#OrionVision: the drive for decentralization

Orion Protocol is decentralizing access to the full spectrum and volume of crypto assets to streamline the decentralizing influence of crypto. Decentralizing technologies were born out of a need to distribute power away from archaic centralized systems ill-suited to the demands of the modern world. Centralized structures have proven to breed corporate greed, privacy abuse, governance that favors the wealthy, and excess middlemen that leech earnings from value creators. Orion has a vision to optimize crypto as an industry that is changing the world for the better.

Bitcoin marked the onset of the crypto wave of decentralization. Crypto has sprouted value in new markets like DeFi, play-to-earn (P2E) video games, and virtual real estate while giving agency and merit to value creators. However, the need for decentralization continues today as crypto faces challenges of fragmentation, and the persistent presence of centralized coordination to support the industry.

Orion’s ground-breaking protocol is powering decentralized access to the full depth of liquidity in crypto. In doing so, Orion is streamlining the industry and realigning it with crypto's core ethos of decentralization. Orion Protocol’s vision to unify and decentralize the crypto space is an effort to accelerate the realization of the entire vision behind crypto.

The beginning of decentralization

“Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks”; such were the words inscribed by Satoshi Nakamoto on the genesis block of the bitcoin blockchain. Whoever Satoshi is or was, they understood the failings of legacy monetary policy along with the power of money and where it comes from. They were also aware of the power of cryptographic (blockchain) technology and chose to apply it to create money that could never be susceptible to centralized influence. Bitcoin has laid the foundation for the crypto market as we know it today. The world has since embraced thousands of blockchain applications beyond the scope of money. Satoshi Nakamoto chose to spearhead the foundations of the monetary system. Which industries will the rest of the world choose to revolutionize?

The crypto explosion

There are now more than 20,000 crypto assets across a dizzying spectrum of industries. Just as Bitcoin is decentralizing power over money, other blockchains are distributing power and wealth across finance, video games, real estate, intellectual property, art, social media, and the like. An artist can now have more control over their own creations and have direct access to revenues generated on their work. An author can write a book, and encapsulate it onto a blockchain network managed by the people who participate in it. People creating value on blockchains have no need to rely on the accountability of middlemen who cut profit margins and gain privileged access to proprietary information. There is a lot of work to be done to improve crypto, but the ethos is clear; decentralization is the way forward to a more ethical and efficient world. 

Orion exists to unlock the potential of crypto

There are significant external and internal hurdles holding crypto back. Externally, market regulations are slow to give crypto a framework for broad adoption and safe practices. Internally, many crypto projects lack proper ethical standards, and the majority of liquidity is held behind the gates of centralized exchanges. Even for the constituents of crypto that remain decentralized and ethically virtuous, fragmentation of the market has made navigating crypto assets a labyrinthian affair. The end-user should not need to create multiple accounts and risk their wealth and privacy to access their assets. For crypto to maintain momentum, it requires cohesion to focus on the intended goal. Orion addresses both fragmentation and centralization in crypto. By bringing the liquidity of the entire market through the lens of a single decentralized protocol, all crypto assets stand to benefit from the increased ease of access.

Orion's unification of the market onto one trading platform serves as a reminder that enhanced trading and finance is just one of the promises of crypto. The many applications of blockchain technology have the ability to create new value to positively impact people’s lives. Being able to trade crypto is a wonderful benefit, but we should remember that it is the application of the crypto projects themselves that promise to change the world. Finance (DeFi included) is not just an end in and of itself, but a means to fund initiatives that are doing the groundwork to make the world a better place.

The race against CBDCs

Rockets that carry humanity into space simultaneously yield the potential to harm in the form of missiles. As with the advent of all new promising technologies, there is the potential for inappropriate applications. Blockchain technology is an empowering invention for the sake of decentralization, but it can also be used to build tools for extreme centralization. Such is the nature of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). These are digital assets built on blockchains that are issued as the legal tender of a nation. Authorities can design a CBDC to be a money that is programmable to meet their desires. Payments to certain goods, direct access to bank accounts, or even individualized interest rates can be programmed at will. At the end of the day, CBDCs are tools that allow authorities to manipulate money that doesn't belong to them. Crypto is a space to grow the value of decentralization, but it is in a race against growing centralized influence.

Orion’s advanced aggregation technology offers to bring liquidity across the entire market into one decentralized access point. In doing so, Orion is moving to drastically curtail crypto’s constraining issues of fragmentation and centralized vulnerability. By simplifying secure access to liquidity and cutting away excess noise in the space, Orion’s vision is to free crypto to focus on what matters most; providing the value of decentralization to make a positive impact on the world.