What Is the Keep Network (KEEP)?

Keep Network claims to be the future of blockchain privacy. As per the official website, the Keep network allows “private data to be used on public protocols without sacrificing confidentiality.” The whitepaper claims that the Keep network makes marketplaces for digital goods like video and audio files, direct. Without Keep, online marketplace exchanges require complex protocols. The Keep network solves the mismatch between transparency of public blockchains and autonomous smart contracts for private data. In simple words, it is an off-chain container for personal data. The network enables the usage of private data without exposing the contracts to the public blockchain. Thereby, confidentiality is maintained in the Keep solution, as it is a genuinely decentralized protocol.

The network was formulated from the Fold app, a decentralized gift card exchange. Eventually, the Keep team realized the need to securely store private data like credit scoring, health records, etc. on Ethereum, thus bringing privacy to the blockchain. There is an inherent third-party risk in such a network since private data is secretly managed in a black box. As a solution to this third-party risk, the Keep network uses secure multi-party computation (sMPC). sMPC is a cryptographic system that enables secure computation on distributed data without exposing it.

Keep's network is powered by the KEEP token. The token is required to become a member of the network. The KEEP is a work token that grants the right to perform critical functions in the network by delegating collateral of the token. The utility of the token is such that it is proportional to the amount delegated, taking into account the user's commitment to the network. Initially, the minimum stake will be high and then decrease overtime. The Keep ecosystem has an autonomous incentive design and is not behavioral. It means that the Keep members must approve any app for work in the ecosystem depending upon the parameters and requirements. Work is the availability and computation of a node required to select, pull, and read associated data in the Keep network. To sum up, the ecosystem ensures that the Keep system cannot be exploited by opting out or decoding the private data in the protocol by the users.

What Is the History of Keep (KEEP)?

The Keep network was founded by Matt Luongo and Corbin Pon in 2017. Luongo is the CEO of Thesis, the crypto venture production studio of Keep. The head of the product is Doug von Kohorn, who has been an entrepreneur for over a decade.

The Keep team introduced the network on 28 Sep 2017. The whitepaper was released on 27 Nov 2018. Coinbase Ventures is one of the investing organizations in the network.

How Are New Tokens Created in Keep (KEEP)?

The KEEP token can be purchased from exchanges or by earning a reward by providing liquidity to a pool. The Keep network does not stake for consensus as in proof of stake (PoS). Instead, it uses staking for work selection, relying on a host chain like Ethereum for consensus. Consequently, rewards are earned by staking KEEP to participate in the KEEP ecosystem. The nodes can be operated by self or by delegating the KEEP to a staking provider. The token's utility is based on the user's commitment to the network. In other words, those with more "skin in the game" earn greater rewards.

There are three streams of revenue mechanisms in the Keep dashboard. They are earning, staking rewards, and liquidity rewards. Earning is the ETH received as a reward when it is bonded with the KEEP staking delegation. As a result, more is earned when more ETH is bonded. On the other hand, staking rewards are earned when more KEEPs are staked. Apart from earning and staking, the third category of revenue is earned by providing liquidity to certain pools outside the Ethereum DeFi space.

How Many KEEP Tokens (KEEP) Are There in the Market?

There is a total supply of 999,848,781 KEEP tokens.

How to Buy the KEEP Token (KEEP)

The KEEP token is available for trading on Coinbase.com and Coinbase Android/iOS apps. Additionally, the tokens are supported on Coinbase Pro as well.