What is Nillion?

Nillion is a decentralized privacy computing network designed to address the core challenges of data privacy through “Blind Computation” technology. Similar to how blockchain provides decentralized trust for transactions, Nillion creates a secure environment for storing and computing high-value data without the need for trusted intermediaries. Its core innovation allows data to be processed while remaining encrypted throughout the entire process, eliminating the traditional “decrypt-compute-reencrypt” steps and thus reducing the risk of data leakage.

To ensure the health and stability of the network, Nillion allows validators to earn rewards through their contributions. As of March 10, over 500,000 validators have processed approximately 196 million ciphertexts, safeguarding around 1,066 GB of data. Additionally, Nillion has integrated with blockchains such as Near, Aptos, and Arbitrum and has formed deep partnerships with dozens of projects across various fields, including infrastructure, AI, social media, and DeFi.

Gate.io Now Supports $NIL Spot Trading

Why is Nillion Needed?

In the context of the explosive growth of the digital economy, global losses due to data breaches amount to approximately $4.35 trillion annually. Traditional privacy protection systems face three major issues: first, a centralized trust crisis where enterprises/institutions control user data, leading to single points of failure; second, the paradox of security and efficiency, where enhanced encryption often results in a drastic drop in computational efficiency; and third, the privacy dilemma in the AI era, where training large models requires massive amounts of data, but sensitive data in fields like healthcare and finance is difficult to circulate due to compliance risks.

Nillion’s blind computation architecture allows data owners to maintain complete control, even during multi-party collaborative computations, where each participant can only access the computation results without tracing back to the original data. For example, medical institutions can collaboratively train AI diagnostic models while keeping patient data encrypted. This “usable but invisible” feature can enhance data value release efficiency by 300%, while reducing leakage risks to a level that even quantum computers cannot crack. In terms of regulatory compliance, Nillion’s zero-knowledge storage proof technology can provide compliant audit trails, meeting the requirements of regulations such as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

Nillion Network Architecture

The Nillion Network architecture consists of two main components: Petnet and nilChain. Petnet allows builders to utilize privacy-enhancing technologies (PET) to store and compute data while keeping it encrypted. nilChain supports payments and incentivizes participation in the Nillion Network.

Petnet

Petnet is the orchestration layer of the Nillion network, composed of a network of nodes. Nodes support secure storage and computation of data, which can be leveraged through various SDKs available for interaction with the nodes. Each node can choose one or more blind modules for data storage and computation. Each blind module is equipped with one or more privacy-enhancing technologies (PET), including secure multi-party computation (MPC), homomorphic encryption (HE), and trusted execution environments (TEE), allowing developers to select based on actual application needs.

nilChain

nilChain is the coordination layer of the Nillion network, managing the shared resources of the entire Nillion network. It does not directly participate in blind computation but is responsible for inter-cluster coordination and supports payments, validator staking, rewards, and governance. The coordination layer is built using the Cosmos SDK and supports IBC for interoperability.

Workflow

Data Submission: Users encrypt and shard data across Petnet nodes.
Compute Request: Smart contracts specify blind computation tasks.
Task Allocation: Petnet matches nodes to process encrypted data collaboratively.
Result Delivery: Encrypted results are returned; only keyholders can decrypt.
Incentive Settlement: nilChain distributes NIL rewards based on node contributions.

Example: Insurance Claims

A user stores encrypted medical data in SecretVault (nilDB module).
An insurer submits a smart contract query.
Petnet nodes validate claim criteria via blind computation.
Zero-knowledge proofs of results are sent to nilChain.
USDC payouts are triggered automatically without decrypting raw data.

Blind Modules Technology

nilDB

nilDB is a distributed encrypted database that uses Shamir’s secret sharing algorithm to split and store data. A single node leak only yields incomprehensible fragments, and no single node holds the complete dataset. Unlike conventional NoSQL databases, nilDB eliminates reliance on a central authority by distributing encrypted data as secret shares across multiple nodes.

nilAI

nilAI is a privacy-preserving AI framework integrated with NVIDIA CUDA acceleration, supporting the execution of large language models in TEE environments. nilAI includes three technologies: AIVM, nada-AI, and nilTEE. AIVM ensures that nodes maintain blindness regarding user prompts and model outputs, nada-AI provides a lightweight AI development environment, and nilTEE is responsible for running the TEE environment. nilAI employs gradient encryption transmission, ensuring that even during model training, participants cannot reverse-engineer the original data.

nilVM

nilVM is a secure virtual machine customized based on the RISC-V instruction set, designed with memory encryption bus architecture, and written in Nada, Nillion’s Python-based domain-specific language (DSL). Each memory area in nilVM uses independent keys, making it impossible to decrypt even if physical attacks extract memory data. Combined with formal verification toolchains, it can prove that the code execution process has no side-channel leakage.

Funding Background

• December 2022: Nillion announced the completion of a $20 million funding round led by Distributed Global, with participation from GSR, OP Crypto, and SALT Fund.
• October 2024: Nillion announced the completion of a $25 million funding round led by Hack VC, with participation from Distributed Global.

Nillion Tokenomics

Token Utility

NIL is the native utility token of Nillion:

• Coordination Services: NIL is used for transactions in the coordination layer, accessing network resources, and settling usage costs throughout the network. As the value transfer mechanism of the network, NIL ensures seamless interaction between system components.
• Blind Computation Access: Developers and users can utilize NIL to access advanced privacy-preserving storage and computation functionalities, providing services for their applications. Whether using SecretVault to store sensitive data or running private AI models through SecretLLM, NIL is the key to unlocking these services.
• Staking Mechanism: Token holders can stake NIL to support network security and earn rewards. Validators secure the network by binding their tokens to validate transactions and computations, providing passive income for token holders while enhancing the overall security and resilience of the network.
• Governance Functionality: NIL token holders are eligible to participate in decentralized governance, proposing and voting on key network decisions, including protocol upgrades and parameter configurations.

Token Distribution

The total supply of NIL tokens is 1 billion, with an initial circulating supply of 195.15 million (19.52% of total supply).

• 29% for ecosystem and development
• 20% for the community
• 10% for protocol development
• 21% for early supporters
• 20% for core contributors