The Qortal Network

Truly Decentralized

Community-Driven and Developed, Completely Custom Built, and Truly Decentralized. With its Unique Egalitarian Consensus Protocol, Leveling System, and Blockchain-Secured Distributed Data Network, QORTAL is Designed To Create A Completely Secure and Liberating Digital World.

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Qortal Blockchain Project

QORTAL is a completely unique blockchain-based infrastructure platform capable of rebuilding the internet entirely, as well as establishing the framework for a worldwide economic system based on individual input for gaining influence on the network.

QORTAL completely removes the ability to gain any influence by monetary means. Rather than financial input or computer power, QORTAL uses time as the value metric for importance as a node on the network. No longer can a user begin with a large amount of money and have an advantage. This creates a truly fair and honest ecosystem wherein users may provide their assistance, support, and various methods of input in order to obtain larger influence on the network and weight on the voting system that decides its future.

What Is The QORTAL Project?

Download QORTAL Core & UI

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Qortal's Blockchain

How blockchains are meant to be - In line with original Satoshi ideals.

The concept behind Bitcoin’s original whitepaper was to have users mine coin on their home computers as incentive for supporting the network. Over time, as developers took over the direction of Bitcoin, this innovative concept for decentralization was corrupted by the development of mining software and expensive hardware specifically designed to mine BTC.

This led to the centralization of power on the Bitcoin network, allowing those who have enough money to buy massive amounts of ASIC machines, to control consensus and earn most the rewards. Now the future of the network was in their hands. (MOST other projects in the ‘crypto space’ are allowed to be influenced by ‘money’ or ‘resources’. Proof of Stake AND Proof of Work are both influenced directly in this fashion.)

QORTAL’s ‘Minting’ consensus mechanism (A.K.A. ‘Proof of Contribution Over Time, and Memory Proof of Work’) removes the influence of money over the network. Instead it uses time as its main measurement of influence, where users upgrade to higher levels of influence the longer they run a full node supporting the network (with a ‘minting key’ assigned to their node). To become a Minter, and receive a reward every time a new block is signed, one must obtain a ‘sponsorship key’ from another (Level 5 or higher) minter.

The account providing the sponsorship key in Qortal does NOT get ANYTHING for issuing the key for a new minter, Qortal does NOT work like that. The ‘sponsorship’ is merely a method to limit minting account creation and provide a human verification element to the system. Allowing your friends and family to become minters is the goal of the system, building a completely legitimate network with REAL people involved.

(Improvements to the methods utilized for creation of new minters will of course take place over time.)

The ‘Become a Minter’ and ‘Sponsorship’ plugins (released in version 2.0 of the Qortal UI), dramatically reduce the complexity of creating and assigning ‘minting keys’, explain the minting system clearly, and allow simpler ‘tracking’ of the newly added minters.

The ‘influence’ generated by ‘Blocks Minted’ over time, is then directly applied to the ‘vote weight’ of Qortal Minters. This weight will be applied directly to votes in the ‘Voting System’ that will determine the future direction of the project in many ways, and the future block rewards after the initial schedule completes.

As time goes on further ‘leveling methods’ will also be created, to measure other types of input with new systems of influence measurement created by use of on-chain data.

A Network To Outlive Us All

Truly run by the individual users of the network.

QORTAL is designed to incentivize every user to run their own node on the network. This is key for building a truly robust infrastructure that will carry on indefinitely. Every effort has been made to ensure that the act of running nodes is both simple, and efficient for ‘any’ computer system. Even a system as low-powered as a Raspberry Pi 4 can run Qortal and make use of everything it provides.

The Qortal Development Group is an on-chain group that was created to facilitate communication and expansion of the development of the project. This group is created by community members who express interest in assisting the project’s development by way of direct contributions to the core repositories. The ‘admins’ of this group, are those whom without their signatures, the ‘auto-updates’ of the Qortal network’s core software, would not be able to take place. Becoming a developer admin only takes proving yourself and time.

We are always looking for new contributors from the community to continue building out the future of the platform. Get involved with the QORTAL community to become part of the future.

Security From The Ground Up

QORTAL stays true to cypherpunk first principles.

Completely written from scratch, QORTAL’s code is NOT a ‘fork’ of another blockchain project. It was coded to be in line with the first principles of the original ‘cypherpunk’ movement giving power back to the people in every regard.

Qortal’s focus is 100% decentralization, and 100% open source, to as low a level as possible. Fully open source nodes based on open source hardware is the future. No need to ‘trust’ any centralized entity in any fashion.

Qortal’s entire network will run on low-powered Single Board Computers, such as the Raspberry Pi 4.

Qortal’s Data Network (QDN) is the first of its kind to utilize a blockchain ledger to secure the data, without putting the data itself on the chain. This allows for the data to be scaleable to the level that will be required to rebuild ‘the internet’, while also retaining the security inherent to a blockchain. Every piece of data on QDN is encrypted, and chunked. Every piece of data is hashed, those hashes are put into a file with a list of hashes, then a single hash is published on the chain. This allows for total scalability of the data network long into the future.

Qortal’s data network puts the control of every piece of data completely into the USER’S HANDS. Only the individual on their own node can block access to any content on their own behalf. Nothing on QDN can be censored, blocked access to, or taken down on behalf of anyone else. QDN hosted websites and Q-Apps are unable to be hacked, unable to be censored, and hosted indefinitely. A one-time name registration fee for the creation of a name on Qortal (that is used as a ‘username’ and a ‘domain’ on Qortal) is all that is required, after that even putting the hashes onto the Qortal blockchain is completely fee-less. Host your website for free, forever, in an un-hackable fashion on QDN.

Qortal Project Features

The Qortal Blockchain project aims to bring a completely decentralized internet infrastructure backed by a worldwide, fair economic system based on individual input by each user.

Completely Decentralized Trade Portal - no more centralized exchanges to be hacked!

Qortal’s truly cross-chain trade platform, the Trade Portal allows trading from QORT to BTC, LTC, DGB, RVN, DOGE, and ARRR.

This means that QORT can never be ‘dead’ due to a lack of trading potential. The ability to trade QORT with the supported coins will ALWAYS exist.

No ‘tokens’ involved, no ‘wrapping’ of coins, and no middleman whatsoever involved in trades on the Trade Portal. Only true, layer 1 to layer 1 cross-blockchain trades.

If you hold LTC in your Qortal LTC wallet, you actually hold LTC, and not some wrapped version of it. Simplifying everything dramatically for the end users.

World First - Completely decentralized real-time blockchain-based communications system

Q-Chat is a fully featured text-based messaging platform, leveraging the power of the Qortal Blockchain. Utilizing unconfirmed transactions that are sent with a Memory-based Proof of Work (instead of a fee), users can message worldwide real-time with others.

Utilizing Qortal Registered Names users can also publish data on QDN, that can be shared directly with others via Q-Chat.

Q-Chat has the ability to send text, files, pictures, and links to content published elsewhere on QDN.

A truly decentralized system of fair input-based influence

The whole concept of the Qortal network, is the building of a truly decentralized internet based on fairness. Backed by an economic system that is worldwide, fair, and totally honest.

The system itself is honest, transparent, and completely custom.

Based on votes by leveled accounts, the system will be completely fair in both the future development and future decisions that can be made by vote of the users on the platform.

Aiming to build the world’s most honest and transparent User-Run worldwide platform to run the future digital world.

Qortal Brings Freedom To The Entire World

Secure Infrastructure for the Next Technological Generation

QORTAL will bring back individual sovereignty to the people of the world. It will rebuild the internet in an unhackable fashion, it will resolve devastation caused by exchange hacks and thefts and it will build a new worldwide economic system based on honesty, openness, trustlessness, and transparency. The network will utilize voting to determine the outcome in situations presented, with votes weighted based on network input over time. It’s A FAIR SYSTEM, with room for everyone to earn their place!

The existing internet and non-existent fair worldwide economic system, combined with the huge issue of large companies owning nearly everything and only getting bigger and controlling more and more… are huge issues that need resolution. Introducing to the world, QORTAL, wherein solutions to all of these issues and MUCH MORE can be found or created. Input from the community is ESSENTIAL to the underlying model and is how development will be carried out on QORTAL for years to come.

Come to a NEW INTERNET formed truly BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE, and establish yourself. Build your future plans, and your future security, on a system that cannot be censored, hacked, or taken down. Publish your group website or application usable worldwide for no hosting fees, and getting stronger and faster as time goes on. Check out the future of the digital world, on Qortal.

GET INVOLVED WITH QORTAL

Phase 1 - Establish Network

Launched June 29th 2020

This phase is about the establishment and growth of the base level of QORTAL, which heavily points toward ‘The Minters’.

Along with a revolutionary P2P on-chain communication tool called Q-Chat which does not require fees to use (other than the 0.001 QORT fee to join/create groups)!

Now chat securely and privately with Q-Chat, create groups and build secure online communities without censorship.

Phase 2 - Trade Portal

Launched August 6th 2020

The Trade Portal of QORTAL was created to completely REMOVE centralized entities from the act of making trades in financial markets.

It has the capability to rebuild exchanges in this fashion, wherein there is NO AUTHORITY over the TRADES taking place on the portal. Every trade is DIRECT P2P utilizing http://ciyam.org/at platform for SmartContracts, and a custom written (as everything on QORTAL is) ‘Trade Bot’ (for lack of a better term) running on each individual node that automates the multiple stages involved in a TRUE cross-chain coin trade, so that the Trade Portal is as simple to use as any centralized trade service but without any of the risks involved in those services.

Directly CROSS-CHAIN with NO INTERMEDIARY. A Trader utilizing the Trade Portal, NEVER HAS TO LET GO OF CONTROL OVER THEIR COINS IN ORDER TO TRADE. Currently supporting P2P trades of QORT with LTC & DOGE. Pirate Chain, Raven Coin & Digibyte coming soon…

Phase 3 - Data Storage + Web/dApp Hosting

Fully functional as of 2023

Phase 3 is now fully completed, Qortal is capable of hosting:

Websites
Applications
Communications

…and any combination therein to build whatever you would like for your community.

Have a group that you would like to establish on a system that values freedom and cannot be censored by anyone other than the individual users? Then Qortal is the only real solution for your needs.

Be a part of building the digital future our future generations can be proud of. One that gives back instead of taking from the people. Join the true digital revolution, completely decentralized and in your hands!

Phase 4 - Replacement of ISPs and 'internet connections'

Work is being started as of November 2023

Phase 4 is essentially the ‘final phase’ of the Qortal platform rollout. In this phase the need for ‘internet service providers’ will be diminished, and eventually completely removed.

Establishing the ‘Qortal Mesh Network’ for P2P node-to-node direct communications, without the need for a ‘gateway provider’ like the ‘ISPs’.

The protocol has been chosen (‘reticulum’) and it is ideal for Qortal’s use cases. It is as of November 2023 being started as far as the basic setup and implementation into the Qortal Core.

Once this connectivity is possible, the establishment of a worldwide serverless connection will be able to start. Over time, the need for internet service will be diminished, and eventually completely removed.