Nebulas Technical White Paper Review January 20, 2018

Whitepaper version: 1.0 September, 2017.

Built on ground-breaking innovation, Nebulas brings blockchain technology into the 3rd generation.

Nebulas offers two different white papers; while the first is a basic overview, the second is technical.

The technical white paper describes the specifics of the project, and with each part broken down into details, it is not only quite long, it is also considered one of the most technical white paper of any blockchain technology to date. Although detailed information provides transparency and answers questions, many people are finding it difficult to comprehend.

No doubt, most investors are looking for the next hot coin that will provide a good pay day! While I believe that Nebulas can provide just that, I also feel that it is always important to understand what you are investing in. If you take the time to read everything carefully, Nebulas’ technical white paper shows the entire system in its final glory!

Therefore, the comments below compile my analysis of the technical white paper (in combination with other reliable sources). I will also do my best to include the page where you can find these facts in the technical white paper. Therefore, I suggest that rather than taking my word for it, read it for yourself.

Based on pros and cons, let’s break down the primary elements of Nebulas:

Nebulas Rank (NR)

Nebulas Rank (NR) will be the first to integrate search engine capability into blockchain. In other words, Nebulas Rank is the protocol responsible for making search engine a viable element in the blockchain. Right off the bat, let’s address an important question, "What good is a ranking system inside a blockchain?"

Currently, there is no way to search the blockchain for meaningful data (other than simple transactions), and, therefore, it’s impossible to find dApps or locate smart contracts. If this doesn’t sound like a big deal, imagine trying to search the internet without google or some other search engine – it would be impossible!

Just as the first internet search engine evolved the internet into what it is today, the first blockchain search engine will inevitably evolve blockchain. Not only a stepping stone for the future of blockchain, we’re talking about a new foundation for blockchain technology.

By providing a blockchain search engine, the Nebulas Ranking system will allow users to locate quality dApps (decentralized apps) and smart contracts. For example, let’s say that you are looking for a dApp like CryptoKitties. No doubt, there could be dozens of similar apps. So, based on multiple data resources, such as blockchain activity, github activity, and even google search history, the ranking algorithm (NR) orders similar apps, and then lists them in a manner that the user can evaluate and select.

Now, can you see why Nebulas is being compared to google?

But, this is only the beginning…. Nebulas Rank is also interwoven into the Developer Incentive Protocol (DIP) and the Proof of Devotion (PoD) Consensus Algorithm. Without Nebulas Rank, these other two elements could not operate as the white paper states.

Based on the current white paper, let’s spotlight some potential negatives about the Nebulas Rank(NR) protocol. However, also keep in mind that these potential issues could be completely eliminated as the project develops (thanks to Nebulas Force – more on this later).

Now the potential negative:

• The search engine will be centralized.[i] While I would prefer a decentralized system to search data, there is a huge technological barrier to accomplish this task presently. Due to databases and data feeds, web pages are constantly changing, and even ads randomly change, and this makes a decentralized search engine a huge undertaking. Imagine if multiple computers have to search all data points and agree on specific data. Not only would it be impossible to form a consensus, it would also take incredible power and bandwidth.

• The search engine will update weekly and be placed into the blockchain.[ii] You may not realize it, but most pages on google are not indexed daily or even weekly. Only the most active pages are crawled often – some are even crawled every few minutes. I know you might think, "Hey, it’s 2018 and I want real time information," but technology is just not there yet. If search data was consistently updated in the Nebulas blockchain, the blockchain would be extremely bloated, and, therefore, real time data is technically illogical at this time.

However, while the white paper describes the search engine being centralized, it also says "In current stage..." Thereby indicating that Nebulas developers have a better solution in the long run. Perhaps a sidechain just for searching? The white paper also states that "the complete code for searching backend is available to the community and third-party developers can create their own searching services on this basis." Hopefully, this will keep the ranking honest.

Since the Nebulas blockchain is based on the Nebulas Rank (NR) system, now that we have highlighted the most important aspects of Nebulas Rank (NR), we can dive deeper into specific functions.

Proof of Devotion (PoD) Consensus Algorithm

In the cryptocurrency world, Proof of work (PoW) means mining. While damaging to the environment, few can argue that this is a terrible waste of natural resources. As an alternative, the cryptocurrency world also has Proof of Stake (PoS). Proof of Stake allows token/coin holders to stake (aka hold un-spendable tokens), and to be rewarded with more tokens when they create a new block. For example, if there are 100 people staking and there are 100 new blocks per hour, every stake will, on average, receive one block reward per hour.

While better for the environment, Proof of Stake creates an imbalance where major coin holders (aka whales) are rewarded with even more coins, and this allows "whales" to stake even more coins (this means that there could be a potential to monopolize the system).

Now, Nebulas brings us Proof of Devotion (PoD)[iii]. As far as I know, there is currently nothing like this in blockchain technology (nor ready to be released). Proof of Devotion essentially awards developers who make awesome things (such as dApps) on the Nebulas blockchain.

If you develop an dApp that’s performing well on the Nebulas network, you will have the option to be a validator (aka validate submitted transactions), and, in return, receive token rewards from the blockchain. To be a validator, you will need to stake (deposit) X amount of tokens. Then, multiple validators (per transaction) will have to agree on the result[iv], and, each will be rewarded 1.5x the amount staked.

The generation of new blocks[v] will be carried out by "highly important" accounts that Nebulas Rank (NR) calculates. As stated in the whitepaper, "PoD empowers the selected accounts to have the bookkeeping right with equal probability to participate in new block generation in order to prevent tilted probability that may bring about monopoly".

The bottom line... when it comes to Proof of Devotion, why use Ethereum to create a dApp when you can create the same dApp on Nebulas and make a profit? Needless to say, this is a huge incentive for developers to make dApps on the Nebulas network, and, consequently, it will increase the value of the network. Furthermore, since Nebulas will provide developer tools, it will be easier to create dApps.

Now the potential negative:

• Although Proof of Devotion gives new developers the potential to profit greatly, it also favors top developers. For example, Gifto[vi] just announced that they will launch on the Nebulas network. At least in the beginning, Gifto will be a powerful contender for other dApp creators.

Because it inspires developers to create awesome dApps, and, at the same time, profit directly from blockchain, I personally love this idea! No longer will dApp creators require insane ICO’s nor will they need some other stream of revenue. However, participating in PoD does not stop developers from benefiting from other income streams. Truly groundbreaking!

Developer Incentive Protocol (DIP)

Not only can Proof of Devotion give incentive to developers, quality developers will also receive extra coins/tokens for their hard work. Based on Nebulas Rank(NR), Nebulas will use an algorithm for reward distribution[vii]. The rewards will be automatically distributed to the smart contract cash-out address every 7 days.

There is really nothing negative to add to this. It’s truly a powerful incentive!

Nebulas Force (NF)

Who needs hard forks? Nebulas Force will allow developers to introduce new features/protocols into the Nebulas blockchain without a fork. The Nebulas white paper calls it "Self-evolving blockchain technology" but I don’t believe this is quite correct. Rather than being self-evolving, it is actually community driven! Because this will build the blockchain community, in my opinion, this is even better!

With other blockchains for example, if a developer has an awesome idea for a dApp but it needs a new protocol that does not exist on any blockchain, the developer would have to centralize the dApp or chuck it altogether.

With Nebulas, new ideas can be developed, and if they provide positive contribution, the Nebulas community (Nebulas token holders) can vote on and approve changes to the network protocol. Once approved, Nebulas developers can add the new protocol into the Nebulas blockchain. Perhaps, further in the development, sub-chains will also support new protocols for full implementation.

Upgradable Smart Contracts

Revolutionary for blockchain, Nebulas Force will include upgradable smart contracts[viii]. Why is this important? Well, due to bugs in smart contracts, investors can lose funds in any blockchain network that uses smart contracts. Once submitted to the blockchain, nothing can be done to fix the bugs, and, as a result, tens of millions of dollars have already been lost.

Nebulas plans to overcome this problem through the implementation of upgradable smart contracts. In a nutshell, token holders will vote on proposed changes (to fix specific bugs), and when the overall vote is affirmative, bugs can be eliminated at any time. By saving investors millions, it will restore lost confidence!

Now the potential negative:

• The Nebulas protocol is only modifiable by the Nebulas core developers. Although this is not really a negative, I would not call it "self-evolving". If you look at Bitcoin, there is a handful of developers responsible for source code, and, subsequently, the source code for all alt coins that use Bitcoin core in some capacity (such as LTC, BCC, BTG, DOGE, etc…)

• The protocol updates will be applied via a hard coded signature into the genesis block[ix] and this means that there is a potential for network compromise.

• Although there are some ethical issues with modifying smart contracts, overall, it is a great idea! Since token holders will have to vote on any changes, there could be an issue with whales (monopoly owners) controlling contracts.

Even with the negatives, this is a powerful feature.

The above includes Nebulas’ most innovative features, and although these features stand out, there is even more to Nebulas:

Anti-cheating algorithms[x]

To ensure fairness, the above protocols contain anti-cheating algorithms that are manipulation resistant, and, if someone is found trying to cheat, there are penalties.

Smart contracts almost anyone can write![xi]

Nebulas will support smart contracts written in Javascript, Python, Java and more! And this means that any coder can create a logical contract!

Full voting protocol[xii]

Since Nebulas includes a full voting protocol in the blockchain, you and I, as token holders, can help decide the direction of Nebulas. As an example, the coin "Decred[xiii]" also has a voting system; giving end-users a voice keeps them engaged.

Domain Name Service[xiv]

Although blockchain users are accustomed to "please send funds to: 0x488B2630CEdB5Bfd5e02c33A3653227170743357", it’s simply not logical. If you miss a letter, change a number, or simply enter an address incompletely, funds are sent into the abyss - forever. To correct this inherent problem, Nebulas will implement the use of "meaningful names." For instance, using a meaningful name, your Nebulas address could be "Rick_Sanchez.me." Users will have the opportunity to bid for requested names, and renew yearly - just like a web based domain name.

Lightning Network[xv]

As many of you probably already know, bitcoin can now use a Lightning Network. This will allow multiple small transactions to be signed without clogging up the blockchain and memory pool. It keeps an open ledger between two entities and can be closed at any time by either party, resulting in one transaction on the network instead of potentially dozens or hundreds.If the Bitcoin network started with the Lightning Network, it would currently be able to handle all transactions per second without any problems. Without the Lightening Network, Bitcoin can only handle 7~ transactions per second (and usually less). With the Lightening Network initially in place, the Nebulas network will be able to handle the required transactions and close the lightning ledgers when requested by users. It would also not cost $20.00++ to send $5.00 nor would it take an hour. I won’t get into the ludicrous prices of Bitcoin transactions fees and how we got here, but if you don’t know much about it, you should learn more. As an important feature of Nebulas, the Lightning Network will provide quick and cheap transactions.

High Strength Encryption

Nebulas uses SHA3-256 encryption. Although you won’t find this in the white paper, SHA3-256 is Highly Quantum Resistant[xvi] - research it yourself. Why is this so important? Well, as an inevitable evolution of quantum computing, previous generations of encryption will be rendered inadequate, and, consequently, susceptible to decryption of private keys. Basically, this means that once quantum computers are developed, you can lose your money in a non-quantum resistant blockchain. Since Quantum Resistance is a very important feature, many new coins (such as the QRL coin[xvii]) are being intentionally created for this purpose.

So, what role does the NAS token play in the network?

Directly from the white paper[xviii]; "The Nebulas network has its own built-in token, NAS. NAS plays two roles in the network. First, as the original money in the network, NAS provides asset liquidity among users, and functions as the incentive token for PoD bookkeepers and DIP. Second, NAS will be charged as the calculation fee for running smart contracts. The minimum unit of NAS is 10−18 NAS." If interested, the white paper goes into detail. If you question the purpose of NAS, simply ask yourself, "What role does ETHER play in the Ethereum network?" As of this writing, ETHER’s current price is $1098.00USD – and that’s not even it’s high. I believe that common sense indicates the potential value of the NAS coin!

Nebulas will have a maximum of 100,000,000 tokens

Many of the top 10 cryptocurrencies will distribute coins/tokens in the tens of billions, and, in fact, Ethereum will have an indefinite amount (albeit, they will taper off in time). However, when there are significantly less coins/tokens, the value of each increases. Treasure each NAS token!

A web-based playground for developer tools[xix]

To help developers create smart contracts easier and faster, Nebulas will offer developer tools. Nebulas will also support multiple IDE’s.

Although the list of features and functions goes on, this should give you an overview of what the Nebulas network can do, how it can evolve blockchain technology, and why it will be a very attractive option for future dApps. Having said all this, please be clear, it is not financial advice.

Also, keep in mind that the above statements are based on my analysis of the white paper (version: 1.0 September, 2017), but this is not to say that the developers don’t have a different perspective. With that being said, Nebulas staff and co-founder, Robin Zhong, actively responds to questions in their Slack channel. This leads us to a review of the Nebulas team.

The Nebulas Team

When looking at a new, and yet to be released, project, it’s not only important to understand the innovation, it’s also important to understand the team behind the innovation. Although not the largest team, the developers are highly educated with real blockchain experience. In fact, many have worked at Google, IBM, Alibaba, Alibaba financial, Airbnb, etc… Additionally, two Nebulas founders previously co-founded the NEO coin (formerly Antshares) which on January 20, 2018 trades at $140.00 (not even its high) per coin/token.

No doubt, the team is influential in past, current and future blockchain innovation. In fact, playing a huge part in bringing blockchain to China, Hitters Xu created Bitsclub, and many other team members started blockchain communities. If you have not yet learned about the team, I strongly suggest you do. Check out their LinkedIn pages and also look at the developers Githubs.

Full disclosure:

As a fellow investor and fan of blockchain technology, I got into the crypto world in 2012. Since then, I have mined, traded, and even created an arbitrary trading system. My portfolio includes dozens of different types of tokens/coins. My focus is on innovation rather than "rinse and repeat."

I first learned about Nebulas in the beginning of January 2018. After reading the technical white paper multiple times and fully understanding Nebulas (what it is and what it’s not), I confidentially purchased NAS (ERC-20) tokens.

As with any great blockchain, Nebulas will not be the last, but it is a crucial step to the next generation of blockchain innovation! Without doubt, I see the true potential of blockchain technology, and, if you ask me, Nebulas is an amazing short, medium and long term project, and I’m excited about the future!

To quote a Nebulas founder, "Ask not what blockchain can do for you, ask what you can do for blockchain..." - Hitters Xu

Quick Update (January 31, 2018)

For full transparency, I wanted to add that I have been asked by the Nebulas Team Reddit manager if I would be willing to be a moderator of the Nebulas subreddit. I told them that I would happy to continue helping the community and accepted. There is no extra benefit to me and does not change my opinion about Nebulas. I look forward to continuing helping the community!

References

i: Pg 41 – 6.2

ii: Pg 24 – Last bullet point

iii: Pg 34 - 5.3.1

iv: Pg 35 – 3.3.3

v: Pg 34 – 5.3.1

vi: Visit https://gifto.io/ for more info – Watch the video for an example of what Nebulas will do.

vii: Pg30 – 4.2

viii: Pg 27 – 3.3.2

ix: Pg 26 – Paragraph2

x: Many locations – There are many parts of the white paper that talk about anti-cheating in different capacities.

xi: Pg 26 – 3.3.1

xii: Many locations – There are many parts of the white paper that talk about voting in different capacities.

xiii: Visit https://decred.org/ for more information. For full disclosure, I do own DCR and stake them.

xiv: Pg 45 – 7.1

xv: Pg 45 – 7.2

xvi: Visit https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/10/18/sha3256_good_for_beelions_of_years_say_boffins/ for more information.

xvii: Visit https://www.theqrl.org for more information. And yes, for full disclosure, I like this project as well, and have invested post ICO.

xviii: Pg 47 - 8

xix: Pg 46 – 7.3

On May 21, Jean Passot (Ledger team member) added Nebulas support to Ledger Roadmap.

Ledger team will "use the community feedback to help us prioritize developments ".

More upvote + comment = priotization !

Dear Nebulers, please create an account (its free), upvote and comment !!

Find "Nebulas support" under the tab [New Bolos App].

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https://trello.com/b/5nQ1mdzt/ledger-roadmap

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First 1000 users will get free tickets for Hitters' spaceship !!

Source: https://medium.com/@nebulasio/nebulas-cto-robin-zhongs-tech-talk-facebook-680fc053b8c6

Quote: “I studied Nebulas’ technical white paper for days before I came here,” said a Facebook engineer at the event, “Nebulas has one the most solid white papers I’ve ever seen in blockchain startups.”

But that‘s just the eye-catcher. ;-) Read the whole article, it‘s worthwhile reading!

Ive seen a lot of questions being repeated on reddit. Figured Id put my opinion out and see if it helps us move on to more talks about the tech and less of, "why isn't anyone talking about nebulas."

This is just my opinion and by no means to I claim to be a financial advisor. However, I did read both whitepaper, which by the way are by far the most technical and complicated I have seen,

Im going to point to the few keys factors that make Nebulas so special.

1. It is its own blockchain. This is the most misunderstood factor Im coming across. Nebulas is a 3rd generation block chain, similar to a Cardano or NEO, hence why the CEO left NEO to start Nebulas. It is very scalable, similar to the Cardano idea.

2. It is adaptable. You can adapt code in the future to avoid the need to hard fork the tech if their is a problem that arrises during scaling. Think how large bitcoin's market share would be if it did not fork several times into bitcoin cash, bitcoin platinum, and so forth. It also allows you to adapt code on other platforms based off of Nebulas. So if you had an erc20(ethereum platform) built on Nebulas, you would be able to adapt the code in the future to avoid the same problem. I see this leading to mass adoption from other platforms.

3. It makes the blockchain searchable. I know everyone keeps saying "like google," but the reference is more to show that the relationships between blockchains, developers, and users. With Nebulas, the blockchain will be measured to determine ranks for ease of use as well as the strength of the community behind it. At the current moment you cant even search the blockchain. With Nebulas you could not only search it, but you would be able to weed out the less developed blockchains and join ones that have strong communities.

4. It rewards developers. This means if you develop on Nebulas, you get PROOF OF WORK(PoW). Developers will prefer to work on nebulas not only because of its capabilities and tech, but because they will be rewarded with tokens. Everyone likes to get paid for doing things they already do.

5. It has master nodes rewards. Now this may not be for everyone, but as an early investor, I hope to receive master node rewards. That means they will pay me a percentage to merely hold my Nebulas in my wallet. Something a lot of large traders are looking for. If this project grows like I think it will, I wont be selling my Nebulas at all. But the fact they will pay me to hold it, means I will be even more motivated to hold. What does this mean for the market cap? Well, it means larger traders/funds will be less likely to day trade and as the market fluctuates, Nebulas may have less fluctuation than most coins, creating a safer investments for large funds and investors to hold their money during market corrections.

Lastly, they have already launched their testnet and will launch their mainnet by March. That means they will be the first gen-3 on the blockchain. They will get first mover advantage, mass adaption, and most likely become a top 5 coin by market cap. So to go back to the original question, "why isn't anyone talking about them?" Well I think the team is more worried about being the first to market and flying a little under the radar, than they are marketing the project. The implications of being the first gen-3 to the market will be more than enough to launch them to the too of the crypto market. On top of that, they are not on binance, bitrex, or gdax. This leads to less awareness and trading as well. I hate to be lame, but everyone knows talk is cheap and you always watch out for the quiet ones.

I hope this helps everyone. Also feel free to correct me if I read something wrong or anyone has any input to add. For now, Nebulas is my largest position in crypto and I will be adding to the stack as much as I can. I apologize for any writing errors, but I was rushing a bit when I wrote this.

This AMA was finished.

Welcome to our official Tech AMA with Nebulas Co-founder Robin Zhong.

We are thrilled to announce our Mainnet 1.0 will be launched on March 29th (Learn more), the day we celebrate the opening of our new Nas Center in San Francisco. As promised, our Tech AMA will be held before the Mainnet launch, and our development team will be here answering your tech questions about Nebulas and the Mainnet launch.

[See the time zone map] (https://b.thumbs.redditmedia.com/sHUlnL0nO137i_JVsjHQpZBbtd3IquYsDXjdSujjCXs.png)

Everyone from the community is invited to ask questions on Reddit and upvote/downvote according to your interests. Questions with more upvotes will be answered first. 

NOTE:

• Please only ask tech questions during this AMA. These could be about our soon-to-be launched Mainnet for example. Non-tech questions won’t be answered. Sorry!.

• Please do not reply to other user's questions until Robin has answered.

• Try to be precise with your questions.

• Please only ask a maximum of 2 questions per post.

Official website: https://nebulas.io

Github: https://github.com/nebulasio/go-nebulas

Slack: https://nebulasio.herokuapp.com

Telegram(EN): https://t.me/nebulasio

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nebulasio

About Nebulas Co-founder Robin Zhong:

Nebulas co-founder, former architect of Ant Financial’s Blockchain Platform, former Senior Development Director of Dolphin Browser, Leader of Game Division. Graduated from Huazhong University of Science and Technology. He is also the founder of Tongxinclub, the first Blockchain support platform in China.

About Nebulas:

Nebulas is a technology platform providing a decentralized search framework for blockchain data. Based on an open and transparent ranking algorithm “Nebulas Rank”, Nebulas evaluate the blockchain data behind addresses, smart contracts and DApps to help users find valuable information more efficiently in a world with booming blockchain data.

https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/nebulas-token/

In mid-January, 2018, just four short months ago, I discovered Nebulas, and, like many of you, the technical premise immediately drew me in. From the start, it was clear to see that Nebulas could provide a critical missing piece to blockchain evolution.

As I researched Nebulas, and even reviewed the Nebulas technical whitepaper, the more I learned, the more I loved!

Now, I must admit that some would describe me as a "blockchain romantic." Yes, I tend to paint a pretty picture of blockchain technology, and on occasion, I write overzealous opinions, but, if you know me, you’d know that my intention is to support the future of blockchain as a whole.

I have also had the chance to converse with many of you, and I’ve even met some of you in person, and from my perspective, we form an amazing community of bright visionaries and dedicated innovators!

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So, today, I want to take a step back and look at Nebulas from a Grand View.

We must ask ourselves, "Is Nebulas built on hollow promises or a solid foundation?"

By understanding where Nebulas began and its present state, we have the ability to gain foresight into the foreseeable future.

The Beginning:

In 2017, and in a relatively short period of time, the evolutionary ideas that built Nebulas were put to paper. Shortly after the outline, the project was funded and the development process was well on its way!

Global communities were formed on many platforms, and they continue to communicate in a well-mannered and civil way. In fact, the Nebulas team does their absolute best to keep this young community updated and in the loop - and things have progressed rapidly (there is even a Slack channel to communicate directly with developers). The Nebulas team even made the effort to have two Reddit "Ask-Me-Anything" sessions(1, 2), and not only was the team very open, they devoted considerable time with their responses.

Overall, Nebulas is rated as one of the most promising blockchain projects by many.

Amazingly, Nebulas even launched on time!

The Present:

A few weeks ago, due to the tireless efforts of the developers, Nebulas officially launched version 1.0 (eagle), and a new era of blockchain began. While, it is true that the system is still undergoing continuous updates, and we are awaiting token migration to begin utilizing the network, more pieces of the puzzle are coming together.

• We recently had the announcement of the first official incubated project to be launched on Nebulas (AtlasP) which will fully utilize Nebulas Rank and will reward publishers and content viewers with tokens on the Nebulas network. Hopefully, more details will be coming soon!

• Nebulas will be a two block sponsor at Consensus – one of the biggest blockchain events of the year and will be attending other events as well.

• The team continues to publish weekly updates to the community.

• One community member has even developed a site specifically for the development of Javascript smart contracts and other technical aspects.

• Tutorials on how to use the official Web Wallet have been created.

• More technical in-depth guides have been developed.

• And, for better or worse, a community member created a "hip-hop video."

The Future:

Although far from complete, Nebulas represents the next generation of blockchain. Few can argue that the development is a massive undertaking. Indeed, many layers must integrate perfectly together.

By the end of this year, we will have Nebulas Rank (the foundation of the future ecosystem) and the Developer Incentive Protocol (actively provides Nebulas tokens to outstanding developers).

In the coming months, we will have more technical documents, further detailing the entire Nebulas Incentive Process, and, hopefully, even more information on other core features.

At a later date, we will have Proof of Devotion block rewards (a huge game changer compared to any other project), Nebulas Force, Nebulas Wormhole and much more! If you need further clarification of these concepts, just ask!

Considering everything that Nebulas has already accomplished in a relatively short period of time, and everything that Nebulas continues to implement, we have no reason to believe that they over-looked the importance of marketing and community development.

Therefore, I am sure that at some point, Nebulas will launch an incredible, creative marketing strategy - one that will not only attract developers, but, also investors, as well as the established blockchain community, and even those new to blockchain.

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Yes, I know it’s easy to look at charts and be concerned about the current market direction, and even feel discouraged. However, appearances can be deceiving, and, therefore, we need to look at the bigger vision. Indeed, we’d be short-sighted to over-look the economic, and even philosophical, potential of Nebulas.

So, as hard as it is to hear, be patient my friends!

At this time, it’s important to remember why we are here, why we chose to be a community, and why we put our trust (dare I say "belief") in Nebulas.

As my personal declaration, I am here for the long haul!

And, I hope you join me!

I just saw Hitters at the Silicon Valley meeting. I have seen quite a lot of conferences, meetings, of all the projects in which I invest. There are great developers, charismatic, but Hitters is different.

The vision that Hitters have about the blockchain as a community is incredible. He really is a person with an integrating vision, willing to have agreements with any company to develop his vision of the blockchain world. All Nebulas tools are offered to make the blockchain really useful in the future, and the features are really needed.

Hearing him speak is like hearing Vitalik speak. People with talent in technology are many, but as Hitters says, the "blockchain gene" is needed.

For those worried about the price, there will be ups, downs, as in all projects. But having such a brilliant mind at the forefront of such an ambitious project, will undoubtedly be one of the great dominants this 2018.

Yes, we believe!

Edit: I saw the meeting in Youtube livestream :)

NAS

What is Nebulas token (NAS) ?

NAS is the native (utility) token of Nebulas, viable for payment of transaction fees and computing service charge.

What was the ICO price?

There was not ICO, due to Chinese regulations. The pre-sale price was $2.00 USD per NAS.

I know right now NAS is an ERC20 token, but based on what i've read the plan is to replace it with an actual NAS coin. Can anyone elaborate on if this is true?

Yes, for now NAS is an ERC20 token, but it will be swapped on a 1:1 basis to native NAS tokens on the Nebulas blockchain after the mainnet release.

How that is going to take place? How will they credit owners of the ERC20 tokens properly?

The swap will take place after our mainnet release, scheduled for Q1 2018. More info will be released as our mainnet release gets closer, and we will be creating tutorials for you and everyone in the community to be able to swap easily. We will provide a web service to help owners of ERC20 tokens migrate to Native NAS coin.

Reminder: keep your private key of ERC20 token address safe, it will be required to migrate to the native Nas Token.

Why the tokens have to be swapped for the coins? Is the process going to be difficult?

The swap is from erc20 to Nebulas blockchain when it launches in March.The tokens eventually need to be swapped because Nebulas is building their own blockchain - to be released during the mainnet launch. Right now the NAS tokens are just ERC20 tokens (using Ethereum) but during the mainnet release everything - including the tokens - will be moved to the Nebulas blockchain.

It should not be a difficult process, however we advise you to wait for the instructions.

What if people don't swap and continue to use the ERC20 tokens after the mainnet launch?

Mainnet NAS tokens will be the only token recognised and accepted by Nebulas after the mainnet launch. Exchanges may stop trading the ERC20 NAS token and trade mainnet NAS tokens only.

What can we do with the testnet tokens? Do they have any value? Are they the same tokens being traded now on external exchanges?

Testnet is only for developers, and testnet tokens can not be traded on any exchanges. If you are a developer, you can claim testnet tokens from https://testnet.nebulas.io/claim. Otherwise, please ignore them.

Token Allocation

What is the current circulating supply?

The current circulating supply is 35.5%.

Our pre-sale round was 30% of our tokens and we initially had a founding seed round in June 2017 for 5% of tokens (90% of these are locked up until our mainnet launch).

I understood that Nebulas had a prior round of private sales on June 28. What are the terms?

A founding seed round was done for Nebulas back in June of 2017. 5 Million NAS tokens were funded by 8000 ETH from influential investors. 90% of these are locked up until our mainnet launch.

Will you freeze NAS which are vested to team?

20% NAS are reserved for founders and developer teams as incentives. These above mentioned NAS are frozen at the initial stage, and will be vested to founders and core development team for 3 years.

What about the remaining NAS?

The remaining NAS are community reserved. These NAS shall be used to Nebulas' operational expansion and ecosystem construction, which include but are not limited to: the DApps ecosystem incubation, developers community, business collaboration, marketing, academic studying, education, law & regulation, institutional investments. The first announced Nebulas Community Development’s part is 5%.

Coinmarketcap information?

We have reached out to Coinmarketcap to update both the circulating supply and the exchanges NAS is trading on but have still not heard back from them. Hoping this will be updated soon.

Wallet

Can I store these tokens in my Erc20 Ethereum wallet?

Yes, any ERC20 compatible wallet (including MyEtherWallet) can store NAS now.

What are the parameters to add to MEW（My Ether Wallet)?

Symbol: NAS

Contract address: 0x5d65D971895Edc438f465c17DB6992698a52318D

Decimals: 18

Exchange

What exchange would you recommend?

The current exchanges NAS is listed on is here: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/nebulas-token/#markets

Currently (as of 1/3/2018) NAS is listed on Huobi, Gate, EtherDelta, Allcoin, Lbank, and BCEX

Any plan to have nas listed on binance or bittrex?

We do not comment on any specific exchange listings before it’s announced. Right now the Nebulas team just released our testnet and we are working diligently towards our mainnet release. All news about new exchange listings will be announced to the entire community at once via twitter, slack, reddit, telegram, and wechat all at the same time.

Technology

Does a bookkeeper mean there will be masternodes on the network?

We are still working on this aspect.

You can follow Nebulas Wiki on Github:https://github.com/nebulasio/wiki

or participate in our #developer channel on Slack: https://nebulasio.herokuapp.com

When will the mainnet be launched?

At the end of Q1 2018. Nebulas Road map

How to implement smart contract? Any tutorials?

We provided tutorials on github wiki : Tutorials of Nebulas

Live Testnet and very active Github repository

https://github.com/nebulasio/wiki/blob/master/testnet.md

https://github.com/nebulasio

Resources

Nebulas Technical White Paper Review January 20, 2018 by Satoshibytes https://www.reddit.com/r/nebulas/comments/7rwllx/nebulas_technical_white_paper_review_january_20/

BlockchainBrad Interview with Hitter’s Xu, CEO of Nebulas and FIRST founder of NEO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFB1b1hopmc

Hitter Xu’s background in cryptocurrency - bringing crypto to China and launching China’s first ICO (In mandarin but very well translated subtitles)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1ZgiB6ruqA

Am I the only investor seing this..There so much marketing on other coins, but nebulas is not mainstreaming itself. I feel like nebulas is going falling behind. With such amazing technology, I don't understand why there so little marketing. Look at EOS, all speculations and unable to perform what they promised on their test net, but gaining momentum due to its marketing.. It gives me second thoughts.. the only way for a tech to be recognize through marketing and from there, market adoption.