The NEM.io Foundation, creators of the peer-to-peer NEM blockchain platform, has announced major changes in its leadership.

According to the announcement, President Lon Wong and Vice President Jeff McDonald will be moving from their positions on the NEM.io Foundation and shifting to advisory roles.

In a letter, Wong said that he has decided to step down from his role as the President of NEM.io Foundation and focus on building ProximaX, which he described as a project meant to “enlarge the ecosystem of NEM.”

“It [ProximaX] is by no means a competitor to NEM. ProximaX was built to increase the utility of XEM. The creation of XPX, the crypto coin of ProximaX, is itself a mosaic on the NEM blockchain with XEM as its transaction fee. It is in fact a demonstration of how powerful NEM is and how expansive projects can be powered by the NEM blockchain. If there is widescale adoption of ProximaX, NEM will definitely benefit as it requires more XEM for transactions,” Wong wrote.

In his letter, McDonald said that he is moving to an advisory role in order to better manage his time, health, and relationships. He emphasized that his passion for NEM hasn’t diminished adding, “If anything with my experience and reflection, it’s becoming more focused.”

Commenting on future focus areas, McDonald said:

“I plan to expand my work with Kchain and LuxTag, improve the Voting protocol and Apostille protocol as Catapult furthers in development. I’m also working on other ideas for additional protocols in addition to these that Catapult will enable. For me, these are exciting things that I want to work on and so I’m making that happen starting today.”

NEM.io Foundation said that Kristof Van de Reck has been elected as the interim President of the foundation.