Use cases

1. Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

The Challenge:

DeFi platforms are inherently vulnerable to MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) exploits. Malicious actors manipulate transaction ordering to:

• Front-run trades: Placing a transaction before a user's order to benefit from price changes.

• Back-run trades: Placing a transaction immediately after a profitable user's order.

• Sandwich trades: Exploiting both front-running and back-running techniques simultaneously, inflating costs or reducing profits for users.

How Obscura Solves This:

1. Transaction Privacy:

• Obscura encrypts all transaction details (amounts, asset pairs, addresses) at the RPC level using AES-256-GCM encryption.

• This ensures that validators and bots cannot see the contents of a transaction before it is finalized.

2. zk-SNARK Validations:

• Transactions are validated using zero-knowledge proofs, proving their validity without revealing sensitive details. This eliminates the visibility of potential MEV targets.

Real-World Use Cases in DeFi:

• Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs):

  • Users can execute trades without exposing their intentions to the market, preventing price manipulation by bots.

  • Obscura’s technology ensures that orders are processed quickly and privately, respecting the gas based ordering of blocks.

• Yield Farming and Liquidity Pools:

  • Protect staking and reward claims from being exploited by bots seeking to maximize arbitrage opportunities.

• Flash Loans:

  • Obscura prevents malicious actors from intercepting and exploiting flash loan transactions for profit

Token Launches and ICOs

The Challenge:

Token launches and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) are often targeted by bots and opportunistic validators. These actors exploit their access to transaction data to:

• Front-run token purchases: Buying tokens at the lowest price tier and inflating costs for legitimate participants.

• Back-run user purchases: Buying large volumes immediately after legitimate transactions to manipulate token prices.

• Monopolize allocations: Preventing fair distribution by flooding the network with prioritized transactions.

These practices undermine trust in token launches and harm the broader ecosystem.

How Obscura Solves This:

1. Encrypted Purchase Orders:

• Obscura encrypts all purchase orders using AES-256-GCM, ensuring that details like token quantities and bid amounts remain confidential until finalization.

• This prevents validators and bots from analyzing and exploiting user orders.

2. zk-SNARK Proof of Validity:

• All purchase orders are validated using zk-SNARKs to ensure compliance with the sale’s rules (e.g., maximum allocations, valid addresses) without revealing transaction details.

3. Back-Running Prevention:

• By encrypting transaction details, Obscura prevents malicious actors from placing transactions immediately after user purchases to artificially inflate prices.

Real-World Use Cases in Token Launches:

• Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs):

  • Secure and fair distribution of tokens, ensuring all participants have an equal chance to purchase at the listed price.

• NFT Drops:

  • Obscura ensures fairness in high-demand NFT launches by encrypting bid details, preventing bots from manipulating auctions or grabbing inventory unfairly.

• Token Whitelisting Events:

  • Protect whitelisted participants’ transactions from being exploited by non-whitelisted bots or users.