Whitepaper
The whitepaper is 51 pages in length (pages 28 through 51 contain the appendices). The document begins with a discussion of three problems: the Traffic Analysis Problem, the Sybil (attack) Problem, and the Random Selection Problem.
In short, the problems are as follows:
* Allow for the ability to transmit encrypted data through intermediary parties with complete transparency with regards to the implementation of the protocol.
* Ensure authenticity of each user.
* Efficiently manage a distributed list of authenticated users (relays).
Solutions to these problems already exist and the Orchid Protocol aims to use combine these solutions in order develop the platform.
The majority of the document is fairly technical and gives a logical walkthrough of the different aspects of the Orchid Protocol. There is much content provided that discusses the challenges that the protocol will face and what can be done to address them (security, costs, etc). There is also specific discussion with regards to why proof-of-work was selected for the consensus protocol of the platform as opposed to other methods such as proof-of-stake, proof-of-idle, etc. Scaling of the platform is also specifically addressed. The whitepaper also addresses the current landscape with regards to traditional payment systems and a somewhat generic overview of the impact of blockchain technology is also included. The document is fully transparent and clearly shows that the whitepaper is more of an expression of an idea rather than a developed product/service. As a result, the whitepaper lacks detail with regards to the business plan of the organization: details of the token sale/economics are absent. Overall, the whitepaper is fairly complex and takes time to read and understand, but is written quite well.
