Nem (XEM) has been slowly climbing the charts and is now the sixth largest cryptocurrency, above Litecoin and Stellar. The coin hasn’t received much mainstream press but has been silently dominating and climbing the charts.

Nem’s developers are pseudonymous but the platform got started on a Bitcointalk forum. The initial plan was to have NEM fork off of NXT but instead the developing team decided to build a whole new codebase. NEM was released to the public at the end of March 2015.

XEM’s blockchain powers what its creators call the “Smart Asset System” which allows various things to be built on top of its simple but powerful API calls. The system is a customizable blockchain that is secured by a global network of nodes that run NEM’s core software, with the network being used as an API Gateway server.

In some ways, it is similar to Ethereum as its design allows for smart contracts to be executed and things to be built on top of it. The main difference between the two is that it is a combo of both centralized and decentralized solutions, which drastically increases its integrations options with current enterprise systems, which allows for easier adoption. Basically, if a company wants to integrate blockchain technology into its system currently, it has to completely rebuild its architecture. If a company uses NEM, it would essentially just need to plug its current system into a public blockchain but if wanting a private blockchain, that company has that option as well. A private blockchain would be built with NEM and it would be integrated into its current system, in addition to adding it to a public chain which ads the verification and accountability of the public chain, but security of a private chain. However, NEM’s VP, Jeff McDonald, is quick to point out that while NEM’s software is easier and safer to build on, there are somethings that can’t be built on top of it that Ethereum’s blockchain can.

Another big differentiator of the blockchain from its counterparts is the nodes. Bitcoin’s nodes don’t get paid and all the miners care about it profit, NEM full node operators get paid. The more transactions on the network the better for these nodes, and the bigger the blocks the more decentralization occurs. When NEM blocks fill up, the full node owners are able to purchase more hard drives, whereas on the bitcoin blockchain full nodes have no real incentive.

NEM has a “Proof of importance” protocol opposite of Bitcoin’s proof of work, in which the node is incentivized by its active participation. Each node is set with an “importance score” which determines how often it is able to harvest XEM, which is the blockchain’s native token. In order for an account to gain an importance score though, it must hold 10,000 XEM.

On The Rise

With its differentiating technology, why has it now begun to rise and take charge? NEM at the end of last year, began building on its global exposure. The development team has begun setting up its basis internationally and in the month of December, held lots of small groups with small businesses and enterprises. NEM also began trading on South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange OKEx, just days before New Years.

Its development team is currently working on Catapult, its new next-generation blockchain solution and it is looking to launch within the coming weeks. As it gains more global adoption and as news breaks of the new technology, the coin will continue to rise and be a top competitor.

Currently, NEM is selling at $1.65 a coin, up 0.51% for the day. For the month, NEM is up 307% and for the year, the digital currency is up a staggering 47,042%.

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