Satoshi 1.0 and BCnext 2.0 make NEM 3.0
I don't know what any of this means. Care to explain?
I'll explain!
Satoshi made the first crypto coin blockchain. It was written in C++ and was a giant hairball of code, but it allowed for tokens to be transferred. Most of this code has been completely redone by now and Satoshi faded away. It was a huge step in evolution of value. HUGE
BCnext made a 2nd generation crytpo coin blockchian. It was written in Java and used POS instead of POW and allows for tokens to be transferred and so much more, including messaging, asset exchange, naming services have already gone live and there are plans to incorporated dozens of more features. Basically any "feature" that a POW coin adds (outside of a small tweak to the mining algo) and then claims it is revolutionary because of, NXT can add that feature in a couple of months. So if you look at the top ten features of the best top ten alt coins, NXT either does or can do those things pretty easily. But, the code was kind of a hairball, there was no real client, and the initial distribution was so skewed that a lot of old timers won't even think about touching it. It has been a big step in the evolution of value. Not as big as fiat to bitcoin though. Oh yeah, BCnext also walked away from the project with his coins and nobody knows who he is or where he went.
NEM is a 2nd generation crypto coin blockchain like NXT that is written in Java, but is written with really clean code from the ground up by a very large team of developers, not just one guy. Each part is being unit tested and the core is being built so that new features will be easily added. The distribution is spread out over thousands of people with the aim that every person will only have 1 share and for the most part taint analysis has done a good job upholding this. NEM has not come out yet, so it is hard to say how good it will be. But in many ways it looks to be a great product from the start, fair, high quality, and transparent, and no shady founders that own 10 or 20 or 50 percent. Again, it is another step in evolution. Probably not as big as Bitcoin to NXT though. And then again, it might have addressed a core red flag and so in the long run turn out to be very important. It is up to the community to decide.
I know that we all think that Bitcoin is safe and Satoshi won't hurt us. But the fact is, bitcoin is suppose to be a trustless tech, but actually anybody that owns bitcoin has HUGE trust in Satoshi. People often buy bitcoin because they think that fiat is stupid because the government can just print more and devalue the existing fiat. But Satoshi owning 10% of bitcoin could dump and easily sell bitcoin to every buy wall on every exchange crashing the price to $0.01 on every exchange and hold it there if he wanted. There wouldn't be anything any of us could do. Now we all trust and think that he won't do that and so we are here, but the point is, we still are having trust in him when we are suppose to be using a trustless tech. There are scenarios. What if he was hacked? What if he had an son or daughter that inherited keys and dumped? What if the government seizes his keys like they did SilkRoad? What if he was working for the government? What if he decides he wants his cash? What if he wants to donate half to charity? Yes, all these are unlikely and we say, "that's not going to happen," but the reality is, WE JUST DON'T KNOW and therefore have trust and faith in him.
NXT isn't actually much better in its distribution. In someways better and in someways worse. There are 20 or 30 massive NXT holders that at one time owned the majority of it. They have sold off a lot but their accounts are still huge, Many of which still have more than $1,000,000 in NXT. Lots of them would love to cash out and have that million dollars but the NXT liquidity is quite small and if they tried, again they would crash the market. So again, with NXT we are having trust when using it that they won't harm us, when really we are suppose to be using a trustless tech.
NEM's fair distribution and and transparency in many other issues, is making it much more easy to trust. It is just at the stage of private developer testing and only screen shots have been released of the client, but there is a lot of confidence behind NEM and in the community that when it comes out, it will come out fighting like a tiger.