Summary of QTUMs Blockchain development, and why their Blockchain has an leveraged advantage
Based on Bitcoin core development code
This means that upon a successful implementation of a Lightning network on the Bitcoin Blockchain, the QTUM team is ready to implement the same code onto their Blockchain since they have built their Blockchain to be compatible with Bitcoin's Blockchain code. This is strategic decision is intended to allow QTUM to adopt newly developed features on the Bitcoin Blockchain. They thereby leverage the fact that the programming community behind Bitcoin is currently the largest.
Changed consensus mechanism from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake
In the short to medium term, I believe the first Proof-of-Stake cryptocurrencies with Staking capabilities and Lightning transactions, will attract a lot of investor capital. If there will be any substantially attractive returns to gain from Staking a cryptocurrency with high speed & low transaction fee capabilities, remains to be seen. Even though the issues Proof-of-Work face concerning electricity consumption is likely to be solved using a Lightning network, the idea of using Coins as transaction validators, providing passive returns resonates lovely to large scale investors. Also the major players who wishes to control cryptocurrencies will be Hodl-ing the Stake-able cryptocurrencies to achieve centralization, and therefore gain a power foothold. No matter if you think Proof-of-Stake is a viable consensus mechanism or not, the sheer fact that many of the top 20 cryptocurrencies are running on Proof-of-Stake, meaning there is already widespread acceptance of this type of consensus mechanism, meaning the additional value added coming from a Lightning network should result in immediate value increase in QTUM upon Bitcoin releasing the source code for a tested and working Lightning network.
Launched the Ethereum Virtual machine on top of the QTUM Blockchain. This makes the QTUM Blockchain compatible with Ethereum Smart contracts that are running on the Ethereum Blockchain. Quickly executed Smart contracts is a HUGE market, which is gearing up for adoption. Being one of the major players offering these services, on an environmentally friendly platform using Proof-of-Stake as consensus algorithm will be an attractive product. With Bitcoin being the most likely candidate for successful implementation of a Lightning network in the short-term, QTUM will have a heads start before other cryptocurrency development teams will be able to tweek the open-source code for the Bitcoin Lightning network protocol. With Lightning network transaction are currently being tested on the Bitcoin Blockchain, it does not seem all that far away. If the Bitcoin network successfully launches the Lightning network before let's say Ethereum, then QTUM will have the upper hand over Smart contract and Proof-of-Stake based Blockchains. High-speed execution at a low cost is very attractive for many debt settling companies, governmental organs which distribute medic aid payouts, benefit payout etc. Global companies can efficiently execute salary payouts. The use cases for high-speed execution of smart contracts are endless. Any player who is able to tap into a piece of that pie will have a whole lot of business in the foreseeable future.
