Firstly, I'd like to say that I am the kind of guy that likes to focus on the positives instead of magnifying the negatives. So when I first started to put this review together and I learned more about where the origins of the Apollo platform may stem from, my thoughts were whoa Apollo and NXT are built upon the same blockchain NO WAY!? Then it dawned on me that a standard is being established in the crypto space. Mass adoption is the Key to any blockchain platform to become a trusted house-hold name. Consider that the value of Etheruem is measured by the growing number of projects built on its foundation. Many of which are competing to solve similar real-word business models.
Regardless of funding time always weeds out the weak projects based on the quality of a projects team, it's customer support, and it's community. This is what really starts to differentiate the me-too clones. While NxT and its off-shoot platforms have been established as working products, Apollo is the first to catch fire and develop an enthusiastic fan base. Myself included. Unfortunately I've seen that with this notoriety comes infamy, as we are going through the FUD stage, where claims that Apollo is somehow a scam coin, or fraud is being peppered throughout the various social media outlets connected to the Apollo project.
A Great Article was recently published, which talks about this phenomena called "FUD"
Cryptocurrency Communities Just Can’t Get Along
https://news.bitcoin.com/cryptocurrency-communities-just-cant-get-along/
"If there’s one thing that rival cryptocurrency factions can agree on, it’s their mutual dislike of one other. Everything else is up for debate, and not calm, reasonable debate, but the sort of fevered in-fighting that makes the crypto community resemble an unruly rabble. This internecine squabbling has arguably done more to hinder cryptocurrency adoption than any external threat."
That first paragraph touches upon one of the leading causes of FUD. It's common, and won't be going away anytime soon. Not until we as a community can support any an ALL projects in finding success. I mean that’s what we want right, for our investments to succeed? Anyways, let me not get silly now.
So, what I hope to-do with this post is to give supplemental info I found on the original Blockchain platform NxT, that planted the seeds which spawned multiple products and ultimately led to the formation of The Apollo Project as we know it.
Nxt Blockchain Platform - https://www.jelurida.com/
"Nxt is an advanced open source application platform which expands the things you can do with a blockchain. It is the first pure proof-of-stake blockchain, running since 2013. Nxt has an impressive array of functions built into its software, so you do not need to code them on top of a more limited blockchain platform." "The Nxt cryptocurrency platform developed by Jelurida has been running and actively used in production for more than three years now. Its solid design and stability have been proven in practice, in addition to being subject to code reviews by independent experts. Implemented in Java, the leading industry standard language for financial applications, the Nxt platform allows fast development and addition of new features. Being a second-generation blockchain, not a clone of Bitcoin, it has been designed from scratch to serve as a platform for much more than simple money transfer transactions."
So, Nxt was developed as a platform for projects to be built upon. I believe the majority of the top 10 coins on Coinmarketcap.com are meant as platform development vehicles.
Nxt platform limitations
"The Jelurida team is constantly acquiring feedback from businesses looking to use the Nxt platform, and is trying to make the Nxt platform even more flexible and scalable in the long term."
Both Apollo and NXT will be continually upgrading their Blockchain improving scalability to keep up with increased transactions from an ever growing customer base, as well to keep up with the consistent evolution of technology. This I believe is where The Apollo project will begin to diverge by re-engineering the foundation that the NxT platform provides, bringing there wallet up to date with the "Hermies blockchain". Meanwhile the Jelurida developers have already done the same with their Nxt 2.0 update, also known as "Ardor"
A quick breakout of the current projects based on the NxT Blockchain Platform
"Nxt 2.0, now known as "Ardor", takes the system further, provides scalability, makes it even more flexible, yet preserves its security and stability.
The fundamental concept of the Ardor design is a clean separation between "forging token" and "transactional token". In Nxt, it is the NXT coin that serves this dual purpose, being used both to determine forging stake, i.e. the right of an account to generate blocks, and to execute all kinds of value-transfer transactions, i.e. represent unit of value. In Ardor, a separation of these two functions is used to achieve both much greater scalability, by reducing blockchain bloat, and flexibility, by allowing multiple other transactional tokens to be used, in effect allowing custom "child chains" to exist and run on the same network of nodes. The Ardor cryptocurrency is the latest development from Jelurida the team behind NXT and the upcoming Ignis child chain."
As I am not affiliated with the Apollo Project team, I assume they developed Apollo using the NxT Blockchain Creation Kit, Intended for developers to create a new blockchain Platform. However from my research I have learned that Apollo is a separate branch, with a roadmap all their own. Not unlike how a Project like Tron is based on Etheruems ERC-20 standard. Albeit Tron is moving towards their own platform. Apollo plans on making changes and improvements with their Hermes upgrade further diverging from the vanilla NxT version.
Here is a video which demos the NxT creation kit:
You can try the Nxt Demo here:
https://demo.nxt.org/
Here is a video The Crypto Lark published regarding the Ardor Platform.
Here is a video by Decentralized TV regarding the Ignis platform
Here is a video by SkrillaKing on Apollo Currency
A nice bonus that has come about learning about these projects is that now we may have a benchmark to compare price predictions for the future of Apollo! I guess this is the point where I need to say I'm not a financial advisor… By my calculations the average value for all three is $0.25 or 0.00002682 BTC. If you’re a coin hunter looking for potential gains, and your interest has been peaked by the Apollo project, you now have three other projects you may be interested in, as they are cousins of sorts… I have read and watched comments predicting an Apollo end of year price point that is exponentially higher than $0.25. Who knows where the final price will land, but one thing you can't deny is the community that is forming, and the extra steps the team is taking with establishing customer facing storefront(s) set to open, along with various promotional campaigns. These efforts may culminate in a market cap that would make Nxt, Ardor, and Ignis blush. My opinion of course.
So to close this review out, I'll say that we have in Apollo a base that is solid and to me a tried and true platform to work from. When I transact in the near future using the Apollo wallet sending my currency(s) to a business or person I want there to be minimal lag time in between the networks while they hash things out. Coming across 3 other Blockchains that run on similar platforms is to me the best case scenario for any project vying to be "The Ultimate Currency" :P Consider the number of Projects being built upon the foundations of Etheruem, NEO, Cardano etc. I can go on, but my point is Apollo and NxT look to share roots but with different visions. If an Arm's race is in the making, and I have to choose a side… I choose to side with the people who will be using these platforms in everyday life, trading tokens between the two or three or let's hope many more.