Qtum is a decentralized and open-source smart contracts platform and value transfer protocol. Qtum uses proof-of-stake consensus, meaning node operators are rewarded for validating transactions. It is a DGP governed blockchain where community participants can vote to change certain network parameters. Qtum is built on a bitcoin core fork, but the foundation has created its own hybrid blockchain with the help of several key tools. The coin uses bitcoin’s chain because of its simple and stable nature, allowing the foundation to build upon it more easily. As the QTUM project is a hybrid of Bitcoin and Ethereum, its team comprises of members from both Bitcoin and Ethereum community. They also have team members who formerly worked with Tencent, Alibaba, Nasdaq etc. Apart from that, they are backed by some notable VCs and prominent people from the Blockchain community such as Patrick Dai (Project Co-Founder), Neil Mahi (Chief Blockchain Architect/Co-Founder) and Jordan Earls (Lead Developer/Co-Founder). Qtum provides a Turing-complete blockchain stack and is able to execute smart contracts and decentralised applications like the Ethereum blockchain. Qtum builds on Bitcoin's UTXO transaction model and uses the Proof-of-Stake algorithm. It is backed by some highly prominent members of the blockchain community such as Anthony Di Iorio, Xu Star, Bo Shen, David Lee, Jehan Chu and Roger Ver. Qtum sold over 10 million dollars’ worth of its tokens after only 90 minutes, eventually raising a total value of $15.7 million before stopping the campaign early after only 5 days. They raised a total amount of 11,156.766 bitcoins (BTC) and 77,081.031 ether (ETH) in exchange for the 51 million Qtum tokens being distributed to the public. In Qtum’s whitepaper, 51% of the coins were distributed to the public via the crowdfunding campaign. Of the remaining 49%, 29% of the coins would be allocated as community incentives, and the remaining 20% would be distributed to the early backers and development team.
Stakenet launched in March of 2018 by building off of a POSWallet (POSW) to Stakenet (XSN) coin swap. The Stakenet blockchain was created from the swap and is a modified blockchain based on Bitcoin. POSWallet was the original incarnation of Stakenet and offered a staking wallet that served over 100 of the most popular and common cryptocurrencies. The complete number of POSW coins in distribution grew to 250 million, so the developers burned coins from their wallet to lower the circulation to 70 million. Unfortunately, the website for the POSWallet was hacked, resulting in the team leaving the project. Instead of completely abandoning it, the developers rebuilt the blockchain from the ground up with better features and have now migrated POSW to the superior XSN. The digital coin that powers the Stakenet platform is XSN. It features completely secure Trustless Proof of Stake and is compatible with the Lightning Network, which allows for instant transactions with little to no fees associated with them. XSN will be used to pay for any services on the platform. It can interact with other coins, which will make for many amazing opportunities for investors utilizing the program. For example, by using the platform’s Cross Chain Proof of Stake, holders can stake XSN and earn Bitcoin rewards. Users will also be able to pay anyone using any cryptocurrency just by having XSN. The coin will offer incredible flexibility in the way that it interacts with other cryptocurrencies.