DIE Interview with the Nexus (NXS) Ambassador Team

Q1: What is Nexus and when was its genesis?

A1: The first NXS block was mined on September 23rd of 2014. Nexus never held an ICO nor were any NXS tokens premined! 100% fair launch. 

Originally Nexus began as a Bitcoin/PeerCoin fork, but gradually had its entire codebase rewritten & with the release of the Tritium Protocol on November 5, 2019, Nexus evolved into a revolutionary, register-based contract engine. Tritium is the first of three major upgrades for our TAO Framework, which is a seven-layered software stack that powers the register-based process virtual machine, creating a powerful DApp and contract platform.

Not only that, but Nexus has ambitions to replace the internet as we know it today. The SafeNet as we refer to it, will eventually provide immutable storage, censorship resistance, content source verification, improved cyber security (i.e. reduce malware), and provide a seamless roaming and user experience for websites using Nexus as the authentication system. This is made possible because the Nexus Software Stack is an augmentation of the current internet’s architecture and leverages the well-known Location Identification Separation Protocol (LISP).

Q2: As developers, is there a common background that you all share, besides the technical?

A2: There is not! We all come from different backgrounds but share the same love for blockchain and decentralized technology. Including our ambassador team, everyone has a different background, culture, and story of what brought them to Nexus and why they want to be involved!

Q3:  What does decentralization mean to the Nexus development team?

A3: Decentralization is the core of Nexus. It starts with the management where we don’t have the traditional organizational setup. We have developers, Ambassadors, stakers, miners and the larger community. Our finances are open to the community and we use the native on-chain invoice system to pay developers and ambassadors after peer review. 

The blockchain has been designed to be decentralized and has built-in safeguards in place which will make it impossible for someone to gain monopoly. This is enabled by our 3-channel consensus – Prime, Hash and nPOS – where the first two are mining channels and the third is Proof of Stake. nPoS is trust based PoS which is unique to Nexus and rewards the user based on the elapsed time they contribute consistently securing the network. The developers also work hard to make sure every solution is made native, on chain and without any 3^rd parties involved at all. An example is our Nexus mobile wallet (which is in public beta). It is a lite node with block headers and user sig chain downloaded on the phone and is unlike other wallets that are connected to a centralized server which can create centralization and vulnerabilities.

The developers have worked hard to ensure that Nexus doesn’t have any single point of failure.

Q4: Does Nexus have any partners and/or plan to?

A4: There are currently a handful of use cases building on Nexus, which can be read about here. We also have whole crypto projects migrating over to us. PotCoin just announced their migration! There are other use cases being worked on behind the scenes that will have formal announcements when the projects are ready to share more information! We welcome anyone interested in utilizing Nexus for their application that shares our vision of creating a decentralized world.

Q5: What has been Nexus’ biggest hurdle so far in this new crypto revolution?

A5: We are working to create an entirely new paradigm, so needless to say we’ve had our fair share of developmental challenges. Our mobile wallet, for instance, is actually a lite node & not just an interface connected to centralized software, so it took a bit longer to roll out and is currently undergoing public beta testing. Luckily, we have an amazing dev team who genuinely enjoy the challenges of creating this new world, so if we had to identify our biggest challenge, it’d have to be market awareness. 

For one, since we never held an ICO or had a war chest of premined tokens like so many other projects, our marketing budget has been very limited. In 2018, we started gaining a bit of notoriety for our plans to launch satellites to create a mesh network, but unfortunately, our original launch partner, Vector Space ran into multiple setbacks, eventually declaring bankruptcy in 2019, right around the time we launched our Tritium upgrade. That along with the effects of “crypto winter” left many investors understandably upset & discouraged causing a residual impact on our public image. 

It’s important to note a few things here:

1- The mesh network & Nexus operating system were always long-term plans, the satellite launch we were targeting in 2018-19 was never intended to be the culmination of development, but more of a test phase.

2- Our plans have never changed! Launching a satellite mesh network is still going to happen. In fact, from a technical standpoint, the delay was actually a blessing in disguise as Colin & the team made a number of breakthroughs over the past two years culminating in the recent release of the LX-OS White Paper detailing plans for the LISP / Nexus operating system.

Q6: Both Bitcoin and Ethereum are currently struggling with high fees. How does Nexus plan to scale?

A6: First and foremost, our basic transaction fees are set to zero ($0). Staying true to the spirit of banking the unbanked, we wanted to be sure the Nexus network enabled everyone to send transactions no matter how small, whenever they want and instantly, without the need to wait for times of lower gas fees or having to fear that the transaction fee will be higher than the transaction value itself. 

We are confident that the Nexus network can support mass adoption because the TAO Framework is built to scale by design, tackling the bottlenecks in the lowest layers of the software stack. We had to rethink & redesign the Blockchain from the ground up, but we knew the only way to achieve longevity & true adoption is through a solid foundation and not needing to rely on second layer solutions, which is why we developed our own lower level database. We design protocols that scale as more nodes join the network. Just recently, Colin unveiled his breakthrough of achieving constant time in the Lower Level Database (LLD), demonstrating the ability to process unhindered, even as the resource requirements increased.

Q7: How are Nexus tokens different from Ethereum Tokens?

A7: The difference here is in the approach of how tokens can be created. Instead of needing to code smart contracts for every token you want to create, with Nexus simple tokens can be created with minimal coding skills. For use cases that require more complex token utility a programmer can add additional rules and cost of creation is known upfront. Eventually, Augmented Contracts will enable a whole new level of token utilization. 

Q8: Most coins are Proof of Work or Proof of Stake. We know Nexus is both, but why?

A8: Instead of being caught in the middle of the PoW vs PoS debate and hindered by either’s limitations, Nexus developers chose to implement both in order to benefit from the combined strengths, while simultaneously minimizing the flaws of each individual mechanism. There are a number of advantages to this approach, but in short, it is more secure, more equitable, and provides a greater opportunity for us to adapt to future requirements.

Q9: So, Visa does 1,700 transactions per second. How many can Nexus do?

A9:  Nexus architecture works disparately compared to the other chains. Nexus as of today can process 655 tps and each transaction can handle up to 100 contracts, 655 * 100 = 65500 contracts/ sec max. As contracts can vary in complexity, we can assume around 10k to 30K contracts per second.

Recently we have made optimisation to the Lower Level Database (LLD) which is a native blockchain database solution developed by Nexus and now we can process more than 1000 tps and this will be out with the next Tritium++ update

Q10: What are Signature Chains and how are they different from Second-Layer Protocols?

A10: Signature chain is like a personalised cloud storage/service on top of the Nexus blockchain which manages private keys and assets for the user. It’s similar to an email account where a user logs in using a username, password and PIN and all the data is somewhere in the cloud and can be accessed from any corner of the world. Signature chain brings in Secure Identity management, namespaces and opens up a whole new paradigm of personalised Dapps or services. They also add another level of security in respect to quantum resistance.

Nexus does not believe in second-layer scaling and has designed the 3-Dimensional chain for scaling. To put it in simple words if Tritium is the fastest single lane then 3DC will be multiple parallel tritium lanes with checks and balances and will scale as more nodes join the network.)

Q11: Tell us about this Quantum Resistance tech and why is it important?

A11: Computers and their capabilities are evolving rapidly, and Quantum Computers are the next huge step. In theory every public key is already now vulnerable, it would only take hundreds of years for common computers to break them. To increase the security, you can add more complexity or reduce the time window of your keys being vulnerable. We are doing both with Nexus. We replaced the common cryptography with a Post-Quantum cryptography algorithm called Falcon who is currently in the third round of the NIST competition. And with our Signature Chains we are enhancing the security to the next level. Signature Chains decouple the private key from the user account; therefore, one is unbound by the possession or security of a single private key. The private key becomes obsolete when the next transaction is generated, producing higher levels of security compared to the continual reuse of a private key, as is the case with other blockchain technologies.

Q12: With Nexus getting in the smart contract game, what types of smart contracts will Nexus be able to execute?

A12: Nexus development is driven via API’s, where a developer with knowledge of web technologies will be able to create Dapps and the blockchain complexity is abstracted from the developer. For more complex Dapps the logic can be created into the software itself. 

Nexus will also launch Augmented Contracts which are the second type of contracts, which is like a lower level API and can be used with any domain specific language. Augmented contracts add a layer of complexity and processing, so will carry a higher fee to execute. This makes our Contract Engine much more powerful. 

Q13: How does Nexus celebrate as a team when certain milestones are achieved?

A13: The team tries to share them with the community right away! They try to be very active on the social media channels to keep everyone in the Nexus community updated on the progress of the work being done. The developers hold quarterly zoom updates that are open to the public, and progress bars can be found on https://tech.nexus.io/roadmap 

Q14: What is Nexus most proud of?

A14: We would all agree that we are incredibly proud to stand by the original vision and purpose of the Crypto Revolution! Nexus is very capable of doing all the things many of these other projects claim, but we never tried chasing the flavor of the month to gain attention, because we’ve been focused on building a foundation strong enough to support mass adoption and we believe our tech speaks for itself! As many of these other projects fail to live up to their hype, we’ll still be here standing strong because we have held true to our vision and our purpose of connecting a decentralized world. Besides this we would like to say that we are very proud of our community who really believes in the Nexus vision and have supported us through highs and lows!

Q15: How do you plan to attract developers from other platforms to build on Nexus?

A15: As mentioned earlier, we believe our tech speaks for itself. As developers begin to get frustrated with the expense and difficulty of using those other platforms, they will be looking for a solution and that’s where we come in. Of course, they need to know about Nexus, our key features, and ease of use, in order for us to be an option. That’s why we have plans to do some educational outreach, along with participating in a variety of conferences and workshops over the next few months to help introduce people to Nexus. We would also like to host our own Buildathon, but that is only in the early stages of discussion. 

After the upcoming release of Tritium++, I think you will see more people taking notice!

Q16: What is the long-term vision for Nexus?

A16: Nexus is building a decentralized and uncensorable internet and we have launched the Nexus Protocol whitepaper in Dec 2020. This internet (Safenet) at first will coexist with the existing internet with interoperability, as we will build out the decentralized crowdfunded infrastructure which includes cube satellites, ground stations and mesh networks. Now this infrastructure is designed with gamification by Nexus but built by the community as a tokenized asset. Safenet will use Nexus Protocol (NP) replacing the Internet Protocol (IP) and replace centralized points of failure like BGP, DNS, certifying Authority and ISP’s and will be replaced by blockchain. The hardware routing will also be replaced with stateless routing. As SafeNet becomes complete with its own infrastructure it will start to break out and become its own network. Safenet will have its own native cloud storage and sharing bandwidth and storage will be incentivized. 

Nexus is also developing a secure OS, LX-OS which will also be secured by blockchain and will first see its use in IOT devices and later make inroads into desktop.

Nexus will also have a lot of other use cases which will use API’s to build apps, tokens and a few are being built.

Q17: What can we expect to see from Nexus in the near future?

A17: The mobile wallet is currently in open Beta for both IOS and Android, and the full release should be coming shortly. There will be Tritium++ updates in the near future, that include updates to our desktop wallet and progress on our other various features (including a DAO, DEX, and API upgrades). The developers also hold quarterly zoom updates to share progress on other various tasks with the community (including the Lower Level Library, LX-OS, Nexus Protocol, and upcoming releases). Check out https://tech.nexus.io/roadmap for more information on upcoming features! 

FQ: Does Nexus have anything they want to share with the world? The floor is open.

FA: We are very excited to see how much our community has grown recently. The developers and ambassadors of Nexus are hard at work developing amazing technology, and raising awareness of the work being done. We encourage everyone to get involved, join the community, and help us spread the word about what Nexus has to offer to everyone around the world! 

---

Stay tuned for more Daily Informer Exclusive interviews!

---

Support us and help us grow!

Donate:

Bitcoin (BTC): 16ewr1Ezy7GPnvkfjcCkq23eUq82Q6qQso

Dogecoin (DOGE): DMK29BPtncdGMxTc1sQ4c4SkLSLhnoG9We

Verge (XVG): DTGk29ZNRGWTdeUkj9zwaPs3EgmTzKjTEW

Nexus (NXS): 2RmpjZXcWhM2qv3C7JwqqNefVZCu38wQp7XvuMktD5QZHejbaCo