NEM is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency and public blockchain that allows different ledgers to work on the same blockchain.
From their website, it’s declared that the foundation of NEM is aimed for every
industry to effectively store transaction, customer, and supplier data in a transparent immutable ledger.
XEM is the native cryptocurrency of the NEM blockchain.
It is a frequently heard name in the world of cryptocurrency. Like Bitcoin, Ethereum and so on. NEM is also a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency with advanced blockchain technology.
It is equipped with modern features like proof-of-importance algorithm, accounts with multiple signatures, encryption of a message, Eigentrust++ reputation system, etc. Mijin, a commercial blockchain being used experimentally by several institutions around the globe, currently uses the blockchain software of NEM.
History
NEM started its journey holding the hand of a Bitcoin Talk Forum user who covered his name under the title Utopian Future. The primary steps were leading to the creation of a new fork of NXT, but that course was avoided later on. Aiming to establish a fresh community-oriented cryptocurrency, an open call for participation was started on January 19, 2014.
Architecture
Its skeleton contains two ingredients: NIS and client.
The first one is a node, which is shortly called NIS (NEM Infrastructure Server) and the other is the client used for interacting with the nodes.
Its Nanowallet is designed with Javascript and HTML. NIS being attached to the peer-to-peer network performs the role of a gateway for the NCC (NEM Community Client) which is client software including a wallet.
Features
New code
NEM is created based on a completely new code base written in Java. Instead of the common proof-of-work algorithm, NEM has used the proof-of-importance algorithm, or POI.
Proof-of-importance Algorithm
This algorithm works by measuring the importance of the users. Simply speaking, the number of transactions made to and from the wallet acts as the scale of importance. Therefore, POI motivates users to make more transactions than stocking coins, as more transactions add more value, unlike other algorithms like proof-of-stake (POS) where a good figure of coins is required to create a block.
To be considered in importance calculation, a minimum 10k XEM are to be vested by an account and thus an account gets a non-zero importance score.
Theoretically, 899,999 accounts with non-zero importance score can be possible as the total amount of supply is 8,999,999,999 XEM. But in reality, this number is not expected to be reached as all account does not carry the equal amount of XEM.
With popularity increasing, the minimum mark of 10k XEM can become uncomfortable to the users, leading to having a hard fork of NEM adjusting temporal costs and other marks on the scale related to harvesting.
Harvesting
Formation of new blocks is called harvesting. One’s account must have minimum 10k vested XEM and to run a booted and synchronized node is also a must. Fees for creating a block are transferred to the account of the harvester when the block is connected to the blockchain.
There is another feature called delegate harvesting, by which, one is allowed to harvest on behalf of others. In this regard, NEM ensures delivery of fees to the appropriate account.
Multisignature Transactions
Multisig (short form of multisignature) technology is one of the advanced features. NEM implements m out of n signatures, provided m≤n which means, a transaction is allowed to be added to the blockchain when it is signed by m signatories out of n. that is, a single transaction of a wallet is checked by multiple wallet holders.
Conclusion
NEM is a platform for application developers of all kind. By using its blockchain infrastructure, a developer can configure his own ‘Smart-Assets’ in a fast and secure way.
