About

Threshold Network, formed by the merger of NuCypher and Keep protocols, provides cryptographic infrastructure for privacy-preserving applications. Their Threshold Access Control (TAC) allows for end-to-end encrypted data sharing without the need for trust in a centralized authority. The platform also offers Condition Based Decryption (CBD) and Proxy Re-Encryption (PRE) to grant and revoke access to encrypted data based on on-chain conditions.

History

NuCypher founding and early days MacLane Wilkison and Michael Egorov founded NuCypher back in 2015 to provide a data protection and encryption that allows users to move information and computation to the cloud securely. At a high level, cloud providers would only receive encrypted data, while users retain the associated encryption keys, and thus control over the information. This process, known as Proxy Re-Encryption (PRE), aims to minimize data leaks should the cloud service suffer a breach.

Early on, the team focused on working with industries that maintain large amounts of sensitive data like finance and healthcare, and at one point was running lab environments with several large banks. As a part of this progress, NuCypher secured a spot as a member of Y Combinator's Summer class of 2016. The accelerator later led a $750,000 seed round for the startup.

Transition to blockchain platforms In 2017, NuCypher looked to adapt its product to smart contracts, which would provide the same secure storage guarantee to decentralized application (dApp) developers. This decision led NuCypher to adopt a token-based model featuring a decentralized infrastructure layer to reduce platform risk further. The team sought funding by way of a token sale to support its new direction. Despite the frothy initial coin offering (ICO) market of 2017, NuCypher decided to forgo a public token sale and ran a ~$4.4 million SAFT in Dec. 2017.

Following its first SAFT, the team built various early models of the NuCypher platform, including an internal federated testnet (Oct. 2018) and a similar private version with external node operators (Nov. 2018). After a trial run on one of its private testnets that featured actual staking with external partners, NuCypher launched a public testnet in Oct. 2019. The release of its public testnet coincided with NuCypher's second SAFT raise, which netted the startup another $10.7 million.

Road to production launch and WorkLock NuCypher is in the process of launching its incentivized testnet event, dubbed "Come and Stake It," and is anticipating to launch its middleware layer on Ethereum some time in the first half of 2020. Once launched, users will be free to provide re-encryption services to dApps by staking NU tokens on the NuCypher platform. Participants will be able to acquire NU tokens via the WorkLock distribution mechanism, a smart contract that requires users to escrow ETH in exchange for NU.

Users can recoup their ETH deposit if they stake their NU tokens and produce some amount of work. Otherwise, participants will forfeit their escrowed ETH. NuCypher designed WorkLock to attract meaningful contributors to the network and incentivize staking participation, which are aspects that other distribution methods like airdrops often fail to address.