NEM (XEM) – A Beginner’s Guide, Review & More

Written by Adolph Obasogie - Reviewed by Coin Review Team

Published: May 2, 2018 | Last Updated: Mar 14, 2019

2024-12-07T12:11:56+00:00

What is NEM?

NEM is a blockchain ecosystem and peer-to-peer digital currency. It was written from scratch, no code from other projects was used, and it is mostly written in Java.

NEM stands for New “Economy Movement.” The block time is one minute, and the native asset is called XEM. They build their own consensus mechanism named PoI (Proof of Importance), which is similar to PoS with the difference that it is not solely derived from the size of an account’s balance, other factors like individual transaction volume and number of transactions are considered as well.

NEMs architecture is split into two components; one is the NEM Infrastructure Server (NIS) which is a node. Second is the client interacting with nodes, for example, a wallet.

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Additionally, NEM has introduced several new features to blockchain technology.

For example:

Multisignature accounts
Encrypted messaging
Reputation System: called Eigentrust++, monitors the past behavior of nodes in the network

And NEM has an own Name System, similar to the Domain Name System, which is called Namespaces and the NEM Smart Asset System, where you can issue your individual tokens or cryptocurrency without having programming skills.

According to NEM, their blockchain is capable of doing 4000 tx/s under certain circumstances.

History

NEM was initially planned as a fork of the cryptocurrency Nxt, but the developers decided that they rather build it entirely new from the ground up. The Developers are pseudonymous; the whole movement started on the forum bitcointalk, where an open call for participation was posted on 19. January 2014.

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Can NEM be mined?

No, due to its consensus mechanism XEM cannot be mined. Instead, it can be “harvested,” by running a booted and synchronized node and have at least 10 000 XEM vested as collateral. When a harvester attaches a new block to the chain, he gets the transaction fees collected within this block as compensation. Accounts with at least 3 000 000

XEM can run a so-called “supernode,” which is a high-performance blockchain node. This node is expected to stay online and running 24/7 and as compensation, the harvester gets a certain amount of XEM as compensation, at the date of writing this reward was around 320 XEM per day/supernode.

What differs NEM from other Cryptocurrencies?

NEMs strongest point is that it is highly flexible and allows for a wide array of customization.

With its specific architecture, it can be used for many different use cases, and it is very easy to integrate the NEM blockchain into existing businesses. All of NEMs functionalities are accessible through API calls, and private or public networks can be set up on top of it.

In contrast to Ethereum, NEMs smart contracts are off-chain.

How much is NEM worth today?

What is the total and the circulating supply?

The total and the circulating supply of XEM is 8 999 999 999 XEM.

Where can you buy XEM?

You can buy XEM on several cryptocurrency exchanges, most notably Zaif, Binance, and Upbit.

Can XEM be sold for cash?

You can sell XEM for cash on several cryptocurrency exchanges that have fiat-pairings, most notably Upbit and Zaif.

Future Development

NEM is currently developing a milestone called “Catapult,” which is designed for both private permissioned and public blockchains and allows unique smart contract plugins. Besides that, the team is working on improving speed and scalability. Other goals are enabling atomic swaps and Multi-Asset Escrowed Transactions.

Development is very active, and the team proved itself in the past. The code for Catapult is currently not available for the public, but the team stated that it would soon be published open-source.

Verdict and Rating

6/10This project is here to stay. The active development team, solid partnerships and continued improvement of the infrastructure are very strong points. I expect we see NEM still around in 5 years.

But it is a possibility that Ethereum takes the whole smart contract and ecosystem-for-dapps market share. In this case, NEM would be doomed to a shadowy existence.

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6 / 10.0

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Disclaimer

The writer’s views are expressed as a personal opinion and are for information purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.