GIP-122: Should GnosisDAO support the continued development of Gnosis VPN to bring it to market?

HOPR has completed the first proof-of-concept version of Gnosis VPN, a trustless, decentralized, uncensorable VPN service running on top of the HOPR network. The results were far in excess of expectations, demonstrating the viability of Gnosis VPN. More details can be found in our closing report for proposal: https://forum.gnosis.io/t/gip-98-should-gnosisdao-invest-in-hopr-to-kickstart-development-of-gnosisvpn/8348/44

However, it is still only a proof of concept. To continue development, the next stage would be to turn Gnosis VPN into a truly web3-native product with decentralized tech and incentive structures, ready to take to market and aligned with the goals of the Gnosis ecosystem. The HOPR team has scoped out the necessary work and assessed that it will take 24 months, with the first MVP version available within the first year of work.

The two-year research and development roadmap would focus broadly on four areas:

1. Turning the proof of concept into a minimum viable product which does not require users to run their own HOPR node
2. Taking that minimum viable product and turning it into a market-ready product for minimally crypto-savvy users
3. Optimizing the HOPR protocol to support the increased demands of a VPN service
4. Hardening the privacy of every component of Gnosis VPN to ensure that the service is uncensorable.

In parallel, it will be necessary to scale and further decentralize the HOPR network and set of Gnosis VPN exit node runners, as well as providing mechanisms for properly incentivizing exit node runners while ensuring users can trust them. We are confident that Circles v2 is the ideal vehicle for these mechanisms, but further research and implementation is needed.

Each improved iteration of Gnosis VPN is targeted at a different user persona, broadly representing an order of magnitude increase in the user base. Over the course of this project, and in keeping with the Gnosis 3.0 vision we would take Gnosis VPN from a proof of concept able to support under 100 users, to a service ready to support many globally distributed users on a host of different devices.

To achieve this roadmap, GnosisDAO would invest $4.8m into HOPR over two years, in exchange for HOPR tokens at a 90d TWAP ending on the day of each installment.

In addition, similar to GIP-98, 500 GNO would be provided to incentivize the onboarding of new node runners to bootstrap the service.

Please read the full proposal on the Gnosis Forum: https://forum.gnosis.io/t/gip-122-should-gnosisdao-support-the-continued-development-of-gnosis-vpn-to-bring-it-to-market/9706