Tutellus.io recently reported that it switched from Ethereum to NEM as its main blockchain platform. The mind-boggling question is why?

Ethereum was arguably successful to leverage a wide array of use cases that were developed through blockchain technology. As a result, many developers were drawn to use Ethereum as their platform to launch their decentralized apps and blockchain-based businesses. One of the firms that initially used Ethereum was Tutellus.

Tutellus is a blockchain-based EdTech company established in 2013 that seeks to incentivize both learning and teaching. It introduced a new paradigm creating a new decentralized system to strengthen the commitment of both students and teachers. Tutellus is the first educational platform that pays students for learning (proof of learning) and remunerates the teachers according to their impact in the success of their students ​(proof of teaching).

As Tutellus grew, having around 1 million students and generating more than 2 million transactions, the technological complexity in meeting its stakeholders’ demands have also increased. Tutellus needed a more powerful blockchain provider that they can use to provide a more efficient services. For Tutellus to meet the demands and provide better services, it needs efficient transactions, flexible functionality, and technological compatibility. This is perhaps the reason that Tutellus shifted to NEM as its blockchain platform.

NEM blockchain offers efficiency in terms of transactions generated. In terms of transactions per second (TPS) on a permissioned blockchain, both Ethereum and NEM delivers at a similar rate. However, with the number projects that are platformed on Ethereum public blockchain, the network could be clogged. This was the case when CryptoKitties clogged the Ethereum public blockchain. So many people were buying, selling, and breeding CryptoKitties that the public blockchain struggled to keep up with all the activity.

The efficiency by which the blockchain generates transactions is very important to businesses such as Tutellus, especially that it is operating in a very fast digital space. Thus, the decision of Tutellus to change its blockchain provider is both strategic and efficient.

NEM, furthermore, offers flexible functionality that could allow Tutellus to develop its own internal blockchain that is tied to the NEM parent chain. This allows Tutellus to consolidate the transactions of its users in their own internal blockchains with zero cost of consolidation. With the functionality that NEM offers, Tutellus can become more flexible and adaptable to the future needs that may arise in the very dynamic digital economy.

Lastly, NEM’s technological capabilities is compatible with Tutellus’ technical identity. This is manifested in two ways. The first is that both are API-based. This is a very important aspect because this absolute compatibility would allow faster integration. Second is about governance. Both NEM and Tutellus give such priority to the relevance of users. NEM prides itself in its Proof-of-Importance (POI) which is a decentralized algorithm that incorporates users’ reputation into the blockchain. Tutellus, on the other hand, has STUT tokens which measure user relevance or, specifically, the educational value that students and teachers contribute. Both are geared towards measuring the importance or relevance of users and establishing mechanisms of governance into their respective platforms.

In all, Tutellus’ decision to change its blockchain platform is an outcome of a noble circumstance. Tutellus needed a more powerful blockchain that will be able to provide faster transactions, flexible functionality, and technological compatibility so as to enable them to offer more efficient services. Apparently, the NEM blockchain is there to provide exactly what they need.