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Bridging, staking and earning NYM tokens

Transferring NYM tokens from Ethereum to Nyx just got a whole lot easier

Author: Nym
8 mins read
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Transferring NYM tokens from Ethereum to Nyx just got a whole lot easier

It has been just over a year since the Nym mainnet called ‘Nyx’ went live, the native blockchain of the NYM token. Since then, the NYM token has been made available on other blockchains, namely Ethereum and BNB chain, ensuring that more people can use the token to secure Nym’s global privacy infrastructure.

There have been many exciting developments and improvements on this privacy infrastructure during this past year. But probably one of the most frequent requests by the community has been to improve the delegation process by making the transfer of NYM tokens across blockchains more accessible.

This article will briefly compare the “two sides” of the NYM token and provide a concise, beginner-friendly guide on how to transfer your NYMs with ease between the Ethereum blockchain and the native Nyx chain. More importantly, it will also provide guidance on how to stake your NYM by delegating it to mix nodes, enabling you to earn rewards while securing the Nym privacy infrastructure!

An overview of differences

As Nyx is the native blockchain of the Nym privacy infrastructure, when you have NYM tokens on the Nyx chain, you are able to unlock the full potential of the tokens, by bonding or delegating stake and earning a share of operator rewards.

The main difference between the NYM token on Nyx (Cosmos) and Ethereum (ERC20) is that native NYMs unlock the true potential and utility of the token. However it is easier to access ERC-20 NYM simply because these are listed on more exchanges. Once you bridge your NYM tokens from Ethereum to Nyx, and hold your tokens in the Nym Wallet, you can then begin delegating stake on mix nodes of your choice to earn rewards. You can also bond your native NYMs if you want to start up your own mix node.

Tokens sold on Coinlist during ICO in 2022. Learn more about the NYM token here.

How to transfer NYM from Ethereum to Nyx and stake for rewards

The 10 step process for adept users:

  1. Install prerequisites: Metamask, Nym wallet and have some ETH for executing one transaction.
  2. Transfer your ERC-20 NYMs to your Metamask wallet.
  3. Visit Gravity Bridge Portal.
  4. Set the Gravity interface accordingly: From: Ethereum, To: Nyx. 
    Connect your Metamask on the Gravity interface, and load your address.
  5. Select the Nym token in the “Amount” field and set the desired value for the transfer. Click on the small lock icon to enable pasting and paste your Nyx address from the Nym wallet. Lastly, authorize Gravity to perform the transaction in Metamask.
  6. Execute the transfer. Attention: transaction fees are paid in ETH.
  7. Note, that in order for the NYM to arrive in your wallet, you’ll need to wait for 96 block confirmations, which is approximately 20 minutes. 
    You might also need to reopen your Nym desktop wallet to see the tokens arrive on the interface.
  8. To stake your NYM from your Nym wallet, you’ll first need to search for a mix node that you’d like to delegate to, using the mixnet explorer, 
    Here is an article that explains in more detail what you might want to look out for when selecting a mix node to delegate your stake to.
  9. Once you’ve found a mix node that you want to support with your stake, click on the “Delegation” menu inside the Nym wallet, copy and paste the Identity Key of the chosen mix node, specify the amount you want to stake and finalize your delegation with the “Delegate Stake” button. 
    Attention: New delegations (similarly to un-delegations) will take place during the following full epoch of the mixnet. Every epoch is one hour long, so this is the maximum time you need to wait for your delegation to take place.
  10. Congratulations, you’ve just started earning rewards by increasing the security of the mixnet!

The detailed process for novice users:

  1. Switch to a browser that supports Metamask wallet extensions, like Firefox.
  2. Install the Metamask browser extension. If you haven’t used it before, here is a video guide to help you get started.
  3. Add the ERC-20 NYM token to your wallet, using the following steps.
  4. Click on “Import tokens” at the bottom of Metamask Screen, then switch on top to “Custom token” tab. 
    Next, copy & paste the following NYM ERC-20 token address, to the token address field: 0x525a8f6f3ba4752868cde25164382bfbae3990e1. This should automatically import the token ticker and set decimals. If this does not happen automatically, you can also do this manually by typing “NYM” and “6”. 
    Click “Add Custom Token” and confirm by clicking on “Import Token” if you see NYM appearing to finish the import. Here is an illustration showing the import details and how the end result should look like:

5. Download & install the Nym desktop wallet. Here is a video to help you with this.

6. Don’t forget to store your seed phrases on paper in a safe place :)

7. Visit the Gravity Bridge Portal.

8. In the Gravity App, set the “From” field to: Ethereum, and click on “Connect” to connect your Ethereum address with Metamask. You’ll be asked to authorize this action in the Metamask.

9. Set the “To” field to: Nyx, but don’t click the “Connect button”. Instead, copy your Nyx address from your Nym wallet, click on the small lock icon to enable pasting and paste your address to the “Transfer Address” field. Note that this address should always start with “n1….”.

10. Set the amount to what you wish to transfer, and keep in mind that you’ll need some Ethereum to execute this transaction. If you are less experienced with blockchain tools, it is recommended that you start with a smaller test-transfer, to make sure everything happens as it should.

11. To send the transaction, you will need to authorize the Gravity App in Metamask.

12. When Gravity shows “Permission Given”, you have your Nyx Account correctly and also see the NYM tokens with the desired amount showing up — just hit “Begin transfer”.

13. Note that in order for your NYM to arrive in your wallet, you’ll need to wait 96 block confirmations, which is approximately 20 minutes. You might also need to reopen your Nym desktop wallet to see the token refreshed on the interface. You can now delegate to Nym mix nodes and begin earning a share of their operator rewards.

Delegate your NYM tokens to mix nodes — and earn a share of rewards!

Once your NYM is inside your Nym wallet, you can stake it on mix nodes to earn rewards for securing the mixnet.

  1. To stake your NYM, you will first need to search for a mix node that you would like to delegate to using the mixnet explorer. Tip for first-time delegators: you should be looking for mix nodes which have close to, but less than 100% stake saturation and which are close to 100% routing score, in order to maximize your rewards. Also keep in mind that the higher the profit margin of the mix node operator is, the less reward is divided between stake delegators.
  2. When you have found a mix node you want to support with your stake, just click on the “Delegation” menu inside the Nym wallet (1).
  3. Inside this section, click on the “Delegate” button (2) and copy the Identity Key (3) of your chosen mix node from the mixnet explorer,
  4. Define the amount you want to stake (4) and finalize your delegation with the “Delegate Stake” (5) button.

Attention: New delegations (similarly to un-delegations) will take place during the following full epoch of the mixnet. Every epoch is one hour long, so this is the maximum time you need to wait for your delegation to take place.

Congratulations, you have just started earning rewards by increasing the security of the Nym mixnet!

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