In recent issues, we’ve discussed several projects on the RSK blockchain within the DEFI segment. This time, we’ll focus on RSK’s own foundational services, specifically the RSK Infrastructure Framework (RIF), which is developed by RSK Labs. Launched in 2018, the RIF token has had relatively average performance, peaking at a 10x increase during the last bull market. Over the past year, it has been relatively stagnant, with a current market cap of $80 million and a ranking beyond 400.

Introduction

RSK Infrastructure Framework (RIF) offers a range of infrastructure services on the RSK platform to support DeFi application development. These services include domain services, storage, payment, and lending protocols. RIF OS is the first integrated, user-friendly open-source blockchain infrastructure framework.

Project Implementation Mechanism

RIF OS integrates unified protocols, rules, and interfaces, including data storage, secure communication, data feeds (oracles), name resolution, and payment processing. Key features of RIF OS protocols include: 1) Interaction with RIF Tokens: Protocols are designed to utilize RIF tokens for interactions, staking, and consumption. 2) Service Providers: Anyone can advertise their services and become a provider within the RIF protocol. 3) Smart Contract Compatibility: Services are designed to smoothly deploy on the RSK smart contract protocol when smart contract functionalities are needed.

Third-party service providers can offer storage, communication, payment, and other services using the existing RIF OS infrastructure protocol and earn RIF tokens in return. In the RIF OS architecture, D1 represents RIF Name Services already deployed on the RSK blockchain, with plans for it to be one of many name services provided by various service providers.

Key Protocols

• RIF Directory (RNS): A name service protocol supporting name operations and secondary markets. It allows users to easily buy, sell, and auction names with RIF tokens, and service providers can advertise their services through this protocol. RIF Name Service is already live.

• RIF Storage: A decentralized data redundancy storage access protocol. The RIF Data Storage Layer (RDSL) acts as a connector for third-party storage providers, enabling the transmission of pricing data and negotiation between storage providers and clients via the RSK blockchain. The ultimate goal is to foster a competitive environment providing scalable storage solutions with lower fees and latency, allowing users to securely and privately store their digital identities, resources, and sensitive information on globally distributed servers.

• RIF Payments (WALLET): A protocol for accessing any off-chain payment network, especially payment channel networks. This protocol enables scalable, low-cost, and high-speed off-chain payments; it allows different off-chain payment networks to be deployed on RSK to support payments in RBTC and standard interchangeable tokens. By using the RIF API, services such as Point of Sale (POS) gateways can be built, and these POS services can handle all payments across existing and future payment networks integrated into RIF. The RIF Payments protocol will provide a unified user interface in the future to integrate various off-chain payment networks. It includes three components: RIF Payments Full, which creates an abstraction layer to access different payment networks, allowing cross-token and cross-network payments; RIF Payments Light, which allows light clients to access RIF Payments Full without compromising security and decentralization; and RIF Payments Exchange, which will be used to discover token exchange rates to route payments based on scores, rates, fees, and other criteria, significantly optimizing payment routing.

• RIF Secure Communication: A node discovery protocol for authenticated and encrypted communication. RIF Secure Communication Infrastructure (RSCI) is a protocol that allows parties needing communication to register their communication methods, using their preferred communication methods and public keys as a discovery mechanism to enable mutual communication. By using this protocol, users can publish their pseudonyms and communication public keys in the RIF Directory. Whenever a user’s pseudonym establishes a connection, the other party can look up their communication public key and use it to create a secure connection, allowing pseudonymous communication between participants.

• RIF Data Gateway: An oracle protocol for accessing external data feeds. Blockchain protocols with on-chain smart contracts must communicate with external systems through oracles. RIF Data Gateway is a data consumption protocol that provides external data from data service providers to smart contracts, delivering necessary price feeds, other blockchain states, and external data needed for execution.

• RIF Browser: A tool for browsing services registered on each RIF OS protocol. The RIF OS platform provides a set of abstraction layers and APIs to support third-party services provided by RIF OS service providers.

Technical Features

RSK and RIF OS can be viewed in layers: Bitcoin is the first layer, serving as the value storage layer; RSK is the second layer, executing business logic through smart contracts; and RIF OS is the third layer, providing infrastructure services. RSK, a sidechain of Bitcoin, leverages Bitcoin’s mining power without additional energy consumption for block generation through merged mining, ensuring support from Bitcoin’s hashing power. RSK also inherits key concepts from Ethereum, such as account formats, VM, and web3 interfaces, ensuring high compatibility with Ethereum compilers, tools, and dApps. In the RSK network, RBTC is used to pay transaction and contract processing fees. All RBTC are pegged to the Bitcoin network via a two-way peg: when Bitcoin is transferred to the RSK blockchain, it becomes RBTC. RBTC is equivalent to Bitcoin on the RSK blockchain, and it can be converted back to Bitcoin at any time without additional fees. RIF OS is a set of protocols, rules, and interfaces built on RSK, serving as an off-chain development stack. Its goal is to address the barriers hindering developers from adopting blockchain technology and to promote the development of a fair market for decentralized infrastructure services.

Token Economies

Launched on November 10, 2018, RIF’s total token supply is 1,000,000,000, with all tokens currently in circulation. The current price is $0.08, with a peak of $0.457 on April 13, 2021. Token distribution includes 40% to RIF Labs, 37.9% to private investors, 20% to founders and team members, and 2.1% to early contributors.

The RSK network’s infrastructure platform provides the foundation for many applications, which might not be possible otherwise. However, the RIF token has been underperforming and is not directly linked to the infrastructure it supports, posing a significant issue. On the upside, all tokens are unlocked, and the current market cap is still low at $80 million, compared to other infrastructure platforms like Ankr, which have a market cap of $300 million. This raises the question: is the valuation of RIF potentially underestimated?

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