Introducing the Open Internet Protocol

Today we're introducing the Open Internet Protocol (OIP)—an open-source, decentralized protocol for building scalable, privacy-focused, and censorship-resistant social applications.

At Portrait, we've spent the past three years learning firsthand which decentralized technologies effectively scale and enhance user experience. These insights have directly informed OIP's design, focusing on simplicity, usability, and affordability. Our goal is to lower barriers for developers and provide users with seamless decentralized experiences.

OIP provides developers with the flexibility to register their own applications through the OIPAppRegistry, enabling custom interaction logic.

The Open Internet Protocol will exist as a public good: independently, open-source and credibly neutral. It's important to note that OIP is not designed exclusively for Portrait.

Why we separated OIP from Portrait

As the original protocol matured, it became clear that its design and capabilities could support many decentralized social applications beyond Portrait itself. We believe this positions OIP as a versatile foundation that can effectively address the growing demands of decentralized social applications at scale.

While Portrait must comply with regional regulatory requirements, OIP will remain independent and impartial—free from any single organization's control. This separation ensures Portrait can continue innovating and optimizing for user experience, while OIP serves as a reliable, open foundation for diverse decentralized applications.

What happens next

OIP is currently in the process of migration as we finalize benchmarking and security assessments. We plan to fully migrate the Portrait protocol onto OIP in Q2.

Developers interested in exploring or contributing to OIP can get started by visiting the official documentation, following updates on X, or checking out the project on GitHub.

A note on tokens

We've become aware of unofficial tokens claiming affiliation with Portrait. There is no official Portrait token at this time. Please exercise caution. While no immediate token launch is planned, we are carefully considering how incentives might support the long-term health and growth of the Portrait ecosystem.