What is NEM?

NEM (XEM) is a crypto asset developed for the New Economy Movement network.

The goal of NEM is to establish a new economic framework based on the principles of decentralization, economic freedom, and equality, rather than the existing frameworks managed by countries and governments.

On January 14, 2014, NEM announced the launch of their project on the “bitcoin talk” BBS. They then started distributing XEM in exchange for Bitcoin and NXT.

NEM is a crypto asset with a strong community in Japan. NEM’s users, enthusiasts, and holders are called NEMbers.

NEM’s consensus algorithm

NEM uses a special consensus algorithm called Proof of Importance (PoI) which is designed to make it easier to reward people who contribute to the community.

It is similar to Proof of Stake (PoS), but it is designed to allow those who contribute to NEM to not be at a disadvantage to those who hold more XEM.

NEM’s PoI protocol is also Byzantine fault tolerant. Importance is weighed by a comprehensive calculation of data including the amount of remittances and deposits in previous transactions and time spent participating on the NEM blockchain.

PoI was made to create a fairer economic zone than PoS by solving the problem of those who can hold a large amount of currency over a long period of time being able to form an oligopoly.

Harvesting block rewards in NEM

Participating in block generation and confirmation is called mining in Bitcoin, but NEM refers to it as harvesting.

There are two ways to participate in harvesting. There’s normal harvesting on regular nodes and high-performance super nodes that can receive larger rewards.

In order to become a super node, it must meet the minimum system requirements and the owner must hold at least 3 million XEM. In addition to the transaction fees, 140,000 XEM is divided among super nodes every day. Operating a regular node requires the owner to hold at least 10,000 XEM and the rewards vary by the degree of importance of the node.

What is a mosaic on NEM?

NEM allows for unique coins called mosaics to be created on its blockchain. NEM’s own currency, XEM, is one of these mosaics.

Mosaics can be used in many ways, such as issuing stablecoins, internal tokens, voting rights, or letting an individual create their own token.

In order to create a mosaic, one must first register a domain called a namespace. After obtaining a namespace, the owner can name their mosaic, set their own issue parameters, upper limit for issuance, ability to change how much is issued, and how many decimal places it can be divided into (from 0 to 6 places).

Transition to the new Symbol (XYM) blockchain with catapult

NEM underwent a major update in 2021 called Catapult, which led to the launch of the Symbol blockchain.