“We wanted to illustrate efficient scalability and compatibility between blockchain technologies,” said Dai, who is spearheading the project’s push along with co-founder Jordan Earls. Earls is tasked with leading Qtum’s team of almost two dozen developers. “Ultimately, we want to make smart contracts easier to write, more efficient and safer with our x86 virtual machine,” Dai continued. “I believe this will be paramount for widespread adoption, especially for financial applications.” Dai said that he originally discovered blockchain technology while studying for his master’s and Ph.D. degrees at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. “I was working on some projects while in school and also at Alibaba as a product manager,” he said. “Upon learning about it, I knew I had to drop out and leave Alibaba because there was so much long-term potential in this industry.”
Qtum’s Acceleration Forward The Qtum Foundation, headquartered in Singapore, is the decision-making arm that fosters project development. The project raised $1 million through a network of angel investors. To bolster Qtum’s financial positioning, the foundation raised $15.6 million in its token campaign. The foundation also announced the launch of Sparknet, the first public test of its innovative blockchain platform. A second testnet was then launched in the summer of 2017. Qtum has made several other leaps forward as well. It joined the
Chamber of Digital Commerce, the world’s leading trade association representing the digital asset and blockchain industry, as an executive committee member, among companies like IBM, Microsoft and BNY Mellon. Earls was appointed co-chair of the chamber’s Smart Contract Alliance, an initiative dedicated to promoting the acceptance and use of smart contract technologies. Meanwhile, Dai made the Chinese edition of Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list, Qtum also became a founding member of the Trusted IoT Alliance and the project saw its token reach the top of the ranks on CoinMarketCap, the leading cryptocurrency evaluator. The project also joined ACCESS, the Singapore Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Industry Association. “The Qtum team continues to execute and build what can be one of the most exciting and innovative railroads in the blockchain ecosystem,” said Matthew Roszak, a Qtum angel backer and the co-founder of distributed ledger leader Bloq.
Igniting the Future According to Dai, several decentralized applications (DApps) are building on the Qtum platform. Among these applications are a peer-to-peer mobile streaming platform and a prediction market. He noted that, while these applications are geared to the Chinese market, the Qtum blockchain will appeal to a global audience, accessible to all developers.
self-aware component called the decentralized governance protocol (DGP). This is considered to be the first decentralized governance protocol and PoS consensus mechanism for smart contracts along with the first smart contract platform for mobile devices. “Ignition is just the start for Qtum,” Dai said. “We are turning on the engines to accelerate the industry into the next era.” And Qtum is poised to continue this momentum into the future, with specific plans for next steps. “The big trends will be writing smart contracts in other languages besides Solidity and more real-world implementations of smart contracts,” Dai said. “This is why we are focusing on our x86 VM and making sure our platform is practical to use.” He added that the project’s vision over the next 6 to 12 months is to have lightning networks running on Qtum, allowing for cross-chain atomic swaps, and its x86 virtual machine. “The blockchain technology industry is moving and innovating incredibly fast,” Dai concluded. “I believe that over the next 12 to 18 months enterprises will realize the power of our technology and the revolution we have started by combining these existing technologies with their own.”
This year, Qtum launched a state-of-the-art platform that allows smart contracts to be used on mobile phones. Known as “Qtum Ignition,” it features a self-regulating, self-modifying and
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