Urbit

Disclaimer: This is not financial advice. Anything stated in this article is for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. Chris Keshian may maintain positions in any of the assets or projects discussed on this website.

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The original vision for the internet was as a digital frontier that offered users a free, blank space to create communities, post content, and interact. Early web forums revolved around specific, esoteric interests like home brew computers. In this idealistic eden, each person ran their own server, and individuals connected and shared files directly, rather than through mediated, third-party, for-profit businesses.

This early vision mapped much more closely to how we operate in the physical world than does the corrupted version of the internet we use today. In the physical world, each person is unique, and therefore their actions have weight and consequences for the single physical version of themselves. This is why character, reputation, and honor are important. You only get one physical meat wagon.

But through the path dependent process the internet took, we progressed to a version of digital identity that does not map 1:1 to the physical realm. The result has been a model that does not value digital identity as a scarce resource, inextricably linked to its human controller. Instead, anonymity and the ability to create countless user names and profiles across myriad third-party owned social media sites and forums has created a digital world that is drastically different from the physical - one filled with bots, trolling, multiple user names and accounts, and myriad online personalities fractured across siloed web 2 platforms.

The deviation between the physical and digital realm has been further compounded by the fact that all of our interactions online are now mediated by a third party that stores our data, tracks of our behavior, and can surveil, censor, or ban our accounts. We, as digital beings, do not have any control or ownership over the data or platforms we use to interact. With the cloud model of computing, we must rely on corporate serves in order to access software applications that would otherwise be too difficult to run ourselves.

As a result, when we interact online we are really just connecting through corporate serves and not directly to one another. For example, when we send emails back and forth using gmail, these messages are really just stored on a Google server, and the sender and receiver are both given access.

The above, often troped, critique of web 2 has been brandished by web 3 enthusiasts since the birth of crypto, and while true, the solutions to-date have been a patchwork of loosely connected bandaids and duct tape holding together a more complicated, less user-friendly set of protocols and DApps that permit users to circumvent web 2 shortcomings. I wrote about some of these in a previous post on web 3 infrastructure. Blockchain has remedied some of these issues with the idea of digital scarcity. Now there is a way for a network to definitively say that a piece of digital property was sent from one person to another person, without the need for a third party intermediary. But in order to have a fully functioning decentralized internet, we need a more robust operating system for web 3.

The below, long-form essay is about Urbit, a peer-to-peer network that provides a solution to the problems stated above. I think Urbit provides the primitives that could result in a completely comprehensive solution to the issues facing web 2 users, and could serve as the end-state operating system for the idealized future web 3 attempts to create.

Urbit is how the internet should be.

What is Urbit?

Urbit is “a decentralized personal server platform that seeks to deconstruct the client-server model in favor of a federated network of personal servers in a peer-to-peer network with a consistent digital identity.” Let’s unpack this complicated one-sentence description.

Urbit is a software stack, with three components: an identity system, an operating system, and a network.

Identity system - Urbit ID is a distributed identity and public key infrastructure for general-purpose authentication. An Urbit ID is like a login, network address, and web 3 wallet all in one. Urbit IDs are instantiated as NFTs (ERC-721 tokens) on Ethereum, so they are scarce and cryptographically owned and used to login to the Urbit network. Urbit IDs enable distributed ownership of the network by its users, because, as an ID holder, you own space on the network. This is like owning a piece of a web 3 version of TCP/IP, except that Urbit ID gives users control over their data and privacy. Based on their roles on the network, Urbit IDs are organized through a hierarchy: at the top are governance nodes (called galaxies); below galaxies are infrastructure nodes (called stars), responsible for packet routing and peer discovery. Below stars are individual nodes (called planets), that enable network access for everyday use. As a user, you own a planet, which is your pseudonymous digital identity. More on this later.

Operating System - Urbit OS is a virtual computing platform built from the ground up. The Urbit OS is best described as an 'overlay OS,’ in that it runs on top of other environments. This facilitates the creation of community-based services that enable direct, encrypted interaction between authenticated users. Every message from a source Urbit ID is encrypted and sent directly to the destination Urbit ID without any interference. For users who value full control, Urbit can be hosted on a local machine. For users who value convenience, Urbit can be hosted via a cloud provider of choice. Urbit OS can run on almost any phone, tablet, laptop, server—or anything with Unix and an internet connection. You use Urbit like you use existing software. In the same way you access iCloud, Google Drive or Dropbox from your phone or laptop, you can access Urbit. However, Urbit is your cloud.

Network - Urbit is the interconnected network that forms when all Urbit IDs connect to each other in a peer-to-peer manner, and all run the Urbit OS. This network allows anyone to easily set up and run their own private server and connect that server directly to other servers, or to multiple serves at once. This is a network with cloud services and seamless usage without ads, tracking, or data capture. The Urbit IDs you connect with become your bespoke internet.

The Urbit routing system consists of:

255 "galaxies" - which serve a purpose similar to DNS
65,000 "stars" - similar to ISP
4 billion "planets" - basically personal computers on the network
4.3 trillion "moons" - devices that connect to PCs

Before diving into some of Urbit’s compelling characteristics, I want to hammer this point home: the internet we interface with every day was the result of a path dependent process, and is not an optimal end state for users. Below I have taken an excerpt from a post on urbit.live that explains some of the key disadvantages of the current internet architecture.

Since it is so difficult for us to run our own software on the internet, we are reliant on tech companies who are then able to position themselves in the middle of almost everything we do on the internet, even simple tasks like messaging or sharing a file.
Tech companies leverage this position as a platform to serve us ads and to own and monetize our data. They are incentivized to get us to spend as much time online as possible and to make sure we never leave their platform. We are being held hostage and increasingly manipulated at the expense of our well being.
Our digital experience is fragmented and cumbersome. There is a cloud company for every service we might use the internet for (Dropbox, Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, Slack, Instagram, Snapchat, iMessage, iCloud, Office 365, ad infinitum) and none of these services communicate or share data with each other. This means hundreds of logins and passwords and constantly switching back and forth between applications.
We do not own and control our data. Your Google account is Google's. You don't own the keys to the front door of the house you live in. You provide the secret knock (your password) and Google lets you in.
We have no privacy on the internet. Almost everything you do is being monitored and measured and used to manipulate your behavior. This is because cloud companies built much of the internet and they are incentivized to expose as much of our private lives as possible (i.e. surveillance capitalism).
With the proliferation of internet-connected devices—televisions, home security systems, thermostats, watches, health monitors, etc—producing data, the cloud model forces us to let corporations deeper and deeper into our lives and disperses our data across their servers. This will become exponentially more cumbersome and difficult in the near future.
We can be censored and kicked off platforms and social networks. Cloud companies like Twitter and Facebook decide who can participate in their network and what you can and cannot say. This is dangerous for democracy and puts too much power in the hands of too few individuals.

So how can Urbit free us from the shackles of the incumbent, mediated internet model?

I am going to answer this question by explaining Urbit as a collection of four unique characteristics:

Urbit is a set of internet primitives
Urbit IDs are scarce and have value
Urbit is sound computing with data composability
Urbit is a digital frontier

Urbit is a set of internet primitives

As John Conway showed in his Game of Life, simple primitives can result in complex and extraordinary emergent phenomena.

*Emergent patterns from simple primitives in the Game of Life*

Urbit is built from elementary primitives, which seem simple, but create a fertile ground upon which users can collaborate, communicate, and engage in commerce. Urbit uses many theoretical advancements in software engineering to achieve this outcome, most notably determinism, referential transparency, and cryptography.

Much like Conway’s game of life, Urbit IDs and distinct users can self-organize into complex networks. According to Reed’s law, by adding up all the possible two-person groups, three-person groups, etc., the maximum value of the Urbit network composed of N users can be defined as 2^N. In practice, this number will depend on the number of communities each user chooses to participate in. In the context of a service like Urbit, the more connections and communities each user actively participates in, the more valuable the entire network will be. This growth will be very slow at first, but increase exponentially over time.

Urbit IDs are scarce and have value

The Urbit routing system consists of:

255 "galaxies" - which serve a purpose similar to DNS
65,000 "stars" - similar to ISP
4 billion "planets" - basically personal computers on the network
4.3 trillion "moons" - devices that connect to PCs

Users must purchase a planet in order to join the network. Right now, Urbit IDs are listed for around $10. You can buy these on Opensea here. On Urbit, IDs are scarce, persistent, and flexible.

The Urbit identity protocol is used to uniquely differentiate between Urbit users. This allows users to verify that the user who is talking to them is who they say they are. By signing messages cryptographically, users are attesting their identity. These Urbit IDs are cryptographic assets.

Since Urbit IDs cost money, people are less likely to use them to spam or abuse the network. Furthermore, when you meet a stranger with an Urbit ID, you know they have some skin in the game. This also helps build a social reputation system in the network and disincentivizes bad behaviors. If an Urbit ID behaves as a bad actor, it damages their persistent reputation on the network. Higher value of Urbit IDs may discourage spam, bots, scams, or spreading malware: if Urbit ID NFTs become valuable enough, it would be too expensive for users trying to spam the Urbit network by creating multiple addresses or by essentially compromising the persistent reputation of individual Urbit IDs. This is in stark contrast to the ability to freely create email addresses or social media accounts to use for spamming.

This ID system means that Urbit gives computers identities. On Urbit, user numbers will mean something, because Urbit IDs are scarce, have value, and are bound more tightly to their users. Urbit IDs are pseudonymous. My Urbit ID is ~folsev-nocren (add me if you join!). Not surprisingly, I have grown attached to this moniker, and have come to identify with it.

Urbit IDs are distributed by a sponsorship tree. Each sponsor issues a fixed number of addresses. Since there are lots of sponsors, there are lots of ways to get an Urbit ID — not just one central authority. Once you get an Urbit ID, it is yours forever.

As shown in the chart above, Urbit IDs are organized in a hierarchical structure, where Galaxies spawn Stars, and Stars spawn planets. In this model, the parent node is the sponsor of the child node. Urbit IDs always need a sponsor, or parent node on the network. It is always possible to change sponsors and sponsors can always reject children. This means bad actors can be banned and abusive sponsors can be ignored. This model is reminiscent of the Swiss Cantons, where citizens are free to move amongst the 14 Cantons, and settle wherever they are treated best. Planets can easily move around the Urbit network to find a new sponsor star in the Urbit tree. This design choice incentivizes galaxies and planets to be reliable service providers for planets. Conversely, stars and galaxies can essentially block planets from spamming the network or from exercising any bad behavior.

If you think about it, the Urbit model is much more similar to how we interact in the physical environment. In the physical space, I have one body and a reputation. There are repercussions of me damaging this reputation. On Urbit, my actions have consequences as well, as my Star sponsor could reject me if I perform in an antagonistic way.

Ultimately, your Urbit ID could transcend the boundaries of the Urbit OS. If your Urbit ID were a piece of hardware, you could tap it to unlock a door, swipe it to buy a coffee, and plug it into any computer to log in. But we are a long way from this :)

Urbit is sound computing with data composability

If crypto is sound money, Urbit is sound computing.

Currently, our data is spread across many different third-party sites that are controlled by others. Urbit envisions a future where there is a new private server for every user, so that we don’t need to keep our data on servers run by centralized entities. Urbit allows users to privately store their own data, digital assets, and then to directly communicate with peers without the need for a third-party mediator.

Since users hold their data on their own server, they can easily grant access to the apps they use, or remove access when they leave an app. This increases interoperability amongst apps, decreases build time, increases the rate of development, and makes for a better user experience. Furthermore, this means that applications can interoperate and combine to form more complex services.

Urbit is a digital frontier

Much like early homesteaders were granted land rights if they moved west, Urbit grants users a blank-slate digital frontier once they purchase and Urbit ID. Once you port your data to your Urbit ID, that space is yours forever.

If you log on to Urbit now, you see an interface that looks like the early web.

Given the design choices I outlined above, this digital frontier is a completely incorruptible, user-owned, blank space for interacting with others and forming groups. I will admit that right now from an application perspective, there are no truly compelling reasons to go through the onerous process of obtaining an Urbit ID and onboarding to the network. Though as more developers realize the merits of the Urbit’s architecture, I expect novel, interesting applications that attract new users.

Urbit is a space meant for communities of users who may want to creatively customize and have control over their digital environment. Today, Urbit is primarily used by developers, and by communities of privacy enthusiasts, tinkerers, and hobbyists. But for Urbit to get a chance of living up to its aspirations, it needs to expand its user base beyond communities of tech-savvy explorers.

Current state of Urbit

The above-mentioned four characteristics give rise to a beautiful new peer-to-peer internet architecture. Currently, however, this digital frontier is inhabited by a small cadre of more technically sophisticated, niche users. As shown in the graph below, at any given time, there are roughly 1.8k users on the network, with approximately 114k total users.

I predict that this changes drastically in the coming years, as more developers build applications that attract users. Right now, there is not a lot to do on the Urbit network, other than form communities and interact in an unmediated, peer-to-peer manner. There are a few games, like chess and poker, but there is definitely no killer app that will attract the masses.

Right now, Urbit is a bet on the long tail of online communities. Society is becoming increasingly fractured. This is not only evident in the physical world, where interpersonal relationships are strained based on political ideology, but also in the digital world, where groups self-organize in echo chambers across social media platforms. If you go further out on the long tail of internet communities, you find evermore extreme sects of both the left and the right (e.g. antifa, alt right, 4chan, 8chan). These groups have been consistently de-platformed, blocked, and censored elsewhere, so are driven to fringe channels to communicate.

Price Precedes Narrative

I believe that Urbit is at an inflection point. Urbit has been in development since the early 2000s. The Urbit network launched in 2013, and in 2019, Urbit ID went live on Ethereum. In 2020 the Orbit OS went live, and in 2021 they added a Bitcoin wallet.

As I noted above, Urbit is a bet on increased polarization and on the proliferation of online tribes and self-organization based on ideology and cohort affiliation. In these extreme times, I believe Urbit is well-positioned to capture the long tail of internet community formation online.

In 2021, Urbit made the decision to use the Ethereum blockchain as a record-keeping ledger for Urbit IDs. These IDs are codified as ERC-721 tokens (NFTs), and can therefore be easily traded on any NFT trading platform.

Below is an urbit ID, with its accompanying NFT picture. These can be bought on OpenSea here.

I believe speculative activity around Urbit IDs will kickstart a flywheel that will ignite interest in the project and growth of the network.

Urbit branding is unique and the NFT has real value - buying an Urbit ID is equivalent to buying space on a new network. I believe a rise in Urbit ID prices will ignite speculative frenzy. As the price rises, more potential users and developers will hear about it, and be intrigued enough to learn more. This interest will result in new applications, that further drive new users to the platform.

This rise in Urbit ID price will also catalyze growth by rewarding early developers who bought into the vision by buying stars and galaxies. As their holdings increase, they will be able to sell IDs to fund Urbit applications. As more money pours into building cool applications, more users will be attracted to the project. When these intrigued individuals want to join, they then must buy and Urbit ID, thus adding to the speculative frenzy and repeating the flywheel.

I do not expect any substantive speculative activity until we enter another crypto cycle, which, as I outlined in a previous post, will likely not be until 2024. During this bear market, I plan to purchase Urbit Stars (which can be found on OpenSea here), as I believe these will see the greatest price appreciation if this thesis is correct.

Conclusion

We are social animals, and computers are most valuable to us when we use them to network and collaborate. I think Urbit provides a new set of internet primitives, and new technical architecture that will increasingly appeal to users over the coming decade. Since space on this network is scarce, I think it will make user reputation and user interaction on the network more constructive. I expect speculative activity around galaxies, stars, and planets will ignite interest in the project, leading to further use and adoption. As more activity blossoms on Urbit, a beautiful new digital realm and mode of connection amongst individuals will coalesce and run in parallel to the internet model we use today.

Bottom Formation 1.0 - Intro

Decentralized Infrastructure