I've read the article published by Bitcoin Magazine a few days ago and I can't get the thought of how awesome Qtum is out of my mind. Full Disclaimer: I've chosen to learn to develop smart contracts upon the Qtum Blockchain because of its unique support for both the Ethereum and Bitcoin networks in addition to the wonderful Qtum community, clean software code and the availability of tons of documentation on Qtum development.
The ability to support the x86 virtual machine and not just the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) has sooo many advantages I'm excited for. The article lists the following:
- Programming Language Support
- Standard Library
- Optimized Gas Model
- Unlock the full power of the Account Abstraction Layer (AAL)
- New possibilities for smart contracts
- First-Class Oracles
- Blockchain Analysis
- Alternative Data Storage
- Explicit Dependency Trees
One of the biggest, most novel ideas is the ability to actually award developers and award the smart contracts themselves by allowing cheaper Gas cost for using limited features. That way simple smart contracts do not use the same Gas as more complex smart contracts. This is huge and when you think of IoT (Internet of Things) where machines are talking to machines, or tiny embedded devices and sensors that do very simple work, it will drastically reduce the Gas cost.
I'm also a big fan of Standards Libraries mainly for the security implication of relying on tried and true, tested code. Security should be at the forefront of everyone's mind when it comes to developing smart contracts. The entire software industry today is based onstandards libraries like Nuget packages, STL, etc. This creates an even wider opportunity for developers. Not to mention the partnership Qtum recently made with Qihoo 360.
Qtum is on the right track. Their ambition isn't too great nor too broad, but rather ambitious enough and focused. I'm more likely to respect Crypto projects that have a focus area that it does really well. Long live Qtum!
To make this super clear. Qtum helps bridge the gap but is its own chain in its own right. A community member wrote up a really nice explanation I want to post here:
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