Hello World!
This blog is dedicated to the community of Q, a decentralized blockchain with universal governance, sustainable economics and future-proof technology.
Here you will read stuff written by the people who work on Q. What can you expect to find here? Really anything that moves the Q community: General thoughts about the background and philosophy of Q, practical how-to guides on specific elements of Q or essays on topics that benefit from community input and involvement.
The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors. While we hope that they reflect the spirit of Q, they are not authoritative in any way. If you have different views, please share them! While the rules that govern Q are clearly laid down in its constitution, there nevertheless needs to be a conversation around the topics that are of interest to the community. Without discussion, no project can evolve. We hope that by providing a platform on which the developers and community members of Q can share their thoughts, we encourage critical discourse.
But enough about this blog. As a first intro to Q, let’s start with a very brief overview of what Q is about:
Q is a decentralized blockchain protocol on which anyone can transact and build applications. Three aspects that set Q apart from other protocols are:
Universal governance
Most cryptocurrencies suffer from a lack of structured governance. Decision making is often chaotic and sometimes unfair. Lack of transparency on how decisions are made prevents users from committing resources to decentralized blockchains. The popular “code is law” idea may work for simple use cases. But for general-purpose blockchains, governance is the single-most important factor for value creation and adoption.
Q combines a public, open, decentralized ledger with governance concepts that have been tried and tested in established legal systems. Q’s governance is based on the Q Constitution. It lays down all rules agreed by the users of Q. Root Nodes serve as guardians of these rules. Stakeholders can enforce their rights via a dispute resolution mechanism based on established international private arbitration rules.
Sustainable economics
Decentralized protocols have experienced phenomenal growth. But their underlying economics are still challenging. Many blockchain systems bet on a future transition from block subsidies to transaction fees to support the security of the network. Today, however, it is still unclear whether this is sustainable in the long-term. Further, many applications built on blockchains come with unique economic attack vectors, which calls their economic viability into question.
Q employs system economics that make it both scalable in the short-term and economically viable in the long-term. In particular, Q introduces the concept of integrated applications, which are end user applications that are integrated into the governance and economic framework of Q. A part of the fees generated by integrated applications accrues to holders of Q Tokens, who provide governance services. The value of Q and the security of its network is therefore backed by real-world, tangible usage.
Future-proof technology
The decentralized world is evolving rapidly. While no one can be certain about the direction of technological development, we can be certain that the space will continue to innovate rapidly. What has become clear is that no protocol can succeed in isolation. Rather, protocols need find their space within an interconnected ecosystem to survive and thrive.
Q is based on Ethereum technology, which has been tried-and-tested at scale. Developers can use the Solidity programming language as well as the tooling they are familiar with. From the start, Q will have token bridges to Ethereum, with bridges to other networks expected to be developed soon. This reflects Q’s vision of a multi-chain world where liquidity flows seamlessly between different blockchains. With Q being easily upgradable, the protocol adapts as quickly as technology evolves.
By integrating a universal governance framework and sustainable economics into a state-of-the-art blockchain, Q creates future-proof technology. Participants in Q benefit from high scalability, low transaction fees and robust security. Q aims to attract many financial and non-financial use cases into the crypto ecosystem which desire decentralization, scalability and dependability.
That’s it for today. If you want to learn more about Q, the best way to do so is to get involved: Visit the website at https://q.org/, read the whitepaper, have a look at the code, or — even better — run a node on the public testnet.
We look forward to hearing from you!
