Current Features

Current features of Nxt include:

• A true descendant of Bitcoin
  • Unlike many other cryptocurrencies, Nxt was written from scratch and is based on all-new code.  Nxt improves upon many of the features of Bitcoin, removes some disadvantages (e.g. bloated blockchain) and resolves a big environmental issue.  Time between blocks is one minute.  This increases the rate of orphaned blocks but makes it more convenient for the users.

• Limited supply
  • 1 billion Nxt coins were generated in the first block, and no new Nxt coins will be created.  Coins are not "mined" like they are with other currencies.

• 100% Proof-of-Stake currency
  • Nxt is the first 100% Proof-of-Stake (PoS) currency.  Coins are earned solely by charging transaction fees.  Unlike other currencies with Proof-of-Stake mining, however, Nxt's PoS mining does not cause monetary inflation.

• Asset Exchange
  • To exchange cryptocoins right now, you have to sign up for an account on a centralized platform such as Cryptsy/BTC-E/Bter/etc, transfer coins to them and then pay them for transactions. This brings in a large concern: it’s possible that the exchange could just bail with everyone's deposits. Nxt has developed a peer-peer exchange into the software to allow for decentralized trading which will eliminate this trust point. It will also eliminate trading fees!
  • The same technology that will allow you to trade Nxt for almost any currency allows you to trade Nxt for almost any commodity.
  • This feature is based on the "colored coins" concept. Since the blockchain provides a trustworthy record of transactions, it can be leveraged to provide a record of trade of items other than Nxt. To do this, Nxt allows the designation or "coloring" of a particular coin, which builds a bridge from the virtual crypto-currency world to the physical world. The "colored coin" can represent property, stocks/bonds, commodites, or even concepts. As a result, the Nxt network could be used to trade almost anything.

• Marketplace
  • A protocol for decentralized, peer-to-peer stores for any kind of digital goods.

• Monetary System
  • Issue customizable currencies secured by the Nxt network.

• Transparent Forging (Partially implemented)
  • Nxt will implement a novel "transparent forging" system that will temporarily penalize accounts that do not participate in the proof-of-stake block verification process.  This will encourage holders of non-trivial amounts of Nxt to actively participate in the network, instead of merely holding a balance in order to collect transmission fees.  More information about this feature can be found in this Bitcointalk thread .

• Account Leasing
  • Account Leasing allows a user to lease its forging power to another account for a fixed period of time, without having to send coins anywhere. This allows for the creation of secure forging pools.

• Brain wallet
  • All Nxt account information is stored on the network.  Using a secret passphrase, an account can be accessed from any instance of the Nxt software. (This is not very different from Bitcoin; the difference is that there is no automated generation of your passphrase/private key and there is no wallet.dat-like file. A Bitcoin private key still can be bruteforced without access to created wallet.dat file)
  • Note: future clients may allow the offline storage of account keys in a wallet.dat-like file. Accounts are secured with a 256-bit key as soon as one outgoing transaction is made from an account.

• Alias System
  • Nxt implements an alias system that translates alphanumeric text into almost anything: Nxt account addresses, email addresses, URLs, phone numbers, SKU codes, and more. This not only gives Nxt the ability to function as a Decentralized DNS system, but adds additional possibilities for mapping short names to other entities.

• Arbitrary Messages
  • Implemented at a block height of 40,000 blocks, this feature allows Nxt users to send small amounts of data through the decentralized network. The term "message" is loose: this feature can be used to send simple text messages, but can also be used to send up to 1000 bytes of any data. As a result, it can be used to build file-sharing services, decentralized applications, and higher-level Nxt services.

• Fast transaction processing
  • Nxt does not use "scripts" (or predicates), which simplifies and accelerates transaction processing.  Advanced features (such as multisig ) will be created on top of the Nxt core as third-party services.

• Blocks are generated once per minute. There is a cap of 255 transactions per block.

Next: Learn about Nxt's planned features – or jump to our getting started page!