Blockchain. Decentralization. These two words are thrown around the blockchain world quite a lot, so much so that it’s impossible to think of one without the other. And while you may think that we have reached a certain benchmark for decentralization, there is a blockchain-powered platform that isn’t settling just yet. Nexus comes with the aim to ‘decentralize the decentralization’. While this aim might seem too ‘Inception-y’, Nexus is adamant on taking the decentralized network out of the reach of any governmental control or mining pool monopolies.

Launched back in the September of 2014, the project was initially named Coinshield. However, after the rebranding in 2015, Nexus was introduced. Nexus is basically a peer-to-peer network that improves on the areas of speed, scalability, security, and accessibility, of the current blockchain protocol. And it achieves this task of improvement through the use of a quantum-resistant 3D blockchain in combination with communication satellites in space.

Components of Nexus

The Three Dimensional Chain (3DC)

In order to maximize the decentralization process and to provide faster, more secure transactions, Nexus uses a total of three consensus mechanisms, thus forming a three-dimensional blockchain. Amongst other checks and balances, each channel has a separate and independent difficulty algorithm. This prevents any single channel from monopolizing block production and also compromising the security of the network at large. The three channels are as follow;

Prime Channel

This channel is a Proof-of-Work (PoW) channel. Miners search for 308-digit dense prime clusters on the blockchain via the process of trial-and-error. The dense prime cluster mining is known to be more ASIC-resistant as compared to traditional hash mining. Which means you can easily mine on this particular channel even if you only have a CPU.

Hashing Channel

Like the previous one, this channel too is based on the PoW consensus. However, it does not use dense prime clusters. Instead, it uses the hashcash concept. This is very much similar to Bitcoin’s mining algorithm except that miners search for SHA-3 (with Skein) hashes whereas Bitcoin miners find SHA-256 ones. Another difference between the two is that the Nexus block hashes are 4x the size of Bitcoin block hashes.

Proof-of-Holdings

Lastly, in order to secure the platform, the third channel uses Proof-of-Holdings. This is essentially the same as the Proof-of-Stake consensus method. You earn newly minted Nexus coins (NXS), which are the native cryptocurrency of the platform, just by holding the ones you already have.

Attributes Determining the Return

When someone stakes their coins, there are basically four major attributes that determine the return they will receive.

Interest Rate

Interest rate refers to the rate at which you will receive new coins on an annual percentage of your balance.

Trust Weight

Trust Weight very literally indicates your node’s trust. It begins at 5% and reaches quickly to its 100% maximum after a month.

Block Weight

Block weight resets to 0% every time you get a staking transaction. In over 24 hours it gradually reaches 100%. The Block Weight, upon reaching 100%, will result in the expiration of the trust key resetting of all your attributes as well. The purpose of the reset trigger is to makes sure that you are working continuously in order to maintain the network.

The Nexus Network

Nexus has a three-pronged distributed telecommunications system in order to further decentralize the network.

Mesh Networks

Owing to its three-dimensional nature, the network provides three individual mining opportunities and pretty much anyone in the world can participate in network security, they just have to run a node. Ultimately, all nodes in the Mesh network work in synchronization, as opposed to competing against each other, in order to solve a block. This thus distributes the data further, more so than other systems.

Cube Satellites

In order to create Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite network of nodes, Nexus struck a partnership with Vector (Vector Space Systems). These satellites, combined with the mesh network on the ground can host the Nexus network and any of the decentralized apps that are built above it. The satellite network will also be able to provide decentralized Internet worldwide.

Ground Stations

The ground stations serve as a connection for the mesh networks on the ground and the satellite network in space. They run the operations of uplink or downlink, which includes address endpoint route defining and ground-based caching.

The Nexus Coin (NXS)

As mentioned earlier, the NXS is the currency of the network. Interestingly enough, there’s no cap on the amount of NXS that will be minted. Instead, the coin has a 10-year distribution period and in that time, a total of 78 million NXS will be distributed until September 23rd, 2024. After which, the supply will inflate each year by a maximum of 3% through the holding channel and 1% through the prime and hashing channels.

The Team

You can read the whitepaper here.