Introduction

The current Internet communication infrastructure (TCP/IP protocol stack) faces numerous challenges due to its centralized architecture. DNS pollution and centralized IP allocation lead to inequitable resource distribution and security risks. At the same time, reliance on centralized Certificate Authority (CA) authentication makes communication vulnerable to attacks and tampering, creating trust issues. Finally, all data must pass through centralized servers, which increases the risk of privacy breaches and makes online communication more susceptible to censorship. To address these problems, Sending Network was created. This article will introduce the background of Sending Network and explain how it aims to solve these critical issues.

What is Sending Network?

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Sending Network is a decentralized communication network that enables users to engage in peer-to-peer (P2P) chats without relying on a central server. Web3 application developers can utilize Sending Network’s SDK and API to integrate chat and other communication features into their applications. In addition to providing messaging services, Sending Network allows users to aggregate and view their social graph, personal data, message contacts, and history across different applications.

Source: sending-network.gitbook.io

Project Background

Team Members

The Sending Network team has extensive technical expertise and product experience, having previously contributed to the development of Dolphin Browser, which served over 200 million users worldwide:

• Yongzhi Yang | Founder
• Jameel Lee | Co-Founder

The core team members have operating system-level development experience from projects such as Microsoft and Dolphin, with a particular focus on performance optimization for large-scale user environments.

Funding Status

Sending Network has raised a total of $20 million in funding, distributed as follows:

• Seed Round: Raised $7.5 million in extended seed funding, with investments from Nomad Capital, Symbolic Capital, Web3.com Ventures, Galxe, SWC Global, Coinbase Ex-CTO Balaji Srinivasan, and Yield Guild Games Co-Founder Gabby Dizon.
• Strategic Round: Secured $12.5 million in strategic funding, led by Insignia Venture Partners, MindWorks Capital, and Signum Capital. Other investors include K3 Ventures, LingFeng Innovation Fund, UpHonest Capital, and Aipollo Investment. The funds from this round will be used to accelerate Sending Network’s integration with various Layer 1 and Layer 2 blockchains, including Avalanche and Arbitrum, as well as non-EVM chains such as Solana and Sui. The remaining capital will also be allocated toward developing industry-specific SDKs and launching a community ambassador program.

Technical Architecture

Glossary of Terms:

Sending Network’s unique three-layer “Client-Edge-Blockchain” architecture integrates the best aspects of decentralized communication stacks while overcoming their limitations. This design ensures robustness and user-friendliness, a rare combination in today’s complex digital landscape.

Access Layer

Users can access Sending Network through applications integrating the Sending Network SDK (such as wallets, games, and DApps). These applications support end-to-end encrypted communication, ensuring data security and user privacy. To maintain network stability and reliability, Sending Network introduces WatchDog Nodes:

• WatchDog Nodes act as sentinels within the network, ensuring high uptime for Edge Nodes. They periodically send challenge messages to Edge Nodes and report the results to Guardian Nodes, which helps evaluate relay node performance.
• WatchDog Nodes perform a simple but critical role: monitoring and reporting. They do not evaluate performance directly but check whether Edge Nodes respond promptly to random challenges. A timely response indicates that the Edge Node is actively relaying messages within the network. Failure to respond may signal malfunctions or non-compliance, potentially leading to penalties.
• The rewards for WatchDog Nodes are determined by the number of successful checks performed on different Edge Nodes within a given period. To encourage continuous and widespread monitoring, rewards for repeated checks on the same Edge Node will gradually decrease over time.

Relay Layer (Edge Network)

The relay layer serves as an efficient message relay and caching system within Sending Network, ensuring fast, secure, and private communication. It acts as the backbone of the system, providing reliable and high-speed message transmission. Edge Nodes are the core of the relay layer, responsible for message routing, encrypted relays, and offline message caching.

• Edge nodes operate within Sending Network’s relay layer, acting as key relay points that utilize bandwidth and storage to forward messages. Edge Nodes also provide message caching for offline clients, ensuring that messages are temporarily stored and deleted once retrieved by the client, preventing long-term data retention. Edge Nodes use the Proof of Relay (PoR) mechanism to prove their message forwarding tasks, where each relayed message is signed by the sender, relayer, and receiver.
• Edge Nodes earn rewards through the PoR mechanism, where operators receive incentives for providing reliable message relay services.
• By optimizing P2P network protocols, the relay layer reduces unnecessary broadcast messages, improving overall network efficiency.

Consensus Layer (Guardian Network)

The consensus layer consists of Guardian Nodes, operating on a Layer 2 network powered by ZK-Rollup technology. These nodes validate the work proofs of relay nodes, ensuring service quality and fair reward distribution.

• Guardian Nodes serve multiple key roles in the network, acting as ZK verifiers, transaction sequencers, and performance auditors.
• By leveraging ZK-Rollup technology, Guardian Nodes rapidly verify the Proof of Work submitted by Edge Nodes and WatchDog Nodes, ensuring relay activities are legitimate.
• Guardian Nodes submit transactions to Layer 2, where the Layer 2 sequencer processes transactions off-chain, compiles state transitions, ZK proofs, and necessary data, then submits finalized information to Layer 1 to ensure data availability.

To maintain network fairness and stability, Guardian Nodes implement a decentralized governance mechanism.

• High-performing node operators receive incentives to encourage quality service.
• Underperforming node operators face penalties, ensuring network reliability and fairness.

These mechanisms create a self-sustaining ecosystem where node operators work collectively to promote long-term network health.

Source: sending-network.gitbook.io

Technical Highlights

Decentralized Identity (DID) and Financial Attributes

Sending Network is a platform focused on decentralized financial services that utilizes Decentralized Identity (DID) to enhance security and convenience in financial activities. Below are the key ways in which Sending Network leverages DID technology:

• Users can communicate directly through wallet addresses:
  Sending Network allows peer-to-peer (P2P) communication through wallet addresses, eliminating reliance on traditional centralized authentication services. This simplifies identity verification, improving communication efficiency and convenience.

• Mapping multiple wallets to a single DID:
  Users can have multiple wallet addresses (DIDs), but these addresses are mapped through on-chain smart contracts. This solves the issue of identity fragmentation, enabling users to seamlessly switch identities across different scenarios, providing greater flexibility.

• Blockchain verification of DID documents at the transmission layer:
  DID documents (Decentralized Identifier Documents) are verified at the transmission layer via blockchain. These documents contain users’ public keys, identity declarations, and other relevant information. During transmission, on-chain verification ensures the authenticity and integrity of DID documents, replacing traditional Certificate Authority (CA) authentication mechanisms.

• Eliminating trust risks:
  By verifying DID documents on-chain, users no longer need to rely on centralized CA institutions, effectively removing trust-related risks. This decentralized verification mechanism ensures transparent and secure communication.

Financial Attributes of Sending Network:

• Security and Credibility
  Immutable Records: Storing identity and transaction records on blockchain ensures data security and credibility.
  Multi-Factor Authentication: Strengthens identity verification security and prevents fraudulent activities.

• Convenience and Efficiency
  Automated Execution: Smart contracts and automated processes enhance efficiency in financial operations and reduce manual intervention.
  Cross-Chain Interoperability: Users can seamlessly transfer assets across different blockchains, improving liquidity.

• User Control and Privacy
  Self-Sovereign Identity: Users have full control over their DID accounts and information, protecting their privacy.
  Privacy-Preserving Technologies: Utilizes Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) and other cryptographic methods to enhance user privacy protection.

• Asset Management and Risk Diversification
  Decentralized Management: Users can apply their DID across various financial products and assets, diversifying risks.
  Multi-Signature Security: Enhances fund security management, preventing single-point failures.

Source: sending-network.gitbook.io

Social Graph and Data Sovereignty

• User Interaction Data Stored on a Decentralized Network:
  Users’ interaction data (messages, comments, etc.) is stored on decentralized networks like IPFS (InterPlanetary File System). This decentralized storage ensures that data ownership belongs to users, allowing them to control access and usage of their own data.

• Cross-Platform Migration:
  Users’ data can be freely migrated between different platforms, without being restricted by a single platform. This approach to data sovereignty enhances users’ control over their data, enabling seamless transitions between various applications and services.

• SquadNFT and MemberNFT:
  By introducing SquadNFT (Group NFTs) and MemberNFT (Membership NFTs), Sending Network establishes a token-based community access mechanism. Users can purchase SquadNFTs to access specific communities, while MemberNFTs represent membership status within those communities. This mechanism enhances interoperability in social environments, allowing users to flexibly participate in different communities.

Source: sending-network.gitbook.io

Three-Layer Security and Privacy Protection

• Multi-Node Message Routing for Enhanced Privacy:
  Sending Network ensures secure and reliable communication by routing messages through multiple decentralized nodes. This prevents metadata exposure, improving anonymity and privacy while ensuring message integrity.

• End-to-End Encryption with X3DH and Double Ratchet Algorithm:
  To safeguard message confidentiality and authenticity, Sending Network integrates:
  X3DH (Extended Triple Diffie-Hellman): Establishes secure encryption keys between users.
  Double Ratchet Algorithm: Encrypts and decrypts each message uniquely, ensuring forward secrecy and tamper-proof communication.

• Metadata Privacy Protection via TEE (Trusted Execution Environment):
  Sending Network leverages Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) to protect metadata privacy, ensuring that communication details remain undisclosed. Users have the flexibility to adjust security vs. performance preferences, achieving an optimal balance between privacy and system efficiency.

Application Scenarios

Core Product: SendingMe

SendingMe is a decentralized instant messaging platform that integrates encrypted messaging, group management, NFT trading, and payments into a single application. Currently, SendingMe has attracted over 400,000 users. Below are its core features:

• Cross-Platform Encrypted Messaging:
  SendingMe supports cross-platform encrypted messaging, allowing users to communicate securely across different devices and operating systems. Messages are end-to-end encrypted, ensuring only the sender and recipient can read them.

• Group Management:
  Users can create and manage groups, facilitating team collaboration and information sharing. The group functionality is highly customizable, supporting various management modes to meet user needs.
• NFT Trading and Payments:
  SendingMe natively supports NFT trading and payments, allowing users to buy, sell, and transact NFTs directly within the chat interface. This enhances user convenience and adds more practicality and diversity to the platform.
  At the same time, SendingMe provides comprehensive SDKs and APIs for developers, enabling them to seamlessly integrate communication features into their own decentralized applications (DApps). This allows developers to rapidly build secure and feature-rich Web3 applications.

Source: sending.network

Infrastructure-Level Use Cases

• Decentralized Email System: Sending Network’s decentralized email system leverages anycast addresses for direct email delivery, eliminating the need for centralized mail servers. Users can send and receive emails directly through anycast addresses, ensuring efficient and secure email transmission. This decentralized approach removes reliance on traditional mail servers, simplifying email infrastructure while enhancing system reliability and security.
• Censorship-Resistant CDN: Sending Network’s censorship-resistant Content Delivery Network (CDN) utilizes distributed nodes to cache and deliver content efficiently. These decentralized nodes dynamically serve users based on their location and access needs, significantly improving content delivery speeds. The distributed nature of this CDN makes it highly resistant to censorship attempts, ensuring uninterrupted access to digital content under any circumstances. This enhances network resilience and anti-censorship capabilities.
• Cross-Chain Communication: Sending Network supports Ethereum and EVM-compatible blockchains, enabling seamless asset transfers and communication across different chains. This functionality allows users to effortlessly switch between multiple blockchain networks, improving interoperability within the cross-chain ecosystem. By bridging different blockchain wallets, Sending Network enhances user flexibility and convenience, providing a more fluid multi-chain experience.

Conclusion

Sending Network is not just a technological innovation—it is a revolution in data sovereignty and network freedom. By restructuring the fundamental protocols of the internet, it has the potential to become the “digital postal system” of the Web3 era, laying the groundwork for Decentralized Society (DeSoc). Despite facing technical and regulatory challenges, its disruptive potential has already captured the attention of developers, investors, and users alike.