Faster, better, stronger, Smooshier — improving mixnet coverage with Project Smoosh!

Ahead of the NymVPN launch there’s been a tonne of work behind the scenes to build and grow what will be the VPN’s nervous system: the…

Author: Nym

September 25, 20235 mins read

Ahead of the NymVPN launch there’s been a tonne of work behind the scenes to build and grow what will be the VPN’s nervous system: the global Nym mixnet.

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Since the mainnet launch, the Nym mixnet had deliberately been kept small to maximise rewards for early node operators in the early days while adoption was low. However, for the NymVPN to run smoothly, the mixnet needs to grow, especially gateways.

Enter project Smoosh — an initiative which will simplify components, boost redundancy, and significantly grow geographic coverage for users and rewards for operators.

WTF is Project Smoosh?

The clue’s in the name: Nym CTO Dave Hrycyszyn and Nym Chief Scientist Claudia Diaz have led this initiative to ‘smoosh’ Nym nodes together, so that the same operator can alternately serve as a mix node, a gateway, or a VPN node.

This is designed to simplify components with minimal changes to the underlying code, while also building in the redundancy and coverage required for the upcoming VPN.

The token economics will be modified to reflect these changes. The token economics for mix node reward, reputation and selection will remain the same. But nodes with a high reputation score that flag they are available to run gateways will have the chance to be selected as gateways to earn higher rewards.

The global privacy bootcamp Nym Shipyard, due to kick off this October, will also support project Smoosh by onboarding new operators, growing the Nym community, and offering guidelines on best practice for maximising node efficiency and rewards.

Three steps of project Smoosh

Project Smoosh will proceed in three stages:

Combining the gateway and network requester. This stage is complete.
Combining all the nodes in the Nym mixnet into one binary — so the mix node, the entry and exit gateways, and network requester are all bundled into one. Operators will be able to select and flag which functions they wish to offer — for example, not everyone will be able to, or want to, run an exit gateway. This stage is in progress.
Updating the Nym smart contract with a new token economic mechanism for the directory authority. In simple language: the economics and reputation behind how nodes are selected in the network. This stage is in design.

All three steps will be performed incrementally over the coming months, and with enough time to incorporate feedback from Nym node operators and debug if necessary.

Operator software will essentially remain unchanged except now, all binaries will be packaged into just the one Nym node binary rather than multiple binaries.

The mix node reputation and delegation will remain the same, but rewards will look a little different to ensure higher rewards for those carrying the additional weight of running gateways and the VPN.

The previous setup did not offer incentives for running gateways and network requesters. These are the hops to the external internet — a vital component of the mixnet that facilitates anonymised requests to public web services outside of the Nym network. Being the interface to the external world entails additional risks, which is why rewards for running these components will be higher.

On that risk — there is one very important change that Nym is seeking feedback on:

Exit gateways: from an ‘allow list’ to a ‘deny list’

Operators running gateways will have to open their nodes to a wider range of online services, similarly to Tor exit relays.

Right now, the gateway allow list is extremely contained and limited to a very small number of online services, where network requesters act as a proxy and can only connect to permitted domains like Telegram or Matrix and some crypto wallets.

Nym is committed to ensuring privacy for all users for the broadest possible range of online services. To achieve this, the mixnet needs to switch from allowing connections to only a handful of services to instead allow any service with the exception of those on a ‘deny list’. By doing so, Nym is building on the best practices already established by the Tor community.

As a result, the envisioned gateway setup would be much more permissive, and enabling privacy as the default for the internet.

Gateways would act both as SOCKS5 Network Requesters and exit nodes for IP traffic from the mixnet clients and the Nym VPN.

Switching from the current, limited ‘allow’ list to a ‘deny’ list would enhance the usage and appeal of Nym products for end users, and this increased usage would also lead to higher revenues for operators.

This ‘deny’ list will include protections for operators, likely along the lines of Tor Null, or the Tor Reduced Exit Policy, other lists, or a combination of all of the above.

Operators are encouraged to join the Telegram, Discord, and Element (Matrix) channels to discuss with the Nym core team.

Nym core is currently consulting legal advisors and has run a survey with operators to determine feeling, best practice, legal implications, and the most appropriate way forward.

It isn’t possible for Nym to provide comprehensive legal advice across all jurisdictions, but a legal best practice document will soon be published on the Nym GitHub covering the United States and Switzerland, with advice for Germany, Ukraine, and Russia to come.

Operators!

Please join the Nym community channels on Telegram, Discord, and Element (Matrix). Nym core and community managers are always available to chat. In the meantime, keep an eye out for the GitHub post about community best practice. Let’s get smooshin’.