CryptoBullAndBear AMA

Last February 6th members of Team Nimiq participated in an AMA organized by the group of traders CryptoBullAndBear. This blog post collects all the questions in a single source of information for future reference.

Most of investor only focus on nimiq short term.. How about long term?

2020 will be an exciting year for Nimiq as we have set important milestones: Moving to PoS with Albatross, Nimiq´s new PoS consensus algorithm and the OASIS rollout. With all these releases coming up we strive to strengthen Nimiq and build a solid foundation for the future. We´re only just getting started with rolling ut new exciting features, so there´s a good reason to stick with Nimiq not only for the upcoming months :-)

“Nimiq is First Blockchain Browser” briefly introduce about this statement? What is Nimiq OASIS concept?

With Nimiq, your browser actually becomes a node in the Nimiq blockchain network. This means that anyone using web browsers like Chrome, Brave, Firefox, and Safari can run a Nimiq node. This lack of reliance on third parties makes Nimiq a very censorship-resistant cryptocurrency.

The result is that NIM is a cryptocurrency native-to-the-web. So, why bother doing this? In a nutshell, Nimiq supporters can use Nimiq with just a web browser with no annoying or complicated downloads.

It’s a bit like how you used to have to buy Microsoft excel and install the software on your computer. Nowadays, things are a whole lot easier with Google Sheets which can be used by anyone in their web browser with no downloads at all; it just works. If companies like Apple and Google have taught us anything, it is that mainstream audiences like complicated technology to be made simple and quick. That’s exactly what Nimiq’s browser-first approach hopes to achieve.

— —

What is Nimiq OASIS?

Nimiq OASIS stands for the Open Asset Swap Interaction Scheme. This is a blueprint for a crypto-to-fiat bridge, which makes fiat currencies like the Euro behave as if it were a token on the blockchain. This could provide a unique way of connecting the traditional banking world to the crypto universe.

Nimiq have also recently announced that they intend to use this technology to offer a crypto payment solution for online merchants. This has been dubbed ‘Nimiq Checkout’. In a nutshell, this would see Nimiq offering:

• The first non-custodial multi-crypto payment solution — so a merchant with zero technical knowledge can accept crypto and get fiat without ever touching it.
• Integrated merchants to get Euros paid quickly directly into their SEPA instant accounts — so it eliminates crypto volatility risks
• Crypto fans like you and me can enjoy the convenience of paying in NIM, Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Indeed, Nimiq Checkout could provide a solution to two of the main problems holding back merchant adoption of cryptocurrency. Namely, the volatility of cryptocurrencies and making it much easier for merchants to accept crypto.

Nimiq’s partnership with WEG Bank and Ten31 Bank is key to this. In 2019 Nimiq acquired a 9.9% stake in the bank joining other shareholders like Litecoin and TokenPay.

As a result of the partnership, Nimiq OASIS can leverage the SEPA instant banking network through WEG Bank. This extends the potential reach of Nimiq OASIS (and by extension Nimiq Checkout) to 2,000+ European banks in 20 countries.

OASIS is set to be released in 2020.

⛓️ 🔗 Useful Nimiq OASIS Links 🔗 ⛓️

👉 https://www.nimiq.com/blog/groundbreaking-crypto-payment-solution-for-online-merchants/

👉 https://www.nimiq.com/blog/nimiq-makes-fiat-currencies-blockchain-compatible/

👉 https://www.nimiq.com/blog/nimiq-acquires-stake-in-weg-bank-ag/

With blockchain being such a young industry, partnerships are an integral component of any project’s journey. Which types of partnerships have NIMIQ already attained and what are the plans on this front moving forward?

One of our most important partnerships is currently the one with TEN31 bank, a partnership that enables us to expand our blockchain tech to the traditional banking world and to develop breakthrough non-custodial services like our upcoming crypto-fiat-bridge “OASIS”. But I´m keeping my eyes and ears open for new partnerships all the time, as the team is generally open to all kinds of fruitful cooperations. We strive to deliver easy payment services and to open the sometimes complicated world of crypto to a broader audience. I think it´s important to also think outside the box when it comes to partnerships, as there might be great opportunities for future “growth hacks” that create an influx to Nimiq. We always listen to the voice of our community and embrace suggestions for new partnerships. We also work together with other projects like Bidali, Binance´s Trustwallet or Changehero to find out how OASIS will create value for them in the near future as well.

What is the Mining process of Nimiq & what are requirements? How can we start earning from your ecosystem?

Nimiq is a browser-first blockchain and as such it allows browsers to mine very easy at miner.nimiq.com. You can also run a mining rig with a native app (https://www.nimiq.com/developers/downloads/) and even use GPUs with community made projects (https://github.com/tomkha/nq-miner) to mine with GPUs. We are moving to POS this year and with that transition people will be able to stake instead of mine, increasing tps to more than 1 000, reducing confirmation times and reducing required energy of the system. More info is about how to mine in the current network is available in the forum: https://forum.nimiq.community/t/how-to-mine-in-nimiq/64

What are the milestones Nimiq have acchived so far & What is specail in 2020 Roadmap?

So far the biggest milestones for Nimiq so far was the first running first version in mid 2017, then the Testnet end of 2017 followed by the Mainnet in early 2018! Then after that, the first exchanges, and we opened our Swag Shop shop.nimiq.com to showcase how Nimiq as payment system works. Since 2019, we are working on Nimiq 2.0 with the PoS algo Albatross that pushes TPS to 1000+, for that we got a new whitepaper https://nimiq.com/whitepaper — and in parallel we are working on OASIS that will enable for the first time to have atomic swaps between crypto and fiat, instantly!

And also check out our roadmap at https://www.nimiq.com/roadmap/ but especially the latest blog post called “Nimiq 2020” detailing the 2020 items https://www.nimiq.com/blog/nimiq-2020

So far, Almost 80% investors have just focused on price of token in short term instead of understanding the real value of the project. Can you tell us on motivations and benefits for investors to hold nimiq in long term? Will run any stake program with your token?

Nimiq 2.0 will be Proof-of-Stake and we want to launch this year — so you can stake your NIM soon. On top of that, Nimiq OASIS will open NIM to atomic swaps with fiat, which will make it directly interesting to DEXes and any platform that needs an instant exchange between fiat and crypto without the KYC hassle. All those things are directly connected to the value but especially usefulness of NIM, driving adoption.

We have noticed quite a lot of developments in NIMIQ lately, especially the application of OASIS and ALBATROSS. Why is that important for NIMIQ ?

Our main goal is to bring the benefits of cryptocurrencies to the masses. For that to happen, adoption is vital

To increase adoption of Nimiq we need to make the project more visible both in the crypto space and in other smaller non-technical communities.

We are already working on increasing the visibility of Nimiq by doing things like:
a) Bringing on Max, our new Ambassador, who will be attending conferences and meetups solely to promote Nimiq and meet with potential partners.
b) Increasing our social media game, AMA activity, interviews, podcasts, etc.
c) Growing a network of merchants in a small, but beautiful, beach area where we usually work. This way they will provide us with live feedback of real-life scenarios while at the same time showcasing Nimiq as a real usable cryptocurrency to the ever-changing thousands of tech entrepreneurs, investors and digital nomads that come for vacations here.

I think that working on upgrading Nimiq with original innovative POS that will increase throughput, reduce confirmation times, and reduce the energy consumption of the network will not only improve the usability of Nimiq apps (near-instant confirmation) but also help increase the visibility of Nimiq.

Albatross and OASIS are original work, it is not like we are forking another POS system. We now have also Bruno on the team, Mathematician who worked creating Albatross, and I am very enthusiastic about the original work that we can implement.

OASIS will bring a lot to the crypto space and thus also increase visibility.

Original work and cutting-edge technology usually attract talent like new developers to the community, researchers interested in the project, and general audience searching for the most innovative and best-performing Blockchain for payments.

How does Nimiq work?

Nimiq currently uses the proof-of-work consensus mechanism with something called Non-Interactive Proofs of Proof-of-Work. This allows for super lightweight nodes to reach consensus in just seconds — even on a mobile device.

Nimiq’s dedication to simplicity means that we have intentionally chosen not to have a scripting language. However, the Nimiq blockchain does have a good level of interoperability with other blockchains by supporting atomic swaps and is capable of supporting off-chain transactions like the Lightning Network. Hash Time Locked Contracts (HTLC) are also supported by the Nimiq protocol. This means that Nimiq’s native token, NIM, can be locked into vested contracts and released at a certain time. These HTLC’s have been used to create vesting contracts to lock up NIM for Team members — shows their long term commitment to the project.

HTLC support is particulary important when it comes to Nimiq OASIS being able to deliver the FIAT smart contract (with our partner at Ten31 Bank). Without HTLC support this would not be possible).

What role do you think NIMIQ will play in making blockchain highly adaptable in the worldwide stage?

I think a crucial part of this is focus. Doing one thing and doing it good. For Nimiq, that means doing payments secure and fast, but most of all easy to use and conventient. And includes that the user experience must be great, but also that the user interfaces adapt: so far, our UIs are working on the web on desktop and mobile, this year, we will also add a native mobile app as well as internationalization so that also the less tech savvy can feel confident using NIM. So, in short, besides scalability (Nimiq 2.0) it’s top usability.

Would the nimiq team, themselves, be happy if their own native currency was replaced with notes containing the cute avatars currently part of the UX (last time I checked)? Would you expect the rest of the population to accept such a look?

We think the avatars are a great advantage in usability and security because they prevent from man in the middle attack. They help people to quickly verify the address their sending NIM to is the correct one without having to check the addresses digits, which is generally complicated. There are mixed opinions about the avatars (some people say they look cool and funky, entertaining. Others they look childish). We are open to consider changing them in the future but right now we have bigger fish to fry with the new wallet that will accept BTC, Nimiq OASIS our DeFi product, and Albatross the POS algorithm that we co-created and that has the potential to be faster than current POS technology like Tendermint

DeFi is the new frontier, what roles will Nimiq OASIS play in the innovativeness of DeFi?

The way we like to think about DeFi is that it’s essentially non-costodial finance. However, the amrketing departments at most DFi projects would disagree with that. DeFi is a pretty sexy buzzword 😉

DeFi is all about cutting out middlemen.

Most DeFi platforms like Synthetix or Compound Finance require users to use a web 3 wallet like MetaMask. However, the problem is that integrated crypto-to-fiat in/off ramps are centralized e.g. Coinbase.

Nimiq OASIS could play a key role in DeFi via integrations with the likes of MetaMask (who play a key role in the DeFi ecosystem) by providing a non-custodial way to get in and out of crypto withing the DeFi ecosystem.

Does nimiq made partnership with changenow? What advantage benefit of this partnership for user, most important.. for community!?

We would like to work with projects like Change NOW to integrate Nimiq OASIS into their platform, enabling users to buy crypto directly from their bank account with no KYC (for low-medium amounts) and without having to use a third party custodian (like they currently do).

Nimiq technology was born to solve what problems? Is your market really potential?

Crypto is useful to everyone, but honestly not usable yet. We want to solve that. By bringing both parts together: latest tech to be at the edge of speed (what many do) but add to that an overlooked ingredient: usability and a smooth user experience — only that will foster trust in crypto to thus reach new users to join the crypto revolution. :)

My question Is about Marketing of Nimiq As we know that every project in crypto needs Adoption for growth So, what are the Future plans of Nimiq For Mass Adoption?

In my personal opinion the market is still more focused on marketing inducted buzz than on fundamentals. This is ok for now, but might shift in the near future. Although we know that marketing is very important and do our very best to ramp up new communication and business development campaigns, our focus on developing breakthrough blockchain technology remains the backbone for future value. With the rollout of the Albatross demonstrator and Testnet people will experience a first glimpse of Nimiq´s powerful performance upgrade. At the moment it is important to target developers and shop integrators and teach them about our crypto payment plugins. Shops and businesses are very important to us because people want to use and pay with NIM (and BTC in the near future). Thanks to our ease-of-use approach and the strict focus on user experience, our payment solutions like “Nimiq Checkout” and cryptopayment.link should be very attractive for shops and businesses. We´re convinced that — once you get your hands on Nimiq´s solutions — the tech will speak for itself. Therefore it´s very important to create a broad awareness for our tech.

Do you see yourself as competitors to other Paytoken like Dash, Litecoin and of course Bitcoin ?

We support Bitcoin and are honestly integrating Bitcoin into Nimiq products in 2020.

The way we see it is that Bitcoin is a store of value and NIM acts as a payment coin.

When it comes to other transactional cryptos like Litecoin and Dash I guess you could call them competitors. However, we are all part of the crypto family and love to see/collaborate with others building cool stuff too 🥳

$Nimiq made a masive airdrop recently on kucoinplay, I know the Team focus on improvement
But, Considering with that Masive $nimiq Token on Airdrop, this maybe impact on $nimiq Price (dumping maybe).
As an investor I maybe bit worried, How does $Nimiq Team deal with this situation?

Thanks for sharing that concern! Happy to clarify: the promotions are part of the arrangement with have with Kucoin for the listing. Simply put: they were part of it. Also, the Airdrops were fairly spread out and we already see the big impact in the growing community. So from our side, we are very happy with the results, especially the increased visibility of the project and can not confirm a negative impact on the price.

Explain more about NIMIQ mining, minimum and maximum requirement and APR as well as hardware requirements? Who are the level 60 meme lords, how can I join them and what benefits do I get?

With Nimiq you can mine even with a browser: miner.nimiq.com, also with CPU: https://www.nimiq.com/developers/downloads/ and also with GPU https://github.com/tomkha/nq-miner . Entry levels for mining are very low, but you also don’t get a big rewards with a slow machine.
60 meme lords are community members that create memes. Here is the group https://t.me/nim3mes and one of them recently created a twitter account https://twitter.com/NimiqMemes

At the current stage what is Team working on? In which product or solution do you focus on? Also Can you tell us about your future plans?

We have three big solutions in the pipeline for this year:
* Nimiq 2.0, replacing PoW with PoS, Testnet to go live mid this year and the Mainnet later this year
* Nimiq OASIS: atomic swaps between crypto and fiat without KYC — first test swaps were already successful, ETA Q2 this year
* An all new native mobile app with further streamlined UX and all the new features coming with Nimiq 2.0 + integration of Nimiq OASIS

I highly recommend reading this article for more details https://www.nimiq.com/blog/nimiq-2020 or checkout the roadmap for short summaries of each item (there is more than the three!) https://www.nimiq.com/roadmap/

What is the background of the $Nimiq team? Do you think you are confident enough to run Nimiq for the long term?

Team Nimiq can be found here: https://www.nimiq.com/team/
In summary Team Nimiq is formed by German computer scientists that met in one of the top Computer-focused Universities of Germany. From a technical level we have extremely capable and talented computer scientists, cryptographers, security experts and frontend devs. The marketing side was not something we focused in the past, but recently westarted to add new people to the team to increase our skill set to begin promoting the project by education, networking and enabling adoption use cases.

My question Is about Marketing of Nimiq As we know that every project in crypto needs Adoption for growth So, what are the Future plans of Nimiq For Mass Adoption?

So what is this so called “mass adoption”? For me it means that a broad audience is using our tech, not only using NIM as an investment vehicle but as an actual payment solution. The most important foundation for this effort is unmatched usability. I often witness “newcoiners” making their first steps in the crypto space using Nimiq. We´re not only advertising that the onbarding process and account creation only takes 30sec — it actually DOES only take a few seconds to create and account and send/receive first transactions. Now we need to focus on new and more ways to earn, buy and spend NIM to create more exciting interaction possibilities for users. While the new wallet and our upcoming mobile app will further facilitate the interaction with our blockchain interfaces, services like our crypto-fiat-bridge OASIS will create value for traditional businesses, online shops, freelancers, musicians/artists and many more.

Why should we buy this token? What is the advantage of holding this token for long and short term period? Can you give me 3 key reasons why I should invest NIMIQ long term? How do you assess the cryptocurrency market in Africa? What are the growth opportunities of NIMIQ in Africa? And what are NIMIQ ‘s plans to attract traders here?

If you believe that our product pipline like Nimiq OASIS, CryptoPayment.Link are useful and have value, then this should be beneficial to NIM tokenholders.

Cryptopayment.Link aims to serve freelancers and those working in the GIG economy who want an easy way to get their hands on their first bit of Bitcoin, Etherem or NIM. The value of that market is $4.5 trillion globally.

People can discover NIM via this gateway and many mightchoose to look into it, like what they see and hold a portion of their crypto in NIM.

Nimiq OASIS can provide the first non-custodial solution for crypto-to-fiat transfers. This could have great appication within DeFi which is essentially non-custodial finance. Currently, no non-custodial crypto-to-fiat bridge exists within the ecosystem. We could achieve this via integrations into web 3 wallets like MetaMask. The value of the DeFi ecosystem is over $900 bllion.

In short, the more people that use and own the token, the better it should be (in theory) for it’s valuation.

We’ve also got Nimiq staking set to launch in 2020. We are working on the supply curve currently and this should attract more holders and further decrease NIM’s tradable supply.

How does the reward system in albatross work for stakers? How can an emission curve look like with no set blocktime?

This is one of our main focus right now. We have been working with economic experts to find thresholds in which this curve could exist. To have a healthy economic system a lot of factors have to be considered, including the transition to POS, incentive to stakers, and the removal of hardware/electricity in the reward equation. This next couple of weeks the Core Team will be working with the results from the economic experts to merge this with the game-theory behind POS and Albatross. The outcome will be share with our community for discussion and eventually voting

As a new comer, which steps will be the easiet way for a random person to mining on Nimiq ? Which conditions and requirement does it need?

A new user can just go to miner.nimiq.com
if you want to mine faster go to nimiqdesktop.com
Here is a guide that you can check as well: https://forum.nimiq.community/t/how-to-mine-in-nimiq/64

What are the unsolved problems #Nimiq aim to solve in crypto space? Tell about #Nimiq 2.0…. what is the unique future and advantages?? What is your motivation to implement the #Nimiq in crypto space?? What are the challenges #nimiq faced in past years? Mass adoption very important so how #Nimiq to attract users, merchants, developers???

The unique, most important thing (besides of course being secure, high performant and fully decentralized — you don’t want to compromise on these…) is usability. Getting crypto in the hands of people that are intimidated by the complicated processes needed to start using crypto without falling back to centralized third-party applications and websites.

Nimiq 2.0 will be PoS and super fast. So you will be able to stake your NIM to secure the network; TPS will be 1000+ and finality in a few seconds — thus getting us in the range for being a useful crypto to buy a coffee while being fully decentralized.

I think this is what drives us: making crypto usable for everyone, especially the non-tech-savvy… there are many out there!

So UI/UX is crucial and being completely web-based — Nimiq’s nodes can run in a browser — even on a mobile! — is very attractive for devs.

We are witnessing many projects enter the blockchain industry with very good plans and promises to do good work, only to disappear and lose community. How can NIMIQ survive this challenging time?

Something that sets us apart from the beginning is that we don’t over promise but we deliver (somethings a bit late, but we do deliver at the end 😅). We have a working prototype from the beginning of the project and we are looking forward to do the same with Nimiq 2.0, FAST and Nimiq OASIS (check roadmap: https://www.nimiq.com/roadmap/)

How can you deal with security and Scalability? As you know security and Scalability is the big challenge in any field.

Good question. That’s why we are working on the Albatross consensus algorithm. A demonstrator is already being created and will be launched soon.

The first results are that it will perform close to the theoretical maximum for single-chain Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithms. That’s 1,000+ transactions per second. This would result in Nimiq being capable of processing five times more transactions per second than PayPal.

⛓️ 🔗 Useful Link 🔗 ⛓️

👉 https://www.nimiq.com/blog/research-collaboration-albatross/

Tell us about the free web service cryptopayment.link how it works and how to make money on it?

Sure! cryptopayment.link is meant as a stand-alone service for freelancers, arists and generally people wh want to accept crypto without having to integrate our payment plugin. The service allows you to send payment request links via e-mail or a messenger and let people pay in NIM, BTC or ETH. It´s important to mention that the seller can enter the ammount of money he or she is charging in EUR or USD — not in crypto!

Specialty #1: When the buyer clicks on the payment link, our webservice automatically calculates the amount of crypto to pay based on the current price. This way the exact amount of EUR/USD is always met and there is a reduced volatility risk for the seller.

Specialty #2: cryptopayment.link has a built-in blockchain monitoring feature that automatically notifies the seller as son as the buyer has payed the requested amount.

cryptopayment.link is an ideal tool for artists, musicians, freelancers and invidual business owners who want to earn their first crzpto and set it aside for the future. Stickers for your website and shop will be available soon to notify customers about the possibility of paying in crypto.

Did the Nimiq team know that the browser miner would be ineffectual — given an assumed high network hashrate — in advance?

The browser miner is meant as a demo and educational tool. It shows people how easy and fast you can join a Blockchain and start mining but native apps are always faster performance wise. In that sense browser staking in Nimiq 2.0 will be able to perform better since there is no need for your computer to do any work. In Nimiq 2.0 we introduce non-custodial DPOS, so you will be able to give your coins to a smart contract that is in turn staked by a pool. The staking pool will never hold control of your funds though. This way people will be able to use browser staking easy and decentralized like it has not been seen before in the crypto space.

Which sectors in the crypto industry is Nimiq mostly focused on? what is advantages of Nimiq between chainlink?

Nimiq is 100% focused on payments. Doing one thing, but doing it right. A potential synergy with chainlink could be for the price oracle needed for Nimiq OASIS.

What are the benefits of the partnership between WEG Bank and Nimiq ? What’s the main reason behind the collaboration?

The partnership with TEN31 bank (formerly WEG bank) helps Nimiq to understand and work with the SEPA banking system, enabling us to build services like OASIS, our upcoming crypto-to-fiat bridge. OASIS will let the traditional SEPA system understand and interact with blockchain logic, making traditional bank accounts the programmable counterpartz of cross-chain transactions. T cut a long story short: One day soon you will be able to send NIM or BTC directly to your SEPA bank account WITHOUT using an intermediary (centralized) service. it will “just work” and will create a very easz way for buying and selling crypto. That´s one of the main reasons why our partnership with TEN31 is so important.

To use NIMIQ, I MUST CREATE AN ACCOUNT, I just want to ask Do I need KYC to enjoy all the awesome features of NIMIQ? According to your website, NIMIQ is money by nature, please can you explain about SECURITY, recently upbit was hacked?

No. One of the beauties of Nimiq and that sets it apart from other payment providers like, for example PayPal, is that you don’t ever have to give your personal information. We think this is one of the main pillars of cryptocurrency and a benefit that should be available in an easy to use way for everybody in the world.

What solutions does Nimiq have for users to easily purchase cryptocurrencies by fiat? Because i think the adoption of cryptocurrencies has many barriers, and fiat-to-crypto still faces certain difficulties

At this moment you can buy NIM with fiat using your credit card on changelly.com, changehero.com and changenow.io We just recently released a tutorial explaining how to buy NIM with CC on Changelly.com: https://youtu.be/WcZFn4v-L4E
The process of buying crypto with fiat will be a lot easier with the rollout of OASIS.

What is the feature make nimiq so unique compare to other project? Which technique feature make nimiq having good security?

Nimiq’s nodes run directly in the browser, that means you can use NIM without extra software or plugins, just by clicking a link. Also, that means you are directly part of the network from within your browser — no need to trust a man in the middle! And all this is easy to use then, because it’s in the browser where you usually do you payments. In 2020, we’ll also release a native app so you can do mobile payments conveniently and fast.

All the keys are stored encrypted in your local storage and never leave it so those are safe. But also usability-wise, Nimiq adds identicons and and the IBAN standard to addresses, this makes typos impossible and clipboard hijacking attacks easy to spot.

DeFi is one of the hottest topic in the blockchain space right now. Can you share your opinions on DeFi with us? Do you think that DeFi will disrupt the existing financial system? What is NIMIQ approach towards the DeFi sector

We love DeFi because it’s all about cutting out middlemen. The way we think about it is that it’s another way of saying ‘non-custodial finance’.

In terms of disruption we are a long way off, however, there are $900 billion worth of value locked up in the ecosystem. The main problem is that the ecosystem is only rally accessible to crypto veterns. How many newcomers to the space are able to use MetaMask? Jump through all the hoops to get on a platform like Compound Finance?

With global interest rates at rock bottom or even negative rates, we think that many non-crypto people would be interested in the option to earn 5.5% interest in the DeFi ecosystem. Put simply, in the everything bubble a lot of guys are looking for yield.

Nimiq OASIS could help with all this by providing an easier gateway to get into DeFi via web 3 wallet integrations. Imagine, crypto newcomers being able to buy ETH using their SEPA bank account and recieving it into a web 3 wallet and being able to then access DeFi procuts or services. Seem much easier then the current user-flow of: Coinbase > Metamask > Defi platform.

Potentially, Nimiq could help cut out a step here 🙂

Kindly explain NIMIQ OASIS and its usefulness in the Nimiq project? Brave browser already has something similar and almost peculiar like NIMIQ, comparatively how does NIMIQ outperform top competition like BRAVE, VERASITY etc?

1.) Brave is only a browser, while NIM is supported by several browsers, as the overall idea behind Nimiq is to be browser agnostic.

Nimiq OASIS is our “Open Asset Swap Interaction Scheme” that lets traditional bank accounts understand and interact with blockchain logic. With the rollout of OASIS people will be able to buy and sell crypto with fiat directly from/to your SEPA banking account WITHOUD using an intermediary (centralized) service.

What are the current and future community development strategies for the project?

In our forum (forum.nimiq.community) we have a long list of shops and online merchants that we are goint to talk to. Now that I officially joined the team, this is one of my top priorities when it comes to expanding our existing community. Also, using LinkedIn as an audience building tool will be another important focus. There are over 90.000 Devs and approx. 350.000 blockchain enthusiasts on the network alone that we want to reach and educate about Nimiq.

What is the importance of developers and the community in the Nimiq ecosystem and how easy and convenient it is to connect and apply Nimiq technology in the existing enterprise infrastructure?

Nimiq being web-based is a crucial part of being unique to dev — it makes it super easy to add NIM, for example, to web shops. Thus we have a very active community of web devs experimenting and building on top of Nimiq. Same holds for enterprise, everything is moving to web apps — so Nimiq has the clear benefit of being directly integrable, just by adding a JavaScript library. :)

“Nimiq aims to outperform traditional payment providers in terms of both convenience and costs, without falling back to centralized, closed platforms and services.” So, Is it possible to implement your solutions in developing countries without technologically adequate infrastructure?

Awesome question. That’s why Nimiq took a browser-first approach to mobile optimise.

We know from first hand experience that many people in developing counties do not have access the desktops or laptops. However, many do have access to smart phones. Indeed, we’ve seen first hand in countries like the Philippines that people will buy phone data over food.

By focusing on simple and mobile optimized interfaces and lightweight nodes we’ve designed Nimiq to be useable by people in economically challenged countries.

NIMIQ have definitely achieved a lot. Could you give us a summary on what NIMIQ did in 2019?

For sure! There is also a nice Recap here: https://www.nimiq.com/blog/nimiq-2020/
In 2019 we had great milestones like:
- Release a new nimiq.com website
- Released a brand new version of Nimiq KeyGuard and Hub. The secure app that allow your browser to execute transactions securely. https://medium.com/nimiq-network/the-biggest-release-since-mainnet-launch-f8096e33dab9
- Acquire a share in WEG Bank, also https://www.ten31.com/ — https://cointelegraph.com/news/nimiq-acquires-99-stake-in-germanys-weg-ag-to-become-banks-third-crypto-firm-owner
- Invented what could be the fastest POS algorithm out there: Albatross — Here is the technical paper that our 4 team members Philipp, Pascal, Marvin and Bruno wrote https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.01589
- Partnered with https://kindhumans.com/
- Release a MultiCrypto (NIM, BTC and ETH) plugin for wordpress.
- Started working with https://www.bidali.com/ and Binance’s TrustWallet https://www.cryptosquawk.com/nimiq-collaborates-with-binance-dex-trust-wallet/
- Released a new Browser-first whitepaper https://www.nimiq.com/whitepaper/

Why did you name the project NIMIQ?? What was NIMIQ created to solve? What is the business model of the project?

“Nimiq” is an Inuit word for an object or a force that binds things together. I think this is a great “purpose statement” for a blockchain project that strives to deliver cutting-edge tech and usability that enables lots of people to use blockchain as an easy to use, new way of payment. We want to bring innovation and usability to the blockchain world, but also follow a strict philosophy of doing good things to the people, communities and also the society in general. That´s why we have two foundations: One is for supporting and enabling Nimiq as a project, holding 525,000,000 NIM. And a second one ONLY for charity and good causes that help the planet and society, holding another 420,000,000 NIM. You can see these accounts here: https://nimiq.mopsus.com/accounts While the funds of the Nimiq foundation will be used to further develop and maintain the project, the charity funds will enable us to foster positive change for people and environment.

Can you explain it What are the strengths of your project that can keep you up in Bear Market?

Nimiq has focused on building during the current bear market. However, key products and tech that we’ve been working on are set for release in 2020. This includes:

1) Nimiq OASIS to enable FIAT smart contracts with the likes of WEG Bank. The cool thing here is that the technology can potentially be used to swap any digital asset. So it would be possible to leverage it to swap in-game digital assets with BTC for example.
2) Albatross (Nimiq 2.0) — the shift to proof-of-stake is set for this year. It is able to achieve a performance close to the theoretical maximum for single-chain Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithms. Staking should mean that the tradable supply of NIM will shrink.
3) Even in the bear market the Nimiq team has still been growing.

You can learn more about our plans this year in our dedicated Nimiq 2020 blog post: https://www.nimiq.com/blog/nimiq-2020/

Nimiq have a very good product, which product are you focusing on developing right now?

We are focusing on:
- New staking calculator for community to try out the new ideas for a supply curve
- Stable version of the Albatross POS.
- Demo of a real-life lab running Albatross POS.
- Testnet for community dev to try out Albatross POS.
- New wallet that supports both NIM and BTC. That way we can onboard new users to BTC and then cross-sell them NIM. This wallet will support easy browser staking for you to gain rewards on your NIM without having to be online or giving your funds to a pool.
- Nimiq OASIS and FAST, a new technology that enables users to buy crypto directly without a third party or KYC. Think localbitcoin without a custodian.

If I lost my recovery words, have any solution for recover my funds? What is the advantage of donation button?

Nimiq has a cool feature: the Login File. It does not replace the recovery words — they are important and you should store them safely — but the Login file is much easier to handle because it’s a little graphics file (that also comes with a QR code, so you can import easily on your mobile). But the seed in it is encrypted so it much safer to use. So in short, with Nimiq you have two independent ways to secure your funds so you can recover your funds yourself if you lose your recovery words.

Could you please shed more light on security side of Nimiq ecosystem? How secure is the Nimiq’s structure? What measures have been taken?

Security is one of our main concerns since a blockchain is only as valuable as it is secure. There are several security experts in the team and we the code undergoes strict security tests and reviews. We’ve also done external security audits on Nimiq code and ran a HackerOne bounty campaign. Recently we moved the hackerone bounty campaign in-house https://www.nimiq.com/bug-bounty/ . About browsers in general, they are one of more secure and audited pieces of software there is. You can also use Nano Ledger with Nimiq, which we consider to be one of the safest hardware wallets.

They are 6 important for a platform, there Was Transparency, Security, Fairness, Privacy, Scalability and wealth. How does Nimiq handle all these issues? What’s the future you’re developments would you expect would be most appealing to larger institutions on the network?

transparency: we publish transparency reports twice a year — so it is clear for everyone interested in Nimiq how we use the funds — also our code is open source… of course!
security: completely decentralized, no third party, Nimiq runs directly in the browser — one of the most secure and tested pieces of software out there. no plugins or downloads needed.
fairness: no special authorities, fully decentralized
privacy: after releasing Nimiq 2.0, we will start working on private transactions
scalability: Nimiq 2.0 will give us 1000+ TPS
wealth: stake NIM to earn a passive income with your NIM :)

KuCoin is the most active trading market for Nimiq. is there a plan in the future for Nimiq to hold a Trading Event on KuCoin? And what is your opinion of the KuCoin market for Nimiq?

We work closely with KuCoin’s marketing team and we are for sure open to a trading event in the future. For now we only have done KuCoin Play campaigns in order to increase visibility of the project, community of supporters and overall trading volume.

Is accessibility, usability, scalability still a big problem? How do you specifically look at the Scalability issue and what roles does Nimiq play in their solution and adoption? What advantages does the Staking offered by the Nimiq project offer? What role does it play in curtailing energy consumption?

Check this blog post https://www.nimiq.com/blog/nimiq-2020/
The switch to PoS will introduce fundamental improvements to the network’s performance and economics.

The significance can be illustrated by our projection of energy consumption per transaction. Currently, a transaction at full network capacity requires the equivalent energy of ten AA batteries. With Albatross, it’s 1.5% of one AA battery.

Nimiq (https://www.nimiq.com/blog/nimiq-2020/)

I follow the news of your project. In the last article I read, I learned that the Nimiq Team has had a hard time planning and preparing for the future. What are the reasons for this?
I am sure it is not easy to manage such an important project. Can you share the positive and negative developments you have experienced with us?
How was 2019 for the Nimiq project and what are your expectations from 2020?

I think there might be a misunderstanding here: The team did not have any problems or face obstacles when it came to working on/developing our strategy. We have a clear vision and focus where the project is heading and what we want to achieve — and we´re on a good way of making this a relity. The phase were we were re-aligning ourselves, our purpose and our mission is long over. We´ll be delivering the pending tech (Albatross PoS, OASIS) in 2020, which will rather mark the end of an intensive innovation and development phase /milestone than the beginning of a new development cycle. To cut a long story short: We didn´t have any problems defining who we are, what we want or how we are going to achieve our goals. We just needed some time to write our thoughts down and make them easily accessible to our community. Developing a project like Nimiq takes time and the path is never linear but marked buy iteration phases and of course by several ups and downs. This is nothing particular that only Nimiq is facing, but every company or project in general. We´re on a great way to ship breakthrough blockchain payment solutions in 2020.