NEM Group this week announced its final testnet update on Symbol, its next-generation enterprise-grade blockchain solution, launching in early 2021. This update brings the final phase of soak and performance testing on Symbol, freezing code in its current iteration and marking the final step in preparing the platform for its mainnet launch.
“This milestone represents the culmination of years of heads down building, testing and collaborating to deliver Symbol by the core developers, NEM community and various supporting entities,” NEM Group CIO Dave Hodgson said. “Created for enterprise use, Symbol is purpose built to be flexible to a suite of use cases, spanning regulated markets, supply chain, fintech, healthcare, government, and more.
“Symbol is feature complete from day one and has a packed roadmap beyond that, which will be communicated shortly. It puts security and interoperability at the forefront — reducing the complexities in existing processes and allowing enterprises to focus on delivering value.”
Following testing and optimization from the NEM Software team, the Symbol technology is nearing readiness for public use. The code is now frozen, and the technology will become version 1.0 upon mainnet launch on Jan. 14, opening up to public chain use by token holders, businesses and other partners around the world for a wide range of use cases.
The Symbol platform is positioned to redefine enterprise blockchains by introducing a host of new functionalities and by being easier to integrate with existing business infrastructures. Symbol is the next-generation enterprise-grade blockchain solution from NEM, purpose-built to help businesses cut costs, reduce complexities, and streamline innovation. Utilizing a unique hybrid (public/private) architecture, Symbol enables businesses to benefit from the transparency that public chains offer, while also permitting data restrictions and encryption measures to be put in place for more confidential information. With major upgrades in flexibility, security, speed and ease of use, the Symbol platform is the best-in-class blockchain enterprise solution.
“As a hybrid network, Symbol offers a ‘best of both worlds’ scenario and more flexibility to businesses in how they manage and share data,” NEM Software CTO Kristy-Leigh Minehan said. “For instance, a public blockchain network is available to access by consumers, while a private blockchain network is established for the management of information, data, and the corporate stakeholders overseeing the transactions in question.”
This announcement follows a series of significant developments in the NEM ecosystem, including a partnership with fiat on-ramp Simplex and the joint development of Tardigrade with Storj and IoDLT, to create a storage solution to facilitate faster syncing time when setting up a node on the Symbol network. The NEM ecosystem is set to make a splash in 2021 having already secured its first EU Central Bank CBDC and a Security Token being issued shortly after launch.
