Qtum

UTXO-Based Blockchain and DApp Development Platform

Blockchain Web Mobile Cryptocurrency FinTech

UTXO-based blockchain with a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus model, smart contract support and unified environment for DApp development

August 2016 - January 2019

Work done

Blockchain: implementation of PoS consensus on the fork of Bitcoin and integration with Ethereum & WASM Virtual Machines Full-Stack: block explorer for UTXO model with smart contract and ERC20 token support Mobile: wallet with smart contracts and ERC20 token support

Customer

Qtum Foundation Ltd. is a global corporation based in Singapore that develops decentralized applications for mobile devices compatible with most of the major blockchain ecosystems.

Challenge

The majority of prior-generation blockchain frameworks have serious limitations:

Scalability issues;
Systems heavily reliant on servers;
Limited functionality, and etc.

The well-known and prominent smart contract-powered Ethereum continues to face major obstacles in scalability, security and network congestion.

Our challenge for this particular project was to build the first UTXO-based smart contract platform with a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus model: a scalable blockchain framework for DApp development that would allow building smart contracts using Solidity, C, C++ and other languages widely used in the blockchain environment.

The goals were to bring smart contracts to everyone, including clients in low-bandwidth environments, as well as offer such major benefits as:

A standard coding library;
An optimized gas charging model;
New possibilities for creation, execution, and management of modern smart contract applications;
Multiple APIs for easy plug and play;
Support for alternative data storage.

To put it simply, we wanted to make it easy, simple, fast and convenient for developers to create apps using the Qtum network and help them make a profit off of it.

Solution

Qtum is an open-source hybrid blockchain application platform. Qtum’s core technology combines the security of UTXO model, robust Bitcoin core architecture and an Account Abstraction Layer, which acts as a bridge to communicate multiple Virtual Machines, including the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and x86 VM. The Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism enables true decentralization, while also increasing stability, security and efficiency of the blockchain platform.

Decentralized Governance Protocol (DGP)

Qtum employs a decentralized governance protocol allowing for blockchain parameters like the block size, block time, gas schedules and the minimum gas price for contracts to be modified without ecosystem disruption.

Enterprise Blockchain Development

Unita, the latest development and contribution to Qtum framework, is an enterprise edition of Qtum that allows to rapidly deploy blockchain technology. It features high tps and short confirmation time for blocks, providing businesses with an advanced tool that opens the door for new opportunities.

Plans for Further Development

Work is ongoing on improving the framework payment channels. Currently, Qtum allows transaction bandwidth as high as 50 000 tps. We have successfully tested and are soon to incorporate Lightning Network to allow for even higher tps and increased scalability. There are also plans to integrate with Oracle and Datafeed, allowing developers to build smart contracts and incorporate established, well-known and trusted software solutions within their applications.

Features

Bitcoin UTXO protocol
Support for smart contract development
POS v3.0 consensus mechanism
Value Transferring
Decentralized Governance Protocol: DGP allows to customize the blockchain using smart contracts

x86 Virtual Machine: x86 VM enables support for C, C++, Rust, Python and other languages allowing to build in virtually any environment.
Over 5000 nodes operational around the globe
Active community of developers, providing comprehensive documentation, samples of code and tools
Account Abstraction Layer: AAL decouples applications from the underlying protocol and increases smart contract scalability