Sorry for the delayed response. I am following @NEMberia on Telegram and Lon Wong, President of the NEM organization hinted at an announcement to come out at 5pm EST New York time, many people were on standby. You can read it on my other blog here: https://steemit.com/nem/@yomaicoin/jan-3-5pm-est-new-york-time-announcement-nem-president-lon-wong-on-snap-interactive-advisory-board .

The press release announced NEM's president , Lon Wong, on the advisory board of Snap Interactive. It is a company based in the US aimed at creating the world’s largest video-based online and mobile communities, leveraging blockchain. And yes, they chose NEM Blockchain to use.

XEM just broke the $2.00 USD range in less than 24 hours and I believe coin investors and even developers are noticing the NEM Blockchain's potential to easily integrate with a company's systems, application, etc., to be of some actual real world use.

I think that in 2017, many people jumped into the cryptocurrency to bank on the rise of BTCs price and just make money. I would probably call that year "The year of the coin." But this year, I think there will be more focus on what the coins are built on, and that is blockchain technology.

New coins come out via ICOs and are advertising its new blockchain technology. But rather than create a blockchain for a single industry or purpose, NEM is poised at helping all industries, countries, and economies. NEM is already being used in places outside the US, like Japan, and with SNAP in the game, it brings blockchain into actual use in the USA.

So what metrics am I basing my prediction off of? Several, but nothing related to some calculated graph or spreadsheet. I am basing my prediction off of:

• Ease of Use
• Ease of integration
• Ease of adoption
• Business interest in its solution, from all industries

Did I mention that NEM's organization has set up "Blockchain Centres" in Malaysia and Europe to help educate others about blockchain and help businesses understand the technology? Yes, they are. So coin is great and there will always be value for it, but what if blockchain can do more. Yes it can, and NEM is making that a reality. And the technology is still growing. NEM version 2.0 or "Catapult" will be released soon and that is where things will get very interesting.

So I would say pay attention to the coin, but more so on what it stands for. NEM is moving along and I can't wait to see how our economy will shape with features and capabilities.