Qtum has pretty much flat-lined throughout the month of July. Its USD price did vary a lot, reaching monthly highs of $9,47 before petering off to lows of $7,50. July 18th saw it rise above $9 once again before it tumbled below $8 in just a day. It has since struggled to break through the $8 barrier and is currently traded at $7,81, for a drop of 2,47% in the last 24 hours. This volatility was mostly caused by BTC movements, as QTUM/BTC ratio stayed in a relatively slow bleed pattern in the last couple of weeks. Starting the month at 134 thousand satoshi, the coin’s BTC value dropped to 101240 satoshi today, with a 5,14% drop in the last 24 hours. Qtum’s market cap is currently at $692,094,819, making it the 22nd most valuable cryptocurrency on the market.
Qtum has gained a lot of ground since its initial launch, and while being way off its all-time high prices, it still remains a top 30 cryptocurrency. It is one of those currencies that are copying the Ethereum formula while looking to give its own unique twist on it. Namely, the Qtum Foundation has created a blockchain that integrates the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) to write smart contracts and also uses Bitcoin’s UXTO (Unspent Transaction Output) model. It currently faces a lot of competition, with Ethereum, Zilliqa, Cardano, NEO and many more projects attempting to do relatively same things.
You can’t buy it directly for fiat on any exchange. You can choose the best place to buy bitcoins for your region and buy BTC there, then trade it for VTC on exchanges. Learn here how you can instantly convert altcoins to bitcoin and vice versa.
The project, similarly to Cardano, releases regular weekly network updates. This week we saw a lot of native app development and front/back end development efforts completed, which is bound to improve the networks functionality. Various marketing operations and meet-ups were also held by the Qtum team, and the full list of their weekly achievements can be seen here.
The coin currently seems deeply busy with development activities, and is somewhat out of the focus of crypto media. However, it definitely has enough potential to return into the spotlight soon enough. Some of its features include:
- 60txps blockchain with scaling expansions planned for the future (Qtum Enterprise (Qtum X) will use Proof of Authority to enable a much higher transaction throughput)
- PoS algorithm
- Segwit implementation
- Native Qtum X86 Virtual Machine that is backwards compatible and supports a multitude of languages
- Templates for developers to offer generalized functionality
Qtum looks to become a platform that will be backwards compatible, supporting access from both Ethereum contracts and Bitcoin nodes. It wants to become a jack of all trades type of blockchain which utilizes simple “plug and play” methodologies and supports the market stand-outs. Such flexibility is well suited for creation of smart contracts on mobile devices, which Qtum plans on doing. The project also plans to expand into IoT (internet of things) devices and will specifically target Asian markets (namely China) with its product.
The price prediction for the token moves from $30-120 USD for the year of 2018. Much will depend on its potential addition to Coinbase. Why should Coinbase add Qtum, you might ask? Well, other than it being a top 30 coin, it has a lot of complementary features with two Coinbase mainstays, Ethereum and Bitcoin. It is also a Singapore based coin which plans on spreading into Chinese market; adding it could bring Coinbase closer to a market of 2 billion people. All in all, you could do far worse than buying Qtum in today’s market.
