Cryptographic Infrastructure
for Privacy-Preserving Applications
for Privacy-Preserving Applications
Content on this page was provided by the NuCypher Worklock team
WorkLock is NuCypher’s novel network node setup mechanism in which participants stake ETH, run nodes, and earn NU (NuCypher’s native cryptocurrency). 22.5% of the initial supply of NU (225M NU) will be distributed during the WorkLock, and anyone (non-OFAC) can participate.
Design Goals The NuCypher team designed the WorkLock to onboard nodes to the live NuCypher network. The goals of the WorkLock are to:
The CoinList WorkLock Users can participate in the WorkLock via CoinList. This enables a simple way for users to easily participate with assistance running and maintaining nodes. CoinList WorkLock participants will stake their ETH and NU for 6 months (starting from network launch). Staking rewards earned during the WorkLock will also be automatically re-staked then released at the end of the 6 months (from network launch). NU that the CoinList WorkLock node earns will be split proportionally based on each participant's staked amount. Benefits of participating in the CoinList WorkLock include:
| Asset | NU |
| Key Dates |
September 1, 00:00 UTC: CoinList WorkLock Participation Period Starts
September 27, 12:00 UTC: CoinList WorkLock Participation Period Ends (Please note that this is 36 hours earlier than the regular WorkLock's end time) |
| Initial Supply | 1B NU |
| Supply From WorkLock | 225M NU |
| ETH & NU Lock-Up Period | 6 Months (from network launch) |
| Fees | CoinList has negotiated a preferred rate with Bison Trails. CoinList will cover gas fees and Bison Trails will earn 2% of WorkLock NU, 2% of staking rewards NU, and 2% of earned ETH service fees on our platform. There will be no fee applied to escrowed ETH. |
| Eligible Participants | Users in CoinList’s supported jurisdictions |
Jun 2017
Whitepaper Published
Nov 2018
Private Federated Testnet
Aug 2019
Private Decentralized Testnet
Oct 2019
Public Testnet
Sep 2020
WorkLock Launch
Oct 2020
Mainnet Launch (Expected)
NuCypher is a privacy layer for blockchains. It enables end-to-end encrypted data sharing on public blockchains (e.g. Ethereum) and decentralized storage solutions (e.g. IPFS). NuCypher allows users to conditionally grant and revoke access to data with multiple users at a time. NuCypher provides the backbone for applications that involve the transfer of sensitive data but also want to leverage the trustless and censorship-resistant nature of public blockchains.
Blockchains Need a Privacy Layer Public blockchains allow apps to be trustless but prioritize transparency over privacy, which limits use cases for blockchains. Users cannot safely transfer sensitive information (e.g. medical data) with the current blockchain infrastructure. Today’s web apps rely on protocols like SSL to ensure data privacy and integrity - public blockchains will need a decentralized privacy and encryption layer like NuCypher.
Strong Staker Ecosystem The team has built a strong base of node providers, via their Come and Stake It (CASI) Incentivized Testnet and University Staking Program. The WorkLock network node setup model is further testimony to the team’s commitment to long-term stakers for network node use. The network has confirmed support from many staking infrastructure providers and institutional custodians.
Decentralized Governance NuCypher will be fully decentralized, with stakers governing the smart contracts via the NuCypher DAO. Using Aragon’s Agent technology, stakers will be able to submit proposals to the DAO and validate issues, proposals, and changes that affect the network. The NuCypher team believes that a successful privacy layer for public blockchains should not only be built by users, but should also be controlled and governed by users.
NU is the native cryptocurrency of the NuCypher Network that stakers deposit as collateral in order to run a node on the network. The deposit incentivizes correctness of computation and security of the system by ensuring that NU holders have skin in the game which may be slashed for misbehavior. The initial NU supply is 1 billion and the fully diluted supply is 3.89 billion.
Sharing encrypted files (“Decentralized Dropbox”) Files can be encrypted client-side and stored in decentralized or centralized filesystems. These files can be shared with approved third-parties securely and access permissions can be revoked at any time. Nubox is an example of this type of application and is currently live on NuCypher’s testnet.
Patient-controlled electronic health records (EHR) Patients can own and control access to their medical data, as opposed to storing it with centralized systems like Epic. When patients want to share their data with a hospital or insurance company, they can grant temporary access. A recent NuCypher hackathon project built an application that leverages Nucypher to let patients securely share their medical data.
End-to-end encrypted group chat NuCypher allows group messaging apps to grant multiple users access to end-to-end encrypted messages, instead of having to encrypt and send the same message individually to each participant. This allows for more scalable encrypted group chat apps.
The NuCypher team consists of seasoned engineers, cryptographers, and computer scientists. Their expertise in cryptography has allowed them to deliver impressive results like the fastest fully homomorphic encryption library in the world (NuFHE) and ZeroDB, an end-to-end encrypted database.
NuCypher's team has substantial experience working at tech companies, financial institutions, and universities.
The NuCypher protocol’s key technology is proxy re-encryption (PRE). PRE is a way of encrypting data and then having an untrusted middleman, or proxy, transform that encrypted data so that recipients can decrypt it. The proxy does not learn anything about the underlying data, nor has access to private keys, thereby ensuring the data’s privacy. The ability for proxies to perform this transformation is solely controlled by the data owner and therefore PRE gives the data owner ultimate control over the ability to grant and revoke decryption rights. Additionally, PRE is a more scalable privacy solution compared to other public key encryption technologies because 1) it is more suitable for communication that involves arbitrary numbers of data producers and consumers, and 2) it does not require knowing the eventual recipient of the encrypted data beforehand.
NuCypher is supported and audited by industry leading custodians, staking providers, auditors, and universities.
