Cryptopedia - NYM

Nym is the next generation of privacy, engineered by some of the world’s leading research scientists and developers at world-class universities. The system comprises a mixnet providing privacy at the network level, credentials providing privacy at the application level, and the NYM token to reward those who run the system, making it sustainable and scalable in the long run. In an era where digital privacy is more crucial than ever, Nym is proudly unveiling the NymVPN, a pioneering solution that sets a new standard for online privacy and security. Unlike traditional VPNs, NymVPN is built on the Nym network, an entirely decentralized infrastructure that eliminates any single point of failure or control. This ensures unmatched privacy protections, including completely private payments via zk-nym credentials, leveraging zero-knowledge technology to eliminate financial trails. How does Nym provide privacy? Nym is a “full-stack” privacy system, developers can hook their existing applications to the Nym platform to protect their users at the network level via Nym mixnet, and protect them at the application layer via Nym private credentials. Together, these will have the capacity to add privacy to the broader blockchain industry: the Nym mixnet provides privacy at layer 0, which adds meta-data protections for other blockchain and cryptocurrency projects that are at layer 1 (like Bitcoin and Ethereum) and layer 2 (including most DeFi projects). What is Nym mixnet? The Nym mixnet is a decentralised network of computers arranged in 3 layers. Your communication traffic is sent through it wrapped in multiple layers of encryption using SPHINX packet format which makes every piece of data passing through the mixnet look exactly the same. In each layer of the mixnet, your internet traffic is mixed with other people’s traffic, and the metadata that uniquely identifies your communications ie. your IP address, timing and destination is obfuscated. This means that your messages are “lost in the crowd” and not only the content but also the meta-data of your messages is protected and your communications are private. There is a saying amongst privacy crowds that says “Privacy loves company”, which is what a mixnet provides; the more data is mixed together the more private everyone’s data is. What is the NymVPN? NymVPN emerges as the first of its kind, a truly private consumer product designed to safeguard your data and metadata from prying eyes. Unlike traditional VPNs, NymVPN is built on the Nym network, an entirely decentralized infrastructure that eliminates any single point of failure or control. This ensures unmatched privacy protections, including completely private payments via zk-nym credentials, leveraging zero-knowledge technology to eliminate financial trails. NymVPN introduces two modes to cater to diverse privacy needs: VPN Mode: A decentralized, secure 2-hop mode utilizing the WireGuard protocol, optimized for speed without compromising medium-level privacy. Mixnet Mode: Offers comprehensive pattern protection security, preventing metadata analysis for those requiring high privacy with medium performance.