November 2024 Community and Development Updates
QTUM
Dear Qtum Community,
TL;DR
USDC bridge event was a success, mainnet USDC coming to Qtum blockchain. Dex and yield farming soon on a Qtum/USDC pair using a MetaMask Snap wallet. Qtum has thousands of GPUs powering AI utilities, and more development continues in that arena. The hard fork is still on schedule for February 2025, and this updates Qtum Core to the latest Bitcoin Core and Ethereum Dencun upgrade. Phase 2 of the testnet event will have a 4600 Qtum budget and should start in December or early January.
November was a busy month, not just for Qtum but for the ecosystem as a whole. We’ve all read about how the election in the USA is affecting the outlook for crypto, as well as the incredible volume of ETFs and possible new ETF listings.
When we started Qtum in 2016, we never thought we would experience times like this when our industry would be this influential. Most crypto veterans who have been interested in blockchain and DLT technology for a decade or more likely can tell stories about Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners where they attempted to explain this “new emerging fintech that will change the world” and how quickly that conversation went off the rails. Times sure have changed.
How are things changing for Qtum? Let’s recap where we are as a project and where we’re going. Thanks to Circle Financial, we finally have a working USDC implementation on Qtum using the “Bridged USDC Standard” set of smart contracts.
Thanks to Consensys, we also have a working Qtum MetaMask Snap wallet. We have an audited bridge to Ethereum Sepolia, which we just tested during a 2-week community event. This places us in a position where DeFi can finally happen with a Qtum/USDC pair on our native layer1 chain.
This is important to a blockchain for many reasons. It could lead to more liquidity and censorship resistance for people who dislike using a centralized exchange. It will also increase the “daily active users” and “on-chain transactions,” one of the most significant metrics that partners look at when analyzing a blockchain’s health.
A decentralized exchange with liquidity may also lead to more service providers (like wallets, games, etc.) integrating with Qtum, bringing more third-party applications to our community. As more resources become available on Qtum, there’s more material that other developers can study to assist them in deploying their own applications or simply launching a memecoin.
Qtum Co-Founder Patrick Dai teased that “more AI applications” will be coming soon to Qtum. Currently, there is a chatbot proof-of-concept and an artwork generator. These utilities use open-source models, but it’s important to note that they require a lot of computing power to run, especially if the service is offered for free.
Currently, there is a plan to integrate API calls that charge in Qtum. It’s common sense to do this. If people want to generate images in large quantities or integrate an AI chatbot into their video game or whatever, they can do so by paying in Qtum tokens.
You can read more about our AI plans at https://qtum.ai or simply check out our AI roadmap here:
Now let’s recap what happened in November:
Qtum Bridge - USDC Incentivized Testnet Campaign
Just three days into the campaign, we had 2,641 wallets register and recorded 11,156 transactions.
We decided to extend the campaign for an extra week and raised the payout from 3,000 QTUM to 4,000 QTUM. We made this change not only because the event was popular, but also because we needed to update our backend system to handle the high usage on the Qtum Testnet.
Testers reported issues with "stuck transfers." This happened because there was too much USDC being swapped between Ethereum Sepolia and Qtum Testnet. We had to adjust the smart contract to allow for more "minting" on the Qtum side. A big thank you to our team of testers for finding this problem!
The campaign ended on Friday, November 22nd, and payouts began 24 hours later to the participants' mainnet addresses. Users could see these payouts in real time on the Qtum block explorer.
Coinstore's Crypt-O-Ween Trick & Treat event
Offering a share of $10,000 in total rewards to 2,000 lucky winners. Coinstore’s Crypt-O-Ween Trick & Treat 4th and Final Haunted Airdrop ended on November 3rd. $10,000 in total was awarded to 2,000 lucky winners. We were very pleased to be a part of this event!
Crypt-O-Ween: Trick or Token
Again, with Coinstore, our last Halloween event was for 400 lucky winners! With $2000 worth of rewards at stake, participants had to share their thoughts on how they would use 1,000 USDT in $QTUM to design a scary Halloween costume.
Cyberscope Project Analysis
We were audited by Cyberscope, and Qtum received a score of 85%! You can check it out by following this link: https://cyberscope.io/audits/coin-qtum
Qtum Block Explorer maintenance
The Qtum block explorer( https://qtum.info) was temporarily down for maintenance while we upgraded the backend to Qtum v27.1. Users could still access our backup explorer https://qtumscan.io.
Qtum Core update v27.1
The Qtum block explorer( https://qtum.info) was temporarily down for maintenance while we upgraded the backend to Qtum v27.1. Users could still access our backup explorer https://qtumscan.io.
That wraps up November! As we enter the final month of the year, we’re excited to reflect on our milestones and share our future plans. Stay tuned for the 2024 Qtum wrap-up!
Join the Qtum Community
If you have yet to become a part of our community, we invite you to join us and stay updated on the latest developments, participate in discussions, and contribute to the growth of the Qtum ecosystem.
