A significant hybrid The Qtum blockchain which is popular for its property of merging the reliability of Bitcoin’s unfailing blockchain with the endless possibilities provided by Ethereum’s smart contracts is seen as an important technology within the ecosystem of emerging technologies behind the ongoing disruption. The platform is also seen by many as the foremost toolkit for building trusted decentralized applications, suited for real-world, business oriented use cases. Just recently, the crypto experienced a significant surge, rising by up to 189% within 8hrs, reaching a market capitalization of $3.7 Billion and becoming the #16 ranked cryptocurrency in the world. This surge was engineered by the relative adoption and uptake of digital currencies as a means to buy goods and services across the globe. Also, as blockchain emerged and its application spread across several areas of technology, its importance as the digital and decentralized ledger underlying digital currencies that record all transactions without the need for a financial third party cannot be overemphasized. Combining the best of both worlds However, the specific attribute of Qtum, which is the hybrid nature of its cryptocurrency technology that combines the best attributes of bitcoin and Ethereum makes it exceptionally desirable. The result is a solution that resembles bitcoin core, but also includes an Abstract Accounting Layer that gives Qtum’s blockchain smart contract functionality via a more robust x86 Virtual Machine. Therefore, developers who appreciate the protection offered by Qtum from different kinds of coding infractions see the project as a solution to a potential multi-million dollar problem. The second-layer storage offered by the platform, despite its implications on decentralization also appeals to developers who appreciate the stability of business applications.
Research powered partnership By the duo’s partnership, Qtum and Chronicled will work together to define and support a roadmap of fundamental research at UC Berkeley, this will enable post-quantum applied cryptography, zkSNARK-based privacy-preserving smart contracts, and zero knowledge proofs for large computations. The Founder of Qtum Foundation, Patrick Dai expresses his delight towards this partnership as the project will pioneer a wave of innovations within the industry. Dai says: “The partnership with Chronicled and UC Berkeley represents the frontier of innovation in IoT, smart contracts, and privacy for enterprise applications. We are delighted to be partnering with some of the strongest researchers and innovators in the world who are leading enterprise implementations”. A new course to establishment The year 2017 witnessed the creation of several new projects as a result of increased awareness and relative implementation of blockchain technology. In order to achieve full potential, blockchain products must find establishment and proper implementation in real-world use cases. To achieve this, research and development is a process that must be embraced by the blockchain community as Qtum and Chronicled leads the way into a year full of expectations and great anticipation.
