Switzerland’s privacy startup Nym Sandbox launched the Nym Sandbox testnet in advance of its anticipated mainnet release. This testnet will serve as the permanent counterpart to Nova.
Developers, Node Runners, Researchers and others can access the Nym Sandbox. This is an opportunity to explore the Nym Mixnet Architecture before joining the mainnet or deploying. The launch of the Sandbox testnet is a critical milestone in Nym’s development cycle of the three-step mainnet release.
As part of the Nym Sandbox launch, the Nym development team has also released a critical “CosmWasm 1.0” upgrade to enhance further the capabilities of its smart contract platform that powers the NYM tokenomics.
Each new release brings the team closer towards its mainnet launch. Nym CTO Dave Hrycyszyn, Co-Founder, notes. “The permanent testnet is an important step in the development of the entire Nym architecture. It will contain most major components and smart contracts, but in a secure test environment for us to tweak any issues before we begin the launch.”
Unlike Nym’s previously launched testnets, the Nym Sandbox won’t be incentivized. The Sandbox testnet is open to developers who want to integrate and build wallets, other apps and send messages. They can also run gateways, nodes, and processes transactions. However, the testnet will include “test” tokens and reputation design that replicates the mainnet tokenomics such as reward sharing, active, standby, and inactive nodes, among others. Additionally, all reputation scores and delegations from Milhon will be moved to Nym Sandbox by the Nym Sandbox development team.
Researchers will benefit greatly from the Nym Sandbox releases. By employing the Sandbox testnet, researchers can run simulations on the privacy and security aspects of Nym’s Mixnet Explorer, wallets, blockchains, and dApps that are running on them.
According to Professor Ania Piotrowska, Nym Head of Research, “Early on we concluded that the benefits of our Nym Sandbox testnet Nym Sandbox environment would be a boon for research purposes. We believe it will be instrumental in helping familiarize both the crypto and non-crypto communities with our technologies, all while granting them the chance to engage with our novel privacy services in a riskless environment.”
Protecting End-To-End Privacy from Data Surveillance
Nym, a Swiss privacy software project, integrates multiple privacy technologies in order to create an infrastructure of networked nodes that can cooperate. This privacy project is unique in that it simultaneously protects against both transaction and network-level metadata surveillance.
Nym provides full privacy and security for all personal information, unlike most other solutions that only protect one layer. Nym, an open-source and decentralized incentivized system, was established in 2018. It includes a decentralized mixnet, a network made up of mixed nodes, as well an anonymic credential cryptosystem.
Protecting communications metadata and privately proving “right-to-use” services are two key aspects of Nym’s privacy-enhancing design. NYM tokens can be used to cover operational expenses and pay protocol contributors. Nym has the backing of some of the top names in the industry such as Binance and Polychain Capital. Polychain Capital is supported by the European Commission. Fenbushi Capital and Digital Currency Group are just a few.