Qtum

What is Qtum?

In this article, I would like to review Qtum with its blockchain and native coin. It was created by the Qtum Foundation, which is a Singapore based entity. The project was so popular back in 2016 that only 5 days after launching their ICO, the funding target was met.

The Qtum blockchain is dedicated to developing an open-source ecosystem that will differentiate itself from others that resemble BTC or ETH. With the help of an implemented Value Transfer Protocol (VTP), it aims to build a dApp platform which will bring blockchain technologies to different businesses and sectors like financial services, supply chain management, gaming, social media, and others.

History and Evolution

Back in March 2017, a crowdfunding campaign was started with the goal to raise money for a new blockchain project launched by Qtum. Originally, it was scheduled to last about 30 days or until all the tokens have been sold, but over 10 million USD was raised within the first 90 minutes. Eventually, the total value of the funds got to $15.7 million and Qtum stopped the campaign on its 5th day.

In September 2017, the main network of the Qtum blockchain was launched and all the ERC20 tokens given out during the ICO were changed to the Qtum coin. The co-founders of the project are Jordan Earls, Neil Mahi, and Patrick Dai. With the help of their development team comprised of lead devs Jordan Earls and Yungi Ouyang, Qtum is in the process of creating QtumX, which is the enterprise-focused version of the blockchain and focusing on creating partnerships with large companies.

Qtum’s Future

After taking a look at the roadmap of the project and the goals of the team, the future of the project looks bright. A large system update will be launched soon that will tackle all of the inherent issues that the EVM faces and substantially increase the security of the network. Also, as I mentioned earlier, the focus will be shifted towards creating new partnerships and development of the enterprise version of the network, called QtumX.

Qtum Blockchain

Qtum is a decentralized peer to peer blockchain network that uses the Proof of Stake consensus mechanism and the SHA-256 hashing algorithm. The block rewards are halved every 985,500 blocks, which is roughly 4 and a half years. The first halving of the rewards is expected to be around 9th March 2022 due to the block time being about 120 seconds. The block size is set at 1MB and the network automatically adjusts for difficulty every block, which is relatively standard for PoS.

Qtum Nodes

Currently, in the Qtum network, there are two types of nodes – full nodes and lightweight nodes.

• Full nodes are the ones responsible for distributing the blockchain to the other users on the network that are staking, which creates new blocks. Since there are no mining nodes or masternodes, everything depends on the work of the full nodes that are online on the network. Currently, there are over 4800 Full nodes and Staking (Lightweight) nodes active.
• Lightweight nodes are quite different from the full ones. They are not a part of the consensus mechanism and do not provide any direct benefits to the system but are very easy to use. These nodes do not require the full blockchain transaction history in order to operate and are designed to be used on portable hardware like phones and hardware wallets.

There is a third type of node that is not yet a reality but is being developed. They are called Authority nodes and will be in charge of creating and validating blocks on the currently in development sidechain, called QtumX. Keep in mind that there isn’t much information on them yet and that they will not be active on the main Qtum chain.

Qtum Network Security

From the start of the project up until now, there have been no major security threats or issues.

News and Useful Weblinks

If you would like to be a part of the Qtum network and keep yourself updated with the latest information, you can start with visiting the official website. Alternatively, you can register and become an active member of their forums or follow their social media account.