Launched: a new incognito.org

[alias]

As part of our initiative to increase visibility for Incognito, we wanted to update what we show to the world.

Visit the new website: incognito.org.

Have a look and let us know your thoughts. Does it represent what Incognito is? Is the vision clear? Will it encourage visitors to dive deeper?

A quick overview:

The website is structured around the 3 dev and growth focuses outlined in the 2022 roadmap.

1. Markets. Incognito is the privacy marketplace for every cryptocurrency: the meeting place for any blockchain to trade and hold assets anonymously.

2. Apps. Incognito is the (permissionless) privacy app store of the decentralized web: any developer on any chain with smart contract support can enable privacy for their dApp.

3. Infrastructure. Incognito is unstoppable privacy infrastructure for web3: built for privacy at scale, powered by thousands of privacy-minded validators.

Obviously, all this is just the core team’s interpretation of what the project is. We’d really like to hear from you:

What do you think?

1. Should we (re)introduce the pCoin concept? (pBTC, pETH), etc.

It is more explanatory of what actually happens when a coin is shielded, and establishes the pCoin as a privacy mirror with its own thriving markets. However, it was originally removed for user-friendliness, which is of course is still a valid goal.

if we keep the pCoin concept on the site…

2. Should we put pCoins back in the app?

So instead of trading ETH <> BTC, they’d be trading pETH <> pBTC, for example. They’d also see pUSDT in their assets, instead of USDT. By highlighting pCoins, we’d be drawing attention to the process by which coins ‘become’ pCoins (and vice versa). So maybe we’d have to separate the app actions -

Out-network: deposit/shield USDT to mint pUSDT, burn pUSDT to release USDT to your public address
In-network: send and receive pUSDT between incognito addresses.

Is that a bit too complex for a new user to grasp? Is it necessary for them to?

3. Is there anything we missed? We’d love to hear what you would highlight about the project.

4. Is there anything that could be potentially misleading or problematic? Put on your best devil’s advocate hat!

All suggestions, questions, ideas etc. are welcome.

Let us know what you think about the new incognito.org.

[adrian]

This is fantastic, well done team!!

Very clean and love the new highlights on dapps and infrastructure.

1. pCoin does make sense as it’s closer to how minting/burning works behind the scenes in incognito, but tbh it doesn’t make much difference; probably better to keep it consistent to how it is in the app. The ‘What are pCoins?’ hover is definitely a nice touch.

2. Don’t think it’s a complexity issue, it’s more about familiarity. Users are used to ETH/BTC in the app and haven’t heard any complaints afaik, so better to keep it consistent as the representation is still of the real asset on eth/btc/xmr chains.

3. Add node monitor to ‘Dive in’ and maybe a highlight that PRV ERC20/BEP20 is tradeable outside incognito and can be bridged. Also highlight the new pDEX and the opportunity for LPs to get more liquidity on-chain.

4. The wording on commission-free is fine for now, but won’t be true anymore with the new pDEX, so might need re-phrasing to ‘lowest DEX fees’.

[SPAddict25]

This is a much welcomed improvement. I find it funny that everything now is dark mode

For the validator section, the ROI is going to change based off no. of nodes and community slots. Would be kind of cool if the ROI would update in real time. Alternatively could place that on the explorer underneath no. of active validators.

The link to become a validator is great but it is probably important there’s a link on explaining how validation works. Otherwise new validators won’t understand it’s uniform random distribution selection (i.e. earnings average out to 54%).

Just don’t want new people who come onboard spam why hasn’t my node earned, it’s been X days. The 54% is a lie etc.

[alias]

@adrian

Users are used to ETH/BTC in the app and haven’t heard any complaints afaik, so better to keep it consistent as the representation is still of the real asset on eth/btc/xmr chains.

yep i think this is what it boils down to really… best not to rock the boat for no reason. we’ll probably keep the p off. thanks!

@adrian

Also highlight the new pDEX and the opportunity for LPs to get more liquidity on-chain.

we’ll be building out the markets page a bit when pdex launches - maybe a section for liquidity mining.

@adrian

The wording on commission-free is fine for now, but won’t be true anymore with the new pDEX, so might need re-phrasing to ‘lowest DEX fees’.

i think what we were intending to do was tweak the short description to say ‘zero fee limit orders’… do you think that would be any clearer?

[alias]

@SPAddict25

The link to become a validator is great but it is probably important there’s a link on explaining how validation works. Otherwise new validators won’t understand it’s uniform random distribution selection (i.e. earnings average out to 54%).

yep, absolutely valid. tbh the tutorial is a stand-in atm - i believe @jared is working on a new validator overview topic that the button will ultimately direct to.

the topic should cover why someone might want to be a validator, what it’s like to be a validator, and so on - and also act as a directory of sorts with links to tutorials and further readings.

@SPAddict25

Just don’t want new people who come onboard spam why hasn’t my node earned, it’s been X days. The 54% is a lie etc.

…

[mb_dc2008]

You guys should definitely add a footer to the website – a place for trust signifiers, navigation, social links etc…

[Socrates]

@alias Regarding reintroduction of p-coins, while I understand a developer’s desire for user friendliness and abstracting the functions away from end user, in the interest of transparency and clarity, I would keep the p-coin designation. Without the p-coin designation, many end users will think they actually have bitcoin (and probably be looking on btc explorers for confirmation and information on their transactions) instead of a 1:1 pegged token trustlessly linked to bitcoin (that exists only in the incognito network and incognito explorers and cli’s should be used to gain additional information regarding it). The “p” emphasizes “privacy” and the real value proposition of the incognito wallet. Without the “p” for privacy, incognito becomes just another bitcoin wallet. “Privacy” should be emphasized in addition to the added clarity and transparency that “p-coins” remind the user they are dealing with a different network than the underlying -original coin’s network. Even wrapped Bitcoin on the eth network has a “W” prefix to transparently indicate WBTC is not identical to BTC. pBTC is not identical to BTC and that should be extra clear in the symbols and terms.

[fredlee]

I agree with @Socrates. I liked the p-coins. New users wondering and getting confused about what a pBTC is, it’s not a bad thing. Thinking it’s something it’s not, might be much worse.

I’d like to see them back in the App.

[fredlee]

Some questions and pointers.

Not sure what this means. Do you mean that you don’t get a cut of the action? Because technically there’s a fee in the App when I do a trade.

Where do I click to borrow? I get the feeling that there are built-in solutions for lending and borrowing. I think you’re listing either too many specific usage cases (or not many enough. Can I use it for gifts or paying my rent?)

The ever-lasting question. How decentralized is it?

When the hypothetical dark day where government cracks down on all privacy crypto comes. The first thing that’s gonna happen is that Apple and Google pulls the apps from their platforms. It’s of course bad out of a usability standpoint, but we can still fire up full nodes and create transactions. I think clear instructions on how to do this should be easier to find.

What happens if you turn off all of the fixed nodes tomorrow? Does the network still function?

When the official incognito team public servers are all shut off, how does the regular Joe convert his pBTC back to BTC? I actually do not know how to do this. How do I get stuff off the incognito platform? Can we get a step-by-step guide on how to achieve this?

Information around these things is important to achieve zero-trust. I want to chisel it down on my stone tablets and put them in my doomsday bunker so I know how to withdraw my p-coins when the world is burning!