Nillion: Building a New Decentralized "Blind Computation" Network

Abstract

Nillion is pioneering a decentralized "blind computation" network through technological innovation.

Unlike traditional blockchains, Nillion's compute network does not rely on a global shared state, allowing it to scale both vertically and horizontally.

The network is composed of two main layers: a coordination layer and an orchestration layer.

As the ecosystem's native token, NIL serves several key functions.

What is Nillion?

Founded in 2021, Nillion introduces a novel approach to handling private data within distributed systems, maintaining both security and efficiency. Through application frameworks like nilVM, nilDB, nilAI, and nilChain, Nillion equips developers with a suite of tools for creating privacy-centric applications across artificial intelligence (AI), DeFi, and data storage.

Technical Principles Behind Nillion

The Nillion Network is a decentralized infrastructure engineered to support the storage and computation of private, high-value data. Distinguishing itself from traditional blockchains, the Nillion Network does not depend on a globally shared state. This enables vertical scalability (upgrading individual nodes or clusters) and horizontal scalability (adding new nodes or clusters), facilitating efficient workload distribution. The network is composed of two main layers: a coordination layer and an orchestration layer.

The coordination layer, known as nilChain, manages: (i) rewards; (ii) payments; (iii) crypto-economic security; and (iv) coordination between network clusters. Specifically, nilChain coordinates payments for storage operations and the execution of blind computations on the network, without directly processing the computations themselves. Built using the Cosmos SDK, the coordination layer supports IBC for interoperability. However, its current focus on storage and computation means it does not support smart contract execution. While accessible directly via Keplr or Leap wallets, applications built on partner blockchains (discussed in the Key Project section) will be fully abstracted.

The orchestration layer, Petnet, integrates cryptographic technologies, including multi-party computation (MPC), fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), and zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs), to enable private computation and data management. This integration is facilitated by two core components: (i) a compiler and (ii) a computational network. The compiler simplifies the use of privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) by providing varying levels of abstraction, while the computational network executes secure computations and manages encrypted data.

Nillion's MPC protocol, Curl, represents a significant technological innovation. Multi-party computation (MPC), a cryptographic subfield, allows individuals to collaboratively compute functions on their combined data without revealing their individual inputs. Nillion's Curl protocol, based on linear secret sharing schemes (LSSS), extends these capabilities to efficiently handle complex operations such as division, square roots, trigonometric functions, and logarithms. This makes Curl highly scalable and suitable for real-world applications, including privacy-preserving artificial intelligence agents, where outputs are not linear functions of inputs.

Nillion's Application Tools and Advantages

The Nillion Network supports a range of application tools, including nilVM, nilDB, nilAI, and Nada. These tools provide developers with a modular framework and utilities to rapidly develop privacy-preserving applications for high-value data.

nilAI

nilAI is Nillion's suite of privacy-focused AI technologies, encompassing AIVM, nada-AI, and nilTEE. The Artificial Intelligence Virtual Machine (AIVM) is a secure platform for AI inference, leveraging Nillion's MPC technology and Meta's CrypTen framework. Nada-AI, a library for nilVM, is tailored for AI applications, offering a PyTorch-like interface for small models, such as neural networks (NNs), convolutional neural networks (CNNs), and linear regression. Developers can also quickly initiate projects using Google Colab. nilTEE employs a trusted execution environment (TEE) to enable high-performance execution of large language models (LLMs) during inference.

nilVM, Nada, and Its Libraries

nilVM is a virtual machine that empowers developers to create programs using PETs. Programs are written in Nada, Nillion's Python-based open-source DSL, and are developed using the Nillion SDK. Nada also incorporates libraries like nada-ai (similar to PyTorch and scikit-learn), nada-numpy, nada-data, and nada-test to streamline program development.

nilDB and Nada Integration Packages

nilDB is an encrypted, distributed NoSQL database designed for privacy-preserving data storage and computation. Unlike conventional NoSQL databases, nilDB distributes encrypted data as secret shares across multiple nodes, eliminating the need for a central authority. Data owners retain the ability to grant access to others, enabling SQL-like queries, computations, and privacy-preserving aggregations on the stored data. The Nada language includes various integration packages, such as nada-AI, nada-numpy, and nada-test.

Nillion launched its mainnet in February 2025, and announced full open-source availability in March, fostering the development of a community-driven privacy internet ecosystem. Its ecosystem partners include NEAR, Aptos, Arbitrum, Ritual, Meta, and over 50 other projects, spanning privacy-preserving DeFi transactions, AI model training, and other use cases.

Nillion Tokenomics

As the ecosystem's native token, NIL serves several key functions.

Facilitating payments for computing services, data storage, AI inference, and transaction fees within Petnet and the coordination layer. Specifically, developers use NIL to access Nillion's privacy-preserving computing services for their applications.

Enabling staking to support network security and earn rewards.

Requiring validators to bond NIL for transaction and computation validation, thereby securing the coordination layer.

Incentivizing Petnet nodes to stake NIL to enhance their cluster security, attracting developers and applications.

Supporting participation in decentralized governance, including proposing and voting on network decisions like protocol upgrades, resource allocation, and community grant programs.

Conclusion

Through technological innovation and ecosystem collaboration, Nillion is pioneering new frontiers in privacy computing. Users can actively participate in its ecosystem through validator staking, developing privacy applications, or contributing to community tasks, earning NIL token rewards while ensuring data security. With exchanges like HTX listing NIL, its liquidity will be further enhanced, increasing long-term value for participants.