SINGAPORE, Feb. 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Qtum Foundation Pte Ltd (Qtum) is pleased to announce its collaboration with the SpaceChain Foundation to launch a standardized CubeSat. The satellite would carry Qtum's blockchain software technology on a Raspberry Pi device to provide unique advantages for Qtum users.
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The electricity required for cryptocurrency mining has increased exponentially over the years. The Guardian quoted Digiconomist's report that Bitcoin mining alone resulted in 30.14 TWH, which exceeded the power consumption of 19 European countries in November 2017. Today, Digiconomist calculated that Bitcoin mining power consumption had increased 56.2% over four months to hit 47.07 TWH, costing US$2,353,276,312 per year consuming 0.21% of the world's electricity.
In Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithms, power consumption is necessary for transaction verification which is done through PoW 'mining'. By launching a satellite into space with a comparatively lighter proof-of-stake algorithm, Qtum can increase its reliability with a future satellite network expansion.
We derived three real-world application advantages for Qtum's satellite-enabled blockchain technology:
Cost Effective Proof-of-Stake Mining for Qtum Wallet Holders on Smart Phones
While most blockchain technologies use PoW for their mining operations, Qtum uses a form of PoS for its transaction verifications in the network. The satellite launch provides energy savings and a cheap hardware platform for Qtum to excel. Instead of buying expensive specialized mining equipment that cost thousands of dollars to purchase, setup, and maintain, Qtum wallet holders can mine for Qtum tokens on the lightest of devices.
Secure Consensus Improved Stability and Cybersecurity
The Qtum blockchain is more stable given that it is based on the benefits of two major blockchain platforms: Bitcoin and Ethereum. The stability of Qtum comes with Qtum's Smart Staking technology which allows it to build a more secure consensus with smart contracts through the networks block rewards and fee distribution mechanism. Such secure consensus acts as a natural barrier against cyberattacks such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) and offsets traditional PoS issues such as "nothing at stake" which leads to consensus failure and reduces the blockchain's stability.
DGP Enhancement of Smart Contract System
Another major advantage of the Qtum blockchain comes from its scalability features which allow it to be more adaptable in supporting third-party technologies. The Qtum blockchain supports technologies such as Simple Payment Protocol (SPV) for efficient payment verification, the Ethereum Virtual Machines (EVM) for execution of Ethereum Smart Contracts and N Account Abstract Layer (AAL) to allow the UTXO model to have states for smart contracts.
The adaptability of the Qtum platform was improved for the space launch. We introduced the Decentralized Governance Protocol (DGP) which embeds a smart contract into the network to allow for users to mitigate attacks and scale the blockchain. DGP is a core innovation of Qtum that allows for seamless upgrades, rapid iterations, and distribution throughout the blockchain in a decentralized manner. DGP supports parameter changes such as those to the block size, gas limit, gas scheduling, and block time. Beyond that, Qtum is also developing a new virtual machine that will address the shortcoming of the Ethereum Virtual Machine such as weak support for standard libraries. In short, the Qtum Foundation is building an efficient and adaptable smart contract system.
Qtum's Satellite Advantage
The barriers to entry for cryptocurrencies are low, and we now have over 14,000 cryptocurrencies in the world aside from the major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple. However, these cryptocurrencies are costly to maintain which ironically increase the barrier for widespread industrial adaption.
With the satellite launch, Qtum has lowered the cost of industrial usage which would set the stage for mass adaption of Qtum and also future application advantages. This satellite launch may be expensive, but it sets Qtum aside from the competition. It is the undisputed demonstration of our resolve to be the leading cryptocurrency and blockchain platform in the world.
For editors:
The Qtum Foundation is the Singapore-headquartered decision-making body charged with accelerating the development of the Qtum blockchain network and protocol. Qtum's platform essentially combines the advantages of the Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) model, an Account Abstraction Layer (AAL) that allows for multiple virtual machines, and a proof-of-stake consensus protocol built for tackling industry use cases. The platform utilizes solidity smart contracts through its integration of the Ethereum Virtual Machine and to date more than 50 decentralized applications have been deployed on Qtum across a broad spectrum of sectors including but not limited to Internet of things, intellectual property, market forecast, healthcare and clean energy. Qtum's independent blockchain aims to bring smart-contract technology to mobile and connected devices, in a bid to bridge the gap between blockchain and commerce, as well as to significantly improve the commercialization of blockchain technology and its practicability. Qtum's global team is comprised of members from nine different nationalities, bringing an aggregated wealth of experiences working at Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, NASDAQ, Microsoft and other great companies. It launched its ICO on March 2016 and is currently valued at over $5B as of January 2018.
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Visit http://www.qtum.orgto access more information about the product, technology, financing and team profile from the company.
About Qtum Foundation
Qtum is the first UTXO-based smart contract system with a proof-of-stake consensus model. The platform use Account Attraction Layer to combine Bitcoin Core and Ethereum Virtual Machine. Proof-of-stake model reduces the computational difficulty in the network and increases scaling possibilities. Developers have deployed by more than50decentralized applications across a broad spectrum of sectors. Qtum's independent blockchain aims to bring smart-contracts technology to mobile and connected devices, to minimize the gap between blockchain and commerce. On Dec. 28, 2017, Qtum and Baofeng, the largest video-hosting portal in China, announced a partnership to transform the music and movie industry. As of January 2018, Qtum posts a market valuation of over $5B USD. (www.qtum.org)
