What Qtum is
Qtum is a proof-of-stake Layer-1 blockchain, currently ranked 204th by market capitalization among the assets we track. Qtum is a Layer-1 smart-contract platform secured by proof-of-stake: validators lock QTUM as collateral, and the protocol slashes anyone who misbehaves. The token is simultaneously gas, collateral, and a claim on staking yield.
Qtum is a blockchain platform that combines the strengths of Bitcoin and Ethereum, allowing for the creation of smart contracts and decentralized applications while maintaining a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. It aims to bridge the gap between the traditional financial system and blockchain technology.
How consensus and the token economy connect
Because security is bought with bonded QTUM rather than hardware, the share of supply staked is a useful gauge of conviction — and of how much float is effectively locked.
Under the hood, QTUM secures its ledger with Qtum Consensus (PoS), built on the POS 3.0 algorithm.
Background & fundamentals
Qtum first went live in 2016, giving it roughly 10 years of on-chain price history to draw on. Qtum operates under a semi-centralized structure, which concentrates protocol decisions in an identifiable issuer or foundation. A documented core team of 24 contributors is listed publicly, a depth of disclosed staffing many long-tail tokens lack.
Its codebase is open-source, meaning the implementation can be audited rather than taken on trust. The project publishes a whitepaper documenting its original design, which is worth reading before sizing any position in QTUM. CoinPaprika classifies the project's development status as "Working product".
In sector terms it is most often filed under Platform, Smart Contracts, and Token Issuance.
Where Qtum sits in the market
Trading around $0.6649, Qtum carries a market capitalization of $70.36M. Around $12.61M changes hands across exchanges in a typical 24-hour window. That is a turnover of about 17.92% of the float — elevated, often a sign of narrative-driven trading.
Qtum carries no fixed maximum supply; issuance follows a programmatic schedule rather than a hard cap. QTUM remains -99% beneath its all-time high of $106.88, the kind of gap that historically takes a full cycle or a fresh catalyst to close.
What the price history shows
The tape currently reads 24-hour -3.60%, 7-day -3.06%, 30-day -2.04%, 1-year -58.69%. Across roughly the last 365 days of daily candles, QTUM endured a peak-to-trough drawdown of about 74% before stabilizing.
Volatility profile
Recent action puts Qtum in the Moderate-volatility band — it shows the kind of price movement common in mid-cap crypto assets — meaningful but not unusual. Over the last 30 days the move totals -2.04%, a useful input for stop placement and position sizing.
How to evaluate Qtum
The honest checklist for QTUM is short:
- Real usage — active addresses, fees paid, and total value locked — does on-chain demand justify the valuation?
- Staking economics — the share of QTUM staked, the yield, and unlock/queue dynamics that govern liquid supply.
- Ecosystem depth — how many applications and how much liquidity have chosen Qtum over competing Layer-1s.
This page pulls live market data, on-chain stats where available, exchange-by-exchange volume, and our forecast model into one view so you can work through those questions in a single place. None of it is investment advice — it is a structured starting point for your own research.
