What Is Qtum?
Let me tell you about Qtum—it's a cryptocurrency that merges Ethereum's smart contract capabilities with the security of Bitcoin's unspent transaction output model, or UTXO, to build a platform that's ready for large organizations to adopt. I founded it back in 2016 alongside Jordan Earls and Neil Mahl, and we launched our initial coin offering in March 2017.
As I check the numbers from August 2022, Qtum sat at #98 in overall market cap rankings, with a price around $3.48 and a total market cap of $363.15 million.
Key Takeaways
- Qtum is a cryptocurrency that blends the security of Bitcoin's blockchain model with the flexibility of Ethereum's smart contracts.
- It relies on a proof-of-stake consensus model for creating new blocks, which is much simpler and less energy-intensive than Bitcoin's proof-of-work approach.
- Qtum is built for large organizations, with the aim of integrating into various industries like finance and social media.
Understanding Qtum
When we created Qtum—pronounced 'quantum'—our goal was to pull together the strongest features from Bitcoin and Ethereum to form a secure hub for business-oriented decentralized applications, or dApps. We're looking to shake up the online transactions space and embed ourselves in sectors like finance and social networking. The currency itself is a token.
A key piece we took from Bitcoin is the UTXO model, which is essentially an accounting system that boosts transactional security. It acts like a receipt for unspent coins post-transaction. We adapted Bitcoin's UTXO code directly for our platform.
From Ethereum, we incorporated smart contracts—these are self-executing code blocks that, once blockchain-verified, enforce the agreement terms irreversibly.
Qtum, Bitcoin, and Ethereum
Even though Qtum draws from Bitcoin and Ethereum, it stands out from these giants in significant ways. For starters, we implemented the Account Abstraction Layer, or AAL, which is the tech that lets smart contracts work seamlessly with the UTXO model by bridging the two systems.
Qtum opts for a proof-of-stake consensus model instead of Bitcoin's proof-of-work. This makes mining new coins straightforward and far less power-hungry. Bitcoin's PoW demands massive resources, with its mining networks using more electricity yearly than some countries.
In a PoS setup, miners get selected to verify blocks based on their stake in the system, not on solving math puzzles quickest. The larger your stake, the better your odds of being picked to validate transactions.
Investment Disclaimer
Investing in cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings is highly risky and speculative, and I'm not recommending that you or anyone else put money into them through this article. Everyone's financial situation is different, so consult a qualified professional before any decisions. I make no guarantees about the accuracy or currentness of this information.
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