NIX — One Year Anniversary Review

Why NIX Platform is Monero on Steroids — Total Privacy for All

There were many doubters when NIX Platform started its journey one year ago but the team’s mantra of letting development speak for itself showed that NIX was here to stay. This review will take a closer look at how this team managed to turn this non-ICO privacy currency and interoperability platform into a top-tier project while starting its development in the midst of the most severe bear market crypto has witnessed until this day.

NIX — Total Privacy for All

Some argue that there are already enough privacy coins and that there is no need for new ones. There are however always exceptions and NIX is certainly one of them. NIX is different from any other privacy coin in that it is trying to provide privacy to any blockchain, dapp or smart contract. This is a new kind of approach on how to provide and distribute privacy within the crypto space and allows people to enjoy full privacy via NIX while using their favorite coin, chain, or DApp.

NIX can become the to-go privacy provider for everyone and any digital currency

NIX also offers two optional privacy features via their so-called Ghost Protocol which was recently updated with the integration of Sigma. This made NIX the first PoS privacy coin to activate Sigma into their privacy protocol. The first of the two features in the NIX wallets is called the Ghost Vault and enables users to hide their NIX via a process named ghosting. These ghosted NIX can in turn be moved via address-less transactions by utilizing the Commitment Key Pack solution aka 2-Way Ghosting. This second privacy feature is custom-built and makes any of your transactions completely untraceable.

Features 2-Way Ghosting in the QT-Wallet, it is also available via the GUI Wallet and is updated with Sigma

This is what the Ghost Vault looks like in the GUI Wallet, it is also available via the QT Wallet

As mentioned above, offers NIX an optional privacy layer, meaning that users have the option to utilize the privacy layer or not. NIX can thus also be traded and or used like any other regular non-privacy coin if wanted. This makes NIX more resilient against the ongoing crackdown on privacy coins because it can also be traded like any other coin if wanted. The optional privacy features also makes NIX more secure than other privacy coins since its supply will stay fully auditable, which makes it possible to keep track of possible bugs. This is much harder to do with coins like Monero.

NIX — PoS and Leased Proof of Work (LPoS)

NIX started its journey as a Proof of Work (PoW) coin but made the decision to switch to a Proof of Stake (PoS) model. This decision was made in order to achieve a higher level of network security and stability. The switch to PoS also caused the inflation of NIX to decrease significantly, making it a more durable and sustainable project for investors and developers. It also opened the doors to another very interesting development, namely that of Leased Proof of Stake consensus model (LPoS). The introduction of LPoS provides users with third-party trustless staking, which is a major improvement as to the traditional way of staking since it allows everyone who owns NIX to stake via trustless staking contracts without the need to leave their wallet open. These staking contracts are made with independent LPoS providers via smart contracts and leave the owner in complete control over his or her funds. LPoS providers only receive a % of your staking reward for doing all the work, the height of the fee depends on the provider you decide to use. Everyone can become an LPoS provider and or use this staking mechanism as a form of cold staking.

Features leased staking (LPoS) via the GUI Wallet, it is also available in the QT Wallet

Another great effect of LPoS is that it lowers the bar for many people to stake their NIX significantly, and therefore increases the network security, stability and participation. Not for nothing is more than 50% of the circulating supply currently locked via staking and or masternodes.

NIX Masternode — Why Everyone Should Run One

The network is besides staking also secured via NIX Masternodes. One needs 40,000 NIX in order to be able to run and stake via the so-called Ghostnode. This may seem much but the Ghostnode brings many additional benefits for its owners than just collecting block rewards, which on its own provides you with a decent return. The Ghostnode is different from other masternodes in that it plays an integral part in the NIX ecosystem. Ghostnodes therefore not only receive an income via block rewards but also via the fees that are being generated for processing the privacy transactions from the Ghost Protocol. In addition, will they also receive the fees from the decentralized private swaps of the Flare Wallet — the first DApp that is being developed on NIX. All this is processed via a custom-built Ghostnode Service Fee Distribution system.

The main source of income for Ghostnodes will eventually be the fees that are generated by the NIX privacy features and DApps

You can imagine that these fees will eventually surpass the traditional block rewards and become the main source of income for Ghostnode holders. NIX can therefore become one of the most lucrative and solid investments within the entire crypto space. This because the income via fees will increase as the NIX ecosystem grows which in turn starts a never-ending cycle of a growing demand and volume for NIX.

NIX Off-Chain Governance — From Decentralization to Participation

It was just recently that the Off-chain Governance layer got activated with the major NIX 3.0 update. The launch of the governance layer is a very important milestone for NIX and its development towards an even more comprehensive and decentralized ecosystem. Allowing community members and developers to create or host proposals for funding projects, DApps, marketing initiatives and also to submit changes to the protocol. The great thing about the NIX Off-Chain Governance layer is that both stakers and Ghostnode holder are being rewarded with voting rights for securing the network. Another important part of the Governance layer is that the development fund is more transparent and available for external developers to incentivize them to create privacy focused products and services on NIX.

Features the Governance page, showing all active proposals and up-to-date info

Privacy Focused DApps on NIX — Flare Wallet

NIX is besides being an privacy currency also a interoperability project which fuels privacy-focused decentralized applications. The first DApp that is being developed on NIX is called the Flare Wallet and is close to start its beta testing. It will be the first all-in-one multi-currency wallet, dex manager and exchange platform on which people can make private swaps. This will allow anyone to privatize any coin or token that is available on the Flare Wallet, making other privacy coins but NIX practically redundant.

The demand for NIX increases with every new private swap that is being made on the Flare Wallet

The private swaps on the Flare Wallet are working via the NIX Ghost Protocol and always require NIX to make a successful swap. You can therefore see NIX as the privacy gas that fuels the decentralized private swaps. Users that want to do a private swap, however, don’t need to own or hold any NIX when using the feature since this process will be done in the backend of the DApp to make it as easy as possible.

Remember, the Flare Wallet is just the first DApp on NIX and many more will follow, especially with the upcoming roadmap item called the Developer DSK which will make it much easier for developers to build on NIX.

What One Year of NIX Development Looks Like

04-30, 2018: First introduction of NIX Platform

04-30, 2018: Blocknet partnership announcement

06-23, 2018: Listing on IDAX

06-27, 2018: NIX Mainnet launch

07-18, 2018: Collaboration with Whopper for cold storage cards

07–28, 2018: Listing on CoinMarketCap

09–12, 2018: Switch to Proof of Stake consensus model

09–12, 2018: Activation of the Ghost Vault

10–15, 2018: Release of the GUI Wallet (Beta)

10–17, 2018: ChainZilla (Komodo) partnership announcement

10–20, 2018: Dr. Sriram Vishwanath joins NIX advisory board

10–21, 2018: NIX integration with SwirlPay for WooCommerce

10–29, 2018: Publication of the technical paper on 2-Way Ghosting

11–05, 2018: Activation of 2-Way Ghosting / commitment key pack

11–09, 2018: Listing on Mercatox

11–09, 2018: NIX got added on Blockfolio Signals

11–20, 2018: Launch of the new website

11–22, 2018: Release of the whitepaper 2.0

11–22, 2018: NIX got added on Delta Direct

11–26, 2018: Release of the NIX Electrum wallet

12–04, 2018: Introduction of the one-click node setup for the UI wallet

12–07, 2018: Activation of the Ghostnode fee distribution mechanism

12–15, 2018: Launch and activation of Leased Proof of Work (LPoS)

12–31, 2018: Introduction of the NIX Marketplace

01–10, 2019: Release of the NIX mobile wallets

01–17, 2019: NIX iOS mobile wallet added to the App Store

01–30, 2019: Charlie Shrem joins NIX advisory board

02–05, 2019: Ledger added NIX support

02–08, 2019: Release of App tool for Ghostnode setup on hardware wallets

02–20, 2019: Listed on Block DX

02–26, 2019: Release of the Governance Proposal

04–04, 2019: Trezor added NIX support

04–10, 2019: Beaxy announces that NIX will be part of their 3rd listing round

04–11, 2019: NIX Platform was aired on Fox Business network

04–12, 2019: NIX joined the Binance Info’s transparency initiative

04–25, 2019: Release of the new NIX Explorer

04–27, 2019: Launch of the Off-Chain Governance beta

05–08, 2019: Launch of the Sigma public testnet

05–16, 2019: Listed on Kucoin

05–22, 2019: Introduction of the first DApp called the Flare Wallet

05–26, 2019: Update NIX 3.0 — Sigma & Off-chain Governance

06–07, 2019: Successful activation of Sigma and the governance layer

06–08, 2019: Listed on CryptoBridge

06–15, 2019: First proposal received enough votes and got approved

This list shows why everyone should have NIX in its portfolio. NIX has pushed more updates than most of the top-tier projects and provides more and better privacy features than any of the privacy coins. The only thing what NIX needs is more exposure!

Don’t only ask what NIX can do for you, but also what you can do for NIX