Well, almost everything. Joining the ranks of Ethereum and MaidSafe as hopefuls to decentralize the software part of the Internet, Nxt has at least one leg-up over either of those protocols: it’s already been launched.
To get an idea of what the Nxt team wants to offer, check out this interactive technology tree. Using the brand NxtInside, the team hopes that software developers will choose to build future product and service offerings on top of the Nxt protocol.
A seal of NxtInside is meant tell the customer “what’s under the hood”—that the digital underpinning of the app is open-source and secure. A representative said that the Nxt team isn’t necessarily seeking for their native token to be users’ money of choice, either:
“It doesn’t matter whether, in the end, Nxt is or is not used as a cryptocurrency: NxtInside only means there’s Nxt technology at work in the background.”
Software developers have already begun to take Nxt up on their offer. They specifically intend to compete with the following:
iTunes, Amazon: Soon to be released, Melodius is a music exchange platform based on the Nxt blockchain and its marketplace of digital content.
eBay, Overstock: Nxt Freemarket does with physical goods what Melodius does with music: it offers an interface so users can buy and sell more easily, meaning peer-to-peer.
Kickstarter, IndieGoGo: NxtStarter is a crowdfunding website that accepts payment in both Nxt and Bitcoin to fund projects and bounties.
Whatsapp: Nxtty is a blockchain-based text messenger. It’s available on iPhone and Android and sends and receives encrypted text messages between users.
Albion Online: Lyth is a Mass Multiplayer Online (MMO) game. Still in development, it will have an online currency directly tradable in Nxt.
And the most recent NxtInside release? A hedge fund to, well, hedge against cryptocurrency volatility. The fund, which is called CryptoCoins, invests mainly in Bitcoin and is based on the Nxt Asset Exchange, but since the fund is primarily aimed at attracting people from the non crypto world, it will be tradable directly in euros throught the CCEDK exchange platform.
So which protocol will win the race to decentralize the software of the Internet? Well—in a true decentralization—potentially all of them might.
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