NEAR x Nillion: private compute for user-owned AI
Quote545 words
Explains how NEAR apps can send storage and compute requests to Nillion's encrypted MPC and FHE nodes, keeping sensitive data and agent strategies private. Combines NEAR's Nightshade 2.0 scaling and chain signatures with private AI.
Key claims
NEAR apps can call Nillion for blind compute and storage
Private compute prevents front-running of AI agent strategies
Why does $NEAR x $NIL matter?
@NEARProtocol is on a mission to become the home for User-Owned AI.
@nillion decentralizes trust in high-value data.
AI is $NEAR and $NIL is making it private. ↓
With Nightshade 2.0, $NEAR is one of the most performant blockchains in the market, and it can seamlessly continue to scale as shards are added, while keeping validator requirements low, uniquely supporting stateless validation.
$NEAR has always had a strong focus on usability, which has made it a leading network in terms of mainstream app adoption, a trend set to accelerate with @NEARProtocol also being among the leaders on the account-level chain abstraction front.
Through Chain Signatures, $NEAR accounts can sign transactions across all major blockchains, unifying the UX towards the end user in one account, removing the need for multiple wallets.
However, @NEARProtocol also recognizes that AI is clearly the most disruptive technology of the decade, and is actively making preparations in order to bring AI use cases on the chain, and putting the power over AI back in the hands of the people.
To achieve this goal, the @NEARFoundation has been making core infrastructure investments aiming to enable:
➤ Data collection & crowdsourcing
➤ Curation & rewarding creators
➤ Access to compute & new ways to monetize
➤ Verifiability of training & inference
➤ Agentic infrastructure
➤ More
So where does @nillion fit in here?
Nillion is humanity's first blind computer, or in other words, a decentralized coordination & orchestration layer for privacy-preserving technologies (PETs).
What that essentially means, is that @nillion allows applications on @NEARProtocol to tap into privacy (storage and/or compute), powered by a range of technologies including fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) and secure multi-party computation (MPC).
$NEAR apps can send a compute/storage request to @nillion, where the nodes can process the information in a fully encrypted manner, sending the output back to the apps on @NEARProtocol.
Applications that build with @nillion on the other hand, benefit from being able to use $NEAR, a high-performance blockchain, for settlement purposes, liquidity, composability with other apps, etc.
Why does private compute matter in the first place you are wondering?
@nillion describes its mission as decentralizing trust in high-value data, which could be financial data, medical data, or other forms of sensitive, personal data.
AI/ML models often need to work with this type of data, especially in the case of personalized AI, which will be a major trend in the coming months and years.
Hence, data encryption is essential, especially for AI models specialized in analyzing medical information or other types of the above-mentioned, high-value data.
However, private computation capabilities are equally crucial for AI-powered on-chain automation strategies, sniper bots, and similar AI-driven portfolio management applications.
In these cases, maintaining confidentiality is vital to prevent users from being front-run and leaking data about their strategies and/or holdings, which might be sensitive.
These capabilities are now accessible to (AI) builders on @NEARProtocol, which can add powerful privacy features to their applications and work with sensitive data in a secure and compliant manner.
To learn more, check the explainer video below! ↓
For more details on @nillion and its tech, check out my deep dive below. ↓
x.com/zerokn0wledge_/status/1844425775115637145
For more details on my $NEAR AI thesis, check my thread here! ↓
x.com/zerokn0wledge_/status/1826263185315483956
QUOTING @NEARProtocol
AI is NEAR. Bringing Blind Computation and Blind Storage to NEAR Protocol. That's @nillion. t.co/zCcYoCmaPa
AI is NEAR. Bringing Blind Computation and Blind Storage to NEAR Protocol. That's @nillion. t.co/zCcYoCmaPa
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What came next · since 16 Oct 2024
Show how the 2 covered assets moved
This explainer walks through how things work without making a call on the token, so price moves since publication are shown as market context.
Since then
Zero has written 35 more pieces on NEAR Protocol and Nillion and $NEAR and $NIL since this one.
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Daily closes in USD from DefiLlama and Yahoo Finance. Only a bullish or bearish call in a thesis or market take is tracked; explainers, lists, maps and mentions are neutral context. Not financial advice.