NEM (XEM) has not been left behind in the current cyrto markets surge that started on Thursday, April 12th with the meteorite pump of Bitcoin (BTC) by $1,000 in a period of less than an hour. At its lowest on Thursday and before the surge, NEM was trading at $0.238. Since then, it has appreciated 26% to current levels of $0.30 and seems to be having some good trade volume to back its value over the weekend.

So why is NEM (XEM) a Dark Horse in 2018?

Firstly, NEM is way ahead of its competition in terms of development and adoption of its technology. Looking at the well tabled comparisons done by Reddit user, Metasaurus_Rex, of NEM with another great project Cardano (ADA), NEM leads the way in terms of project developments. According to Metasaurus_Rex, NEM has finished and tested lots of it objectives that seem to be the same as that of Cardano.

Cardano is yet to deliver on any of its objectives but it has a greater market cap to that of NEM in the markets. NEM has completed the following features 100%:

Multi-signature Transactions (Catapult adds Nested And IOT Compatibility) Functional Nodes and Rewards (Decentralization) Functional Light Client (Nanowallet) Human Friendly Addresses (Namespaces) Functional High Speed Network Voting Center Built Into Nanowallet Paper Wallet Functionality Co-Working/Research Spaces in Kuala Lumpur, Melbourne, Lithuania Trezor Wallet Compatibility Debit Card Compatibility (Pundi X) Smart Contract Tools and Testnet Partnerships and Research Prograns (40+, Global and Ongoing) Community Events and Meetups (100+, Global and Ongoing)

With respect to Pundi X, which is a blockchain based point-of-sale (POS) solutions provider, the company has gone ahead and announce that it has developed POS terminals that run solely on the NEM blockchain.

A second reason why NEM is the Dark Horse of 2018, is that NEM will be 100% supported and given preference in the yet to be released Bankera (BNK) Exchange. The Exchange is slatted for release by early Q3 this year. Also to note, is that NEM foundation President, Lon Wong, is an adviser to the Bankera project that aims to be the first in offering complete crytocurrency banking that will be similar and better than the regular fiat banking. With part of the Bankera tokens being issued as NEM mosaics, and the same NEM mosaics being part of the tradable assets on the Bankera exchange, the sky is the limit for the coin.

A third reason why NEM could be a good coin choice moving forward, is the return of investor confidence once Coincheck started refunding customers that were affected by the January 26th hack that saw $500 Million in NEM vanish from the exchange.

In a nutshell, NEM (XEM) offers more than the above 3 reasons to be a good bet as we go down 2018. With its value still under a dollar, it is a reasonably priced digital asset that could skyrocket with time.

[Photo source, cryptocrimson.com]