By CCN: The crypto market took a breather from its bull run this week, with Bitcoin slightly departing from its recent year-to-date peak. However, NEM has been defying this mini-correction mood to gain over 55 percent since Monday, according to Coinmarketcap data.
Thus, NEM, whose coin is trading under the ticker XEM, has been the best performer of the week among the top 100 coins. On Thursday, it jumped about 50 percent in less than six hours, hitting a daily peak at $0.108, which is the highest level since November 2018.
The surge allowed it to enter the top 20 league and currently stop on the 19th position. NEM is now trading at $0.087 at a market cap of $791 million as at 11:00 AM UTC.
NEM Holders to Spend XEM via Apple Pay and Samsung Pay
On Thursday, NEM caught investors’ attention with a tweet that announced the collaboration with Zeux.
Great news on our latest collaboration with #NEM! You can now use #Zeux to pay with #XEM on your mobile. @NEMofficial @2017Lon @Inside_NEM @frankjzhou https://t.co/QeX99jcjWe#cryptocurrency #payments #fintech #paytech #startup #cashless #massadoption #blockchain
— Zeux (@ZeuxApp) May 16, 2019
The industry might be oversaturated with countless less relevant partnerships whose main purpose revolves around marketing. However, at this time, the news has some substance, as Zeux is a fintech firm that operates a digital payment wallet app that allows users to spend with merchants through Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.
The London-based company will fully integrate XEM on May 23.
NEM Foundation co-founder Jeff McDonald commented on the partnership, noting that the utilization of XEM as a payment option was a major step for the blockchain network.
However, this is not all, XEM price also benefits from the gradual launch of its version 2.0 blockchain engine, called Catapult, and the update of its website, which suggests a positive dynamic at NEM Foundation.
NEM’s Catapult Update is Catapulting XEM
NEM is making further steps towards adopting its blockchain engine update, referred to as Catapult. The new version will host several smart contract plugins and features that will eventually become an integral part of the NEM blockchain network. The new plugins touch upon bulletproof digital asset creation, advanced account systems, decentralized swaps, and business logic modeling.
What’s new in NEM version 2.0, also known as #Catapult?
Catapult is a full-featured #blockchain engine that powers both private and public networks with its unique smart contract plugins 🚀
Learn more what it can do 👉 https://t.co/NNcmwDNDG2 pic.twitter.com/nw9oRQsARo
— NEM (@NEMofficial) May 13, 2019
At the end of March, the team presented the roadmap and vision for Catapult. According to the roadmap, the public release of the update will take place after the end of the third quarter.
NEM Foundation admitted that it struggled financially at the start of 2019, but managed to reorganize and target a new path, also thanks to the developers and community. Now the teams behind NEM are heavily relying on Catapult.
The update and recent partnerships have helped NEM to forget the Coincheck hack, in which $530 worth of XEM had been stolen from the Japanese exchange platform.
Will the Rally Continue?
Right now, NEM’s bullish movement finds support in the positive sentiment in the crypto community. While it’s challenging to estimate the next stop for XEM from this position, we can assume that everything will depend on the implementation of the Catapult update and whether the market will perceive it as a relevant innovation.
On Tuesday, NEM introduced catapult feature updates on namespaces and mosaics, which are said to make the blockchain network more convenient and intuitive.
The first instalment of our #CatapultSeries is now live 🚀
Catapult feature updates on #namespaces and #mosaics have been implemented. These changes will make #NEM more convenient and user-friendly.
Learn more 👉 https://t.co/avsznlSaGH pic.twitter.com/KZ4CoHrEvA
— NEM (@NEMofficial) May 15, 2019
Earlier on Saturday, NEM presented the Catapult mobile wallet development roadmap, which reveals that the mobile wallet will be ready in about 23 weeks from now.
From account creation and harvesting to QR code and multisignature and many more, here’s the #Catapult Mobile Wallet Development Roadmap provided by https://t.co/VcUUhcCD12 👉 https://t.co/pN4LHzttpb
Mobile wallet mockup 👉 https://t.co/FsKetQCouB pic.twitter.com/YMhs3qfYKc
— NEM (@NEMofficial) May 18, 2019
To conclude, NEM price is currently tightly linked with how Catapult is adopted, with the community now trying to figure out whether NEM has the potential to become a major player again.
