Qtum is a versatile blockchain platform designed to tackle four significant challenges identified by its founders in Bitcoin and Ethereum: interoperability, governance, the rigidity and expense of the proof-of-work mechanism, and the complexities of linking smart contracts with real-world applications. To address these issues, the Qtum blockchain features two innovative technologies: the Account Abstraction Layer (AAL) and the Decentralized Governance Protocol (DGP). The Account Abstraction Layer merges the Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) model from Bitcoin with the smart contract capabilities modeled after Ethereum. The Decentralized Governance Protocol allows for the adjustment of core network parameters, such as block size and gas fees, through smart contracts, eliminating the need for hard forks. This capability can prevent potential disruptions as the network evolves. Governance of the blockchain involves miners (stakers), developers, and QTUM holders, who participate in decision-making through a voting system, enabling self-management, seamless upgrades, and iterations within the ecosystem. For detailed information, please refer to Eulerpool.

According to the Qtum whitepaper, the initial supply of QTUM coins was set at 100 million, all of which were minted prior to the project's launch. In March 2017, 51 million coins were made available to the public through an Initial Coin Offering (ICO). Additionally, 8 million coins were distributed to early private investors, while 12 million were reserved for the project team with a lock-up period of four years. The remaining coins are managed by the Qtum Chain Foundation, a non-profit organization registered in Singapore, which is scheduled to receive these in four installments by March 2021. Of these coins, 20 million are designated for business development, with an additional 9% allocated for academic research and promotion. The coin supply is not capped, as new tokens can be mined with the block reward halving every four years. Starting from an initial block reward subsidy of 4.0 QTUM per block, the reward will undergo seven halvings before finally reaching zero by the year 2045, when the maximum supply will be 107,822,406 QTUM.

The technical approach of Qtum differs from the mechanisms currently used by Bitcoin and Ethereum. Qtum employs the MPoS (mutualized proof-of-stake) consensus mechanism to ensure network security. This is a modified version of Proof-of-Stake 3.0. The protocol encourages users to stake their coins, facilitating and securing block validation. Staking involves locking coins in a competition among coin holders, where, based on network connectivity and random selection, they earn the right to validate blocks. Unlike earlier PoS protocols, the block reward in this system is constant and is not influenced by coin age. Rewards are distributed proportionally to the stake, meaning that the more coins a user stakes, the greater the rewards they receive. Moreover, the MPoS protocol addresses "junk contract" attacks by distributing 10% of the block reward between the block producing miner and the previous nine miners, with the remaining 90% delayed by 500 blocks. In contrast to the proof-of-work mechanism utilized by Bitcoin, proof-of-stake algorithms are notably less costly to maintain, environmentally friendly, and offer significant decentralization, which is fundamental to blockchain security.

QTUM is a freely tradable token, accessible on most exchanges. Trading pairs include Bitcoin, altcoins, stablecoins, and fiat currencies. The leading exchanges for trading Qtum currently include Binance, Huobi Global, OKEx, HBTC, and Hydax Exchange. Additional exchanges can be found on our crypto exchanges page on Eulerpool.

The project was announced in March 2016 and conducted an ICO a year later, in March 2017, raising $15 million USD for its founders. The Qtum main chain was launched on September 13, 2017. Initially, the Qtum coin was issued as an ETH-20 token, but with the deployment of the mainnet, it was converted to a native blockchain. Qtum is supported by several notable backers, including Roger Ver from Bitcoin.com and Jeremy Gardner, an early cryptocurrency investor turned skincare professional, co-founder of Augur, and Entrepreneur in Residence at Blockchain Capital.