Ever since the Ethereum project came into being, many people have been comparing it to Bitcoin. However, both projects could not be more different, as Ethereum focuses on blockchain infrastructure, whereas Bitcoin has a good chance to become an official currency. Qtum, a blockchain company, based in Shanghai, feels the time is now to bring both ecosystems together. Moreover, they created a new digital currency that sounds quite appealing.
Qtum Envisions A Combination of Bitcoin and Ethereum
On paper, it sounds rather odd to combine Bitcoin and Ethereum. Shanghai-based Qtum feels the task is not impossible, and they raised over US$1m from investors to make it a reality. So far, the company claims to have created a new digital currency that can execute smart contracts with a PoS consensus mechanism. Moreover, the team is working on a new project that will circulate the new currency on the We Chat mini program moving forward.
Qtum, also pronounced as Quantum, combines traits found in Ethereum and Bitcoin into one new project. Bitcoin’s development resources are combined with Dapp development efforts found in Ethereum. This also explains why the project is backed by the OkCoin CEO, as well as Bo Shen and Anthony Di Iorio. Smart contract technology, which is available to both Bitcoin and Ethereum developers, is of particular interest to the Qtum team.
The first order of business is to develop a working beta version of this project. The team succeeded in getting the EVM running on a Bitcoin Core fork, allowing the usage of Dapps built on top of Ethereum to date. Bridging the gap between both ecosystems is quite a monumental task, and it remains unclear if Qtum will be successful in the long run.
The partnership with WeChat is quite interesting, though. Using the company’s new mini-apps platform to distribute these new tokens to millions of users is a smart strategy. Users can send and receive the Qtum tokens over the WeChat protocol, as well as use it to pay for goods and services offered within the ecosystem itself. Future plans include bringing this technology to other social messaging platforms, including Telegram and Facebook Messenger.
What makes Qtum so appealing is how users can make use of the tokenized applications without having to download the blockchain. In most cases, current tokenized applications require a complete blockchain to be downloaded, which is a big hurdle for mainstream users. Particularly when it comes to using these apps on a mobile device, where space is limited to begin with, this new development is a significant step in the right direction.
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