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Qtum, a decentralized blockchain platform that connects Ethereum's intelligent contracts on the Bitcoin blockchain to provide a unique hybrid of the 2 cryptocurrencies, introduced the atomic swaps Bitcoin (BTC) on its mainnet infrastructure.
Qtum has released a study blog post on the issue in detail the technical details and the processes of a cross-chain atomic exchange between Qtum and Bitcoin.
What are atomic swaps?
Atomic swaps they are a method of exchanging peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrencies, from one side to the other without going through a third-party service such as a cryptocurrency exchange. Atomic swaps have the potential to completely revolutionize the cryptocurrency value transfer system.
If atomic exchanges turn out to be a viable solution for the exchange of cryptocurrencies, people will be able to exchange one token with another, directly from their cryptocurrency portfolios. The idea of atomic exchanges is very popular because the exchange of centralized encryption makes them susceptible to hacks, mismanagement, volume requests, government regulation and so on. Atomic swaps are a way to get around this.
The technology behind atomic swaps is very complicated and has been developed by various people since 2012. In the case of Qtum, Qtum-to-BTC atomic exchanges are made possible with the use of Hash Time-Locked Contracts technology (HTLCs).
This HTLC technology is adapted from the open source cryptocurrency code base Decred. According to Qtum, this is the safest way to implement atomic exchanges.
Other From Qtum
In addition to introducing the atomic exchanges of Bitcoin, also Qtum announced plans to release "0 Value UTXOs". This implementation would allow users who do not maintain Qtum to interact with Qtum dapps and smart contracts while a third party pays the commission.
This will be an important feature of Qtum, as it will make the blockchain and smart Qtum contracts much more accessible to users and will provide more use cases for companies that use Qtum's blockchain technology.
In the Qtum blog post on the topic, they provide an example of why "0 Value UTXO" are important:
"For example, an organization that distributes a form of ID can do so without forcing users to own Qtum by paying the commissions themselves, but the user would still be the owner of the ID, since in that transaction they would still be message senders ".
Conclusion
Qtum is an interesting platform for cryptocurrency and blockchain, as it is very versatile in what you are striving to achieve. For example, as Ethereum, Qtum is a cryptocurrency platform that supports smart contracts and decentralized applications (dapps). However, the difference between the two is that Qtum uses the Undent Transaction Output (UTXO), which reportedly allows lighter intelligent contract interactions. Furthermore, Qtum is working to support cross-chain atomic exchanges.
All in all, Qtum is a promising cryptocurrency and blockchain platform, to say the least. It will be interesting to see how the project develops, especially on the front of atomic swaps.
At the time of writing, Qtum is trading at $ 2.45, which is an increase of more than 11% from the start of the year, where it stood at $ 2.16. Qtum is currently ranked 27 with a market capitalization of $ 218,325,862 USD.
Do you think that the atomic exchanges of Qtum will be widely adopted? Will people stop using cryptographic exchanges if atomic exchanges are a success? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
