Q in 2022: a retrospective of progress and development
The year 2022 was an exciting one for Q, marked by significant progress and growth. From the launch of the mainnet to partnerships with industry leaders, there was much to celebrate. In this retrospective, I will take a closer look at some of the most important developments of the year and their implications for Q’s future.
Q1’2022
Probably the most significant news for Q in 2022 was the launch of the Q mainnet. It has been a long journey to get to this point, with many milestones achieved along the way. This step was crucial in solidifying Q’s progress this year and providing the community with a solid foundation for further development. After more than a year of intense testing on various testnets, the final steps needed to launch the “real” Q on which an ecosystem could develop were successfully implemented.
Following mainnet launch, the core team continued working on features and tools to support the Q ecosystem. The documentation shows how Q provides transparency and enforceable private contracts on a public, open, decentralized ledger. Q and its tooling facilitates effective communication, allows to build decentralized applications easier, but most importantly offers a standard for governance in crypto projects.
Q2’2022
In the second quarter, Greenfield One joined the Q ecosystem by providing infrastructure such as running both a validator and a root node. As an early-stage fund, Greenfield is now exploring later-stage investment opportunities in the Q ecosystem. Additionally, Deutsche Telekom subsidiary T-Systems MMS provided secure infrastructure for Q by running validatior nodes as well as taking an active role in network governance.
Notably, wom3n.DAO became the first DAO to launch on the Q blockchain. This is a project that empowers women in blockchain and Web3.
Furthermore, the launch of Discord was a critical step in building, developing, and interacting with the community, leading to significant progress throughout the rest of the year.
Q3’2022
During the last year Q community expanded the ways of interacting with crypto-natives around the world by launching our Twitter account.
To ensure the security and stability of the protocol, a bug bounty program with Immunefi was launched. Users could search for bugs and receive up to $200,000 based on the severity of the issue, using the Immunefi Vulnerability Severity Classification System. Lastly, some of Q contributors participated in ETH Warsaw in Poland with the goal of showcasing the Q protocol and attracting the attention of notable figures in the crypto industry.
Q4’2022
The final quarter of the year was the richest in terms of events. Here are the most notable of them.
The Token Summit in Liechtenstein provided a unique opportunity to connect with the Liechtenstein Blockchain ecosystem, including exchanges, banks, developers, enthusiasts, advisors, regulators, and government officials. The Borderless Berlin conference also allowed for further connections and new ways for the Q protocol community to interact.
Every year, Lisbon attracts all digital nomads to Web Summit. However, this year there were more events to attend and offer, including:
- coworking space to meet Q contributors and followers during the Filecoin summit;
- Web3Hangout during Web Summit;
- Web3Wednesdays — local crypto community;
- Wow Summit;
- and the Staking Summit which offered opportunities for discussion on good governance in Web3 and the benefits for projects from decentralized governance.
The NBX conference in Berlin featured a presentation on the future of decentralized governance in Web3.
The Q core team ran a challenge at the HackOnChain hackathon, giving developers and hackers the opportunity to learn more about the Q protocol and its approach to governance. A total of 14 teams participated in the hackathon, with 9 of them taking on the Q challenge. The event provided a valuable chance for the community to engage with the project and gain a deeper understanding of its unique features.
Availability of tokenized gold on the Q blockchain, through VNX Gold, contributed to the Q ecosystem and allowed for buying and selling gold from anywhere in the world.
The core team also initiated the Athos hard fork, the first for the Q Blockchain. It improves operational security for validators and root nodes and includes dedicated withdrawal addresses in staking contracts.
Additionally,the Q Blockchain Validator Onboarding Program that aims to diversify the ecosystem and provide rewards for participants was announced. Moreover, the partnership with Tencent Cloud added support for Q validators and helped to advance web3 friendly cloud services.
A general recap for 2022
In 2022, the Q protocol was able to firmly establish itself as a key building block in the emerging field of decentralized governance. The community successfully established several key partnerships and achieved significant growth amidst a difficult market environment. This resilience serves as an indication that the Q protocol and its development are positioned for even greater success in the upcoming year of 2023.
