Where to begin with this beast of an iceberg unicorn whose shiny alicorn is only just beginning to peek above the surface?
If privacy, decentralization and interoperability gets you going, then you NEED to be aware of Nillion.
This post is only an overview. Have a browse, then take a deeper dive. Nillion will blow you away!
What is Nillion Network?
Nillion, or NMC (Nil Message Compute) is a NEW technology for web3 privacy that does things differently; it is NOT a blockchain. It is not a ‘Layer 1’, a ‘Layer 2’ or even a ‘Layer 0’.
Nillion is not a ledger and their nodes do not need to communicate with each other – Nillion is used to complement and enhance other blockchains.
It is fully decentralized, trustless, and permissionless, a giant leap forward in how things are done in terms of privacy.
The token, when it becomes available, will use the ticker $NIL.
How does it work?
The NMC system particalizes data and then distributes it across nodes. The node's primary purpose is to run secure computations on the pieces of the data they hold and then send them to an endpoint where they can then be reconstructed.
The nodes cannot see what they are computing and the system is super-fast because node-to-node communications are not required. If you know of zero-knowledge proof (ZKP), NMC bears some similarities but is fully decentralized, can support unlimited parties and securely process private data.
I’ll provide links at the end to the website, academic papers and other resources for you to dig into mathematics, models and science.
OK, but what does it actually do?
Nillion enables us to store and process private data in a decentraized way that is lightning fast. It has the potential to connect and supercharge existing blockchains and make encryption as we know it obsolete.
You know the way smart contracts work? How they process and execute? No?
OK, well, you know how expensive an Ethereum transaction can be? Even a simple swap, nevermind minting an NFT or doing something more complex. Yes! You remember that — Ethereum transactions costing hundreds or thousands of dollars. Or at least you have heard the stories.
Well, Nillion can help with that by doing the calculations/processing which will massively ease congestion on the network and thus reduce the expense of transactions.
There are lots of sensitive matters that blockchain cannot yet cope with. For example, anything that involves personal data is tricky or impossible. We can’t just stick your name, address and Alexa password on the blockchain or do anything that allows the dots to be connected. Nillion solves this and opens many opportunities across the world of IoT, user authentication (passwords), KYC, voting etc.
Nillion is interoperable meaning it can interact with multiple data types. This means it can connect and link systems together, including different blockchains. And yes, sensitive, confidential information such as financial records and healthcare data — medical and patient records.
With a bit of luck, we’ll eventually have access and ownership of all our data. For example, many of us are familiar with the frustrations within the healthcare system of data being all over the place. People, who are already unwell, having to explain the same thing over and over again when they’re already exhausted from being moved pillar to post. And the poor medical staff who have to work within these ‘systems’. Nillion could solve these problems.
It will make current encryption obsolete. The methods currently used for security of passwords etc is called ‘encryption’; the data is stored, but it is encrypted by something so difficult to decrypt that it cannot be done. Yet. As computing advances and in particular, quantum computing, computers will be able to decrypt the encryption we use today. Much like mobile phones have more power than the computer that sent the first man to the moon. Nillion’s security does not rely on processing power and so advances in computing, such as quantum will not make hacking it any easier.
Although not its primary offering at this time, Nillion can also securely store and transfer documents. Think of all the sensitive docs that exist not only in the medical and financial world but in that of law and security, trade secrets and intellectual property.
What next?
Yes, it’s exciting but this is future technology. We don’t have information on nodes or becoming a node operator, we don’t have full details on tokenomics etc.
What we do know is that the aim is to launch a token on the Ethereum network in Q4 2022. There has been no timeframe given for the actual network. Tokens will be used to access the network, operate nodes and for governance.
This is a very lite overview and there’s so much more to it.
I’ll update as I find time and as things evolve.
Meanwhile, you have time to learn more about Nillion – there is a lot of material and it’s growing every week. Here’s the official links;
- Website: https://www.nillion.com
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/nillionnetwork
- Telegram: https://t.me/nillionnetwork
- Discord: http://discord.gg/nillion
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKyQIOGz5dyIQXxQMS1Ok5g
