HOPR Basics: What is HOPR?
This is the first episode in a new series covering the basics of HOPR. Join us each week for a new update.
The Reality of the Today’s Internet
Imagine a list of everything you’ve done online this week, and when. Everyone you messaged or called. Every social media interaction, crypto exchange visit, takeout order, doctors appointment, dating app match. Every website you visited (yes, ALL of them!). Now add everywhere you’ve been with your phone, handily tracked by GPS and timestamped.
Would you be happy for your neighbours to see this list? Your boss? Your bank? Your insurance company? What about everyone on the internet? Now instead of a list for the week, make it the past year. Now make it a decade.
Now make it everything you’ve ever done online, stored forever for anyone willing to pay (or hack into it).
That’s the reality of using the internet today. While the data we send is usually encrypted, the metadata — the data about what you’re sending, when, and who to — is all available to be hacked and tracked.
And the problem is getting worse. We generate millions of gigabytes of data every minute, almost all of it with exposed metadata, and this figure is only going to grow.
It shouldn’t be this way. Users deserve privacy. Companies deserve tools to protect the privacy of their employees and customers. HOPR provides this privacy for everyone.
What is HOPR?
HOPR is a way for people, companies and devices to exchange information online with complete privacy. People who communicate and transact using HOPR — or apps and services which run on top of the HOPR platform — can be sure that no-one can find out what data is being shared, who is sending or receiving it, or even how much data is being sent.
Best of all, HOPR is fully decentralized. It’s completely transparent and trustless, which means you never have to rely on a third party and you’re never locked into a service or have to give up control of your data.
HOPR is run by users, for users. Anyone can help to maintain the HOPR network by relaying data via a HOPR node, either on their computer or as a separate device plugged into their router. And best of all, HOPR is fully incentivized, meaning everyone who runs a node and stakes tokens will earn HOPR tokens in exchange for their efforts.
How Do I Learn More?
Of course, there’s a lot more to HOPR than that. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be releasing a series of short articles explaining different aspects of HOPR, from how HOPR works, why metadata privacy matters, to how you can earn money from owning HOPR tokens and running a HOPR node.
Each article will be short and tailored to everyone, regardless of technical experience. By the end of the series you’ll be more than ready to join HOPR in our mission to change data privacy for good. Follow this channel to make sure you never miss an episode. And if you have any questions, our friendly community and HOPR ambassadors are always ready to help on Telegram and Discord.
Rik Krieger,
HOPR Co-founder
Website: https://www.hoprnet.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hoprnet
Telegram: https://t.me/hoprnet
Discord: https://discord.gg/dEAWC4G
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hoprnet
Forum: https://forum.hoprnet.org
HOPR Basics Episodes:
Episode 1: What is HOPR?
Episode 2: What is Metadata?
Episode 3: Anonymous Routing
Episode 4: Mixnets
Episode 5: Incentives
Episode 6: Proof of Relay
Episode 7: Tickets and Payment Channels
Episode 8: Probabilistic Payments
Episode 9: Cover Traffic
Episode 10: Cover Traffic Nodes
Episode 11: Balancing Cover Traffic
Episode 12: Intro to the HOPR DAO
