What is possible with Uqbar

This post is part of a series exploring how Uqbar will revolutionize Web3. For a more generalized introduction to Uqbar, click here. For a technical overview, explore our Clearpaper here.

In our first post, we described Uqbar as a generalized crypto operating system. This is a powerful statement. Uqbar will be the first secure, decentralized, scalable blockchain network to enable the simple, intuitive UX that everyday internet users desire. More than replicating the familiar Web2 experience, Uqbar will vastly improve user interface, integrating all the internet’s disparate and vital tools into a single, easy-to-use, customizable interface.

As you can imagine, with such a powerful tool, there’s a lot going on under the hood. Soon, we will release both detailed technical papers and user-friendly walk throughs. For today, we will focus on what Uqbar makes possible — anything you can imagine.

How it Works (sort of)

Vital to Uqbar’s architecture is Urbit, a fully operational permissionless peer-to-peer network and programming ecosystem. Urbit’s unique distributed design makes it the perfect partner for blockchain architecture, as does its fundamental non-fungible identity system.

In Urbit, IDs are valuable, scarce, and permanent. This powerful identity structure increases both security and computational efficiency through reputational economics, allowing Uqbar to offer unparalleled autonomy, privacy, and flexibility. Additionally, Urbit’s binary tree data organization and simple op code infrastructure make Urbit extremely attractive from a developer perspective, as well as incredibly efficient. Any buzzword scaling solution you can imagine — sharding, ZK proofs, optimistic rollups — will not only work with Uqbar, but will be even more effective. And, thanks to Urbit’s exceptional NFT identity system, using all of the powerful tools developed on Uqbar is possible with a single login.

No more fumbling for forgotten passwords. No more security questions about your dentist’s mother’s middle name. No more arcane multi-step account recovery processes that require your social and a blood sample from your first-born child.

Best of all, because Urbit is a functional P2P OS, no third party controls your data or your software interface. Uqbar’s core architecture is both permissionless and optional, meaning its applications are extremely customizable. Through Uqbar, you can access all social, financial, and organizational tools in their most secure, autonomous form through a single interface. Say goodbye to Discord, Telegram, Facebook, Twitter, Binance, and Coinbase.

Throw away the keys.

What it Can Do

With Uqbar, the possibilities are quite literally limitless. While other blockchain projects are restricted by slow speeds and inefficient computation, making their smart contract ecosystems slow to develop, Uqbar will provide a rich sandbox for both users and devs to create exactly the Web3 experience they desire.

Some of the earliest use cases for Uqbar will be perfecting platforms that are already vital to the blockchain ecosystem.

DAO Tooling

Right now, DAOs rely on an unwieldy amalgamation of flawed and disparate applications: Discord, Slack, Telegram, Signal, Github. Each requires its own login and offers its own suite of incomplete services, each impossible to integrate with the others. Even worse, centralized DAO tools such as Discord retain the right to delete your server, restrict your account, or sell your data — whether for political differences or personal vendettas.

Uqbar, by contrast, is fully decentralized. It runs on a peer-to-peer operating system that allows users to customize their tools and manipulate their own data. No one can kick you off Uqbar. No one controls your data. No one gives you permission to change a feature. No one polices your private communications.

Uqbar offers DAOs nothing short of complete sovereignty — a chance to build an individualized DAO management comms suite that offers only the best of Slack, Discord, and Telegram, without any useless distractions or predatory nonsense.

The financial rewards are limitless. The freedom is invaluable.

For the first time, Uqbar will make Decentralized Autonomous Organizations truly autonomous.

NFT Headquarters

As previously described, Uqbar is designed for seamless NFT integration. In fact, NFT composability is vital to Uqbar’s functioning. This native compatibility means that Uqbar can provide a suite of NFT services that far exceeds anything currently available

Traditional NFT marketplaces, such as OpenSea, barely scratch the surface of NFT management. They lack a token system or reward structure for participating in the ecosystem. Their centralized platform means companies can (and will) unilaterally lock access to your NFTs. High transaction costs make it near impossible to relist NFTs at new prices or even simply gift a friend an NFT for their birthday.

Combining Urbit’s streamlined NFT infrastructure with the power of ZK scaling, Uqbar will offer a seamless experience buying, selling, and manipulating NFTs native to Uqbar, Ethereum, or any other L1. From there, Uqbar offers the possibility of fully composable NFTs, unlocking the potential for NFT/smart contract interaction, including DAO membership tracking, reputation building, blockchain credit scores, and more.

While you have the right to a simple, inexpensive interface for buying, selling, and collecting NFTs, Uqbar will reveal the truth that NFTs are more than bored apes — they are one of the most powerful tools of the decentralized revolution.

DEX

Uqbar offers a simple proposition to the decentralized exchange community: be better, faster, stronger.

Uqbar’s ability to leverage Urbit’s unique distributed infrastructure offers the highest potential for any blockchain mass adoption solutions, including ZK scaling, allowing devs to create a DEX that offers high speed, low fees, and enhanced features. DEXs will no longer be limited by speed and cost of traditional blockchain infrastructure, allowing them to finally challenge traditional exchanges for dominance.

Furthermore, integrating a DEX in your DAO tooling or OS will simplify and secure your transactions. And by tying asset management to an immutable ID, Uqbar encourages good behavior and inhibits market manipulation, such as MEV. In this way, Uqbar offers the ability to fully integrate any imaginable defi functionality without sacrificing security or autonomy.

But Also, Anything Else!

Beyond these specific use cases, Uqbar’s greatest value lies in its potential to create a rich, dynamic ecosystem for devs and users alike. Uqbar’s power and simplicity is already attracting Web3’s greatest minds, incentivizing the development of more powerful, intuitive tools than any other platform.

And, finally, our imagination will not be limited by what already exists.