What is Sentinel Network?
Sentinel Network is a bandwidth marketplace primarily for dVPN applications. Users utilise VPNs to obtain an encrypted connection over the internet giving increased privacy, anonymity and security.
The global VPN market is valued at an estimated $25.4bn in 2019 and is projected to grow to $75.6bn by 2027 (a forecasted CAGR of 14.7%). The increased use of wireless devices in corporate settings has been a driving force in the market and as you may imagine, this is not expected to slow down anytime soon. This has been further supplemented by increasing numbers of digital transformation projects (as a means of operating during the pandemic) to enable employees to work securely from remote locations.
Centralised VPN architecture requires multiple intermediary servers for governance purposes and to ensure the user is connected to the VPN node. This creates significant dependency to a number of servers creating multiple points of attack/failure.
Entities who provide dVPN applications on Sentinel Network will have to construct the application in line with Sentinel’s dVPN protocol framework. The Sentinel Network dVPN framework looks to strengthen security by allowing node hosts to set their own encryption level (with the base being 256-AES). encryption and minimise the number of intermediary servers. To maximise the number of providers within Sentinel Network, the developers aim to work with centralised VPN providers to transition their back-end architecture to a decentralised structure.
A strong relay network is essential to a dVPN solution to maintain a user’s right to privacy. The relay network contributes to the masking of the user’s connection to the internet. Within centralised VPN structures, the exit node will have access to the user’s IP address and could potentially collate the data if they wanted to. This is a significant flaw in the model as it means that by piecing both together the VPN provider has knowledge of who the user is and what they did. Using a network of relay nodes will mean that the exit node will have no knowledge of who the original user was (although could still collect the data). More specifically, Sentinel dVPN’s protocol framework makes it so that no node knows whether they are a relay node or an exit node.
Sentinel Network also looks to counter potential falsification within the network. A service provider could overstate the amount of bandwidth provided to increase the income they earn. Sentinel Network has developed a bandwidth provability protocol that will be implemented on their native Tendermint-based network which involves the generation of ‘bandwidth signatures’ from both the service provider and user. These signatures are messages consisting of the bandwidth transmitted within a pre-configured period of time. The service provider and the user generate their own signatures which are signed with their respective private key. These signatures are then stored on-chain for provenance.
Sentinel Network’s Testnet can be downloaded on Android devices with over 100,000 downloads. The Testnet can also be downloaded from the iOS store after receiving approval from app store at the end of February. The Testnet can also be downloaded on computers too and is free. Since the start of 2021, Sentinel Network has maintained more than 100 active nodes and users have currently consumed over 900TB of data. People can follow along the usage of Sentinel Network on https://stats.sentinel.co/ which clearly show significant strengthening from both a supply and demand perspective.
Sentinel Network’s Testnet was built on Ethereum. Their migration to an independent blockchain as part of the Cosmos ecosystem will incorporate inter-blockchain communication enabling interoperability. The Mainnet launch is expected to launch on 26 March 2021.
Individuals can purchase access to dVPNs by subscribing for a fixed period of time or with a real-time payment model. Users can pay for access to the dVPN in a variety of cryptocurrencies or fiat currencies enabling it to reach a wider audience by being able to facilitate transactions from the mainstream market.
Who are the actors within Sentinel Network?
The Sentinel hub is built on the Cosmos SDK and follows the same dPOS-based governance protocol and framework as the Cosmos Hub. Validators secure Sentinel Network by validating transactions and verifying blocks. The network will commence with 50 validators. Validators are incentivised by charging users a commission fee for staking.
Users are those that want to access a dVPN built on the Sentinel framework. Users can earn passive income by ‘delegating’ their Sentinel token to a validator. Sentinel Network is expected to publish their tokenomics paper on 17 March 2021 which will contain further details including the returns to users for staking their SENT.
Sentinel Network requires dVPN Node Hosts who are community members intending to monetise on the provision of unused bandwidth to dVPNs built on the Sentinel network, by hosting either an exit node or a relay node.
There is also a need for dVPN Application Creators who are the creators of dVPNs built on the Sentinel framework while using the Sentinel dVPN zone as its infrastructure layer. The application creator is responsible for user acquisition and marketing in order to generate revenue in order to be able to pay dVPN node hosts.
Who is in Sentinel Network’s team?
Sentinel Network is developed by Exidio, a for-profit organisation who also contribute to the development of the Cosmos ecosystem.
Dan Edlebeck is the co-founder and CEO at Exidio and also founded Deedle Connects, a marketing agency helping blockchain platforms build their brand. Unfortunately, Deedle Connect’s website does not provide much information as to the organisations they have worked with to date. After leaving the Peace Corps as a Community Economic Development adviser, he joined Blockparty and Badger Labs in marketing roles signalling his depth of experience in the brand development space. Dan studied at the prestigious Babson College, the top university for entrepreneurship in the United States. here he met with COO Peter Mancuso.
Srinivas Baride is the co-founder and CTO at Exidio with a number of years’ experience in software engineering. More specifically, the majority of his software engineering experience has involved the development of blockchain technologies including Wow Labz who largely build products for startups and Vitwit who have done significant work with projects in the Cosmos Ecosystem (including Akash Network and Cosmos).
Peter Mancuso is the COO at Exidio with experience working with startups and global businesses. Having spent three years at Charles Schwab in marketing and communications, he went to Babson College completing an MBA. During his MBA, he was seconded into Sensata Technologies - a world leading supplier of precision sensors.
What is Sentinel Token required for?
Sentinel Token (“SENT Token”) is the native token built on the Sentinel Network. SENT is essential for the security of the network as it is the staking token for Sentinel’s Cosmos-based Hub. Users can earn passive income by delegating their Sentinel token to a validator.
As mentioned earlier, dVPN Node Hosts will be those members who provide their unused bandwidth to dVPNs on Sentinel Network. These members will be paid in SENT but the incorporation of inter-blockchain communication will allow this to be paid out in a cryptocurrency of their choice. It is expected that rewards will be in place to incentivise hosts to take payment in SENT.
Token-holders will be able to participate in governance related decisions by having the ability to create governance proposals or vote on proposals issued by other community members. These governance proposals provide the ability for various elements or variables of the chain to be edited without the requirement for a ‘hard-fork’, or a manual maintenance-based shutdown of the chain.
Users of dVPNs built on the Sentinel framework are able to pay for the services either on a subscription basis or on a real-time bandwidth usage basis. Users who use the basic subscription model will be able to pay for their services with an array of fiat and cryptocurrencies depending on the individual dVPN Application Creator. However, users who opt for the real-time solution will only be able to pay for their services in SENT.
There will be a substantial change in the tokenomics of Sentinel Network subsequent to their transition from the Ethereum blockchain to their own native Cosmos-based chain. As part of the transition, the total supply is expected to increase from 2bn to 10bn over a five-year period.
To ensure that their native blockchain has sufficient uptake in staking, Sentinel Network will be incentivising existing token-holders to stake their newly obtained SENT coins for a minimum of twelve consecutive months by sharing a pool of 400m coins between all applicable parties.
It should be noted that c.42% of the total supply of tokens will be allocated between the team, Sentinel Network’s treasury and their marketing allocations. However, this has been designed with a strong weighting towards the later years to ensure that the platform can achieve long-term growth. These allocations are estimated to be distributed with 60% of the coins unlocked after four years with the remainder in the fifth year. The significant weighting in the fifth year is as Sentinel Network’s team committed to a five year vesting period for their team’s tokens.
Further information on the tokenonomics can be found on this blog post by Sentinel Network (https://medium.com/sentinel/sentinels-next-chapter-the-path-to-dvpn-mass-adoption-5d8a0b2afaba). As mentioned above, Sentinel Network’s tokenomics paper is expected to be released tomorrow so if you like what you see here, feel free to continue your research with the tokenomics paper.
Who is Sentinel Network working with?
The Sentinel Network has experienced substantial growth in their first dVPN party, Velocity dVPN. They are the first third party to build their dVPN in accordance with the framework outlined by Sentinel Network. In March 2020, Velocity’s app crossed 100,00 downloads.
Sentinel Network has also successfully managed the integration of SpiderVPN, decentralising the centralised VPN provider achieving over 100TB of data usage per month with thousands of active users.
There are also a number of other parties that Sentinel Network is working with in advance of their Mainnet launch. These include:
- A twelve-month formal alliance agreement with PIVX looking to foster inter-community support and exploring technical integrations including a possible PIVX bridge for the dVPN;
- A partnership with Pirate Chain (who are the co-founders of the BPSAA) and bill themselves as the most secure and private cryptocurrency payments coin on the market. Pirate Chain plan to integrate Sentinel into their native OS in the future;
- It is also a part of the BPSAA whose partners work together to promote privacy and security related blockchain solutions. The alliance does not contain many mature blockchains but does include Komodo; and
- A partnership with Razor Network’s decentralised Oracle platform to obtain cryptocurrency price feeds to facilitate the payment of dVPN usage in supported cryptocurrencies.
What does Sentinel Network have in plan for the future?
Sentinel Network’s roadmap consists of multiple items, both in relation to the improvement of their platform and their integration in the Cosmos ecosystem. Some notable goals include:
- Bridge enabling transfer of tokens from the Ethereum blockchain to Sentinel Network’s native Cosmos-based chain;
- Enabling inter-blockchain communication on the Cosmos ecosystem;
- Enable coin-holders on the Sentinel Network to stake their coins for transaction validation;
- Implementation of their unique proof of bandwidth at a consensus level;
- Continued research into a custom version of Tor on Sentinel Network; and
- Allow the purchase of shares into third party nodes.
As you may imagine, Sentinel Network is a very young platform and only has a couple third-parties building dVPNs with their framework at this moment. Therefore, continued efforts in marketing will be required to ensure that they can see an uptake in independently operating dVPNs.
Who are Sentinel Network’s competitors?
Current centralised VPN providers act by redirecting a user’s network through a specially configured remote server run by the host. It aims to remove the ability for Internet Service Provider’s and other third parties to see the data that a user sends and receives online. The closed source nature of current VPNs has resulted in numerous incidents where VPN providers harvest and sell the data that is obtained by their customers.
As mentioned above, Sentinel Network is looking to support centralised VPN providers in transitioning to a decentralised structure which will be part of the Sentinel Hub. The centralised VPN model suffers from four distinct issues:
- Exposed to a single point of failure;
- Tend to be expensive for users;
- A lack of transparency means that users cannot be reassured; and
- Scaling their solution tends to have high upfront costs.
Sentinel Network’s developers are of the view that other dVPN providers are not there competition, rather building relationships with them by way of their formal alliance with Mysterium. The developers noted that they saw Substratum as their competition (back in 2018) which looked to capitalise on surplus computing resources. This is as Sentinel Network is looking to further build past dVPNs into a more comprehensive service using their proof of bandwidth model to enable dChats and dVoIPs.
In the TOR network, relay and exit nodes are not incentivised for their participation. Instead they are encouraged to provide their services simply out of shared respect for the ethos behind decentralisation. Industry experts worry the TOR network has been compromised by entities who control a significant number of TOR relay and exit nodes. At this point of time, there are roughly 7,000 TOR relay nodes on the network with approximately 2,000,000 active users per day.
The success of the Sentinel Network depends entirely on the number of unique participants. Attracting these participants requires a certain level of incentivisation through mechanisms on the network.
Conclusions
I am a pretty strong advocate for personal privacy, as all people should be. Sentinel Network looks to help users regain control of their data and it appears that they have stood the test of time and progressed their platform since May 2018 and not succumbed like their competitor at the time, Substratum.
My concerns for Sentinel Network at this time are largely those of their ability to attract dVPN Application Creators. Since their Testnet launch in January 2019, they have only made one significant integration with Velocity and a successful marketplace will require significantly more dVPNs on the platform. However, I believe that we will see a significant uptick after the launch of their native Cosmos-based chain.
If you had space for a moonshot in your portfolio, I would definitely give Sentinel Network a look. The strong fundamentals it has should see significant user attraction, especially when there is a lack of direct competition, enabling long term success for the platform. It can easily be seen that the growth of SENT will be proportionate to the growth of the platform.
The VPN market will undoubtedly grow over time and Sentinel’s dVPN enables security and privacy to attract corporations and individuals alike.
Whitepaper: https://github.com/sentinel-official/docs/raw/master/whitepaper/whitepaper.pdf
