Nimiq

Nimiq is a cryptocurrency token issued and utilized to power the Nimiq ecosystem. Nimiq describes itself as a Decentralized, censorship-resistant payment protocol native to the web, with its own ecosystem of apps, and was developed as an ecosystem that allows for easy user and developer interaction thus, making complicated Blockchain universally accessible.^[1]^[2]

History & ICO

The Nimiq Mainnet was launched on April 14, 2018, and the payment protocol is fully operational. Nimiq (NIM) originally began as an ERC-20 (Ethereum) token, known as NET or 'Nimiq Exchange Token'. Nimiq held its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) throughout June and July of 2017 and raised over $10 million USD. $NET trading was enabled shortly after the ICO, and development began on the project’s GitHub. $NET was later converted to $NIM, the currency that is based on the Nimiq Blockchain and network, on March 31st of 2018. Nimiq’s wallet (the Nimiq Safe) is built right into the Nimiq website, which means users need not download or sync a wallet application. The Wallet will lead its users through a setup guide, which will help backup and secure the user's wallet in the case of data loss. Users are to note that. although the Nimiq wallet is based in the browser, however, erasing their cache could delete their balance- so keeping a backup is highly recommended.^[3]^[4]

Overview

Nimiq (NIM), described as a simple, secure, and censorship-resistant payment protocol, is a blockchain technology inspired by Bitcoin but designed to run in the user's browser. The native $NIM token is issued and transacted within Nimiq's ecosystem as a store and transfer of value, and such which is utilized as digital cash. The cutting-edge, browser-first blockchain approach implies that users directly connect to the blockchain with nothing more than a browser.

Therefore anyone with an up-to-date browser can join the payment network directly, pay, and accept payments without having to install software or rely on unnecessary intermediaries. This gives Nimiq its ‘simple to use’ nature, which is further strengthened by an ethos of simplicity and ease of use. $NIM is designed to be a cryptocurrency used by the masses. It is money by nature and is thus capable to do much more.

As earlier explained, the Nimiq ecosystem uses cutting-edge encryption technology and never compromises on decentralization and censorship-resistance. The ecosystem funds are accessible to no one but the user.

Ecosystem

Nimin Consensus:

With the switch of the ecosystem to Nimiq 2.0 also comes the switch from Proof-of-work to Proof-of-stake. The NImiq's Proof-of-Stake algorithm is called Albatross and reportedly able to provide a high throughput of transactions with eventual finality. One of its advantage over Proof-of-work algorithms is the vastly reduced energy consumption of Proof-of-Stake schemes. Instead of investing energy into the system, miners become validators that invest into the currency itself and set aside parts of their stake as security.

Nimiq Blockchain

Nimiq is the first browser Blockchain. And this implies that apps based on Nimiq can run directly in the browser of the user, locally, installation-free, without the need of a server-side application. And if any user has a server-side application, such a user can use the Nimiq Node.js client. This way, it can be easily integrated into any existing application.

Albatross is Nimiq’s Proof-of-Stake algorithm; Ed 25519 Schnorr signatures secure transactions, and Hierarchical Key Derivation allows a practically unlimited number of accounts to be generated from the same seed. The protocol is implemented in Rust and compiled to WebAssembly for use in the browser.

Syncing with Nimiq requires seconds, not hours and it works on low-bandwidth. Ideal for mobile and progressive web-apps. Utilizing Nimiq's ecosystem implies that:

Users can create blockchain-enabled applications in JS without a third party to rely on
No dependencies on external services, your app is a full member of the Nimiq network
No service fees, terms of use, rules, and restrictions
Everything open source and licensed under MIT and Apache 2.0 license
Create a blockchain-powered app and deploy it, or
Add NIM payments to any existing app.^[5]

Nimiq Utility

The Nimiq ecosystem can be utilized as:

An Online means of Payment:

Nimiq is the easiest way for users to pay with decentralized money. And they Integrate it through the API or shop plugins.

As a Digital Money:

Users can send and receive NIM tokens. Across borders or across the table, users can store their funds with unmatched security.

To Get Donations:

With the Nimiq ecosystem, users or content creators, and charities can rely on donations to support their efforts. This creates an air of insecurity and distrust, eventually resulting, in fewer funds being donated.

Tokenomics

Nimiq (NIM) is a cryptocurrency token issued on the Nimiq Blockchain and is used to power the entire ecosystem. The token's ticker is denoted as NIM and it has a Total Supply of 21,000,000,000 NIM. Nimiq (NIM) recorded an All-Time High (ATH) of $0.01363641 USD on July 19, 2020, and an All-Time-Low of $0.00028326 USD on January 02, 2020.

Token Exchange

Users can purchase $NIM tokens from KuCoin and HitBTC.

Token Distribution

The Nimiq Network has been designed for a total supply of 21 Billion NIM.

The smallest unit of $NIM is called Luna and 100’000 (1e5); Luna equal 1 NIM, which results in a total supply of 21e14 Luna, identical to Bitcoin’s 21e14 Satoshi.

The $NIM tokens are distributed as follows: