Launched in June of 2014, with the actual beta release in March of 2015, the digital asset NEM (New Economy Movement) was conceived. It was originally created by a Bitcoin Talk forum user known as Utopian Future who was inspired to improve upon the cryptocurrency Nxt.
Over time, NEM fueled a grassroots community charged with nurturing the seed of an idea.
NEM Group which now comprises three separate entities — NEM Software, NEM Trading, and NEM Ventures — just recently announced that it has officially concluded its testnet update, the final phase of testing prior to the launch of its highly anticipated Symbol network in January.
The Symbol platform is the next-generation enterprise-grade blockchain solution from NEM, built to redefine enterprise blockchains by introducing a host of new functionalities and simplifying integration with existing business infrastructures. The aim is to foster a trusted and secure enterprise blockchain that smooths business friction, increasing the flow of data and innovation to supercharge the creation, exchange, and protection of assets.
After months of robust testing, Symbol is nearing readiness for public use with the freezing of the code. The technology will become version 1.0 upon its feature complete mainnet launch on 14th January 2021. This will open up Public Chain access to token holders, businesses, and other partners around the world for a wide range of use cases.
This advancement by NEM Group positions it as a digital economy pioneer as it aims to nurture a strong and healthy ecosystem contributing to the development of blockchain technology for generations to come.
In a December 15 2020 press release, Dave Hodgson, CIO of NEM Group offered this assessment:
“This milestone represents the culmination of years of heads down building, testing, and collaborating to deliver Symbol by the Core Developers, NEM community, and various supporting entities. Created for enterprise use, Symbol is purpose built to be flexible to a suite of use cases, spanning regulated markets, supply chain, fintech, healthcare, government, and more. Symbol is feature complete from day 1 and has a packed roadmap beyond that, which will be communicated shortly. It puts security and interoperability at the forefront — reducing the complexities in existing processes and allowing enterprises to focus on delivering value.”
Kristy-Leigh Minehan, CTO of NEM Software had this to add:
“As a hybrid network, Symbol offers a ‘best of both worlds’ scenario and more flexibility to businesses in how they manage and share data. For instance, a public blockchain network is available to access by consumers, while a private blockchain network is established for the management of information, data, and the corporate stakeholders overseeing the transactions in question. We’re thrilled to bring a hybrid solution to market, and begin delivering true value to our enterprise partners.”
This announcement follows a series of significant developments in the NEM ecosystem, including a partnership with fiat on-ramp Simplex and the joint development of Tardigrade with Storj and IoDLT, to create a storage solution to facilitate faster syncing time when setting up a node on the Symbol network. The NEM ecosystem is set to make a splash in 2021 having already secured its first EU Central Bank CBDC and a Security Token being issued shortly after launch.
