A new trend in privacy? Aztec and Nym partner to create full-stack privacy solution

On June 28, Aztec Twitter officially announced that it will introduce Nym’s Mixnet hybrid network in Layer 2 to strengthen the protection of user privacy. (For details, please refer to: Aztec Official Twitter)

Friends who are relatively familiar with the privacy track may be puzzled. Aztec itself is a Layer 2 project known for its privacy. Why introduce Nym’s Mixnet hybrid network? Is it the matching of the capital behind it, or a new path for the development of privacy projects?

From the perspective of positioning, Aztec is a Layer 2 solution with privacy as the core. The Plonk zero-knowledge proof system developed by it has been well received in the industry, and the project is also sought after by capital. First-line capital such as Paradigm and a16z have participated in the investment.

Nym is a project to protect metadata privacy in the privacy track, invested by Binance Labs, a16z, and Polychain. Nym’s Mixnet is a network of mixing nodes. When a hybrid network of nodes routes messages or data, inputs and outputs cannot be correlated, either based on time or metadata.

Through the basic introduction of the two projects, we know that Nym and Aztec have different subdivision tracks in privacy, and there is no overlap between the two. However, Odaily** Planet Daily consulted the person in charge of Nym and learned that both Nym and Aztec are core members of UPA (Universal Privacy Alliance). **So far, the cooperation between Aztec and Nym has gradually become clear—Aztec has introduced Nym’s hybrid network to fully protect the on-chain behavior of users or developers, further enhance the privacy function, and also fill in Aztec’s metadata privacy protection blank.

At present, most projects such as privacy coins and privacy public chains in Web3 protect the privacy of data on the chain. Generally speaking, everyone’s data on the chain is hidden, and the action path of the account in the privacy network is unknown. Or the specific value of the account amount. But this kind of privacy is one-sided, and it is aimed at ordinary participants with relatively weak technical knowledge. People who really understand technology can still get the desired information through metadata (address, IP and other information).

For example, assume that user A wants to pay user B a sum of bitcoin, but does not want to be found by others (although bitcoin is an encrypted currency, the metadata of the sender, including the IP address, will be exposed during the transaction. , transaction time, location, transaction object, etc.). Users can achieve this requirement by transacting through the Nym network. The transaction process is: user A - Nym network - broadcast to miners - user B. The overall transaction process is only encrypted before user A broadcasts the transaction information to the Bitcoin network.

From the point of view of privacy alone, Aztec and Nym are undoubtedly the sum made in heaven. They provide all-round protection for users’ privacy and provide privacy convenience for developers. From the perspective of the project party, cooperation not only enhances the richness of information in the Mixnet network, but also helps to “hide clues”, and also improves the node income of the network and the privacy of the mixed network, which will promote the subsequent development of Nym.

However, before this cooperation, users with related full-stack privacy needs can also use Tor to achieve metadata privacy protection, and then interact with the privacy chain, and the final effect is not much different. Therefore, the privacy solution proposed by Aztec and Nym cooperation is not unique in the industry.

In addition, strengthening the privacy of users by splicing technical links will also increase the transaction propagation time. When users choose to strengthen metadata privacy protection through Nym’s Mixnet network, a certain amount of waiting time is required. Whether this will have an unsmooth experience for users or during the operation of the project remains to be paid attention to in time after the plan is implemented.