Nym Wallet: your portal to building the private internet

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nymtech

7 min readOct 6, 2023

What is the Nym Wallet, how can I use it, and why does it matter?

Everyone is invited to join the Nym mission of privacy for all humanity. Participating in this mission is actually very simple thanks to the NYM token: the life blood of the mixnet, which rewards node operators for their time, effort and risk.

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And the portal to engaging with the NYM token is the Nym Wallet. Scroll on to learn all about the Nym Wallet, why it matters, and how to use it.

WTF is Nym Wallet?

The Nym Wallet is an application that allows users to buy and hold NYM tokens but also to ‘delegate stake’ and ‘bond’ them. These are crucial components of the carefully crafted token economics that power the mixnet.

Not only does the Nym Wallet help reward operators to run and maintain the private internet but it also rewards token holders too.

If you already know about delegating and bonding, skip the next section and head straight to the Using Nym Wallet tutorial at the bottom of this blog post.

For everyone else, let’s take a look at how delegating and bonding in Nym Wallet contributes to the private internet.

Delegating and bonding in Nym Wallet

For token holders

Anyone holding tokens can ‘delegate stake’ to mix nodes of their choice, using the wallet. This signals the node’s reputation in the community. In return, delegators receive a share of mix nodes’ rewards for running a good operation, incentivising them to stake on well-performing nodes.

With this one small step of delegating stake, token holders are contributing to the health of the Nym ecosystem, and helping to build an anti-surveillance business model on the internet.

For node operators

Node operators ‘bond’ to their own mix nodes. This is an initial investment that shows their commitment to the community, and allows them to enter the Nym mixnet. It also lets the mixnet know that you are a node operator.

Together, the amount of delegated stake and bonded stake determines the mix node’s overall reputation — and its chance of being picked for the ‘active set’ that mixes traffic in the ‘epoch’, i.e. the hour-long configuration of the mixnet.

Good mixing performance, such as consistent uptime and data transfer, increases the rewards that mix nodes receive and therefore the rewards token holders receive for delegating too.

This is the underlying Nym token economics in action as set out in the original whitepaper.

There’s plenty of ongoing work in the Nym Wallet including in-app token swaps and the development of a web app to make delegating easy on mobile devices.

You’ll be using Nym Wallet a little differently depending on if you’re a token holder or a node operator. Let’s take a look:

Using Nym Wallet to delegate and bond stake

1. Download and install Nym Wallet for your chosen operating system: Linux, Mac, or Windows.

2. Create your account. On the next page you will be prompted to save your mnemonic. This is your 24-word passphrase for accessing Nym Wallet. Write it down, and keep it safe. Don’t share this with anyone.

The following page will prompt you to create an optional password. Use security best practice, such as a trusted open source password manager like Keepass. Keep your password safe, and don’t share it with anyone.

You will be asked to verify your mnemonic:

Now you can sign in with your password or your mnemonic.

When you’re signed in, the dashboard looks like this:

3. Now you’ve signed in to Nym Wallet, navigate to the Buy button on the left of the dashboard and follow the instructions to buy the native NYM token with Bitcoin.

Congratulations, now you’re holding NYM!

Note: NYM is a utility token for using and participating in the Nym privacy infrastructure. NYM should not be purchased for speculation, it is not a general purpose payment mechanism nor cryptocurrency like Bitcoin.

Alternatively, if you already own NYM or someone is sending you NYM, click on Receive. A QR code and wallet address will appear on your screen.

You can also buy native NYM on some exchanges. (Alternatively, you can get ERC-20 version of NYM on most major exchanges. However, it is currently impossible to delegate or bond with ERC20 tokens. You’ll need to ‘bridge’ these tokens over to the native NYM token — see here for a guide).

The native NYM token is available on Kraken, while the ERC-20 token is available on OKX, Huobi, Gate, and Bybit. View all exchanges on the NYM page for CoinMarketCap.

In an upcoming release of Nym Wallet, holders will be able to swap tokens directly in Nym Wallet, making engagement with the Nym ecosystem much simpler for ERC-20 token holders.

If you’re a token holder read up to step 5 to learn how to Delegate and start earning rewards with Nym Wallet.

If you’re an operator, skip to step 7 and learn how to Bond your node on Nym Wallet.

4. To delegate, select the Delegation button on the left side of the dashboard. Next, select the list of mixnodes from the prompt to decide where to delegate your NYM.

5. The Mainnet Explorer shows all mix nodes in the Nym mixnet. The list can be sorted by active, standby, or inactive nodes. Clicking any of the nodes will bring up important information including total data packets sent and received, the location of the node, profit margin, and stake saturation.

Stake saturation is a particularly important point. You do not want to delegate to a node that has already reached 100% stake saturation. This is the maximum stake that any node can reach, and any added delegation beyond 100% saturation will not yield more rewards to you or anyone else.

So delegate your stake to nodes which are not fully saturated, or even better, spread your stake across multiple nodes. A deeper dive on node selection is available here.

6. Once you’ve decided on a node, copy the Identity Key and head back to Nym Wallet. Click the Delegate button. Paste the Identity Key into the corresponding field, and then enter the amount of NYM you would like to stake. A summary will pop up including the small delegation fee. If you’re happy, hit Confirm.

That’s it! With this delegation, you’re building the future private internet. You can Undelegate your stake at any time. Rewards earned will then be reflected in your Nym Wallet balance when the stake is removed from the node. You can view how your delegated stake is performing in Nym Wallet:

7. Operators might primarily use the Nym Wallet to bond tokens so they can join the mixnet. Of course, they can delegate stake too. Everything up to step 3 is the same, but bonding works a little differently to delegating.

To run a mix node and start a privacy business with Nym, you’ll need to go over these preliminary steps and then set up a mix node.

When you have your NYM tokens and you’re ready to bond, select the Bonding option on the dashboard.

You’ll be prompted to enter your mix node details. Enter these, and hit next.

You’ll then be prompted to enter the amount of NYM tokens you’d like to bond, the operating cost of your mix node, and the profit margin of your mix node. Enter these and hit next.

You’ll be asked to run a sign command with your gateway. Copy and paste the below long signature into your command line interface:

./nym-mixnode sign - id <YOUR_ID> - contract-msg <PAYLOAD_GENERATED_BY_THE_WALLET>

Copy the resulting signature. It will look something like this:

>>> The base58-encoded signature is:
2GbKcZVKFdpi3sR9xoJWzwPuGdj3bvd7yDtDYVoKfbTWdpjqAeU8KS5bSftD5giVLJC3gZiCg2kmEjNG5jkdjKUt

Paste this into Nym Wallet and you’re done.

Congratulations — you’ve bonded your mix node!

The Nym Wallet is your interface to contribute to the Nym privacy ecosystem. Download Nym Wallet to start earning rewards and help build the private internet today.

Essential links:

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