that you can use in combination with OXT tokens for bandwidth use.

At the moment the Orchid application is available for IOS, Android, Macos and Linux. For Windows there seems to be only a beta test version available at the moment.

Conclusion

After reading all this, I must honestly say that it is not directly a token that interests me. Yes privacy is important. Especially now that we are doing more and more digitally. Yes anonymity on the web is important, again for the same reason. We are doing more and more digitally in our lives. We are increasingly managing our money digitally, especially in crypto. And the hop system certainly appeals to me, but there are other things that make this less plausible for me. In short, I see potential for Orchid (OXT), but is it really a token that I'm saying right now, "It's a MUST-HAVE"? No, not yet. Maybe I'll think differently in a while. We will see. For now, I would be leaning more towards Helium (HNT), The internet of people, if I think in terms of potential.