Synonym software dedicated to bringing new utilities and user experiences to Bitcoin and the Lightning Network was officially launched today.
“Hyperbitcoinization is not going to magically happen by itself,” Synonym CEO John Carvalho said in a statement to Bitcoin Magazine. “To live in a world with no big banks, repressive regulation or big tech ruling our lives, we need a strategy and an ecosystem to replace the old economy. This is where synonym comes into play. “
Synonym develops software to enable the Bitcoin and Lightning networks to cover more use cases and free users from reliance on traditional financial applications and systems.
“By combining the speed and efficiency of the Lightning Network with a structured ecosystem of open P2P platforms and applications, Synonym hopes to accelerate Bitcoin’s ability to operate as an independent, self-regulated economy,” the statement said.
Synonym is launching Slashtags, a protocol that uses a web of trust model to create interoperable, non-censable networks connected via encrypted private channels and feeds. The plans for Slashtags include a search and publication platform that allows users to create and monetize data, and a user-centric decentralized social media platform.
“Synonym will also bring out Blocktank, a full-service ‘Lightning Service Provider’ (LSP) that enables companies, platforms, apps or Bitcoiners to configure and buy Lightning Network connections and liquidity immediately,” says the Explanation.
The company, which owns Tether Holdings, also offers open-sourced code libraries for features like tokens on Lightning, a mobile Lightning node, and encrypted remote wallet backups. Fulgur Ventures is also an investor.
“As part of the Tether and Bitfinex family of companies, Synonym is able to strategically integrate all of these companies’ products for Bitcoin, and we can redirect these resources back into Bitcoin development,” Carvalho told Bitcoin Magazine. “Slashtags accounts and Blocktank LSP will be integrated into Bitfinex. Instant Tether tokens will be introduced into the Lightning Network, our apps and Blocktank LSP for token channel liquidity, and synonymously will bring all of this together with the only important Blockchain, Bitcoin. “
An exclusive look-inside synonym with CEO John Carvalho
The Slashtags Protocol challenges the popular belief in the cryptocurrency industry that many blockchains are necessary to disrupt traditional finance. Synonym and its software stack are intended to show that only one blockchain is necessary.
“We wanted to show and prove that you literally don’t need a blockchain for anything other than a Bitcoin standard value store,” Carvalho told Bitcoin Magazine. “Slash tags can improve any network’s ability to authenticate, coordinate, permit, and sort anything that is digitally expressible.”
Slashtags are based on a Web of Trust (WoT) model, which uses public key cryptography to establish the authenticity of the bond between a public key and its owner. It requires a schema to be passed when communicating over a key. These schemes can be used to enable anyone to form private, yet interoperable networks.
“These localized WoTs can create a whole new user-centric web where you decide who to include and under what conditions,” explained Carvalho. “This enables Bitcoiner by allowing us to create literally any digital marketplace that we can define with minimal metadata being lost and only whom we trust.”
Slashtags is only part of the stack of synonyms, however. The company also uses Omni, a platform that enables tokens, decentralized crowdfunding, and peer-to-peer trading solutions on Bitcoin.
“The reason we chose to support Omni and OmniBOLT is that they are the only token solutions that do not require additional blockchains or native stores of value to operate,” said Carvalho. “Omni transactions are Bitcoin transactions with special information that are tracked by the Omni network and use the same scaling methods as Bitcoin, such as a Lightning Network Layer 2.”
There are similar offers such as Liquid and Stacks that also promise the possibility of spending digital assets on Bitcoin. However, Carvalho explained why Synonym chose Omni instead.
“The problem with Liquid is that it requires a trustworthy interconnected network and that this risk profile is almost impossible to communicate to users within an app. Omni allows users to focus on whether they trust each and every token holder alone, ”he said. “The problems with stacks are even worse as it has a lot of redundant design and mechanics that don’t scale at all and are ultimately completely unnecessary to achieve decentralized web goals.”
Synonym’s goal is to enable a functioning society without trusting intermediaries or asking permission from major banks or technology companies. By using Bitcoin and the Lightning Network, the company wants to replace trustworthy intermediaries with an “atomic economy” that is based on open source software and gives the user control again.
“The idea is to reform the internet so that it is as practical and relevant as possible for everyone,” said Carvalho. “The nuclear economy is a concept that combines the ideas of a circular economy with a trust network to create a highly efficient and relative social economy. Our hypothesis is that we can achieve minimal conversion (with a circular economy) and minimal data redundancy (with localized trust networks) we can replace the violent repressive old economy with a self-regulating, reputation-conscious social economy, banks, governments and big tech outdated. “
Bitcoin is at the core of this goal as it provides a global and permissionless currency network as the backbone of the new web, and Lightning is central to unleashing the full potential of healthy money. Synonym’s LSP, Blocktank, aims to make this performance conveniently available to everyday users. The service competes with Lightning Labs Pool and Voltage’s Flow as a market for Lightning liquidity.
“Pool and Flow are systems that try to decentralize aspects of this type of service, but we want to show that such a design is not always necessary as users can still have their own keys regardless of the source of their channel connection,” explained Carvalho. “We want to prove that by offering a focused business service for the liquidity and automation of the Lightning Channel, we can specialize and scale in predictable and useful ways for the companies that choose to work with us.”
User control in the form of key ownership and true sovereignty is central to Synonym’s mission, as is choosing the right tool for the task. As a result, much of the company’s and Carvalho’s criticism has come from novel “Web3” narratives that are common in the cryptocurrency industry.
“You just don’t need a blockchain to create what they call ‘Web3’ user experiences and designs. We are solving the same problems with slash tags and hypercore to establish a new web paradigm of social economy without the nonsense of non-scalable blockchain bullshit, “he said. “The Web3 and Metaverse narrative will haunt us for years and will require a lot of retraining to separate design ideas from the people who are simply trying to pump their investments into bigger fools.”
“The Slashtags Web of Trust will enable people to collectively make their own decisions about which token loan issuers to trust and which to decline: IOU dollar tokens, hamburger tokens, subscription tokens, gift tokens ( a strict upgrade to gift cards) and any ownership instruments they are willing to define and are responsible for, “added Carvalho.
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