Technical Analysis by Kong Trading - 12/10/2019

What we see right now is a round bottom formation. Breaking below the horizontal support and then slowly rising until an impulse breakout. These rounded bottom formations tend to re-test the breakout-line before a trend-continuation. Currently, it seems like the retrace for the re-test has started already.

To read the full Technical Analysis from Kong Trading click here.

Proof of Stake

NIX platform employs a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism to secure the network and validate the blockchain. While the NIX network initially used a Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm, blockchain made the full transition to Proof-of-Stake at block 53.000. 

Leased Proof of Stake

NIX has also introduced the leased proof-of-stake (LPoS) mechanism to allow users to stake their coins via a separate wallet (third party) while keeping their coins safe – for example, in cold storage. This is a trustless service enabled by leasing smart contracts. Third parties that provide staking services can receive a stake fee reward according to the leasing smart contract signed by the owner. This is a secure method for both parties because you don't have to share your spendable balance or private keys with the staker. Only you have the authority to spend or transfer the coins. To achieve this goal, NIX implemented a non-custodial setup via smart contracts directly from user's wallet, which establishes the following: · Restriction for third parties to spend owner's coins · Ability to include a staking fee that lets third parties receive it from staking rewards Reward address requirement that allows for cold storage.

Multi-Layer Privacy

NIX is structured as a multi-layered platform that utilizes an interoperable platform model to allow for privacy-enabled decentralized applications.

NIX’s architecture is built over four essential layers:

· The Protocol Layer: the consensus mechanisms and privacy protocol (NIX Ghost Protocol)

· The Utilization Layer: tools and features (Ghost Vault and 2-way Ghosting)

· The Communication Layer: interoperability between chains (Sidechains)

· The dApp Layer: dApp development and use cases (Flare Wallet)

To deliver these privacy features, NIX created its own privacy library named the NIX Ghost Protocol, which uses zero-knowledge proof methodology under the hood. Combined with Tor network routing, transactions are obfuscated at the networking level as well.

Sigma

Sigma is the updated version of the Zerocoin protocol, which with the help of zero-knowledge proofs, can erase a coin’s transaction history. Sigma update brings significant improvements to scaling transactions, as well as removing the trusted set-up previously needed with Zerocoin.

Proof sizes are significantly reduced from 25 kB in Zerocoin to 1.5 kB in Sigma, which is a 17-fold reduction, making it significantly cheaper to store on a blockchain.

NIX Ghost Protocol

The Ghost Protocol incorporates a combination of various tested technologies to offer a superior layer of privacy. Zero-knowledge proofs are used to conceal transaction data.

The NIX Ghost Protocol was initially built with the Zerocoin protocol, which was recently replaced by its subsequent update – the Sigma protocol.

According to the team, NIX is the first proof-of-stake platform to deploy the Sigma protocol.

Further, it leverages privacy-preserving technologies like the Pedersen commitments, along with private routing via Dandelion++ and Tor, to provide complete obfuscation of transactional data.

Commitment Key Packs

Commitment Key Pack is a method to combine several Pedersen Commitments to act as one-time-key formats for Sigma deposits. By default, Zerocoin and Sigma work with a fixed denomination payment model (usually 10, 100, 1.000, and 10.000 denominations), and due to this, each individual Pedersen Commitment Key can only accept one deposit. The purpose of a Commitment Key Pack is to allow an essential format to group commit schemes to enable peers to conduct multiple Sigma transactions at once.

By using Commitment Key Packs and Sigma for every transaction, there is no need for any networking privacy since transactions cannot be linked to any public UTXO sets. In theory, if a user completes transactions solely using Commitment Key Packs, there is no way of compromising their transaction history.

Dandelion++

A large improvement over the original Dandelion Protocol, Dandelion++ is an industry-standard for transaction broadcast privacy and makes it impossible to know which node on the network originally broadcast any particular transaction.

Tor Anonymity Network

Tor is software that enables the ability to conceal user location. When using Tor, a user’s networking is routed through thousands of different network relays to scramble initial internet traffic resulting in a secure system for networking. The use of TOR is optional.

NIX started as a currency that preserves its users’ privacy and generally appeals to the masses since privacy has become one of the main concerns for today’s society. By extending its functionality, NIX aims to appeal to developers, businesses, and other blockchains. The NIX platform would enable application development with built-in privacy from the start, as well as extend their privacy to other networks. Any other cryptocurrency can add a privacy layer by connecting to the NIX platform.

Ghostnodes

Ghostnodes represent the masternode layer on the NIX platform that helps secure the network and process all transactions utilizing the Ghost Protocol. In return, Ghostnodes are rewarded with a portion of block rewards from each mined block along with fees generated by privacy transactions.

NIX Ghost Vault

NIX Ghost Vault is the first privacy feature created on top of the Ghost Protocol that makes user’s coins untraceable.

Ghost Vault privacy storage is only available for NIX, fundamentally representing a location/destination where users can send their coins to store them privately on the chain. The Vault was activated at block 53.000, along with the transition to the Proof-of-Stake model.

1-Way Ghosting

The procedure of 1-Way Ghosting involves either destroying public coins or re-minting new ones with no attached on-chain transaction history. When sending public funds into your own or another user’s Ghost Vault, the number of coins in the transaction are destroyed and allowed to be re-created again later. At this point, an outside observer has no idea which wallet owns these funds.

Coins deposited into the Ghost Vault cannot be used for staking or as collateral for being a Ghost Node.

Sending coins from the Ghost Vault to a public address mints new public coins with no transaction history. This transaction fully anonymizes the sending address.

2-Way Ghosting

Through the 1-Way Ghosting process of NIX, either the sender or receiver remains private. To allow full sender/receiver privacy in a single transaction, NIX introduced 2-Way Ghosting. Though complex, this process can be visualized as funds moving directly between Ghost Vaults.

Off-Chain Governance

NIX platform aims to transition to an off-chain governance method. Creating an off-chain governance model enables users who secure the network to influence the development of NIX directly. The NIX governance proposal module is live, and anyone can submit a proposal, which costs 50 NIX that goes into the development fund.

The voting process for different proposals takes into account each address as its own identity. Number of successful coinstakes (block rewards/staking or running a Ghostnode) that an address receives corresponds to the voting weight it has in the next proposal. The NIX development fund is going to be on a publicly viewable address that will be used to fund upcoming proposals.

Sidechains

As a privacy-centered platform, NIX aims to extend its technology to other chains as well. This is done at the communication layer via sidechains.

The integration of a sidechain ecosystem in NIX allows developers and businesses to create or connect their own chains to the NIX network. The purpose of sidechains is to create a general framework that will enable network customization without requiring a fundamental change of the NIX protocol.

Networks or chains that connect to NIX would be able to allow their users to anonymize their transactions by using the NIX currency and its Ghost Protocol.

Flare Wallet

Subsequently, a natural fit for NIX’s architecture is a dApp serving as the bridge between decentralized exchange platforms. Flare will enable untraceable DEX trading via atomic swaps while connecting decentralized exchanges to allow for greater trading liquidity.

To create a private atomic swap, the trading process introduces an automated intermediary swap, which is processed through the Ghost Protocol in order to break cross-chain address history linkage.

NIX is the network's native currency. The currency is mainly used as a privacy-enhanced medium of exchange and powers the NIX platform. To obfuscate cryptocurrencies, whose networks are connected to the NIX platform, have to use the NIX coin.

Becoming a Ghostnode also requires the NIX currency, as operators need to lock up 40.000 NIX. NIX Platform employs a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism to secure and validate the network. NIX has also introduced the leased proof-of-stake (LPoS) mechanism to allow users to stake their coins via a separate wallet (third party) while keeping their coins safe – for example, in cold storage. This is a trustless service enabled by leasing smart contracts.

Third parties that provide staking services can receive a stake fee reward according to the leasing smart contract signed by the owner. This is a secure method for both parties because you don't have to share your spendable balance or private keys with the staker. Only you have the authority to spend or transfer the coins. To achieve this goal, NIX implemented a non-custodial setup via smart contracts directly from user's wallet, which establishes the following:

• Restriction for third parties to spend the owner's coins
• Ability to include a staking fee that lets third parties receive it from staking rewards
• Reward address requirement that allows for cold storage

Social Presence

Last Update 12/10/2019

With over 28K followers, NIX's Twitter presence is above average when you look at their market cap. Their official communication channel seems to be their Discord. They have 4.4K members over Discord. On Telegram, they have 2.7K members and admins are very responsive. Their 2.2K Reddit followers are not that active. Their original BitcoinTalk post has 19 pages of discussion.

Other Key Information

Blog: https://medium.com/@nixplatform 

Governance: https://governance.nixplatform.io/#/ Active-Accepted-Rejected Proposals

Wiki: https://wiki.nixplatform.io/home/

Whitepaper: https://nixplatform.io/docs/NIX-Platform-Whitepaper.pdf

Other Documentation: https://nixplatform.io/about/documentation/

Explorer: https://chainz.cryptoid.info/nix/, https://blockchain.nixplatform.io/

Data: https://data.nixplatform.io/ Information about nodes, staking, network difficulty & vault 

Marketplace: https://nixplatform.io/marketplace 

Resources and Important to Read Articles

https://nixplatform.io/docs/NIX-Platform-Whitepaper.pdf

https://nixplatform.io/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Commitment_Key_Packs_v1-0-1.pdf

https://nixplatform.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/NixGovernance.pdf

https://medium.com/@nixplatform/proof-of-stake-inflation-schedule-d9c6b5a1e119

https://medium.com/@nixplatform/nix-the-first-pos-privacy-coin-to-adopt-sigma-fd0f47f72a20

https://medium.com/@nixplatform/nix-platforms-privacy-solutions-50be7e54f209

https://www.cryptofreaknetwork.com/ux-review-nix

https://nixplatform.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/NixGovernance.pdf?source=post_page---------------------------