Privacy has always been one of blockchain’s biggest paradoxes. While the technology promises transparency, that openness can also expose sensitive information. Oasis Labs is tackling that problem head-on by embedding privacy directly into smart contracts and decentralized applications.
Founded in 2018 by UC Berkeley professor Dr. Dawn Song, Oasis Labs has become a core contributor to the Oasis Network, a Layer 1 blockchain designed to make privacy a built-in feature rather than an afterthought.
From Research Lab to Industry Partner
Oasis Labs came out of academia with serious backing. In 2018, it raised $45 million in funding, becoming the first project to receive investment from Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z crypto fund. Just two years later, the Oasis platform launched its mainnet.
Since then, the company has worked with major enterprises and Web3 projects alike:
- In 2020, it partnered with BMW to explore privacy in data sharing.
- In 2022, it collaborated with MetaAI to test fairness in algorithms without exposing user data.
- In 2024, it launched Oasis PrivateSQL on Google Cloud Marketplace, a tool bringing differential privacy to SQL databases.
These partnerships highlight a clear mission: advancing a “responsible data society” where information can be used productively without compromising individual privacy.
How the Oasis Network Works
At its core, the Oasis Network is built differently from legacy blockchains. Its architecture separates the consensus layer (which validates transactions using proof of stake) from the compute layer (called ParaTimes).
This separation has two big advantages:
- Scalability: Multiple ParaTimes can process transactions at once, keeping the network fast even under heavy load.
- Flexibility: Developers can spin up custom ParaTimes tailored to specific use cases, from DeFi to gaming to AI.
Among these ParaTimes, two stand out for their focus on confidentiality:
Sapphire: Smart Privacy for Ethereum Apps
Sapphire is a confidential EVM-compatible ParaTime. It lets developers add privacy selectively to their applications. For example, parts of a smart contract can be kept private, while others remain transparent.
This works through trusted execution environments (TEEs), which execute code in secure enclaves with end-to-end encryption. Even stored data stays encrypted, giving developers a powerful way to protect sensitive user information.
Because it’s fully EVM-compatible, existing Ethereum dapps can be ported to Oasis with minimal changes—just with added privacy.
Oasis Privacy Layer (OPL): Privacy Across Chains
The OPL takes things further by letting developers add Oasis’s privacy features to any EVM-compatible blockchain. Users still interact with their host chain, while private computations happen on Sapphire in the background. Assets never leave the original chain, making integration seamless.
Privacy Meets AI
Beyond blockchain, Oasis is carving out a niche in AI privacy—a field that’s only growing in importance.
- With Ocean Protocol, it enables confidential predictions in its on-chain prediction market tool, Predictoor. Normally, all submissions would be public, but Oasis ensures they’re kept private.
- With OraiChain, it supports confidential machine learning computations, so developers can build AI-powered apps without exposing raw data.
These collaborations point to a broader trend: the intersection of blockchain, AI, and privacy as a foundation for the next generation of applications.
Why Oasis Labs Matters
As regulators, enterprises, and users demand better data protection, projects like Oasis Labs are proving that blockchain doesn’t have to sacrifice privacy for transparency. Its innovations—like Sapphire, the Oasis Privacy Layer, and partnerships with tech giants—make it one of the most forward-looking projects in Web3.
In a world increasingly defined by AI, decentralized finance, and data-driven decision-making, Oasis offers a rare combination: scalability, usability, and built-in privacy.
