Why Obsidian Exists
The Data Availability Problem
In the current Web3 ecosystem, reliable, on demand data availability and publishing is addressed with solutions that have significant tradeoffs between cost, latency, and decentralization. Centralized data infrastructure remains the most efficient but introduces massive censorship risks and highly questionable permanence. Current storage-oriented decentralized network solutions greatly improve permanence but are typically optimized for prepaid data allocation and static data hosting, making them inadequately suited for on-demand, low-latency data publication.
As a consequence, decentralized applications requiring continuous data streams, such as real time messaging, rely heavily on centralized solutions.
The Ethereum Gap
Ethereum revolutionized trustless value transfer and programmable money. But it wasn't designed for communication and data storage:
Gas costs make storing data prohibitively expensive
State bloat concerns limit what can be stored
Smart contracts add complexity for simple data needs
No native data layer, everything must go through the EVM
What if you just want to publish a message that lives forever, without deploying a contract or paying per-byte gas fees?
Our Solution
Obsidian addresses this issue through attaching an on demand data protocol (Silica Protocol) directly alongside transaction blocks. While EVM transactions are computationally intensive, they are relatively small. The Silica Protocol leverages this gap by capitalizing on underused network capacity to carry larger, non-executable data payloads that require very minimal CPU processing. This enables Obsidian to sustain high data throughput without increasing EVM execution overhead which would otherwise degrade transaction performance.
Design Principles
Execution Isolation: Data flow should never slow down transactions. Heavy data moves on its own path so EVM execution stays fast.
Native Data Pathway: Messages are built into the protocol itself, not shoved through smart contracts.
Ethereum Compatibility: Full EVM support with the same tools developers already use.
Accessible Publication: Users can publish data either by paying fees or by using compute-based mechanisms for spam prevention, depending on urgency and inclusion needs.
Verifiable Permanence: Once data is included, cryptographic commitments make sure it can't be altered or faked later.
Transactions
✓
✓
Smart Contracts
✓
✓
State Changes
✓
✓
Native Messages
✗
✓ (permanent, no EVM)
Key Innovations
Separation of Concerns: Execution and data availability scale independently
Silica Protocol: Committee-based data availability with erasure coding
Dual Message Types: Fee-based (Priority) and compute-based (Standard) inclusion pathways
Commitment-Based Identity: Consensus operates on commitments, not full payloads
Parallel Lane Model: Messages route to dedicated lanes for high throughput
Who Is Obsidian For?
Users/Consumers
Communicate freely with total privacy. Send messages that belong to you, not a corporation, and exist as long as the chain does.
Application Developers
Build social protocols, attestation systems, or any app that needs permanent public data without smart contract complexity.
Content Creators
Publish content that can never be censored or deleted. Your words, your rules, forever.
Enterprises
Create immutable audit trails, timestamped records, and compliance logs that no one can tamper with.
Archive Operators
Store and serve historical data to keep messages accessible long-term. Incentive mechanisms for archive operators are implementation-defined and may evolve.
Obsidian isn't replacing Ethereum - it's extending it for the data-first future.
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