Penumbra is where bits find darkness in the Sun’s shadow. Over the past few months, cypherpunks have been summoning Penumbra. Now that the stage is set, the final summoning rites have begun. Happy Independence Day: https://penumbra.phasewalk.software.
What is Penumbra?
Penumbra is a shielded, cross-chain network allowing anyone to securely transact, stake, swap, or marketmake without broadcasting their personal information to the world.
At its core, Penumbra is a privacy-preserving CometBFT Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain. It boasts several standout features, including a native decentralized exchange (DEX), interop with IBC, private staking and governance, and ultralight client software.
Home is Where the Shielded Pool is
Penumbra is natively cross-chain (IBC-enabled), making it akin to an ecosystem-wide shielded pool for the entire Cosmos and beyond. Inbound IBC transfers shield value as it moves into the zone, while outbound IBC transfers unshield value.
One of the most challenging aspects of designing a private blockchain is in reconciling the tension of simultaneously desiring individual privacy and network transparency. To address this tension, Penumbra records asset flow in batches utilizing a partially homomorphic encryption scheme coupled with Distributed Key Generation (DKG). Validators each hold a key-share, enabling them to perform threshold decryption of batch totals every block. Individual transactions are kept private using Groth16 proofs of valid state transitions, ensuring that every move you make remains your own.
Penumbra boasts the world’s first shielded PoS network, through the use of a novel delegation mechanism, Penumbra provides privacy for delegators and accountability for validators. Each validator has their own unique delegation token (dPEN), which represents a share of the delegation pool staked with that validator. These tokens are recorded in the shielded pool and can be transferred or traded like any other asset. Users can privately delegate to a validator by exchanging staking tokens for the validator’s delegation token. Rewards are issued to the delegation pool and are realized only when a delegator withdraws their delegation.
Network Bootstrapping
The Penumbra Labs team has not launched any public GRPC endpoints of their own. The network is in a bottom up bootstrapping phase spearheaded by the community. Community members have begun spinning up their nodes and sharing publicly accessible endpoints for use in client software (Prax, pcli).
To access the embedded frontend of a full-node’s endpoint, simply append /app/ to the node’s url. Example: https://penumbra.phasewalk.software/app/.
GRPC Endpoints
A longer list of endpoints can be found in the community-rpc channel in the discord.
Where Can I Get Involved?
Penumbra is decentralized and owned by no single entity, inviting participation from developers, researchers, node operators, and users who are passionate about privacy and decentralization. Here are some ways to get involved:
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Forum: Join the discussion on the final summoning rites and stay updated on the latest developments at https://forum.penumbra.zone
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Guide: Learn how to use the Penumbra software to interact with the network or run a node at https://guide.penumbra.zone
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Spec: Dive into the technical details with the protocol specification at https://protocol.penumbra.zone
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Code: Contribute to the project or explore the codebases at https://github.com/penumbra-zone
As we move forward, Penumbra stands as a beacon for the future of self-sovereignty, coordination, and freedom. Go forth and complete the final summoning rites. Where bits find darkness, in the Sun’s shadow.