Nexus, another peer-topeer network, is a new attempt to enhance the current blockchain protocol by improving its security and scalability.
It is unique in that it uses a quantum resistant 3D Blockchain and communication satellites to tackle this problem. The ultimate aim is to “decentralize the decentralization” It is also possible to remove it from corporate control or government monopolies.
This is an ambitious project that, if successful, could have a major impact on the world.
We’ll dig deeper and look more closely at technology, the past and future plans.
Nexus Three Dimensional Chain 3DC
Nexus developed a three-dimensional blockchain using different consensus methods. This 3DC, according to the team, will reduce centralization of miners and improve on-chain scaling.
Three consensus mechanisms exist: the Prime Channel (also known as Hashing Channel), the Proof-of-Holdings Channel and the Hashing Channel.
Prime Channel
Prime Channel, a Proof of Work mechanism using dense prime clusters of 308 digits, is an alternative to the usual hash mining. Prime Channel mining is therefore more ASIC-resistant than usual hashing. Prime Channel mining can be done using your computer. The data produced by mining is used to research prime numbers in quantum physics.
Hashing Channel
Hashcash is used as the mining algorithm. Miners are searching for SHA-3, which is 4 times larger than the Bitcoin SHA-256 block hashes. Hashing Channels can be mined on a graphics card.
Proof-of-Holdings
Proof-of Holdings, the last channel in our list of channels to consider, is an staking method of consensus whereby users can mint NXS simply by holding on to and staking their coins. The four main attributes of Proof-of Holdings determines your return rate:
- Interest Rate – There is an annual interest rate applied to holdings, which begins at 0.5% annually and increases over 12 months until it reaches the maximum 3.0% annual return.
- Trust Weight – Each node has a trust metric which begins at just 5%, but quickly escalates to 100% in just 1 month’s time.
- Block Weight – This attribute resets to 0% each time you receive a staking transaction. This attribute slowly rises up to 100% within 24 hours. When your blockweight reaches 100 percent, the Trust Key is expired and you lose all of your attributes. This reset trigger makes sure that you are always working on maintaining the network.
- Stake weight – This is the average of your trust weight and block weight. It is more likely that you will receive a payment if this value is higher.
Nexus Network Hardware
Nexus has a three tier telecommunications infrastructure to further decentralize the network. The three tiers include the Mesh Networks, Cube Satellites, and Ground Stations.
Mesh Networks
Nexus offers three unique mining possibilities, which makes it very accessible to almost everyone in the world. It's also unique in that all of the nodes cooperate to solve each block, rather than competing with each other. The network is more evenly distributed.
Nexus plans on selling and manufacturing specialized antennas to allow local network users to use the service.
Cube Satellites
Nexus, in addition to its ground-based mesh network is also creating an orbital satellite network using a collection of Low Earth Orbit Satellites. In partnership with Vector Space Systems, this LEO network of satellites is produced.
The satellites are designed to work with the Nexus ground network. They will host the Nexus Network and all decentralized applications that were built on the Nexus platform. Satellite network is also being planned to provide a decentralized global internet.
The Ground Stations
Finaly, there will also be ground stations that provide both uplinking and downlinking operations between ground-based and space-based networks. Ground stations will be used for address endpoint routing, ground-based cache and caching. The ground stations will run their own Daemon instances.
Nexus Coin NXS
Nexus Coin, or NXS is the currency used by the Nexus system. A current supply of NXS coins is 78,000,000 with a distribution period of 10 years. The total NXS supply will not be limited after this distribution. It will instead inflate by 3% via the holding channel, and 1% via the prime and hashing canals.
The creation of blocks is roughly 50 seconds per transaction, and each NXS requires six network confirmations. Transactions currently have a NXS transaction fee of 0.01 but this will change after 10 year distribution and 3DC.
Nexus also has a unique feature in that they never had an ICO. It was instead designed to deduct a small developer fee from mining rewards. The fee currently is 1.5% and will go up to maximum 2.5% in 10 years. The Nexus satellites network is being launched and manufactured, with 20% of all block rewards going to marketing.
Nexus Team and Progress
The founder and lead developer of Nexus is Colin Cantrell, who was previously known by the pseudonym 'Videlicet'. The project was originally called Coinshield when it began in September 2014. This original code contained only one consensus method, Prime Channel. Hash Channel soon followed, in October of 2014. Nexus was rebranded in April 2015. Proof-of-Holding followed in July.
In addition to having the partnership with Vector to create the satellite network, Nexus has also partnered with SingularityNET to provide the 3DC architecture for the project's decentralized artifical intelligence network.
Nexus will release major updates in the future, following its TAO roadmap strategy (Tritium Amine Obsidian). Among the releases are the 3DC (third generation), mobile wallets and quantum resistance.
Nexus, arguably the biggest project in cryptocurrency’s space, is the largest and most ambitious. First, it aims to displace Bitcoin as the most popular peer-to peer currency. Nexus will also be competing with Substratum in the form of a decentralized web that is produced by its satellite mesh space network.
NXS Price and Trading
NXS has been quiet during most of its history, but it finally came to life along with much of the crypto space in 2017. NXS price rocketed up from $0.026 at the beginning of 2017 to reach $3.34 as early September. It then pulled back to nearly $1.00, but wasn't finished as it soared to an all-time high of $13.33 in January 2018.
Price gains are partly due to the bullishness of cryptocurrencies during that period. The announcement of the partnership between Vector and NXS also occurred during this time period. This also contributed to the positive price impact.
Price has declined significantly after the all-time January high. All cryptocurrency markets are now bearish. NXS was trading for $0.85 as of late September. This is partly explained by the drop of 50% in Bitcoin’s value during this period.
While the team has released a roadmap, there are no exact dates on the roadmap, so it's pretty impossible to make any predictions as to when we might see price jumps in reaction to positive developments. As with most cryptocurrency projects, I’d expect rallies to occur around any major developments.
What is the best place to buy NXS?
NXS is available at Binance, Bittrex and Trade by Trade. It isn't available in exchange for fiat currency, so you will need BTC, ETH or USDT to purchase your NXS.
You can also mine NXS. The Prime Channel and Hashing Channel can both be run on your CPU. You can stake your 1,000 NXS to get additional coins.
NXS Wallets
Nexus offers an official Nexus Wallet for Windows and Mac. Download it here. Although it is possible to store your NXS within an exchange wallet for safety reasons, this method of storage is not recommended. You can also only stake your coins in the Nexus official wallet.
The conclusion of the article is:
Nexus is a blockchain of a brand new generation. It uses three consensus mechanisms for network security, as well as three mining methods and three levels of hardware network to further decentralize it.
A network of satellites that provide internet for free and are completely uncontrolled by any corporation or government is also included in this tier. Nexus has a mission to build a decentralized currency that is better than Bitcoin, with lower transaction costs and fees.
Nexus is one of only a few projects that are tackling quantum resistance. Nexus may be the only project still standing in 20 years if this problem grows as big as many believe. It’s a great deal right now.