# Shutter Vision

I will give my view on a broader vision for shutter. Maybe it will be a bit chaotic but feel free to pick phrases, paragraphs which fit into the document.

Let's try to start with a far broad vision and then detail down on different dimensions. I see Shutter becoming the solution to achieving information symmetry.

## Why do we want information symmetry?

Information assymetry is a "byproduct" of the native open database what the blockchain really is and what it needs to fulfill other basic criteria (decentralization, thus openness, etc). The problem to date is, that there is no other choice thus information assymetry formed around the fact that information are accessible and smart powerful players can take these information for their benefit, creating an unfair environment. Even in the web2 case, the powerful player is ultiamtely the host of the application but the same concept applies (e.g. Snapshot).
We can see that in a more general sense, unfair advantages to these players lead to centralization which is a fundamental risk to blockchains itself.

## Shutter as the enabler for information symmetry

I see that Shutter's vision is having an environment which allows information symmetry thus a more fair environment to interact in the open web. I think it is important to have such an environment available so people have the choice whether to use it or not. Today there is not really an option. Today we are exposed to this environment of information assymetry.

Many projects, apps and infrastructure are facing this fundamental problem. I see that Shutter could step in here and provide a service to these projects.

My best analogy to this is Eigenlayer providing a platform to economic security, where projects which don't want to go through the hassle of building there own economic security model, they could just tap into Eigenlayer system to buy/borrow economic security. Similarly, if projects needs encryption to guarantee information symmetry to their users, they could tap into a system which provides exactly this service (Examples: chains, sequencers, market places, voting systems, MPC and what not).

Ultimately, this could expand to Shutter being the go to place to providing decentralized encryption services of any kind.

## Technology stack

On a different dimension, we can ask ourselves which technologies do we use to enable the above. Today we are using time-lock threshold encyrption as our main tool. However, other technologies exist, which can be combined with or used instead of time-lock threshold encyrption. I don't see it as a black or white thing, different technologies typically tend to have different trade-offs and just might fit better to different use cases. At one point Shutter should expand on the technology stack to allow for better fitting technologies to its users. It's like increasing the tool box for solving problems for its users.
With the resources Shutter has in the community, Shutter has the potential to be a leading force in driving research and taking results and actually building products around it.
I would like to see that if people need encryption products (in order to fulfill information symmetry) that people immediately think about Shutter as the making it practical to use (similarly how people think about eigenlayer when needing economic security). But that's a far vision.

## Path towards this vision (What's next)

I do think that it is critical that Shutter focusses on a niche expanding to more use cases. IMO the main niche (which is already big enough) we are currently targeting is the MEV landscape (There is also voting and this was basically our first use case with real implemenation and we should continue to have it in our portfolio also increasing new integrations like kleros or fractal). Given the size and potential of the whole MEV topic, I can see that it will take rather months to years than weeks to really flourish. With Gnosis and OP stack + Espresso and Eigenlayer it's already a lot and we should really focus heads down on integrating with these systems and getting Shutter in use. It will be crucial in the next months that we get usage and thus data and feedback from these integrations (Similar to get first users with Snapshot).

However in the more midterm 12-24 months perspective, I would like to see different working streams pipelined so that we always know where the path is heading. I.e. Before finishing OP stack, we need to have the next activity pipelined already.
On a higher abstraciton level these pipelines need to be established as well. Before we finish this timelock encryption generalized platform idea, we need to have next steps already in research (like FHE).
Key here IMO is to balance resources in the way, that we are for one focussed on our current pathway and shipping stuff and on the other side experiment with new ideas to fill the pipeline.