NKN, which stands for New Kind of Network, is a cryptocurrency designed to power a decentralized internet infrastructure. It leverages a novel public blockchain combined with economic incentives to encourage users to share their network connectivity and unused bandwidth. This approach aims to create a more secure, efficient, and open internet.
NKN operates on its unique consensus mechanism called Proof of Relay (PoR). This system rewards users, or miners, for relaying useful data over the network, rather than the computational work used in traditional Proof of Work (PoW). The network utilises a combination of Cellular Automata theory and a lattice system to dynamically adjust the distribution of data and connectivity. Additionally, NKN employs a MOCA consensus algorithm that supports scalability by allowing a vast number of consensus nodes, and uses a proximity routing algorithm to ensure data transmission is optimised through the fastest possible routes.
NKN presents several use cases across different fields:
NKN was founded in 2017 by Yanbo Li, Yilun Zhang, and Zheng "Bruce" Li, and conducted its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in April 2018, raising approximately $12 million. The mainnet was launched in July 2019, which was a critical milestone in its development. Over its history, NKN has formed significant partnerships, including collaborations with iQiyi for edge computing, and engagements with China Mobile to implement decentralized networking solutions for 5G. The network has grown to become one of the largest blockchain networks globally with a substantial number of nodes, surpassing 113,000 worldwide. This development underscores its ambitious goal to decentralize internet infrastructure and addresses issues like centralization, scalability challenges, and security concerns.