Oxen Ecosystem

0. Introduction
1. Oxen
2. Lokinet
3. Session
4. Thoughts on the Oxen Ecosystem

This is the first video in a 5-video series on Oxen, Lokinet, and Session. This video is just to introduce the series.

All original content in this video is dedicated to the public domain. Third-party resources included in this video are not necessarily public domain, but they fall into one of two categories:

1. They are public domain or licensed under a license which permits commercial use without attribution.
2. They are copyrighted works which I have not licensed but which I believe I am using in accordance with fair use.

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Script

Oxen is a cryptocurrency. [record scratch sound]

Now, hearing this, you're probably thinking one of two things:

1. "Ugh, another crypto fan? Nope, I'm out of here!"

or

2. "Yes, another crypto fan! I can't wait to find out your takes on which cryptos are going to the moon!"

If you're in the first category, I feel you. Rest assured: I am not a cryptocurrency fan. This series will not be an uncritical promotion of my favorite (i.e., most-invested-in) scam coin. Oxen is a genuinely interesting project to me, and I've been watching it for a while. It has both good and bad properties, and my goal is to give a nuanced opinion of it. My (quote) "investment" (unquote) in Oxen is 0. I don't own any. I've never had any. I've never used it as a cryptocurrency.

If you're in the second category, you will probably not enjoy this series. This is not a pro-cryptocurrency series. I am very cynical towards cryptocurrencies, and I will probably say a lot of things in this series that will upset you.

As far as investing goes, I have no advice for anyone. "Will X go up or down?" I don't know. I have no way of knowing that. I'm not an economist, and I don't understand what determines the price of a currency relative to other currencies. I also don't care. I'm not that interested in cryptocurrencies in the first place, and what interest I do have is in the technology itself and in cryptocurrencies' potential usefulness as money that, you know, you can spend on things.

As a final note, when I say "crypto", I use it to mean "cryptography", which is the math that secures communications, not "cryptocurrencies", which are currencies that are built on crypto.

This series will be divided up into 5 major sections:

0. Introduction (this video)
1. Oxen (a cryptocurrency)
2. Lokinet (a Tor-like anonymity network that runs on top of Oxen)
3. Session (an encrypted instant messaging application that runs on top of Oxen)
4. and Thoughts on the Oxen Ecosystem

Please watch the entire series if you can. Lokinet and Session are very closely related to Oxen, and I think that talking about either of them separately from Oxen necessarily sacrifices important context. Ultimately, the goal of this series is to give opinions on all of these things in the final video, which requires background on all of Oxen, Lokinet, and Session.

The script for this series was written in the year 2022 from January 24^th to the 27^th. I mention these dates to anchor time-based events that are referenced.

With all that out of the way, I'll see you in section 1 to talk about Oxen.

Next: Oxen