Article Summary, Automatically Generated By AI
About NuCypher
Key Points
- NuCypher is a decentralized encryption, access control, and key management system (KMS) for public blockchains.
- It offers end-to-end encrypted data sharing on public blockchains and decentralized storage solutions.
- NuCypher (NU) tokens are used for incentivizing network participants, staking, and accessing delegation/revocation operations.
- The NuCypher network is protected against malicious staking, and suspected users’ rewards are automatically slashed.
- NU tokens are used for participating in the NuCypher DAO, which controls network parameters and smart contract upgrades.
Founders and History
About NuCypher
At the forefront of decentralized data encryption, NuCypher is a pioneering platform that empowers developers to create privacy-preserving applications. By leveraging advanced cryptographic techniques and blockchain technology, NuCypher enables secure data sharing and collaboration, fostering a new era of trustless and decentralized data management.
Introducing NuCypher (NU): A Revolutionary Cryptographic Network
NuCypher is a decentralized encryption, access control, and key management system (KMS) that provides an encryption service for public blockchains. By leveraging its innovative technology, NuCypher enables end-to-end encrypted data sharing on public blockchains, as well as decentralized storage solutions, thereby ensuring the integrity and confidentiality of sensitive information.
NuCypher enables the secure sharing of private data among multiple participants within public consensus networks, leveraging proxy re-encryption (PRE) technology. This innovative decryption technology renders NuCypher significantly more secure and protected compared to traditional blockchain projects that rely on public-key encryption, as asserted by NuCypher.
NuCypher (NU) tokens serve as the native cryptocurrency of the expansive NuCypher network. These tokens play a pivotal role in incentivizing network participants to perform key management services and facilitate seamless delegation and revocation operations within the network.
The NU tokens also serve as a vital component for staking, enabling users to operate a NuCypher worker node. Notably, the NuCypher network is fortified with robust safeguards against malicious staking, and is designed to automatically penalize suspected users by slashing their rewards.
NU is utilized within the network to facilitate participation in the NuCypher DAO, a decentralized protocol governing network parameters and overseeing smart contract upgrades. By staking NU, users can also engage in the validation of DAO proposals, thereby contributing to the network’s decision-making process.
The Visionaries Behind NuCypher: Meet the Founders
NuCypher was co-founded by Mikhail Egorov, the visionary behind Curve, and MacLane Wilkison. The inaugural white paper for NuCypher was first unveiled in June 2017, although the testnet did not officially debut until November 2018.
Egorov, a seasoned security researcher, physicist, and scientist hailing from the esteemed Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, formerly held the position of Chief Technology Officer at NuCypher.
Co-founder MacLane, a seasoned software engineer and CEO of NuCypher, brings a unique blend of technical expertise and financial acumen to the table. Prior to venturing into the realm of blockchain, he honed his skills as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley, where he delivered tailored financial solutions to a diverse range of enterprises operating in the technology, media, and telecommunications sectors.
In the summer of 2016, both Egorov and MacLane took part in the esteemed U.S. startup accelerator, Y Combinator. The subsequent year saw the publication of the NuCypher project’s whitepaper.
NuCypher inaugurated its private testnet in 2018, which was met with significant participation from prominent staking infrastructure providers, including Bison Trails, Figment, InfStones, and Staked.us.
The public testnet of NuCypher debuted in October 2019, followed by the incentivized public testnet in January 2020. Subsequently, the mainnet of NuCypher was launched in October 2020, subsequent to the distribution of $45 million in NU tokens to nodes.
Unveiling the Unparalleled NuCypher: A Revolutionary Approach
Diverging from the majority of blockchain projects, which primarily cater to customer-centric use cases such as enhancing transactions, IoT operations, and voting mechanisms, NuCypher was conceived to serve a distinct purpose – providing a privacy layer for other blockchains.
NuCypher furnishes a robust privacy infrastructure for the decentralized web, leveraging cutting-edge cryptographic technologies, including proxy re-encryption (PRE), threshold signatures (TSS), distributed key generation (DKG), and other advanced threshold cryptography solutions.
By leveraging the NuCypher network, users can dynamically manage access to sensitive data, granting and revoking permissions to multiple users simultaneously. The platform’s encryption service boasts exceptional security for data transmission, marrying this with the decentralized, trustless, and censorship-resistant attributes inherent to traditional public blockchains.
The cryptographic libraries of NuCypher comprise:
- pyUmbral, the authoritative implementation of the Umbral threshold proxy re-encryption scheme, serving as a benchmark for excellence;
- NuBLS, a cutting-edge threshold BLS signature library, and
- rust-umbral, a robust Rust implementation of Umbral, boasting seamless bindings to JavaScript and Python.
What Is the Circulating Supply of NuCypher (NU) Tokens?
Upon the mainnet launch of NuCypher in October 2020, a total of 1 billion NU tokens were introduced into circulation. As outlined in the release schedule, a monthly allocation of 3,335,938 and 4,460,000 NU tokens is distributed to SAFT Series 2 and Team/Equity investors, respectively.
NuCypher’s innovative WorkLock, a pioneering network node setup mechanism, is slated to receive an allocation of 225,000,000 NU tokens in April 2021. Taking into account the monthly token release schedule, a total of 1,088,876,961 NU tokens have been issued to date, with 392,750,000 currently in circulation.
The network boasts a capped supply of approximately 3.89 billion NU tokens, which are incrementally released on a monthly basis as rewards to stakers, in accordance with the staking economics paper.
The NuCypher Network’s Robust Security Mechanisms
NuCypher is a decentralized layer 2 protocol operating on the Ethereum network, leveraging a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism to orchestrate the coordination of worker nodes.
The network operates on a pioneering node distribution mechanism, dubbed the WorkLock by NuCypher. To establish a NuCypher node, a minimum of 2,000 node operators would be required to stake a minimum of 353,913 units.
The minimum lockup staking period is 30 days. Notably, NuCypher does not provide any assurance that staking for a duration exceeding one year will yield greater rewards. Unless the user explicitly opts out following a staking period, staking rewards are automatically reinvested after each period.
Where to Acquire Nucypher (NU): A Comprehensive Guide
NuCypher (NU) has garnered significant traction among online exchanges that facilitate the trading of Ethereum-based tokens.
Currently, the premier exchanges where you can buy, sell, and trade NuCypher tokens are:
- Coinbase Pro
- Binance
- Uniswap
- Huobi
- Hoo
- OKEx
- Gate.io
- Hotbit, and
- 1inch Exchange
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