This is a full-fledged beginner’s guide to NEM, The New Economy Movement, a blockchain project focused on enabling the development of a smart economy. The NEM platform allows individuals and enterprises to develop blockchain solutions like voting solutions or financial processing solutions.

NEM was the first blockchain project which was not born from a blockchain fork. The native cryptocurrency on the platform is called XEM.

Problems Solved By NEM

The NEM platform uses a Smart Asset System which focuses “on building exactly what you need, whether that’s fintech system, tracking logistics, an ICO, document notarization, decentralized authentication, or much more.”

Simply put, NEM’s blockchain is built from the ground up so that it can accommodate anything that is thrown at it. The Smart Asset System allows the NEM platform to be interfaced with individual applications using Application Programming Interface (API) calls.

This has made developers to utilize the platform because all that is needed is to ‘make a call.’

The Birth Of NEM

The NEM platform might not exist today if UtopianFuture, a user at a Bitcoin Talk forum, had not initiated talk of an entirely community driven blockchain project. Initially, UtopianFuture suggested a fork from the NXT blockchain.

However, this was not followed and NEM started developing its code from scratch using Java, a computer programming language. On June 2014, an unstable version was released.

A stable version on March 2015 followed it. The platform’s developers are seeking to transform NEM’s codebase from being Java programmed to C++ programming. NEM’s blockchain uses the Proof-of-Importance consensus algorithm.

With this algorithm, unlike with other popular algorithms, XEM coins can only be ‘harvested’ not mined or staked. This algorithm uses nodes on its network to validate transactions.

The reputation system employed in the network performs routine checks on nodes to ascertain their health. Instead of measuring the importance of a node by the amount of work done, the reputation system ranks the nodes with the quality of work done.

The consensus algorithm used by NEM is not processor intensive, and XEM harvesting can be done on a personal computer eliminating the centralization that comes with other algorithms like Proof-of-Work employed on the Bitcoin blockchain.

The NEM blockchain employs multi signatures to validate transactions before they can be added on the blockchain. The NEM Foundation is responsible for the running of the platform.

The XEM Token

XEM is the native virtual currency used on the NEM platform to cater for transaction costs. The NEM blockchain has a fixed amount of XEM tokens eliminating an inflation scenario.

XEM can be purchased on popular cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance, Poloniex, HitBTC, BITTREX, UPbit, Huobi, among others.

The Nanowallet, a browser-based wallet supports the storage of XEM coins. The wallet also acts as a simple interface between the NEM platform and the user. XEM is also compatible with hardware wallets such as TREZOR.

Key Features Of The NEM platform

Catapult, NEM’s new platform coded in C++ is among the top projects initiated by the NEM Foundation. When the update takes place, the NEM blockchain will be able to handle a higher number of transactions per second. The Catapult update will also power the private and public aspects of the NEM blockchain.

Major features on the NEM blockchain include:

Address Smart Assets

These addresses can be used to represent almost anything on the platform. Whether its property ownership documents or a virtual currency belonging to a specific user. The addresses are configured to represent either a group or a single entity on the blockchain and allowing interaction between different entities on the blockchain. NEM Namespaces

These have the same feature as traditional domain names used on the internet. The namespaces give a user the ability ‘to create a labeled space for a business or individual’s assets on the blockchain.’ The creation of a namespace costs a user 100 XEM coins for the main domain and 10 XEM coins for every subdomain. Mosaics

These are fixed assets on the NEM blockchain that have identical features and which are programmed to meet a specific goal. They can range from votes, other currencies, loyalty points at a retail store, etc.

Extra Reading After This Guide to NEM

Investors will want to look into the NEM Price Prediction and Technical Analysis article that’s updated with new happenings to the project. UseTheBitcoin also covers price news like the 25% spike in NEM price after NEM trading on Coincheck resumed.

Interested parties can follow the guide on how to buy NEM on Binance or go straight to the popular exchange itself.