Oasis Network

What it does

Oasis Network is a Layer 1L1Layer 1. A base blockchain that runs its own consensus mechanism, executes transactions, and settles its own state. Bitcoin, Ethereum, NEAR, and Solana are all L1s. Anything built on top of an L1 is technically a Layer 2 or higher.Like the foundation of a building. Nothing else can exist on top until the foundation is solid. Different L1s make different tradeoffs for what kind of building they can support.Read more → blockchain designed from the ground up for confidential computingConfidential ComputeHardware-enforced computation where data and code are encrypted in memory and only the authorised application can access them. The machine's operator cannot read what the application is doing even though they own the machine.Like renting space in a bank vault. The bank owns the building and runs the security, but what you put in the vault is invisible even to the bank staff. Only you have the key.Read more →. Smart contracts on Oasis can process data that stays encrypted even from the nodes running them. Not “privacy optional” or “privacy coming soon”; confidential execution is the core architecture.

The network uses a two-layer design. The Consensus Layer runs CometBFT (formerly Tendermint) proof-of-stake with 120 validatorValidatorA computer that runs the full blockchain protocol, verifies transactions, and proposes new blocks. Validators are the workers that keep a Proof of Stake network running, and they earn rewards for doing the work correctly.Like a notary public who witnesses and stamps legal documents. Validators witness transactions, check they follow the rules, and stamp them into the permanent record. A notary who commits fraud loses their license. Validators work the same way, except the license is staked tokens that get slashed on misbehaviour.Read more → slots. The ParaTime Layer runs multiple parallel execution environments concurrently, each with its own compute characteristics:

• Sapphire – Oasis’s flagship confidential EVM-compatible ParaTime. Runs Solidity contracts inside Intel SGXSGXIntel Software Guard Extensions. The first widely-deployed TEE technology, introduced in 2015. SGX creates encrypted memory regions (enclaves) where code and data are protected from the operating system and the machine's owner.Like a safe deposit box at a bank. The bank owns the safe room and can see who comes in and out, but they can't see what's inside the boxes. SGX gives applications a private box on a shared computer.Read more → trusted execution environments. Data enters encrypted, is decrypted only inside the hardware enclaveEnclaveAn isolated region of CPU or GPU memory protected by hardware. Code and data inside the enclave are inaccessible to the operating system, the hypervisor, or even the machine's physical owner.Like a secure room inside a much larger office building. The building's caretakers have keys to every other room but not this one. What happens inside is invisible to them by design.Read more →, processed, and re-encrypted before output. 6-second finality. 99%+ lower fees than Ethereum. Among the most established production confidential EVMs in crypto.
• Cipher – Wasm-based confidential ParaTime (also using SGX). Supports Rust smart contracts with full confidentiality.
• Emerald – Standard non-confidential EVM ParaTime for applications that don’t need privacy.

The separation of consensus from execution is the architectural differentiator. Each ParaTime operates independently: Sapphire can be confidential while Emerald runs standard EVM, all sharing the same consensus layer. This is more modular than most L1 designs.

ROFL (Runtime Off-chain Logic) launched on mainnet on 2 July 2025, enabling off-chain computation inside TEEs with on-chain attestationAttestationA cryptographic proof that a piece of code is running on a specific hardware enclave in an unmodified state. Attestation lets remote users verify that a service is genuinely running what it claims to be running.Like a tamper-evident seal on a medicine bottle. The seal itself doesn't make the medicine safe, but it gives you a way to verify that nobody opened the bottle and swapped the contents before you bought it.Read more →. Positioned as a “Trustless AWS,” ROFL supports AI inferenceInferenceRunning a trained AI model to produce an answer. Inference is what happens when you type a prompt into ChatGPT and get a response. The model takes your input, computes a best guess, and returns it.Like asking an expert for their opinion. The training was the decades they spent becoming an expert. The inference is the 30 seconds it takes them to answer your specific question.Read more →, oracle feeds, game hosting, and autonomous agents. Early projects include Zeph (privacy-first AI companion) and WT3 (autonomous trading agent, $100K seed from the Foundation). This moves Oasis beyond smart contracts into general-purpose confidential compute.

Founded in 2018 by Dawn Song (CEO), who is the Forrest G. Hamrick Professor of Engineering at UC Berkeley, a MacArthur Fellow (2010), a Guggenheim Fellow, and the most-cited scholar in computer security per AMiner. She co-invented Flash OFDM, the technology underlying 4G mobile networks. By any measure, the most credentialled founder in all of crypto.

Other co-founders include Bobby Jaros (COO), Noah Johnson (CPO), and Raymond Cheng (CTO). The entity is Oasis Labs Inc., based in Berkeley, California, with a separate Oasis Foundation governing the network.

Mainnet launched 18 November 2020.

Value proposition

What works in production

Confidential computing that actually works in production. Oasis has been running confidential smart contracts since 2020. Not as a testnet, not as a roadmap item, but as a functioning network. On-chain data shows 25,000-31,000 daily transactions on Sapphire. If you need EVM-compatible privacy today, Sapphire is one of the few production options. Since July 2025, ROFL extends this to off-chain compute: AI inference, oracles, and autonomous agents running inside TEEs with on-chain attestation.

The technical approach uses Intel SGX trusted execution environments. Data is encrypted at rest and in transit, decrypted only inside the hardware enclave. Even the node operators can’t see what they’re processing. Sapphire adds confidential state (the contract’s storage is encrypted), full encryption from the user’s browser to the enclave, and confidential randomness.

The TVL counter-narrative

The counter-narrative used to write itself: “$288K TVLTVLTotal Value Locked. The sum of all assets currently deposited in a protocol's smart contracts. TVL is the standard measure of how much capital a DeFi or DeAI protocol is custodying.Like the assets under management of a hedge fund. AUM tells you how much money the fund has been trusted with, which is a rough proxy for how much business it's doing. TVL plays the same role for crypto protocols.Read more → after five years.” That number has moved. Sapphire TVL peaked at $7.5M in May 2025 (per DeFiLlama), driven largely by Accumulated Finance’s liquid stakingStakingLocking up a cryptocurrency to help secure a blockchain network, usually in exchange for rewards. The locked tokens act as a security deposit that can be taken away if the staker misbehaves.Like putting down a large rental deposit for an apartment. You get the money back if you behave, you earn interest while it's locked, and the landlord takes it if you trash the place.Read more → protocol (stROSE), which locked 12M+ ROSE. But the peak did not hold. By early 2026, TVL had fallen back sharply, to around $282K per DeFiLlama. The trajectory shows the network can attract capital, but not retain it. Still less TVL than a mid-tier Uniswap pool. Active addresses tell a slightly better story: Sapphire surpassed 15,000 daily active addresses in March 2026, up from 9,500 in September 2025.

The ICOICOInitial Coin Offering. A token sale where a project sells tokens directly to the public, usually before any product exists. ICOs dominated 2017-2018 funding and are now mostly replaced by airdrops, IDOs, or fair launches.Like a company selling shares to the public before going public, except with no SEC oversight, no audited financials, and often no product at all. The 2017 ICO boom showed why those guardrails exist in traditional finance.Read more → was in July 2018 at $0.02 per ROSE. The tokenTokenA digital unit of value or access rights tracked on a blockchain. Tokens can represent ownership in a project, a right to use a service, a share of future revenue, or simply a tradable asset with no underlying claim.Like a physical poker chip a casino issues. The chip itself has no value. What makes it worth something is what it lets you do at the casino, what the casino has promised, and how much other people will pay you for it.Read more → peaked in January 2022 and is now down 98% from its all-time high. ICO investors who held through are deeply underwater after seven years.

Two developments that shift the picture

First, ROFL mainnet (July 2025) moves Oasis from “privacy L1” to “confidential compute platform”. Off-chain AI inference, oracles, and autonomous agents running inside TEEs with on-chain verification. This is the right product for the AI-privacy moment, if they can attract builders.

Second, the SemiLiquid institutional pilot (reported January 2026). SemiLiquid, an Oasis portfolio company, ran a pilot with five institutional partners:

• Franklin Templeton
• Zodia Custody
• M11Credit
• Avalanche
• Presto Labs

The setup: BENJI (Franklin Templeton’s tokenised money-market fund) used as collateral on Oasis Sapphire via the Liquefaction protocol, built by Cornell Tech. The credit workflow runs on Oasis’s confidential infrastructure, keeping counterparty data encrypted throughout. Oasis’s strategic investment arm backed SemiLiquid as its first venture.

The privacy compute market may simply not be ready yet. Or Oasis may have failed to capture it despite being first. The ROFL launch and institutional pilot suggest the team has shifted strategy from “build it and they will come” to actively pursuing AI and institutional use cases. The TVL spike-and-crash shows demand exists but retention doesn’t. Whether ROFL and institutional partnerships change this trajectory is the question for 2026.

For the sovereignty thesis, Oasis is architecturally one of the strongest projects reviewed. Confidential smart contracts where node operators cannot see the data they process is exactly what data sovereignty means in practice. Sapphire’s confidential EVM is a real, usable tool for privacy-preserving applications today.

Tokenomics

ROSE has a fixed maximum supply of 10 billion tokens, with no inflationInflationThe annual rate at which new tokens are created and added to the circulating supply. Most networks use inflation to pay validators, stakers, and infrastructure providers from freshly minted tokens rather than real revenue.Like a landlord who raises the rent every year. If your salary goes up at the same rate, you break even. If it doesn't, you get poorer without noticing, because the number on your payslip hasn't changed but the ground under it has shifted.Read more → beyond the staking reward allocation. Distribution:

• Staking Rewards: 23.5% – distributed over time to validators and delegators, declining over the first 4 years
• Backers: 23% – a16z, Polychain, Pantera, Binance Labs, Accel, Foundation Capital. VestingVestingA schedule that locks up tokens allocated to insiders, investors, and team members, releasing them gradually over months or years. Vesting prevents insiders from dumping on public buyers immediately after launch.Like a new employee's stock options at a startup. You don't get all the shares on day one. They unlock over four years so you stick around and do the work rather than cashing out and leaving.Read more → extends to ~2030.
• Core Contributors: 20% – team and early contributors. Vesting extends to ~2030.
• Community & Ecosystem: 18.5% – grants, ecosystem fund ($235M assembled from additional backers including Dragonfly, Electric Capital, Jump Capital)
• Foundation Endowment: 10% – Oasis Foundation operations
• Strategic Partners & Reserve: 4.7%
• Lockdrops: 0.3% – completed

$46 million was raised in a private sale (July 2018) led by Andreessen Horowitz at $0.02 per token. This was the only fundraising round: no public sale, no ICO, no follow-on raises. All subsequent grant funding was for projects, not equity or tokens.

Circulating supplyCirculating SupplyThe number of tokens currently in circulation and tradeable on the open market. Differs from total supply (which includes locked or unvested tokens) and max supply (the upper limit, if there is one).Like the number of cars on the road today versus the number ever produced. Some are in showrooms, some in junkyards, some still at the factory. Only the ones on the road count toward what people are actually driving.Read more → is approximately 7.5 billion ROSE (75%). The FDV-to-market-cap ratio of 1.33x is the best in DeAIDeAIDecentralised AI. An umbrella term for blockchain-based projects that build AI infrastructure (compute, data, inference, models, agents) without a single central provider controlling the system.Like the difference between streaming a movie from Netflix and sharing it via BitTorrent. Netflix is fast and polished but one company controls what you can watch and what you pay. BitTorrent is messier but no single operator can shut you out.Read more →, meaning minimal remaining dilution. Most insider vesting is near or past completion. This is the most mature supply profile we have reviewed.

Listed on Binance, Coinbase, KuCoin, Bybit, MEXC, and Gate.io. The FDV-to-market-cap ratio is 1.33x, the best in DeAI.

Staking is available with a minimum of 100 ROSE. APY approximately 5% (declining over time). 14-day unbonding period. Slashing only for double-signing with a minimum 100 ROSE penalty, one of the most lenient slashing regimes in PoSProof of StakeA consensus mechanism where validators earn the right to create new blocks by staking tokens as collateral. If they misbehave, the network slashes their stake. Proof of Stake replaced energy-intensive mining on most modern chains.Like being a licensed auctioneer. You post a bond to get the license, you earn fees for every auction you run, and you lose the bond if you rig an auction. The bigger the bond, the more auctions you get to run.Read more →.

How to participate

Stake ROSE. Delegate to validators. Minimum 100 ROSE. ~5% APY. 14-day unbonding. Slashing only for double-signing. Must sign 75%+ of blocks per epochEpochA fixed-length period in a Proof of Stake blockchain during which the validator set is stable and rewards are calculated. Epochs are the natural unit for staking rewards and network state changes.Like a payroll period at a job. Within the period, your role is fixed and your pay is calculated based on hours worked. At the end, the period closes, paychecks are issued, and a new period begins with potentially different conditions.Read more → to receive rewards. Technical skill: basic.

Liquid stake via Accumulated Finance. Stake ROSE and receive stROSE, which can be used as collateral or in DeFiDeFiDecentralised Finance. Financial services like lending, trading, and yield farming built on smart contracts instead of traditional banks or brokerages. DeFi protocols are usually permissionless and global.Like a vending machine that can give you a loan, swap your currencies, or invest your savings. Nobody is behind the counter, the rules are written into the machine itself, and anyone with money in the right format can use it.Read more → while earning staking yield. Runs on Sapphire with confidentiality guarantees. Technical skill: basic.

Run a validator. Compete for one of 120 validator slots. Intel SGX hardware required for confidential ParaTime compute nodes. Technical skill: advanced. Validator commission plus staking rewards.

Build on Sapphire. Deploy confidential EVM dApps. Full Solidity compatibility with added privacy features (confidential state, encrypted inputs/outputs, confidential randomness). Foundation grants available from $235M fund. Technical skill: intermediate (if you know Solidity, you can build on Sapphire).

Build a ROFL app. Deploy off-chain compute inside TEEs with on-chain verification. Suited to AI inference, oracles, trading agents, and data processing that requires privacy. Foundation seed funding available for promising projects. Technical skill: advanced.

Honest assessment

Freedom Score: 62/100

Oasis has genuine production-ready confidential computing with strong open-source development, but practical limitations exist.

Infrastructure Decentralisation: 13/20. 120 validator slots with 114 active validators. Multiple ParaTimes running in parallel. CometBFT PoS consensus. However, Intel SGX dependency creates hardware vendor centralisation. Sapphire has only 34 compute nodes. ParaTime separation provides architectural resilience but SGX requirement limits who can run compute nodes.

Governance Decentralisation: 8/20. PoS-based validator governance. Oasis Foundation controls protocol upgrades. No documented community governance mechanism beyond validator voting. Development direction controlled by Oasis Labs and the Foundation.

Token Distribution Fairness: 7/15. 43% insider allocation (Backers 23% + Core Contributors 20%) was high at launch. However, 75% is now circulating after 5+ years, and most vesting is near completion. No public sale. FDVFDVFully Diluted Valuation. The market cap a token would have if every token that will ever exist were already in circulation. FDV is what the project would be worth if all locked, vesting, or unminted tokens were trading today.Like valuing a startup based on what every share would be worth if all the unvested employee options had already been exercised. The number is bigger and uglier than the official market cap, but it tells you the true ceiling.Read more →/mcap ratio of 1.33x is among the best in DeAI.

Censorship Resistance: 11/15. Confidential smart contracts mean data is encrypted even from node operators: strong censorship resistance by design. Sapphire is among the most established production confidential EVMs. However, Intel SGX has known side-channel vulnerabilities. 120 validator cap limits resistance versus uncapped sets.

Data Sovereignty: 12/15. Confidential computing is the core product. Full browser-to-enclave encryption, confidential state, confidential randomness. One of the strongest production data sovereignty implementations in crypto. Score limited by SGX vulnerability surface and minimal adoption after 5+ years.

Open Source Transparency: 11/15. 80+ repos, 10,228 commits, 57 contributors. Core, SDKSDKSoftware Development Kit. A collection of code libraries, documentation, and tools that lets developers integrate a service into their applications without writing everything from scratch. SDKs are how projects become easy to build with.Like a plug-and-play kit for building furniture. You don't have to mill your own wood, forge your own screws, or design the joinery from scratch. The kit gives you pre-cut parts and instructions so you can assemble the thing in an afternoon.Read more →, walletWalletSoftware that stores the private keys needed to control tokens on a blockchain. A wallet does not actually hold any tokens. The tokens live on the chain. The wallet holds the keys that prove you own them.Like the key to a safe deposit box. The key doesn't contain your valuables. The valuables sit in the bank's vault. The key is what proves you're allowed to open the box and take them.Read more →, CLI all open source. Active development through March 2026. However, there’s no publicly verifiable core protocol audit from top-tier firms.

Returns Score: 46/100

Token Utility: 13/20. ROSE is used for gasGasThe fee paid to a blockchain to process a transaction. Gas is denominated in the chain's native token and varies with network demand. Sending a transaction without enough gas means the transaction fails and the gas is still consumed.Like the petrol that powers a car. You need to put petrol in to make the engine run. The amount of petrol you need depends on how far you're driving and how much you're carrying. If you run out, the car stops.Read more → fees across all ParaTimes, PoS staking (minimum 100 ROSE), and governance. ROFL mainnet (July 2025) adds off-chain compute utility. ROFL apps pay gas and attestation fees in ROSE. Accumulated Finance’s liquid staking creates additional utility via stROSE. Utility is broadening but ROFL adoption is early-stage.

Value Accrual: 7/20. Transaction fees accrue to validators but remain low. Staking rewards come from the 23.5% staking allocation, not protocol revenue. No fee distribution to non-staking holders. No burnBurnPermanently removing tokens from circulation by sending them to an address that no one controls. Burns reduce total supply, which (all else equal) makes each remaining token worth more of the network's value.Like a company buying back its own shares and shredding them. The company's total value stays the same, but each remaining share now represents a slightly bigger slice of that value.Read more → mechanism. TVL peaked at $7.5M (May 2025) but has since fallen sharply per DeFiLlama; fee generation remains negligible. SemiLiquid/Franklin Templeton pilot (BENJI as collateral via Liquefaction on Sapphire) could drive institutional transaction volume, but is pre-revenue. Marginal improvement.

Supply Dynamics: 14/20. 10B fixed max supply with 75% circulating, the most mature supply profile in DeAI. FDV/mcap ratio of 1.33x means minimal remaining dilution. Most insider vesting near completion. No burn but also no meaningful inflation beyond declining staking emissionsEmissionsNew tokens created and distributed by a blockchain protocol over time as rewards to validators, stakers, or miners. Emissions fund network security and participation at the cost of diluting existing holders.Like a company that pays employees partly in newly printed shares. Every year the total number of shares goes up, which means existing shareholders own a slightly smaller slice of the same company unless the company grows faster than the printing.Read more →. Strong supply dynamics in a project with limited adoption.

Revenue Sustainability: 5/25. Still near-zero protocol revenue after 5+ years of mainnet operation. TVL peaked at $7.5M (May 2025) via Accumulated Finance liquid staking but has since fallen sharply per DeFiLlama. The SemiLiquid pilot with Franklin Templeton and Zodia Custody demonstrates institutional interest in confidential infrastructure for RWA collateral, a plausible revenue pathway. ROFL positions Oasis for the AI-privacy compute market. Score raised from 3 to reflect genuine strategic progress, but revenue remains aspirational.

LiquidityLiquidityHow easily a token can be bought or sold without moving the price. High liquidity means you can enter or exit large positions quickly at the quoted price. Low liquidity means even small trades can swing the market.Like the difference between selling a house and selling a share of Apple stock. The house might be worth more on paper, but finding a buyer at that price takes weeks. The Apple share converts to cash in one click.Read more → & Access: 7/15. Listed on Binance, Coinbase, KuCoin, Bybit, MEXC, Gate.io. Good exchange coverage for tier-1 and tier-2 CEXs. Volume has declined from prior levels relative to these listings.

Quadrant: B (High Freedom, Low Returns)

Oasis sits in Quadrant B: a sovereignty play with unproven economics. The confidential computing architecture is one of the strongest in crypto, but the market hasn’t rewarded it.

Key risks

• TVL spike-and-crash. Sapphire TVL peaked at $7.5M (May 2025) then fell back sharply per DeFiLlama. The network can attract capital but hasn’t demonstrated retention. Still negligible for a funded L1.
• 98% from ATHATHAll-Time High. The highest price a token has ever reached. ATH is usually quoted as a reference point for how far the current price has fallen (or risen) since the peak.Like the record lap time on a racetrack. It tells you what the car has been capable of at its absolute best, not what it will do today. Whether that record gets broken again depends on conditions that may or may not come back.Read more →. Negative ICO ROI after 7+ years. Investor patience is exhausted.
• Intel SGX dependency. Known side-channel vulnerabilities. Hardware vendor centralisation. SGX deprecation risk. ROFL adds Intel TDX support but same vendor.
• ROFL adoption is unproven. Mainnet launched July 2025 but only two early projects (Zeph, WT3). The “Trustless AWS” positioning needs builders to materialise.
• Institutional pilot ≠ institutional adoption. The SemiLiquid/Franklin Templeton pilot is promising but pilots often don’t convert to production deployments. No revenue yet.
• Possible team downsizing. Third-party estimates suggest the team may have shrunk significantly. Unverified but concerning.
• No published core protocol audits. Private bug bounty exists but is not a substitute for published audit reports from recognised firms.
• Privacy L1 competition. Nillion (MPCMPCMulti-Party Computation. A cryptographic technique where multiple parties jointly compute a function over their inputs without any party revealing its input to the others. Useful for shared computation on private data.Like a group of friends calculating the average of their salaries without anyone revealing their actual salary to the others. Each person contributes a piece of the answer, and the pieces combine into the result, but nobody learns anything except the average itself.Read more →/HE), Secret Network (SGX like Oasis), Phala (TEETEETrusted Execution Environment. A hardware-secured region of a CPU or GPU where code runs in isolation, so even the machine's operator can't read what's happening inside. TEEs give decentralised AI inference privacy guarantees.Like a bank vault inside a bank. The bank owns the building, staffs the lobby, and runs the security cameras. But what's inside the vault is invisible to everyone, including the bank staff, unless the customer opens it.Read more → compute) all compete for the same market.

Score change log