NEM(XEM): Should you invest or not?

(Image source: Medium.com)

One of the most bugging questions that we hear from newbies is whether to invest in Bitcoin or not, whether it is too late to invest in bitcoin, and all.
The first thing that comes to my mind on hearing these questions is that there are a large number of other cryptocurrencies in the market, with a much greater potential than Bitcoin, Like Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, Monero, NEM, Stratis, Lisk, IOTA and so on...
There are literally hundreds of alternatives to Bitcoin.
And some of these currencies are actually better than Bitcoin, since the developers and founders of many cyptocurrencies and blockchain looked at what worked and what didnt and came up with much advanced technologies that will definitely make it much bigger than bitcoin if they reach the right people at the right time.
Bitcoin is just the beginning of the Blockchain Revolution. There is a lot more to go!

NEM(New Economy Movement) is by far the seventh largest cryptocurrency in terms of market cap, and it is relatively unknown outside the crypto circles.
Even many people investing in cryptocurrencies dont know about NEM.

There is also a confusion around the currency's name.It is called NEM, but trades under the name XEM.

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So, What is the XEM cryptocurrency?

NEM is a separate blockchain, developed from scratch, coded from ground up for scale and speed. And the NEM team has incorporated the revolutionary consensus mechanism, where the core innovation lies in the Proof of Importance(POI) to assign a rating of each account's importance in the network. Bitcoin uses Proof of Work, and Ethereum also uses Proof of work, though they are scheduled to fork and move on eventually to the more advanced Proof of Stake mechanism in future. But again, POS Gives an unfair advantage to coin hoarders in the network, so the rich gets richer.

POI solves these issues that looks at three factors: (source: nem.io)

1. Vested Stake :
   *There should be a minimum number of coins for a number of days,
   *10% of the current unvested amount vests each day
   *The higher the number of vested coins, higher the score.
   *Min of 10,000 coins to start Harvesting

2. Transaction Partners

• POI rewards users who make transactions in the Network
  *Users cant gain by trading back and forth between a few accounts, The algorithm only counts net transfers over time

1. Number and size of Transactions in last 30 days

• Each transaction contributes to POI score
  *Larger and More frequent transactions have a greater impact on POI score.
• This provides incentive to use XEM as a currency and offsets NEM's already low fees

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NEM is also the first blockchain ever in the market to implement Delegated Harvesting, which is an efficient way to pool account power without exposing private keys, where we connect to an existing supernode and use that computing power to harvest blocks. The most important advantage is that a user's computer need not run 24x7.

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It is also very similar to the work Ethereum is doing, with smart contracts, except that NEM bills its features as "Smart Assets"

Potential use cases in NEM blockchain include:

1. Health records
2. Supply Chain
3. Notarizations
4. Stock Ownership
5. Royalty Payments
6. Loans
7. Legal Records
8. Inspections

Just like ethereum, you can also build Apps on the NEM platform and we also have several ICOs in the NEM blockchain.

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Should you invest in NEM?

We all know the kind of FUD that prevails in the crypto market. I would personally recommend that you research a bit and always invest less that what you can afford to lose (which is not in my case, as I like to take risks :P ) but bear in mind, NEM is barely two years old, so it is a highly profitable investment.till now, less that 10% of the people know about XEM, and price already surged more than 5950% year-to-date in 2017, and is right now available for only $0.2047.

Look at the charts and you will see the fluctuations in the NEM charts, all the way from a few cents to a high of $0.3, and then leading to a sharp fall to $0.09. This was followed by another steep ascent to $0.35, followed by another stumble. and now its trading for $0.2 only.

Bear in mind that if you invest, the ride wont be smooth, as cryptocurrencies are experimental in nature, and still in very early stages of adoption, but if you can wait, it will be worth it. It all depends on how much risk you want to take.

Some facts and figures:

1. NEM made a lot of investors rich in the last 10 months (bitcoin made them rich in 10 years)
2. NEM blockchain is much advanced and 10x more efficient than Bitcoin
3. It has more use cases than bitcoin
4. It is still unknown

Obviously the final decision that you make will be yours, My work is to just present the facts and figures. :)