NymVPN is built so that no party, Nym included, can keep meaningful logs of what you do online. That's a property of the network's architecture, not a no-logs policy we promise to honor.
No logs by architecture, not by promise
Most VPNs publish a no-logs policy, which you simply have to trust: trust them not to record you, not to be forced to start, and not to be breached. Their servers usually could log everything; the policy is all that's stopping it. NymVPN removes that single point of trust:
- Decentralized network. The mixnet runs on independent operators. No one of them, or Nym, sees both who you are and what you're doing.
- Tunneled encryption. Your content is encrypted in layers, unreadable to anyone in the network, operators included.
- zk-nym credentials. Your paid subscription becomes an unlinkable credential, so we can confirm you're entitled to connect without knowing whose subscription it is.
The result: no point in the network holds the full picture, so even under legal compulsion, the meaningful data simply doesn't exist anywhere we control. More in Nym's zero-knowledge network.
Anonymous mode goes further
It adds cover traffic to confuse analysis, shuffles your packets with others' at each hop, and inserts small random delays to break timing correlation. The result is unlinkability against an observer watching the entire network, the strongest threat model in anonymous-communication research.
What Nym collects at all
Only a strictly limited set of operational data, none of it linked to your usage: your anonymous account ID (n1...), anonymized device IDs (just a random moniker, no OS, MAC, or IP), and the payment data required by law (date and time, subscription details, processor). Crypto and cash minimize even that. For the full list, see the NymVPN apps privacy statement.
Independently audited
Audited by JP Aumasson (2021), Oak Security (2022), Cryspen (2023-2025), and Cure53 (2024-2025); reports at the Nym Trust Center. The code is open source at github.com/nymtech.
Related questions
Can the Swiss government compel Nym to hand over user data?
Nym is registered in Switzerland, which has world-leading privacy law and sits outside the 14-Eyes network. See What legal jurisdiction governs NymVPN's operations? Even a valid request can't produce traffic logs that don't exist.