A private mode for stablecoins — confidentiality with compliance built in. + The hard technology is built and demonstrated; what follows is the plan to turn it into revenue.
+Sell to the buyer who already holds stablecoins and feels the transparency + pain most — then leverage into platforms and institutions.
+Funds, trading firms, DAOs, crypto startups paying salaries, contractors, OTC in stablecoins. Fast buyers, sharp pain, tolerant of early tooling. 5–10 design partners → 20–40 paying.
They embed VEIL to offer confidential stablecoin rails to their own users. One integration → many end-users. B2B2C leverage.
Lead with compliance — proof of innocence + auditor view keys. Longer cycles, larger contracts, cross-border B2B.
$2k–$20k/mo per business for the app, dashboards, audit tooling, SLAs + implementation fees.
5–15 bps on shielded volume, in stablecoin, routed to on-chain buyback-and-burn (already built).
White-label the rail to fintechs & issuers: platform license + volume rev-share.
Blended ≈ $150k/yr per mid-size customer (SaaS + protocol). ~70–120 customers, or ~$10B/yr shielded volume, reaches the break-even zone — the blended model gets there years before protocol fees alone.
+Illustrative planning figures, not forecasts. Fixed R&D / security / compliance dominate costs, so margins expand sharply with scale.
+| Metric | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | 8 | 14 | 22 |
| Customers | 5–20 | 40–80 | 120–250 |
| Shielded volume | pilot | $1–5B | $10–30B |
| Revenue | <$0.5M | $6–12M | $20–40M |
| Net | burn (seed) | ~break-even | profitable |
No token at seed. Build on equity + stablecoin revenue; the 2026 market punishes tokens and + rewards revenue. Introduce VEIL only once there's real usage and regulatory clarity — via a + foundation, as staking/fee utility, never as the fundraising mechanism.
+Close seed; entity + legal opinions; audits engaged; trusted-setup ceremony; 5–10 design partners; public testnet.
Audits complete; testnet pilots; real cross-chain oracle; ASP wired to a screening provider; SOC 2 kickoff.
Capped launch on one EVM L2 + Solana; first paying customers; begin SDK / white-label.
Cross-chain live; grow customers; prove PMF (volume + retention); prep Series A.
Raise; expand chains; institutions; decentralize operators; evaluate token; drive to break-even.
The technology risk is largely retired. What remains is execution and timing — pairing built technology with compliance-grade trust and enterprise distribution faster than incumbents bolt privacy on. That's the right kind of risk to carry.
+VEIL launch plan — illustrative planning figures, not forecasts or investment advice. Full detail in docs/launch-plan.md
diff --git a/docs/launch-plan.md b/docs/launch-plan.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e5b664d --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/launch-plan.md @@ -0,0 +1,273 @@ +# VEIL — Launch & Business Plan + +**From working prototype to profitable business.** Draft v1 · July 2026. + +This is an operating plan, not a pitch. Numbers are illustrative and grounded in the mid-2026 +market research in this repo; every assumption is labelled. The honest through-line: VEIL has a +credible path to real revenue **if** it wins compliance-grade trust and durable adoption — the +technology risk is largely retired, the remaining risk is regulatory and go-to-market. + +--- + +## 1. Executive summary + +- **Product:** a neutral, multi-chain **confidential-payments rail for stablecoins** — a private + mode for USDC/USDT where amounts are hidden and sender↔recipient is unlinked, with compliance + enforced as zero-knowledge proofs (proof of innocence) and auditability via view keys. + *Confidentiality, not anonymity.* +- **Why now:** stablecoins are crypto's one proven market (~$290B supply, ~$28T quarterly + volume, GENIUS Act live) yet 100% transparent — unusable for real business finance. Privacy is + the cycle's best-performing narrative, and both Ethereum (Privacy Pools/Kohaku) and Solana + (Confidential Transfer) shipped the primitives. Nobody has assembled a neutral, compliance- + native, cross-chain **product** with a native asset. +- **Wedge:** confidential B2B stablecoin payments (payroll, suppliers, treasury) for + crypto-native companies first, then fintechs/PSPs via SDK, then regulated institutions. +- **Business model:** blended — enterprise SaaS + integration fees (predictable, early) plus a + protocol fee on shielded volume that feeds a buyback-and-burn (scales with usage). +- **Money:** lean burn (~$4–6M year 1), seed of **$4–6M** to reach audited mainnet + first + revenue, Series A ($15–25M) on traction. Break-even plausibly year 3–4. +- **Token:** **do not launch early.** Build on equity + stablecoin revenue; introduce the VEIL + token only once there is real usage and regulatory clarity, via a foundation, as staking/fee + utility — never as the fundraising mechanism. + +--- + +## 2. Product & positioning + +**What it is (already built, see repo):** shielded pools on EVM + Solana, a real ZK withdrawal +circuit, a relayer (gasless private payments), an Association Set Provider (screening + +proof-of-innocence), view-key auditability, a payments SDK/CLI, cross-chain settlement, and the +token/buyback-burn/staking economics — all tested end-to-end with a real on-chain proof. + +**Positioning:** *"Stripe for confidential stablecoin payments."* Not a mixer, not an anonymity +tool. The one-line wedge with a CFO: *"Pay in stablecoins without publishing your payroll and +margins to competitors — and still pass an audit."* + +**Three product surfaces (already scaffolded):** +1. **Payments app + SDK** — the integration a business/fintech embeds. +2. **The neutral rail** — the open, staked-operator network. +3. **Multi-chain** — native on EVM L2s and Solana. + +--- + +## 3. Market + +Grounded in `docs/market-research-2026.md`. + +- **TAM (transparent, illustrative):** stablecoin transfer volume ≈ **$112T/yr**. Even a small + share moving to a private mode is large. +- **SAM:** B2B / treasury / payroll stablecoin flows where transparency is a real deterrent — + conservatively low-hundreds of $B/yr today, growing fast as banks and PSPs enter. +- **SOM (obtainable, 3-yr):** capturing **$1–10B/yr** of shielded volume is a credible target + band — <0.01% of stablecoin volume. + +**Revenue sensitivity at a 0.10% protocol fee:** $1B → $1M; $10B → $10M; $100B → $100M; $1T → +$1B. The model works at a fraction of a percent of the market. (Illustrative, not a forecast.) + +--- + +## 4. Business model & unit economics + +**Three revenue lines** (diversified so profitability doesn't depend solely on protocol volume): + +1. **Protocol fee** — 5–15 bps on shielded withdrawals, in stablecoin, routed to + buyback-and-burn (already implemented). Scales with volume; pure margin. +2. **Enterprise SaaS** — per-business subscription for the payments app, dashboards, audit + tooling, SLAs, and a hosted relayer: **$2k–$20k/mo** by size, plus implementation fees. +3. **Infrastructure licensing / white-label** — fintechs, PSPs, and stablecoin issuers embed the + rail under their brand: platform license + rev-share on volume. + +**Illustrative unit economics (per mid-size business customer):** +- SaaS: ~$8k/mo = ~$96k/yr. +- Their shielded volume: ~$50M/yr × 10 bps = ~$50k/yr protocol fee. +- Blended ≈ **$150k/yr revenue per customer**; gross margin high (software + on-chain). +- 60–80 such customers ≈ $9–12M revenue — the break-even zone. + +**Cost to serve** is dominated by fixed R&D/security/compliance, not per-customer, so margins +expand sharply with scale. + +--- + +## 5. Go-to-market + +**Sequenced wedge — land where the pain is sharpest and the buyer is fastest:** + +- **Phase A — Crypto-native companies (beachhead, months 0–9).** Funds, trading firms, DAOs, + crypto startups already paying salaries, contractors, and OTC deals in stablecoins. They hold + the asset, feel transparency pain acutely, tolerate early tooling, and buy fast. Target 5–10 + design partners pre-mainnet, 20–40 paying by month 12. +- **Phase B — Fintechs & PSPs (months 9–24).** Sell the SDK/white-label so they offer + confidential stablecoin rails to *their* customers (B2B2C leverage). One PSP integration = many + end-users. +- **Phase C — Regulated institutions & cross-border B2B (year 2+).** Lead with the compliance + story (proof of innocence, view keys, auditor access). Longer cycles, larger contracts. + +**Channels & partnerships:** +- **Stablecoin issuers** (Circle, Paxos, PayPal, bank issuers) — distribution + credibility. +- **Screening providers** (Chainalysis, TRM, Elliptic) — power the ASP; co-marketing on the + "compliant privacy" narrative. +- **Payroll/vesting platforms** (Toku, Rise, LiquiFi), custody/wallets, and treasury tools — + embed VEIL as the private-payment option. +- **Auditors & law firms** — reference the view-key model so their clients can adopt. + +**Motion:** founder-led enterprise sales for Phase A, developer-relations + SDK for Phase B, +partnerships/BD for Phase C. Content: publish the compliance design, security audits, and real +throughput/cost numbers — trust is the product. + +--- + +## 6. Regulatory & compliance strategy (the crux) + +This determines whether VEIL is a business or a lawsuit. Treat it as a first-class workstream, +not an afterthought. + +- **Architecture is the defense.** Stay **non-custodial**: the protocol never controls user + funds; contracts are immutable; relayers are permissionless; the company operates software, not + a money-transmission service. This is the distinction the Tornado Cash / Roman Storm cases turn + on — design to be on the right side of it, and get written legal opinions confirming it. +- **Compliance is a feature, not a bolt-on.** Proof-of-innocence (screened association sets via + Chainalysis/TRM) + view keys (auditor/regulator selective disclosure) directly answer the AML + objection to privacy tools. Ship it as the headline, publicly documented. +- **Engage early.** Proactive dialogue with FinCEN and relevant regulators; SAR-friendly design; + a published transparency/compliance policy. Do not launch quietly and hope. +- **Entity & jurisdiction.** Dual structure: a **for-profit Labs company** (builds software, + raises equity, sells SaaS) + a separate **foundation/protocol entity** (stewards the neutral + network and any future token). Base the Labs co in a clear jurisdiction; obtain legal opinions + before mainnet. Register as a VASP where the ASP/relayer services require it. +- **Tax transparency (CARF/DAC8).** The view-key model is designed to satisfy reporting — make + that explicit to institutional buyers. +- **Watch the calendar.** US market-structure (CLARITY) and the Storm retrial (Oct 2026) are + live variables; sequence the token and any custodial features around regulatory clarity. + +--- + +## 7. Competitive landscape & moat + +| Competitor / adjacent | Gap VEIL fills | +|---|---| +| Zcash / mixers | Anonymity, no compliance story, not stablecoin/business-oriented | +| Aztec (privacy L2) | A whole new chain to adopt; VEIL is a rail over existing stablecoins | +| Railgun / Privacy Pools | Primitives, not a business-facing product with SaaS + multi-chain + neutrality | +| Circle native confidential USDC (risk) | Single-issuer, switch-off-able; VEIL is neutral, multi-issuer, multi-chain | + +**Moat:** (1) compliance-native design that anonymity tools can't retrofit; (2) neutrality + +anonymity-set network effects (privacy quality compounds with usage); (3) ASP + regulator + +issuer relationships; (4) first credible "confidential stablecoin rail" brand; (5) the staked +operator set (token) making the rail un-censorable. + +--- + +## 8. Product roadmap to mainnet (pre-production checklist) + +Everything below is what stands between the current prototype and real funds: + +1. **Public trusted-setup ceremony** (multi-party Powers-of-Tau + phase-2) to replace the + single-party dev setup. ~$50–150k, 6–10 weeks, external participants. +2. **Independent security audits** — ≥2 top-tier firms on contracts + circuit; formal + verification of the circuit; a public bug-bounty (Immunefi, $250k+ pool). $300–600k. +3. **Real cross-chain messaging** — replace the mock settlement oracle with LayerZero / CCIP / + Wormhole / Hyperlane. +4. **Production relayer + ASP services** — hardened, monitored, with the ASP wired to a real + screening provider; decentralize the relayer set over time (staking already built). +5. **Hardened key storage** — encrypted wallet, hardware-wallet/passkey support, recovery UX. +6. **Testnet pilots** with design partners; then **mainnet on one EVM L2 + Solana**, small caps + first, scaling as the anonymity set and audits mature. +7. **SOC 2 / infosec** for enterprise buyers. + +--- + +## 9. Team & hiring (first 18 months) + +- **Now → seed:** founders + the existing engineering (ZK/protocol) — enough to reach audited + testnet. +- **Post-seed (6–8 hires):** 2 protocol/ZK engineers, 1 full-stack/app, 1 devrel/SDK, 1 + compliance/legal lead, 1 BD/enterprise sales, 1 founding designer/PM, part-time + security/finance. +- **Post-Series A (→ ~20):** scale engineering, sales, compliance, and a partnerships team. + +Compliance and BD hires are as critical as engineers — this is a trust business. + +--- + +## 10. Fundraising + +- **Seed — $4–6M** (18–24 mo runway). Use of funds: audits + ceremony (~20%), team (~50%), + legal/regulatory (~15%), GTM/BD (~10%), infra (~5%). Milestone: audited mainnet + first + paying customers + measurable shielded volume. +- **Series A — $15–25M** on traction (customers, volume, revenue). Scale GTM, chains, institutions, + and decentralize the operator set. +- **Investors:** crypto-native funds that understand infra + regulation (and can open issuer/ + institution doors) over generalist tourists. Equity now; token later, if ever. + +--- + +## 11. Financials & path to profitability (illustrative) + +| | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | +|---|---|---|---| +| Team size | 8 | 14 | 22 | +| Opex (burn) | $4–6M | $8–10M | $12–15M | +| Customers | 5–20 | 40–80 | 120–250 | +| Shielded volume | pilot | $1–5B | $10–30B | +| Revenue (SaaS + protocol) | <$0.5M | $6–12M | $20–40M | +| Net | burn (seed) | near / at break-even | **profitable** | + +**Break-even logic:** ~$9–12M revenue covers a ~$10M cost base — reachable with ~70–120 blended +enterprise customers **or** ~$10B/yr shielded volume, or a mix. The blended model (SaaS + +protocol) reaches profitability years earlier than protocol fees alone. Profitability is +plausible in **year 3–4** on-plan. + +--- + +## 12. Metrics / KPIs + +- **North star:** monthly shielded volume (and its retention). +- Protocol revenue + SaaS ARR; VEIL burned (if token live). +- Paying business customers; net revenue retention; logo retention. +- Anonymity-set size per pool (privacy quality); relayer/ASP decentralization. +- Compliance: % withdrawals with proof-of-innocence; zero sanctioned-flow incidents. +- Reliability: proof-gen latency, relayer uptime, cost per private payment. + +--- + +## 13. Risks & mitigations + +| Risk | Mitigation | +|---|---| +| **Regulatory / developer liability** (biggest) | Non-custodial architecture, compliance-native design, legal opinions, proactive regulator engagement, jurisdiction choice | +| **Adoption/demand slower than hoped** | Blended SaaS revenue reduces volume dependence; start with the sharpest-pain beachhead | +| **Incumbent ships native private stablecoin** | Neutrality (multi-issuer, multi-chain, un-switch-off-able); move first; own the compliance-privacy brand | +| **Cryptographic / audit failure** | Multiple audits, formal verification, public ceremony, bug bounty, staged caps at launch | +| **Anonymity-set bootstrapping** (small pools leak) | Seed liquidity, fixed-denomination modes, batching, concentrate on few deep pools | +| **Token/regulatory misstep** | Delay token; equity-first; foundation structure; utility not speculation | +| **Key-management UX** (users lose notes) | Encrypted wallets, passkeys, recovery, custodial option for enterprises | + +--- + +## 14. 24-month timeline + +- **Q1 (0–3 mo):** close seed; legal entity + opinions; audit engagement; launch trusted-setup + ceremony; sign 5–10 design partners; ASP integration with a screening provider; public testnet. +- **Q2 (3–6 mo):** complete audits; testnet pilots; real cross-chain oracle; hardened relayer; + compliance policy published; SOC 2 kickoff. +- **Q3 (6–9 mo):** **mainnet launch** (one EVM L2 + Solana, capped); first paying customers; + begin Phase B (SDK/white-label) conversations. +- **Q4 (9–12 mo):** scale customers; cross-chain live; measure PMF (volume + retention); prep + Series A. +- **Year 2:** raise Series A; expand chains; institutional pilots; decentralize relayers/ASP; + evaluate token launch **only if** usage + regulatory clarity justify it; drive toward + break-even. + +--- + +## 15. The one-paragraph thesis + +VEIL turns crypto's one proven market — stablecoins — into something businesses can actually use, +by adding the one thing it lacks (confidentiality) without the one thing regulators won't accept +(anonymity). The hard technology is built and demonstrated. The company that wins is the one that +pairs that technology with **compliance-grade trust and enterprise distribution** faster than +incumbents can bolt privacy on or regulators can slam the door. That is an execution-and-timing +bet with a clear path to real cash flow and a very large ceiling — the right kind of bet. + +> Not investment advice. Financials are illustrative planning figures, not forecasts. Unaudited +> research prototype; not for production use until the Section 8 checklist is complete. diff --git a/docs/veil-explainer.html b/docs/veil-explainer.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6436c63 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/veil-explainer.html @@ -0,0 +1,469 @@ +A payment rail that lets businesses and people send digital dollars (USDC / USDT) + without publishing the amount to the whole world — while still proving the + money is clean and letting an auditor check the books.
+Stablecoins already move ~$28 trillion every quarter — but every transfer is + public. A company paying salaries or suppliers on-chain exposes its payroll, margins, and + counterparties to anyone with a block explorer. That single fact keeps the best payment rail + ever built out of normal business use. VEIL fixes exactly that — and only that.
+Send 1,000 USDC and the amount, sender, and receiver are permanent public record. + No business can run finance in a glass box — so they don't use it.
+Amounts are hidden and the sender is unlinked from the receiver — yet a zero-knowledge + proof shows the funds trace to a screened source, and a view key lets your auditor decrypt + what they're allowed to see. Private to the public, open to whom you choose.
+You put money in openly, it sits in a shared shielded pool where amounts are + encrypted, and you take it out privately by proving — without revealing which deposit is yours — + that you own clean funds.
+ +You move stablecoins into the pool under a secret "note." This part is public and normal — + like loading a prepaid card.
+ Public +Your deposit joins everyone else's inside one pool. Balances are hidden and links between + deposits and withdrawals are broken.
+ Hidden +You withdraw to any address by submitting a proof that you own a clean note — showing + nothing about who or how much. A one-time tag stops double-spends.
+ Private +Withdrawals prove the money comes from an approved, screened set of deposits — + so honest users show their funds aren't dirty without revealing which deposit is theirs. + This is the mechanism Vitalik Buterin publicly endorsed (Privacy Pools).
+Each note is encrypted to a "view key." You — and anyone you hand it to, like + a tax authority or auditor — can decrypt the amount. Nobody else can, and the key can't move + funds. Selective disclosure you grant, not a backdoor we hold.
+VEIL isn't a coin to gamble on — it's infrastructure with three concrete faces.
+Pay salaries, suppliers, and contractors in stablecoins with amounts private by default. + A "Stripe for confidential stablecoin payments" that drops into existing tools.
+An open network no single company can switch off or censor, secured by staked operators — + so it can be trusted the way a public utility is.
+Native shielded pools on Ethereum/L2s and on Solana (Token-2022 confidential transfers), + bridged so a private payment can cross chains in one action.
+Where we are and what's left. The hard cryptographic core is already working — + the rest is services, reach, and hardening.
+Deep market study of Ethereum, Solana, stablecoins, privacy; three concepts audited; VEIL chosen.
Shielded pool contracts, client SDK, and a real zero-knowledge circuit — a genuine proof + now verifies on-chain and settles a private withdrawal. 9/9 tests green.
A relayer (gasless withdrawals, generates the proof for you) and an Association-Set Provider + (screens deposits, publishes the "clean set"), plus a business payments app (shield / pay / + audit) — all validated in one end-to-end test with a real proof.
Cross-chain private payments via an ERC-7683-style open → fill → claim flow (a solver shields + the funds for the recipient on the far chain); Solana confidential-transfer prototype in place.
Protocol fee → automatic buyback-and-burn (tested from a real pool fee); staking & slashing + for the operators who keep the rail neutral, with the relayer set gated on active stake.
A public trusted-setup ceremony, a real cross-chain messaging oracle, hardened key storage, + an independent security audit, then production launch.
Short answer: the way it earns is proven and the market is enormous — + but adoption is the bet, and most crypto projects don't win it. Here's the real math, not a pitch.
+ +A tiny fee on each shielded transfer flows + to an automatic buyback-and-burn — the same revenue→burn model the market rewards today + (Hyperliquid crossed $1B in cumulative revenue doing this). No reliance on token printing.
+ +Stablecoins do ~$112T of volume a year. VEIL + only needs a sliver of it to run private. At a 0.10% fee:
+| Scenario | Private volume / yr | Share of stablecoin volume | Protocol revenue / yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | $10 B | ~0.01% | $10 M |
| Moderate | $100 B | ~0.09% | $100 M |
| Bull | $1 T | ~0.9% | $1 B |
Illustrative, not a forecast — the point is + the model works even at a fraction of a percent of the market.
+ +A private mode for stablecoins. Run a real confidential payment on your local + devnet and watch what the public sees versus what an auditor can decrypt.
+ + + + + +Holds stablecoins, wants privacy.
Screens deposits, vouches for clean funds.
Proves & submits, gasless for the payer.
Holds the view key, can decrypt on demand.
Anyone with a block explorer sees only this.
+With the view key — selective disclosure, no backdoor.
+Local devnet · real Groth16 proof · unaudited research prototype — not for real funds.
+