Nimiq Reddit AMA

The summary

It was announced on January 9, 2019 that Robin Linus would be parting ways with Nimiq. To answer questions from the community, Team Nimiq decided to act swiftly and hold a Reddit AMA on January 11. This article summarizes the key points of the AMA, with a particular focus on the questions most important to the community.

Reddit AMA proof photo from Team Nimiq

Team Nimiq organizational structure

The Team structure consists of the following areas:

• Core (Blockchain Development & Research): Philipp, Pascal, Marvin, Jeff.
• Frontend, UI/UX: Sören, Daniel, Max, Sebastian, Sven.
• Communication: Richy, Sven, Sui-Ju, Elion.
• Infrastructure: Curd.
• Documentation: Sven.
• Legal: Mauricio.
• Operations: Elion, Sui-Ju.
• Vlogs: Atua, Chris.
• Misc: Chef Philipp (whose presence exclusively during hackathons removes the distractions associated with the daily meals acquisition for 12–20 individuals)

Additional independent, paid Nimiq contributors:

• Marketing, UI/UX: Tammo and Julian, Overnice
• SEO: DCBerlin
• Press: TotalCrypto
• Legal & administration CH: MME, Sielva Management
• Local Community Managers e.g. Facebook and translations.

The Telegram moderators are community members and work on a voluntary basis. They are neither paid nor instructed by Team Nimiq.

Sitting on top of the team is Nimiq’s main decision-making entity, the Nimiq Foundation Board, which is planning to recruit more external members to be in keeping with the spirit of decentralization.

Why does Nimiq not use a centralized corporate structure?

Given the nature of Nimiq, a decentralized structure has massive value. For example, being an open-source project everybody can contribute or build on top of it. Having a smaller, more nimble team, negates the need for complex structures that bureaucratically manage separate responsibilities; instead, areas of responsibilities belong to team members who can work exclusively on them.

Nimiq is open to recruiting talent in the areas of management and business development. However, Nimiq does not think it is fruitful to recruit a single, overriding external actor e.g. hiring an external CEO.

Project financials

Note: this section has been updated with current valuation and estimates.

• Nimiq holds approximately $9.1 million in total assets from original ETH contributions (diversified and held in crypto, fiat, and the campus property), the reduction since the report for end of July 2018 is significantly affected by the drop in value of BTC (-44%) and ETH (-32%) holdings.
• The project has been able to reduce the burn rate of contribution funds to around $200k-$210k/month (does not include one-time, travel or extraordinary expenses) by cutting costs and compensation structure. Naturally this number should be expected to change based on growth of the team/contributors.

Team Compensation

• Compensation for team members ranges from $20 to $90 per hour. This range narrows to $50-$90 for the development team (core and front-end).
• Team members receive their payment in BTC, ETH and NIM. In total more than 18.5% [updated Mar 1 2019] of the payment is in NIM. Other contributors also receive a significant portion of their remuneration in NIM to align incentives.
• Given the multinational nature of the project, team members work as independent contractors and are responsible for paying their own taxes, health, dental and disability insurance, social security, etc according to their country of residence. No additional compensation is given to anyone to offset these costs.
• Nimiq Team members are paid for up to 40 hours work per week. However, this figure does not account for the countless additional hours worked by the team.

Additional exchange listings

Team Nimiq has been carefully weighing additional exchange listings, the cost of which can be exorbitant. The timing of pursuing such decisions is also determined by project development. If Nimiq were to simply add more exchanges without increasing the penetration of NIM then this could spread the total volume over more platforms which is not advantageous to stakeholders. Instead, the team will pursue additional exchange listings when it is believed that value will be created for Nimiq and the community.

Marketing strategy

Nimiq will remain true to their no-hype and value-focused marketing principles. This has been defined as:

“…Nimiq will not participate in any of the at times downright fraudulent marketing practices that have become more and more common in the crypto space”.

The team is moving away from the minimal cost marketing of the past. However, Nimiq must balance this against the risk of getting attention that cannot be converted efficiently or sustainably. The marketing budget is unfixed and we are committed to dedicating additional funds to this area as applicable. It is envisioned that these additional resources would be spent on social media, targeted ads and possibly some programmatic marketing. The key priority is to generate value by tracking marketing spend and focusing on gradually ramping up efforts into the areas with the highest return.

What we’re working on to increase awareness of Nimiq

• The Crypto Adoption Proposal has been created in partnership with TotalCrypto.io and aims to push forward crypto adoption in communities with challenged currencies or banking system access. This ambitious proposal can generate awareness of the Nimiq brand beyond the existing crypto community.
• Public relations has been invested in and press releases created and distributed to established crypto news outlets. This increases the public profile and awareness of Nimiq.
• Leveraging social networks such as Instagram, to reach out to unexplored developer audiences, and grow Nimiq’s developer community.
• SEO is being worked on with DCBerlin, a professional SEO company. Analysis of user behavior, statistics tracking and more is being used to elevate Nimiq’s search engine rankings.
• Contributors from all around the globe are now managing local communities, in their own language. This helps Nimiq increase visibility in places it would not reach otherwise.
• Boosting awareness at events. Nimiq has already participated in the Web3Summit with a marketing stunt, the Malta Blockchain Summit, and the 35C3. Team Nimiq will also take part in the TicoBlockchain and Stanford Blockchain Conference.
• Website improvements. We are working on optimizing nimiq.com to convert traffic better and outline our value proposition clearer.
• A new developer center has already been released. This developer-focused area will be leveraged by the new website.

Collaborations & partnerships

• Nimiq & Agora Trade: Agora trade is headed up by Forbes 30 under 30 winner Reto Trinkler. The first results of this cooperation have been the creation of the new ImageWallet standard. Nimiq and Trinkler Software are also cooperating on blockchain research. Finally, Nimiq is collaborating with Agora Trade and another financial industry partner to work on an innovative NIM/Euro exchange solution.

Future vision

Nimiq is, and always will be, a browser-based blockchain with a JavaScript API, even when the codebase becomes Rust compiled to WebAssembly. The focus of Nimiq is on payments and value transfer. Nimiq does not focus on storing information on-chain, instead preferring to use cross-chain transactions to store data on separate blockchains (as needed). This approach brings with it benefits for scalability, which is an area that Nimiq is researching and views as a priority.

What else to expect from Nimiq in the future?

• A second white paper — Nimiq 2.0 — detailing the next protocol version being planned.
• Nimiq plans on releasing bi-annual transparency reports.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Nimiq AMA. We hope you found this summary informative and that you will join our next steps of Nimiq’s exciting journey.

Pura Vida
Team Nimiq

DISCLAIMER: None of the statements must be viewed as an endorsement or recommendation for Nimiq, any cryptocurrency, or investment product. Neither the information, nor any opinion contained herein constitutes a solicitation or offer by the creators or participants to buy or sell any securities or other financial instruments or provide any investment advice or service.