Review on NEM by Jerry Siegel
NEM Complete Overview
NEM is a long-timers, they’ve been around since 2015 and now they represent a multi-level organization: NEM Foundation, NEM Studios, NEM Ventures as well as supernode owners, community members, core team and ecosystem partners.
I want to emphasise on the fact that NEM was never a hardfork of Bitcoin, but was written from scratch in Java and C ++. For sure, NEM developers drew inspiration from the idea of the blockchain, but they never used an open-source code, like many other altcoin developers did. This was something that caught my attention about them.
For me, the most interesting thing from NEM was Proof-of-Importance concept. In "ordinary" PoW protocols, the most valuable players are the ones with the most powerful computing equipment. In Proof-of-Importance - the most valuable players are the ones who contribute the most in terms of participation in the system development, and those with whom they’ve been exchange assets. Thus, the XEM token is fundamentally intertwined with the entire progress pf the system.
For a long time NEM was focused on developing their blockchain solutions under the codename “Catapult.” But at the start of the 2019 the NEM foundation was apparently broke. 80 million XEM was spent between Dec 2017 and Jan 2019, primarily on marketing, and Catapult was still yet to launch. So the founders made a desperate move - they submited a funding request to the NEM community for $7.5 million - this money was meant for rescuing NEM from the verge of bankruptcy.
2020. New hope - Symbol from NEM (based on Catapult):
Symbol is a new project founded by NEM at the end of 2019. NEM Foundation describe it as Next-Gen Blockchain Engine for businesses. It’s purpose is to simplify things for businesses and people (cut through complexity, improve effectiveness and so on). According to devs announcement, SYMBOL’s plugins will enable digital asset creation, decentralized swaps, multi-level multi-signature accounts, advanced account systems, business logic modeling, and interaction between public and private data.
SYMBOL mainnet launch is expected somewhere in Q2 2020 (testnet is already available). New tokens will be available after the snapshot (Opt In). For each XEM held at the snapshot date, the holder will get one SYMBOL token. Snapshot date is yet to be announced, but my guess that it will happen very soon, most likely in the coming weeks. They have a FAQ and complete set of instructions regarding a snapshot, so my advice is to read this information on their official website.
Following the launch of the SYMBOL token, the XEM token will remain as a functioning currency on the NEM Blockchain (NIS1), XEM will continue as long as the NIS1 network is in operation. Considering SYMBOL it’s a new project and an entirely separate network with a new coin, I will look into it more deeply when Revain will list it in the project’s section.
Project summary:
My overall feeling is that NEM project didn’t seem attractive to anybody for a long time. But now things have changed. I place really big hopes in SYMBOL. It’s supposed to be the quintessence of everything that they’ve been doing this past 5 years.
I really liked how everything about the Symbol project (name, ticker, logotype and brand goals) was proposed to the NEM community as a subject for community vote. This is what really stands out about the decentralized projects - not just the simple community outreach, but the give them solid voting rights when it comes to something important.
Also worth noticing that NEM founder Lon Wong has left the NEM Foundation in April of 2018. Since then he’s working on a new project called ProximaX (also very interesting and worth looking into).
10x pump at the end of 2017 didn’t seem to have beneficial effects on the project and didn’t save the organization from near-bankruptcy in 2019. My guess is that the founders didn’t manage to sell at the top, and the subsequent price dump in 2018 had only worsened the financial situation, causing all of their funds dissolve by the market manipulators.
But now, they are reborn like a phoenix from the ashes. I definitely recommend checking out their new project. Seems like 2020 is going to be a very successful year for NEM Foundation as they applying their technologies and doing something useful for people and businesses. That being said, this gives us a pretty strong player in the cryptocurrency market.
Pros
- NEM has been written from scratch in Java and C++ (devs didn't use the open-source Bitcoin code)
- Original approach to blockchain systems, re-evaluating smart-assets, clear market positioning on applying blockchain as a helping technology for businesses
Cons
- Main bottleneck is their PR and marketing strategy, they aren't getting enough attention causing unattractive feel about the NEM brand
New products
Comments (1)
June 26, 2020
Hi, greetings! Reading this review makes me feel inspired, it was a nice job and great experience you had. I also like NEM for lots of reasons. Particularly, has a simple but good interface. Have you already trade around this blockchain?
