Tulip mania!  NXT isn't backed by anything, not even mining cartels!

Lots of misinformation here.  NXT is not a clone of Bitcoin, it was written from scratch using java + javascript and has almost nothing in common with Bitcoin aside from the general concept of using a blockchain.

NXT is a platform for decentralized services that is powered by NXT tokens.  Comparing NXT to Bitcoin as a "currency" doesn't really make any sense.  NXT and Bitcoin can function as complimentary systems (they already do) as NXT was designed from the ground-up to process a variety of transaction types that are not suitable for the Bitcoin blockchain.  I like NXT because I like being involved in projects with promising technology and contributing effort to help them grow - the same reasons I got into Bitcoin.  If a fatal flaw is discovered in the NXT PoS mechanism it will probably fail, but we won't know with any certainty unless we try.  Nobody is forcing anyone else to use NXT and it's certainly not a "scam".




If you want to "mine" NXT, you can use a pool like http://hashrate.org.  It mines other alt-coins and automatically sells them to buy NXT that it pays out to miners.