NKN has not gone mainstream yet for a lot of different reasons. It is an ambitious project which aims to bring a revolution on the internet. In fact, NKN is short for New Kind Of network. Before we talk about the technicalities of this project, we are obliged to introduce you to the team. The academic brains behind the project tell us that it is not another hype that ends with whitepaper.
About Team
Yanbo Li, Co-founder of Onchain is the founder and core designer of NKN. He worked on the popular DNA architecture platform on Onchain. DNA is the distributed network used for Onchain in China. Whitfield Diffie who invented the public key cryptography is part of the advisory board. It revolutionized cryptography and underpinned the internet commerce, cryptocurrency and blockchain to a large extent. Diffie was the Turing Award Winner of 2015, who now serves as a consulting scholar for international security and cooperation at Stanford University.
Share the internet
We have heard of distributed storage projects like IPSF, decentralized contracts chains like Ethereum, etc. But, how much do we think of decentralized networks? When our Youtube videos load like a charm, we do not even think about the network. But what if our network starts messing up? Do we have a failsafe plan to ensure 24/7 connectivity, wherever we go? That is partly what NKN is about. We say ‘partly’ because the projects aim deeper. NKN tries to entirely rewire the internet architecture. It wants to give a new way for the internet to operate.
Tokenized sharing of bandwidth
A use case will help explain the concept better. Firstly, we do not even use our internet that much. Unless we are not streaming those 4k videos, we usually operate at minimal levels of bandwidth. NKN allows you to share that unused internet with your neighbors via its tokenized platform. Similarly, we have a way to access the nearby bandwidth.
We can use the leveraged bandwidth to finish our stream and disconnect when done. Moreover, the NKN protocol allows users to share their Wi-Fi without sharing personal details. The anonymous sharing is possible, thanks to the native currency of the platform. In addition, the native currency aka NKN tokens automatically bridges all the networks near you and helps bypass signups and the need for credit cards.
Fundraising Details
The NKN project had a lot of private capital raised behind the scenes. They still went for public sale, where only 5% of the tokens were made available. By 19th April 2018, all of the tokens were sold out, amassing a whopping $12.6 million. Each NKN token was priced at $1 with a max personal cap of 10 ETH.
A project with tall ambitions
What NKN aims to do now, will have looked so abstract before. It works so effectively on the lines of net neutrality. It allows smaller ISPs to have as much control on the internet. Routing and networking protocols are expected to undergo massive developments. Surely, it is one of a kind type of project. It aims to connect DAPPs into communicating with each other in the future. The official coin, NKN will double up as utility token. Local consensus will be formed based on Proof of Relay.
