NYM is a system that strives to provide enhanced privacy at both the network and application levels. Developed by research scientists and developers from various universities, NYM is designed with the intention to protect users' data and communications from being accessed or used without their consent. The system is composed of a mixnet that aims to provide network-level privacy, credentials that aim to offer application-level privacy, and the NYM token, which rewards those who run the system. This combination seeks to form a global, decentralized privacy network powered by the NYM crypto-token.

NYM operates as a system that aims to provide full privacy, allowing developers to connect their existing applications to the NYM system with the intention to protect their users. This protection is achieved through the Nym mixnet, which aims to provide privacy at the network level, and Nym private credentials, which aim to offer privacy at the application layer. The Nym mixnet is a decentralized network of computers arranged in three layers, where communication traffic is sent through multiple layers of encryption, making every piece of data passing through the mixnet look identical. This process aims to obfuscate metadata that uniquely identifies your communications, striving to ensure that your messages are private.

NYM has the potential to add privacy to a broad range of applications in the blockchain industry. By aiming to provide privacy at layer 0, NYM can add metadata protections for other blockchain and cryptocurrency projects that operate at layer 1 (like Bitcoin and Ethereum) and layer 2 (including most DeFi projects). Furthermore, developers can integrate their applications with the Nym system with the intention to protect their users at both the network and application levels. This aims to make NYM a tool for enhancing privacy across a range of digital platforms and applications.

NYM was developed by a team of research scientists and developers from various universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, KU Leuven, and University College London. The project was born out of a growing global demand for privacy, as more and more people, companies, and organizations feel uncomfortable with how their data is being used on the Internet. The NYM token was introduced with the intention to make global privacy economically sustainable and scalable by rewarding nodes that run the system. This approach aims to involve people globally in the development of privacy-enhanced infrastructure.