Qortal Newsletter Update: May 2023 Edition

Get ready for the next chapter in Qortal’s story! April brought forth a long list of core and UI enhancements including the long awaited Q-Apps! We also have a couple of new interviews to share and have more scheduled in the upcoming weeks – now is a great time to kick our marketing efforts into high gear as we’ve reached a new threshold in Qortal’s capabilities!

Project Update

Q-Apps

The secure by default, easy, and extremely liberating tool for creating apps freely, is live! Q-Apps allow developers the ability to create anything they want, free from any censorship or gatekeeping. All of this is made possible by Qortal’s infrastructure which has no reliance on centralized components or third party tools. Therefore Qortal itself does not have any choke points other than 1) current use of GitHub for our code repository (we backup our files in other locations for now, and have plans for a GitHub Replacement on Qortal) and 2) internet service itself (an alternative internet service solution is also within our roadmap). When it comes to building an application on Qortal, you’ll simply set up a node and account, then be able to build your app without any sort of fees or permission from the network. Your app can even make use of the cryptocurrencies we’ve built support for! The only aspect of gatekeeping when it comes to building apps, are with projects who seek their own asset, in which you will need to submit a proposal summary to the community about your ethical project, and we can get it approved through a process known as ‘asset issuance’. Other than this aspect, building Q-Apps is the new wild west!

Our team is working on Q-Apps technical guides and videos, a dedicated Q-Apps website, and a dedicated Q-Apps server on Discord where our team will assist you where possible. The ultimate goal is to eventually move completely over to Qortal (making Discord obsolete), but Qortal is not quite there yet. Join us!

Q-Apps Website: (Coming Soon)

Q-Apps Discord: https://discord.gg/d7Zg4B2KYw

Current Technical Guide: https://github.com/Qortal/qortal/blob/master/Q-Apps.md

Wiki Overview Page: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=q-apps

Q-Blog

Q-Blog is our first Q-App demo where users can create their own blogs up to 500mb each! No ads, no middlemen, no oversight control! Check out these walk-thru videos on how to use Q-Blog and a few other things such as auto-install in the UI. https://qortal.link/APP/Q-Blog/Q-Blog/qblog/Publishing-Blog-s-SncAO3

New Qortal Node Setup Feature

We are excited to announce that installing Qortal on a computer and turning it into a node, is as simple as downloading the user interface and following the prompts. This new feature streamlines the process of downloading the user interface as well as the core (which has previously been a separate install process). Setting up a node is now a breeze! Simply select the download option for your computer’s operating system at: https://qortal.org/downloads/

Crowetic on QDN

This is a progressive webpage built by Crowetic to be a demo of some of the various functionalities such as QDN Video, QDN Music, and QDN Files possible only in QDN. 

Crowetic’s Qortal Cloud

You now may use the Crowetic’s hosted Qortal Cloud, which is run by his servers and not on Qortal, to create documents such as in the Google Doc platform, Crowetic just enabled the Forms App to do so. Enjoy! https://cloud.qortal.org/apps/forms/s/nATyMYB2fPM88HPQMZoNtPZH

Q-Nect

Qnect 0.1.8 has been released. This is a mobile app for Android, and an app downloadable on Linux and Windows systems. Soon this app will have a notifications feature for unread messages. The developer Ido is planning to write a new version of an app like this which will be written from scratch using software called React – which will make account authentication possible (the ability to safely login with your Qortal account, as the current app only allows for read-only with no login capabilities). Stay tuned!

Download the native build at: https://site.qnect.org/Downloads.html 

Or use the web-based version at: https://www.qnect.org/ 

Future Upgrade Plans

Q-Mail

An email type application is in the works! It’s expected to go live in the next UI release! Here is an overview page about this feature: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=chain_messaging

Q-Tube

Originally, Q-Tube was expected to be part of the Q-Apps launch as a demo along with Q-Blogs. Given the things we’ve run into with Q-Blog videos, and Q-Tube intended to be solely a video platform, the team has been holding off on launching Q-Tube. The current focus is making modifications to the way data is handled, so that when posting larger files whether on Q-Blogs or Q-Tube, we can mitigate the random issues we see at the moment. Stay tuned! It’s all in the works!

Lite Nodes

Eventually we will have ‘Lite Nodes’ where mobile devices will be able to communicate with full nodes on the Qortal Network and be able to make use of nearly everything Qortal has to offer (the Trade Portal will not be an available feature as that requires a full node to conduct true P2P trades). You can read more about the differences between node types and this Lite Node concept at: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=node_types

Mesh Networking

Qortal’s roadmap includes a concept for ‘mesh networking’ which will be an internet service alternative. The team has begun looking into a protocol called Reticulum which seems to be existing technology that already exists and seems to be exactly what we’ve conceptualized so far for Qortal’s Mesh Networking. Therefore, it looks like Qortal will be making use of Reticulum – we thought it would be appropriate to announce this finding although we do not have more information to provide just yet. You can read more about the mesh network concept at: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=mesh_networking

GitHub Replacement 

One of the most important elements for any project is where they collaborate and store their codebase. Coming soon, is GitHub Replacement on Qortal’s infrastructure, not only for our project, for any others that may be interested in having complete control over their repo and no reliance on third parties! You can read more about this concept at: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=github_replacement

Metadata

There are plans to further enhance the speed and scalability of the metadata as well. More info on this coming soon!

Social Media

Crypto Mindset Reset Virtual Summit 2 (DAY 1)

Bitcoin #Crypto #Cryptocurrency Crypto Mindset Reset Virtual Summit 2 (DAY 1) https://rumble.com/v2iziz6-crypto-mindset-reset-virtual-summit-2-day-1.html

Crypto Mindset Reset Virtual Summit 2 (Day 1)

Crowetic made another awesome Qortal introduction as a decentralized ‘Digital Infrastructure Replacement’ for the internet as we know it. Crowetic explains how everyone can make use of the platform, from everyday users to developers! Topics covered include the ability for developers to easily create and publish Q-Apps freely, how Q-Blogs will become a future web builder, Q-Tube’s ability to download videos, a better concept for NFTs, and more! 

This video link was a live stream event with multiple speakers, so you’ll need to skip through if you want to go right to the parts where Crowe speaks. At the time marker 02:05:28 and again at 03:33:16!

Crypto Mindset Reset Virtual Summit 2 (DAY 2)

Web3 #Bitcoin #Crypto Crypto Mindset Reset Virtual Summit 2 (DAY 2) https://rumble.com/v2j3f0k-crypto-mindset-reset-virtual-summit-2-day-2.html

Crypto Mindset Reset Virtual Summit 2 (Day 2)

Check out CMR Summit2 on day 2, where Crowe provides a walkthrough of Qortal’s UI at the time marker 03:15:58!

Sayer Ji from Green Med Info talks censorship, AI, consciousness and COSMIC FREEDOM with Mike Adams

To learn more, visit: www.Greenmedinfo.com and www.unite.liveFor more updates, visit…www.brighteon.com

Brighteon.com

Shout out to Sayer Ji from Green Med Info who speaks about Qortal with Mike Adams while they discuss a variety of topics including censorship, AI, consciousness, and cosmic freedom!

Qortal Think Tank Meetings

Get into the brainstorming talks among crowetic, other co-founders, developers, and the community! These are casual chats open to the public. You can find recordings of these weekly meetings on the wiki: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=information_videos

Or in our Q-Blog: https://qortal.link/APP/q-blog/Qortal-Think-Tank/Publishing

Wiki Updates

The process for how to manually bootstrap has been added to this existing wiki page:  https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=how_to_bootstrap_delete_the_db#manual_bootstrap

The original Chain Messaging page has been converted into the Q-Mail page: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=q-mail

Reminders

Qortal Community Initiatives

We seek to build solutions! Check out our Community Initiatives here: https://qortal.link/community-initiatives/index.html

Qortal AT Lottery

Be on the lookout for the next decentralized automated lottery within the Qortal UI! Your chances of winning are completely random! Nobody handles any aspect of this manually (it’s all managed by what is called an ‘Automated Transaction’ and often referred to as ‘AT’). In order to buy a lottery ticket, you simply send a set amount of QORT to a specific address (the AT’s address), and you can only buy one ticket per Qortal Account. The system will then select a winning ‘ticket’ at a predetermined block arrival. This is one of many alternate use cases for the AT system of Qortal and makes for a great demo! The AT address will be different for each lottery issued. In the future, the ability to create these lottery ATs and many other types of ATs will be built into the Qortal UI.

Ticket price of previous lotteries: 10 QORT (ticket price is programmable upon AT launch)

Read more about the Lottery System here: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=lottery_system

Crowetic Hardware Development “CHD”

Custom laptops and QORTector devices utilizing the Raspberry Pi are available at CHD for those interested in a pre-built device! CHD is now also offering a service for you to ship your existing computer and have it upgraded if you’d like! With this service, your computer will be formatted with Linux while also enhanced for security and privacy. You can read more about this new service at: https://test.crowetic.com/index.php/chd-upgrade/

Final Words 

The next generation of the Internet will not be harvesting your data, as that data simply doesn’t exist on the Qortal Data Network (QDN). Content creators can now have complete control over their work, just as the everyday user can have complete control over their account with wallets, trading, communications, and more! Welcome to the future where Qortal’s technology focuses on restoring individual sovereignty and collective consciousness. With virtually no cost to get started, what are you waiting for?

Motivational Quote

“The world is our oyster.’’ ~Crowetic”

Join Us!

Discord: https://discord.gg/UqhQCYjVw2

Twitter: https://twitter.com/qortal_official

Telegram (general chat): https://t.me/qortal_official

Telegram (tech support): https://t.me/qortalchat http://qortal.org/

http://qortal.org/

http://wiki.qortal.org/

 

 

 

 

Qortal Newsletter Update: April 2023 Edition

We’re at a major fork in the road in mankind’s story, where we have the opportunity to build alternative systems. Hence Qortal: peer into the future! You are all investing in a viable alternative infrastructure that is being built to stand the test of time. This is no pipe dream, no smoke screen. Our project is nearing the next plateau in its story, where the platform finally unleashes a key element: Q-Apps. This means greater scalability on top of a base platform with incredible underlying tech many have yet to fully understand. 

We’re in a pivotal time where the project needs a push and we’re in preparation for a marketing storm. Please help in whatever form you feel guided. Qortal is here for the outcome, not just a sole income.

Project Update

Qnect App Version 0.1.7

Qnect is a cross platform app that currently offers a read-only option for Qortal’s Q-Chat. Eventually this app will allow users to login and make use of Q-Chat. Qnect is natively available for most Android, Linux, and Windows systems. If you’re using a different platform or are having trouble using the native app on your system, you can always use the (progressive) web app by visiting http://www.qnect.org/ For a more detailed report on the changes you can read the release notes txt file. You can download the Qnect version for your platform at https://site.qnect.org/Downloads.html

Learn more about Q-Nect App here: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=qnect_app 

Sneak Peeks

Q-Apps

Q-Apps will be here very soon! To make this awesome feature even better, Crowetic presented a concept to the developers that, when developed, will allow anyone to make use of Q-Apps through gateway nodes like https://qortal.link/crowetic. When accessing through a gateway, it will create you an ‘anonymous account’ automatically allowing you to interact with Q-Apps and giving you the ability to ‘download this account’ to take it with you to use on your node.

Q-Tube

~Coming Soon~ An alternative video hosting application.

Q-Blog

~Coming Soon~ An alternative blog hosting application.

Social Media

[Project]: Override Episode 11: The Qortal Network

Check out this latest interview which is one of Crowetic’s most comprehensive breakdowns of Qortal! It’s phenomenal!  https://www.bitchute.com/video/VRdf3BogitsZ/

The Corbett Report Interview With Crowetic

In this video, James introduces Crowetic to his audience and highlights Qortal’s distinctive features such as being constructed from the ground up and the internet’s ultimate freedom purpose, in his hunt for a solution to basic internet censorship and centralized control. Crowetic provides insight to Qortal’s user interface (UI), the development of new features including the much-desired Q-Apps, and the growth of the community! https://www.corbettreport.com/solutionswatch-communication/

Meta-Builders Media

Check out this very informative article about Qortal written by Meta-Builders Media. The article provides a nice introduction to its readers about overview information related to project ideals and other details in a quick read. Enjoy! https://medium.com/r/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmetabuilders.substack.com%2Fp%2Fdecentralized-blockchain-qortal

Qortal Think Tanks

Get into the brainstorming talks among crowetic, other co-founders, developers, and the community! These are casual chats open to the public! You can find recordings of these weekly meetings on the wiki: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=information_videos

Reminders

Qortal Community Initiatives

We seek to build solutions! Check out our Community Initiatives here: https://qortal.link/community-initiatives/index.html

Qortal AT Lottery

Be on the lookout for the next decentralized automated lottery within the Qortal UI! Your chances of winning are completely random! Nobody handles any aspect of this manually (it’s all managed by what is called an ‘Automated Transaction’ and often referred to as ‘AT’). In order to buy a lottery ticket, you simply send a set amount of QORT to a specific address (the AT’s address), and you can only buy one ticket per Qortal Account. The system will then select a winning ‘ticket’ at a predetermined block arrival. This is one of many alternate use cases for the AT system of Qortal and makes for a great demo! The AT address will be different for each lottery issued. In the future, the ability to create these lottery ATs and many other types of ATs will be built into the Qortal UI.

Ticket price of previous lotteries: 10 QORT (ticket price is programmable upon AT launch)

Read more about the Lottery System here: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=lottery_system

Crowetic Hardware Development “CHD”

Whether a custom laptop, or a QORTector utilizing the Raspberry Pi, CHD is offering these products worldwide (shipping out of NV USA). Custom laptops include upgraded storage to SSD, a deactivated Intel management engine, disabled tracking systems, and visual and performance tweaks for full functionality, including the battery and power adapter. Custom laptop builds are also offered if desired! QORTectors include custom kernels (software) to provide optimized cryptographic and security functions for a reasonably priced 5W dedicated minting machine! They will also offer the QORTable device once it is made available. New customized laptops are being listed all the time, so check back often for updated listings! As of March 1st, all CHD laptops will come with multiple desktop environments. These will include a ‘windows-like’ desktop environment and a ‘mac-like’ desktop environment so users can choose which they use based on their experience with centralized operating systems. Both environments are completely customized for ease of use and appeal.

CHD has updated the website making it cleaner and simpler to use. The laptops page has been updated so that it will automatically show newly listed machines all in one place. Check it out:  https://test.crowetic.com/index.php/random-rebuilds/ https://crowetic.com

Wiki Updates

Leveling System infographic has been updated on the wiki: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=leveling_system

All links to Think Tanks can be found on the wiki: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=information_videos

All links to Interviews/Podcasts can be found on the wiki: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=interviews_podcasts

Final Words

The community is energized brainstorming the marketing arena, creating video series, printing flyers and stickers that will create awareness everywhere! 

Motivational Quote

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.”

Join Us!

Discord: https://discord.gg/UqhQCYjVw2

Twitter: https://twitter.com/qortal_official

Telegram (general chat): https://t.me/qortal_official

Telegram (tech support): https://t.me/qortalchat http://qortal.org/

Website: http://qortal.org/

Wiki: http://wiki.qortal.org/

Greetings Qortians! We have a lot of development in the works and things are moving along steadily. The first phase of the Names Market has been launched, we now have weekly ‘Think Tank’ meetings in Discord, a new Discord server dedicated to marketing efforts is being made, the first iteration of Q-Apps is nearing launch, and so many other awesome things are in the works. Qortal is infrastructure. Implementing a new infrastructure requires effort. Qortal’s efforts depend on all of us working together to fill all voids. Remember that Qortal is a community developed and run project. Every member of the community has their role in assisting Qortal with building the future digital infrastructure of the world!

 

Project Updates

Qortal ‘Names Market’

Names on Qortal are not just the equivalent of ‘domain names’, but also offer the ability to act as an on-chain username for any Q-App (social media, communications, profiles for all Q-Apps that ‘follow’ you from one to another), a QORT wallet ‘nickname’, and even an “NFT” (proof of ownership AND the data tied to the proof – where a user can soon manage a git repo and any other data associated with the name). A Qortal name will have the ability to have a website, git repo, public and private data, application, and followers tied to it, all of which can be sold AT ONCE on the Names Market to another owner that can pick up where the previous owner left off with NO changes to ‘hosting’, ‘DNS’ or anything associated with the current ‘internet’. This is a revolutionary concept that will allow building and selling entire ‘brands’ or ‘companies’ at once, along with their entire digital presence secured on a distributed decentralized network. The Names Market is a plugin that allows owners to list names for sale, at whatever price in QORT they see fit. Remember, each name is unique and is permanently owned until sold – which can now be done via the Names Market!

European Marketing Team

Our European community has a goal to print between 10,000 and 100,000 flyers and/or stickers to hand out over the summer. If you are interested in helping get the word out in Europe, contact Positeer#5504 in our Discord.

If you would like to contribute to this cause, you can send to the “Promotion” account:

QORT: Qf166hvr4jYF49mZ4LotA6EGJXzef35ZtF 

LTC: LKH5BuCLGUAzeuUCeZ6bEiXABFUbbN2z6V 

ARRR: zs14m4p77qy3vr9d2v3eh65adg3rvfxuxssh34d6jyn4azrkqc99k4eyzh86py08rjc5c3kzhstgpv

Spatial.io

We have started to discuss a potential relationship with Spatial as we explore their immersive 3D ‘metaverse’ concept. Visit their website to experience a Star Wars flight simulator, an 88 MPH Back to the Future ride, or a concept of your own design! You’ll also find a Qortal infographic that the team added to bring awareness to our project! https://www.spatial.io/

Crowetic Consulting

Since Qortal is being built to offer secure and distributed infrastructure, Crowetic Consulting is a new company and service provider preparing to launch. The objective is to assist the public and private sector with building solutions on Qortal’s infrastructure. Whether it be a website, app, its own chain, or any other means of building real value, virtually anything is possible. Stay tuned!

Payment System Plugin

There are several important aspects for Qortal to become a viable alternative for the future digital world. One aspect is the ability to safely conduct transactions with a payment system. Q-Apps will soon unleash a plethora of capabilities including a payment system concept. Envision e-commerce and subscription-based services on the Qortal Network thriving with a trustless payment system! Envision the local storefront having the ability to host their own website and accept QORT or any of the other coins we build support for! There’s even a possibility that we can develop a partnership with a third party fiat gateway service, as Qortal will never build support for fiat directly, but there may be a way to ensure greater adoption during the ‘transition’ from fiat money with some form of fiat gateway onboarding. 

QORTable – The Portable Qortal Device

‘QORTable’ will also soon be available. QORTable is a totally portable installation of Qortal. Utilizing custom scripts, QORTable allows a user to have a completely self-contained installation of Qortal that functions on any existing OS. The Qortal Core and UI will run without having to install anything on a computer. The core and UI run with the computer’s hardware, but the Qortal installation, database (including other types of data), and UI stay on the external drive which means QORTable will be plug-n-play ready for running the Qortal Core and UI from one computer to another at any time! In other words, you can stop where you are on one computer and pick up where you left off on another computer with QORTable! No exact release date is planned, but it will be available soon at: https://crowetic.com

Qortal Voting System

Qortal will soon launch the long-awaited Voting System. This on-chain feature will give every Minter a weighted vote based on their blocks minted count when taking part in network-wide decision making. This weighted vote concept is based on TIME and CONTRIBUTION, just as the Leveling System is. This technology can also be used for the Groups built on Qortal, where these sub-communities can launch their own votes or polls. More info will be provided soon. 

 

Wiki Updates

The wiki has a couple of updates worth noting.

How To Build Qortal UI From Source guide has been updated in a more detailed format: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=qortal_ui_from_source

QORTEX open source block explorer has been added: 

Thanks to Positeer, How To Change A Name Guide has been created: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=how_to_change_a_name

QORTEX open source block explorer has been added: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=qortex

Each Qortal Think Tank episode will be added here: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=information_videos

 

Social Media

Think Tank #1 (February 28th 2023)

We are now hosting Qortal Think Tank every Tuesday at 10am PST in the Qortal Community Discord! Join us as we use this time to learn more about the overall ideals of the project, the inner workings of the platform, the ever-evolving roadmap, and share ideas to further the mission. Anyone is able to ask questions, provide feedback, present ideas for comments by the developers, and more! Recordings are currently posted on YouTube for those who aren’t able to join, and links can also be found on the wiki: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=information_videos

Privacy Crypto Speculation Charts

Check out this article by H8St8, where the crypto privacy arena and the war for your money are covered and along with the technical characteristics of leading privacy coins, all while Qortal is given a prominent role in it: https://bastyon.com/h8st8?s=89e7cf4e13f8e062c7d4d19415ae9e07b79bb4d89b26b079a77c1b0f446d1558&mpost=true

Qortal AT Lottery

Be on the lookout for the next decentralized automated lottery within the Qortal UI! Your chances of winning are completely random! Nobody handles any aspect of this manually (it’s all managed by what is called an ‘Automated Transaction’ and often referred to as ‘AT’). In order to buy a lottery ticket, you simply send a set amount of QORT to a specific address (the AT’s address), and you can only buy one ticket per Qortal Account. The system will then select a winning ‘ticket’ at a predetermined block arrival. This is one of many alternate use cases for the AT system of Qortal and makes for a great demo! The AT address will be different for each lottery issued. In the future, the ability to create these lottery ATs and many other types of ATs will be built into the Qortal UI.

Ticket price of previous lotteries: 10 QORT (ticket price is programmable upon AT launch)

Read more about the Lottery System here: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=lottery_system

Crowetic Hardware Development “CHD”

Whether a custom laptop, or a QORTector utilizing the RaspberryPi, CHD is offering these products worldwide (shipping out of Reno NV USA). Custom laptops include upgraded storage to SSD, a deactivated Intel management engine, disabled tracking systems, and visual and performance tweaks for full functionality, including the battery and power adapter. Custom laptop builds are also offered if desired! QORTectors include custom kernels (software) to provide optimized cryptographic and security functions for a reasonably priced 5W dedicated minting machine! They will also offer the QORTable device once it is made available. New customized laptops are being listed all the time, so check back often for updated listings! As of March 1st, all CHD laptops will come with multiple desktop environments. These will include a ‘windows-like’ desktop environment and a ‘mac-like’ desktop environment so users can choose which they use based on their experience on centralized Operating Systems. Both environments are completely customized for ease of use and appeal. https://crowetic.com

Additional Notes

We had our second historic chain stall in February. This was due to a genesis bug which wasn’t fully realized until the names functionality was modified (due to developing the Names Market) and launched on the main net. The solution was to install a new core version and bootstrap if on the ‘stuck’ block. The network is back on track now, so it’s back to the usual, onwards and upwards! For the record, the DevTeam always tests releases in a dev net environment prior to releasing, but sometimes unforeseen events occur only after launching on the main net. The DevTeam is working on a permanent test net which anyone interested could help take part with. More info on that will be coming soon. Please note: users of CHD’s laptops who followed Crowe’s Ubuntu Desktop installation guide, as well as those with newer QORTector versions sold by CHD, would have automatically recovered from this issue thanks to the ‘auto-fix-qortal.sh’ script that is setup to run automatically on these devices. Reach out if you’re interested in automating your Linux machines with this script! 

A Message From CalDescent

“Qortal is an incredibly complicated system, with over 40 different transaction types. Compare that to most crypto projects, which really only have one type (payment) — or at least just a few variations of the payment type. Qortal’s transactions affect the chain state in significant ways, such as adding and updating names, groups, websites, balances, reward eligibility, etc., and it all has to be done in a way that doesn’t result in any discrepancies. Qortal’s foundational code is close to perfect. You can see that by the number of unit tests that exist in the core, testing various elaborate scenarios to proactively ensure there are no bugs. However, it’s not 100% perfect. There have been very minor consensus bugs in the code since the original published version, with a couple more introduced along the way. Even a single line or character out of place in the consensus or transaction processing code is enough to split the network into endless forks or stall the entire chain. In a project like this, there is zero room for error when it comes to the foundational code. And we need a lot more core development and testing resources before it will get to a stage where every one of these lurking bugs is completely fixed.”

A Message From Crowetic

“#Qortal $QORT – Now in final stages of #Q-Apps Development. This will allow ANY application to be built on top of Qortal’s infrastructure. You think NFTs are useful, you’ve not seen ANYTHING yet. ;)”

Motivational Quote

 “Aim for the stars and maybe you’ll reach the sky.” — Reinhold Niebuhr

Join Us!

Discord: https://discord.gg/UqhQCYjVw2

Telegram (general chat): https://t.me/qortal_official

Telegram (tech support): https://t.me/qortalchat

Twitter: https://twitter.com/qortal_official

Website: http://qortal.org/

Wiki: http://wiki.qortal.org/

 

Greetings Qortians! As we kick off the new year, development continues to take large strides in the right direction. Qortal is bigger than “crypto” – and the roadmap is ever-evolving as we build from scratch! By utilizing blockchain technology, Qortal aims to provide the world with true peer-to-peer solutions (P2P) in areas of local wallets, cross-chain trading (atomic swaps), e-commerce, communications, data hosting, application hosting, and more! Envision a base platform that offers alternatives to rebuilding the Internet, crypto space, and internet service itself!

 

QORTEX

The first iteration of a fully open source block explorer has arrived! QORTEX offers a way for users to review certain data on Qortal from a web browser (without having to access through a Qortal node). Eventually, QORTEX will become a Q-App and be available within the Qortal UI as well! We thank our lead UI developer AlphaX Projects for starting the development of this explorer and look forward to seeing more features be released soon! 

https://explorer.qortal.org/

Q-Apps

Q-Apps will be the first time for EXTERNAL developers to directly jump in without any ‘approval’ of any kind, and start developing on Qortal (excluding projects seeking asset issuance). We’ll build an App Store that will list all of the applications as Apple and Android app stores do, including ratings and reviews! For those who understand how the GitHub works, you can read an explanation about all the various ways websites and apps can interact in the first iteration’s framework here (note that the core side is done, but the UI side will need at least another month or so before this is live): https://github.com/Qortal/qortal/blob/q-apps/Q-Apps.md

 

Price Charts

Thanks to AlphaX Projects, beginning with UI version 3.0.0, the UI now has the ability to navigate between price charts for each trading pair! You can change the date range or simply press a button to export and view full screen. Enjoy!

 

Trade Bot Update

When a buyer selects a sell order, the buyer’s foreign coin (BTC, LTC, DOGE, RVN, DGB, ARRR) is removed from the local wallet and placed into an on-chain escrow (using a P2SH address), and the trade is then coordinated via the the buyer and seller’s trade bots. If either node goes offline for whatever reason, the buyer’s coin is returned of course, but the transaction fee on the foreign blockchain is NOT refunded. This can be frustrating, discouraging, and costly for users on the Trade Portal. Thanks to CalDescent, the next release includes a feature that will prevent foreign coins from leaving the local wallet when there is a high probability that the trade will fail; a check for unconfirmed transactions related to the seller’s QORT offer will identify if someone else is trying to buy the order as well as if the seller is canceling the trade.

https://github.com/Qortal/qortal/commit/876658256f735853040e930b057ee1db025d54a2

 

Q-Chat

Q-Chat has more features in the works! Recent updates include the ability to: 1) post pictures, 2) react to messages with emoticons, 3) reply to messages in group chats, and 4) tip users. 

Soon we’ll have file attachments (more than image files), and a GIF repository where you’ll be able to create a collection of GIFs and/or subscribe to them! Check out the quick video below and learn how to tip a user from within any chat inside Qortal’s UI, as well as by clicking on the person’s name from any group members’ list they are in:

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/357242391750508545/1061701152216985600/Qortal_Tip_User.gif

 

AT Lottery System

Be on the lookout for the next decentralized automated lottery within the Qortal UI! Your chances of winning are completely random! Nobody handles any aspect of this manually (it’s all managed by what is called an Automated Transaction often referred to as “AT”). In order to buy a ‘ticket’, you must send QORT to a specific address (the AT’s address), and you can only buy one ticket per Qortal Account. The system will then select a winning ‘ticket’ at a predetermined block arrival. This is one of many alternate use cases for the AT system of Qortal and makes for a great demo! The AT address will be different for each lottery issued. In the future, the ability to create these lottery ATs and many other types of ATs will be built into the Qortal UI.

Ticket price: 10 QORT

Read more about the Lottery System here: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=lottery_system

Community Services

Crowetic Hardware Development “CHD”

Qortians the winter sale is still going on! Get the easiest, fastest, and most efficient device to run your Qortal node! Whether a custom laptop, or a QORTector utilizing the RaspberryPi, CHD is offering these products worldwide (shipping out of Reno NV USA). Custom laptops include upgraded storage to SSD, a deactivated Intel management engine, and visual and performance tweaks for full functionality, including the battery and power adapter. Custom laptop builds are also offered if desired! QORTectors include custom kernels (software) to provide optimized cryptographic and security functions for a reasonably priced 5W dedicated minting machine! https://crowetic.com

 

Developers Wanted

We’re currently looking for experienced pool developers to assist in a new project. If you know how to work with https://github.com/tpruvot/yiimp or NOMP, NGINX, APIs, etc, and have experience building pools for chains, also looking for a python/os developer that can customize Qubes-OS for Qortal. Please let us know and contact: Captain Loo✟z#2749 in our discord server: https://discord.gg/UqhQCYjVw2

 

Social Media

CryptoTips

Listen to this great chat with the CryptoTips tribe with Crowetic. He shares his own journey in cyberspace before continuing to inform the audience about the various possibilities that Qortal provides to modify how we utilize the Internet. He places emphasis on the notion that true decentralization only happens when the individual has complete control over their machine and equally important, are true peer-to-peer (P2P) solutions without any central points of attack (centralization). This talk is incredibly educational and easy for everyone to understand as these points are explained. The era of Qortal is here!

https://odysee.com/@CTClub-Community:a/Speaker—Jason-Crowe:1?&sunset=lbrytv

GreyWolf and Crowetic

Superb AMA with Polarity Exchange’s GreyWolf! In an easy-to-read and technical manner, Crowetic covers the amazing QDN, a full dissection of the AT (automated transactions), the advent of Q-Apps, the Qortal Git, as well as some of the challenges over the years of development and what’s in store for the future! This is a quick and easy read: Here:https://qortal.org/qortal-ama-with-crowetic-and-greywolf/

Final Words

The recent events in the crypto space have created awareness to the risks associated with centralized services that control user’s keys… remember folks: NOT YOUR KEYS, NOT YOUR CRYPTO! With Qortal, each user is in complete control over their account, keys, and data. This is just the beginning! We appreciate all of you and as we often say, TOGETHER WE ARE THE CHAIN!

“Today’s tears water tomorrow’s gardens.”

Join Us!

Discord: https://discord.gg/UqhQCYjVw2

Twitter: https://twitter.com/qortal_official

Telegram (general chat): https://t.me/qortal_official

Telegram (tech support): https://t.me/qortalchat http://qortal.org/

Website: http://qortal.org/

Qortal Wiki: http://wiki.qortal.org/

 

Qortal Newsletter Update January 2023 Edition

Happy New Years Qortians! 2022 was a year full of complex developmental achievements that prepared us for the new year. Network performance, combating self-sponsorship, and base layers for an ever-evolving platform are just a few areas in which Qortal has advanced. We’ve experienced all sorts of challenges that were not easy to resolve, but with passionate care, we continue to make large strides in the right direction! 

Self Sponsorship Algorithm 

The self-sponsorship algorithm was implemented in December. This area of development took several months to conceive and code, with tedious care. The algorithm uses data points to identify and then penalize accounts deemed to be ‘self-sponsored’ accounts (literally individuals sponsoring multiple accounts for their own personal gain). These accounts are given a ‘-5 Million blocksMinted Penalty’ which discredits each account’s blocks minted count by 5 million. Thereafter making the account revert back to below level 0, unable to mint, and unable to sponsor (if the account was level 5+). Most if not all subsequent accounts under the self sponsor are also given the same penalty, while also using data points to avoid penalizing what appear to be ‘normal users’ who were sponsored by the account being penalized. As you see, this is a rather complex design based on data points that was not easy to produce. Of course no system is perfect, and Qortal’s Minting and Sponsorship Systems will never be entirely fool-proof, but hopefully this historic implementation will help deter more of those attempting to self sponsor and ensure a more fair system for all Minters. Please note: the self-sponsorship algo is not continual, meaning it is a one-time sweep each time it is run. There will be a second sweep at a later time, after more data can be reviewed and collected, as well as allocating development time to this unfortunate issue. The Qortal Wiki will soon have a page with a more in-depth explanation of the Blocks Minted Penalty! 

Q-Chat Update

We also encountered a unique Q-Chat issue due to a spammer in the General Chat (creating a new account for each new message so users cannot simply block a single spam account). This event bogged down the performance of nodes connecting to the network (causing much more MemPoW verification processing with each message), and led to the recent update where level zero accounts must now hold a minimum of 4.2 QORT in their wallets in order to grant faster chat capacities. Further work and investigation will be done in regard to this pragmatic issue.

 

Qortal UI Block Explorer

The UI now has its own built-in block explorer! Simply type in a QORT address or registered name in the search bar at top of the UI, and a pop-up will appear with the account’s information (including trades on all markets). Eventually we’ll have a mobile solution (lite nodes) so users can access their accounts and Qortal Network info without having to do so on their full nodes. Stay tuned!

Auto-Buy

Qortal’s Trade Portal now offers ‘Auto-Buy’. This feature lets users select the amount of coin they are willing to trade at a value set by the user. This ‘buy order’ is then set to automatically buy every order within the set parameters (and is only viewable to the user setting the buy order). The Auto-Buy is designed to select the lowest priced orders in the market, and buy as many of them up to the set rate the user has selected. For example, a user could set the Auto-Buy for 5000 QORT at 0.01 and the trade bot will buy as many of the sell orders under 0.01 up to a total of 5000 QORT. If an order is refunded, it will not attempt to buy from that sell order again. Please note: the UI must be left open if an Auto-Buy order is in place, and the user must stay signed into the account with the Auto-Buy. You can use the other plugins within the UI such as Websites or Q-Chat, but the UI must be left open.

Price Charts Coming Soon!

The long awaited price charts within the UI are nearly ready! Users will be able to view the history of each market over various time frames. Stay tuned!

More Development News

Development is picking up speed in other areas: the first iteration of Q-Apps nears, data transmission enhancements with QDN, while Q-Chat is evolving with a protocol instead of unconfirmed transactions (making it much faster and more efficient, and with less or no ‘missed’ messages), Q-Chat will also have new features such as picture and file messaging, edits, replies, formatting, and ability to store messages as long as the user would like (locally)! Another important area of development is the Voting System – where our votes will be weighted based on blocks minted and make decisions on certain aspects of the project’s direction. Coming soon!

Q-Apps will provide the Qortal Network with a variety of different functionality, including but not limited to: payment processing, cross-name linking, individual file downloads, code repository solution (GitHub replacement), video hosting and streaming (YouTube replacement), and evolving Qortal into a platform where apps can be built freely (without the Qortal developers being required). We will also have both ‘default’ and ‘external’ UI ‘plugins’ (applications that can be installed to run directly in the UI like the current plugins on the left sidebar) and will have eventually a location to acquire these plugins hosted on QDN. Read more about Q-Apps here:  https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=q-apps

AT Lottery System

Enter our fully decentralized automated lottery! Your chances of winning are completely random! Nobody handles any aspect of this manually. For the moment, this is an AT-Powered Lottery System, so in order to buy a ‘ticket’, you must send your QORT to a specific address (the AT’s address), and you can only buy one ticket per Qortal Account. The system will then select a winning ‘ticket’ at a predetermined block arrival. (This is one of many alternate use cases for the AT system of Qortal.) The AT address will be different for each lottery issued. In the future, the ability to create these lottery ATs and many other types of ATs will be built into the Qortal UI, 

Ticket price: 10 QORT

The Qortal ‘AT’ system (or Automated Transactions) allows for multiple types of transaction automation to take place. Currently we utilize it primarily for the peer-to-peer Cross-Chain Trades (or the ACCT AT) within the Trade Portal. There is a lot of other functionality that can take place utilizing ATs, such as ‘automated escrow’, ‘automated decentralized lotteries’, ‘automatic payments’ on a schedule, ‘funds holding and distribution’, and much more. As time goes on, many more ATs will be built for Qortal, and able to be utilized. But it takes time to develop and test, and the UI components must be built as well, in order to allow other users to make use of the created ATs, deploy them, etc. The first Lottery AT test on Qortal is LIVE! Read more about the Lottery System here: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=lottery_system

Crisis Event

Be sure to catch Qortal’s co-founder, Crowetic, when he meets with a number of freedom fighters during February 6–10 with the goal of releasing revolutionary knowledge and their passions so that we may create a sane, liberated, and empowered community.

Anyone who feels led to speak is welcome to do so; the event is free and open to everybody. Find more details here: https://piratechain.com/events

Join their hangout hub headquarters on the open Guilded server: https://www.guilded.gg/r/zzyjKrQ0qE?i=d3737Nkd

 

Crowetic Hardware Development “CHD”

CHD was founded as a third party service provider to the Qortal Project – providing pre-built computers to operate as nodes on the Qortal Network! From laptops and QORTectors, to custom Qortal merch, CHD is a totally optional service for those interested. Get the easiest, fastest and more efficient device to run your Qortal node with this winter’s sale! Custom laptops include updated storage to SSD, a deactivated Intel management engine, and visual and performance tweaks for full functionality, including the battery and power adapter. QORTectors include custom kernels (software) to provide optimized cryptographic and security functions for a reasonably priced 5W dedicated minting machine! https://crowetic.com

Social Media

Crypto Rich

True decentralization is defined by Crowetic in this interview with Crypto Rich. His persona being just another contributor to the creation of Qortal’s infrastructure is the first of Qortal’s guiding principles. He continues by outlining the current state of Qortal and its primary objective of developing into a peer-to-peer, decentralized, free, and private internet supported by a mesh network data service alternative, all done and controlled by the user.

The reason for community-driven birth, Qortal partnerships, the process of minting QORT coin, sponsorship, and the system’s ability to offer each person full control are all explained by Crowetic! 

Rice Crypto Show

In this interview, Crowetic goes on to shed some light on how the base-level infrastructure combined with decentralization offers infinite use cases on the alternative internet Qortal is building. Crowetic points out Etherium’s failure to achieve true decentralization in the financial world and Qortal’s goal to succeed in it as well as other fields, including Qortal’s focus on the average user to take part in minting without the need to compete with the use of computational power but rather only by time contributed to the network.

The memory-based Proof of Work (memPoW), which aims to limit multiple minting accounts per node, prevents system-feeding whales that are overly voracious. The self-sponsorship algorithm’s recent inception and functioning are thoroughly discussed here, along with many other gems like the forthcoming mesh network and free ISP! Don’t miss this insightful discussion!

CryptoMindsetReset – crowetic Talks Qortal @ Virtual CryptoMindsetReset Event December 14th 2022

Qortal co-founder and current dev team facilitator @crowetic speaks on the TRUE crypto RESET with Qortal.

unite.live

CryptoMindsetReset

Crowetic is interviewed by RiceTV on this talk, where he shares a bit about his passions and his personal journey on the search for the perfect decentralized solution, all while clearly introducing RiceTV to the decentralized roadmap Qortal is destined to achieve. He comes to tell us the Internet has been captured by some entities, and the obedience to their rule by all paying for a website in a slave matter is a game we can avoid with Qortal. The Internet will be unrestricted and free on the Qortal Network. In this session, our co-founder goes into great depth about how this will be done, the game of minting, potential future ideas, and much more. Tune in this is good stuff!

Declare Your Independence

Ernest Hancock is conducting an interview with Crowetic, one of Qortal’s co-founders. While Crowetic instructs Mr. Hancock on the fundamentals of Qortal and the history of the project, Mr. Hancock shares his perspective and a spot-on clarification on actual and old censorship techniques that we desperately need to solve with decentralized, P2P systems. The conversation is in-depth and covers a wide range of crypto-verse issues. 

Information on how Qortal safeguards your data via DNS and IPFS, as well as information on Qortal’s long-term objective of doing away with the need for ISPs (internet service providers). This is boldly shared here, along with a great deal more: https://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Media/336392-2022-11-29-2022-11-29-ernest-interviews-jason-crowe-qortal.htm

Wiki Qortal

New How-To Guide made for How To Reduce Bandwidth:

https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=how_to_reduce_bandwidth

New Ubuntu 22.04 Installation Guide:

https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=ubuntu_22.04_with_cinnamon_desktop_setup_guide

Final Words

Numerous additional developments are also being diligently and thoroughly developed. For us, Qortal is more than just a project; it has evolved into a symbol of freedom and a distinct economic system for the future that needs our undivided attention. Qortal’s whole theme and focus is on peer-to-peer solutions (P2P). From becoming a Minter and trading coin, to web hosting and data distribution, the Qortal Project will continue to develop P2P solutions that remove counter party risk and ensure each user is completely in control over their account, its balances, its data, its sovereignty! 2023 will be a year full of feature-rich development. Cheers!

‘’Is not what your family/community can do for you, but what you can do for your family/community’’.

Join Us!

Discord: https://discord.gg/UqhQCYjVw2

Telegram (general chat): https://t.me/qortal_official

Telegram (tech support): https://t.me/qortalchat

Greetings Qortians! As development continues to knock out new additions like the madmen of raw talent they are, Qortal introduces a completely new piece to its fully custom consensus, a piece meant to remove the ability to run multiple nodes (and thus minting keys) on a single computer — introducing, the MemPoW algo! MemPoW is a major step toward the future and yet another world first for any blockchain. A memory-based Proof of Work is now a requirement in Qortal minting.

Minting rewards have been modified across the board, with a reduction to the founder tier and an increase to the rest of the minting level tiers. (along with a massive reduction to the previous “QORA burn” rewards, which were given as a way to help convert the previous QORA community to Qortal, and it was decided that the initial percentage for that was set way too high.) These decisions were all made by community vote.

The final self-sponsorship changes, which include the self-sponsorship algorithm and a 5 million block reduction for existing self-sponsoring accounts, will be the next key area of development. The long-awaited “Q-Apps,” which will allow developers to create fully fledged applications on Qortal, with cross-name linking, “payment processing,” and a ton of other helpful website and app functionality, are just one of the significant Q-Chat and QDN upgrades that will be made. It appears that Qortal’s “moment to shine” will be at the conclusion of 22 and the beginning of 23.

We’d like to thank our mate Legend Lootz for providing this brand-new newsletter and wish Crowetic, who turned 37 a few days ago, a happy birthday!

Project Update

 

Qortal Data Network QDN

New in Qortal? Discover the Qortal Data Network, one of the platform’s main features. It is what will make it possible to start “creating the internet of the future.” This website serves as a showcase for some of the numerous features available on QDN.

In addition to detailing how to set these things up on your own QDN-hosted website, Crowetic will be demonstrating what is possible on QDN as this page develops (and updating those demos as time goes on to continue to display the newest of QDN’s data possibilities). Use it here: https://qortal.link/crowetic

Additionally, Crowetic recently published instructions for setting up a gateway node here: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=how_to_host_your_public_data

Sponsorship

MemPoW was implemented on October 22 and put into practice by consensus. Anti-self-sponsorship will be achieved by the MemPoW and the self-sponsorship algorithms working together in the following ways:

1. MemPoW added to consensus — this makes it so that only 2 accounts can be added to a single COMPUTER, regardless. Even if they try to get around it with VMs or containers, as the MemPoW uses memory bandwith, which is shared system-wide, to hash, and create a ‘nonce’ or ‘result’ with a statically assigned difficulty, essentially allowing us to say ‘how long’ it should take for a person to submit a single minting signature. It’s really quite brilliant.
2. Self-sponsorship algorithm — Designed to ‘seek and destroy’ those who have self-sponsored multiple minting accounts. This algo uses available data (more details will come AFTER the algo is live) to find, and apply a ‘blocksMintedPenalty’ to existing accounts proven by the algo to be self-sponsoring. This will completely REMOVE the minting rights of those accounts, by giving them a -5 Million blocksMintedPenalty. Therefore existing and previous self-sponsored accounts will no longer be able to sponsor, or mint. Any of the existing self-sponsors, and ALL of the accounts they have self-sponsored, will be -5 million blocksMinted, using the new addition to the db, blocksMintedPenalty. This is very close to complete, and will be implemented very soon.

With these changes and the network being comprised of only legitimate minters, the Qortal Voting System will be able to be implemented, which means that future changes to the system (such as the addition of new coins supported, etc.) can be made as they were always meant to be, by way of a vote from leveled users of the system. A user’s vote weight will be directly correlated to the number of “blocks” they have “minted” in their minting account; the more time they have dedicated to helping the network by way of minting, the more weight they will have in the voting system. A truly fair voting system for the future of the world.

Qortal Wallet App

Download the brand-new app! As the initial version of the wallet will employ a “hosted node” operated by Traxo, the app will initially only be a wallet and name registration service (items that only require transmitting signed transactions to the core). The option to add your own node and the use of “light nodes” will both be possibilities as the app develops, and when these things happen, more functionality will be introduced to the app as well. Dowload the App here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.qortal.qortalWallet

Another download location (on QDN and accessible on the internet through a public gateway) will be provided shortly for those among us who are “anti-Google.” Keep checking on the “Crowetic” name on QDN for that file to pop-up there.

Android Termux

We now have the ability for the tech-savvy members of our community to RUN A FULL NODE ON AN ANDROID DEVICE. A tutorial is now available. Please take note of the codes and stick to the guidelines here:

https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=android_termux

Qnect App

You can currently test the community-developed application, QNect private chat software, which is intended to be a solution for many issues with those powers that shouldn’t be snooping on our minds and activities, for Android and Linux OS systems (Microsoft coming soon).

View and test it out! the download instructions are here:

https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=qnect_app

Minting Rewards

Thank you, Qortians! A prior community vote resulted in a rise in our block reward percentages and a decrease for the founders. Here are the updated percentages:

Levels 1 and 2 minting accounts share 6% of the block reward
– Levels 3 and 4 share 13% of the block reward
– Levels 5 and 6 share 19% of the block reward
– Levels 7 and 8 share 26% of the block reward
– Levels 9 and 10 share 32% of the block reward
– QORA holders transitioning into QORT coin share 1% of the block reward
– Founders share a minimum of 3!% of the block reward, and/or the ‘leftover’ percentage, which initially will be higher when there aren’t users in all of the various level groups, and will decrease over time.

Please note: below are the original percentages for historical reference:

• Levels 1 and 2 minting accounts share 5% of the block reward
  – Levels 3 and 4 share 10% of the block reward
  – Levels 5 and 6 share 15% of the block reward
  – Levels 7 and 8 share 20% of the block reward
  – Levels 9 and 10 share 25% of the block reward
  – QORA holders transitioning into QORT coin share 20% of the block reward
  – Founders share a minimum of 5% of the block reward, and/or the ‘leftover’ percentage, which initially will be higher when there aren’t users in all of the various level groups, and will decrease over time.

Crisis Event

Don’t miss the inauguration of this event, which our friend Crowetic will be attending with the community, pirates, and freedom fighters. This event is a must-attend in order to have a real, frank discussion about our predicament and empower us all as one. Anyone who feels led to speak is welcome to do so; the event is free and open to everybody. The occasion is scheduled for the week of February 6–10. Find more details here: https://piratechain.com/events

Join their hangout hub headquarters on the open Guilded server: https://www.guilded.gg/r/zzyjKrQ0qE?i=d3737Nkd

Playing Qortal|Portal on New Earth

Simon James from Playing Qortal|Portal on New Earth offers his heart and wisdom from the mystique of the Himalayan mountains that surround him. He gives us a thorough explanation of the history of our system’s engineering, as well as its problems, successes, and potential outcomes. He also shed a great deal of light on how a world full of control mechanisms is no longer alluring or practical for the new generation of people looking for identity and a true and kind community thanks to his awakened mind.

With his Revolution of Values, Simon explains in great detail the causes of our existing financial system’s flaws and its impending demise, the myth surrounding Bitcoin, and the real solution provided by the decentralized blockchain that Qortal offers to all of mankind by bringing the money printer machine to your home. Watch the video up top to enjoy his kind and wise advice at your leisure!

https://odysee.com/@playingqortal:e/videoguide:a?src=embed

Aurea Interview

View Crowetic’s amazing conversation with The Awakened Journalist out from Aurea’s event. Crowetic dispels the myth of decentralization in the cryptosphere in this talk by pointing out that it is only achievable if you take the lead node position. He goes on to describe how Qortal actually accomplishes this in the field, not only in terms of currency but also by using the hardware in your own computer to power the entire internet cosmos: https://unite.live/qortal-blockchain-project/qortal?recording_id=1505

 

MarketWatch

New to Qortal? We’ve developed Qort’s MarketWatch app with all the toys for you to play with whether you’re into TA or just want to learn more about Qort’s history. Watch the video above for a tour of it and download the app here: https://github.com/uniteandconquer/Marketwatch/releases

Crowetic Hardware Development

By using our devices, you will speed up the Qortal network and boost computing power all the while making your rewards safe! For our devoted community, our outstanding devices are engineered to provide the highest performance! They are available at our online store, which also has a large selection of lovely Qortal clothing designs. Visit our fantastic online store right away! https://crowetic.com

Final Words

With several false flag operations and obscene subversion strategies deftly woven into our society, the battle for the money printer machine and mankind as a whole rages on. We don’t precisely know who will win, but we do know that as long as there is a power handling our currency, there will be plenty of possibility for greed or insensitivity to corrupt our handler’s heart because we recognize that power turns the wise into fools and the fool into madmen.

Our dedication to returning power to the people is committed and passionately maintained. Like all modest ideas, Qortal is just getting started, but it is a power that will endure long after we are departed. We anticipate Qortal developing into unthinkable and practical solutions for humanity as long as there are beings unified in goodness and fairness.

Let Us All Unite!

Qortal 2 Year Anniversary!

 

The Qortal Project has reached another milestone. Genesis was launched on June 29th 2020, so we’ve made it through a second year! We’ve managed to overcome a lot and make large strides in certain areas of development. While it may be true our current proof of concepts have much room for improvement, we keep moving forward to make this dream a reality! “We” means all of us. Every single person that chooses to run a node and take part in the Qortal Network is important, as together we are the chain, and together we can make change.

 

Qortal is envisioned to become an unstoppable platform that can outlive us all. With blockchain technology we can build together and leave behind a legacy for future generations. In a world where virtually everything relies on the Internet, it’s important that we create viable alternatives sooner rather than later. Decentralization is a worn-out buzzword in the crypto space, but Qortal is surely meant to deliver true decentralization, including:

• Peer-to-peer solutions such as our Trade Portal and Q-Chat, where no middleman is needed or capable of intercepting the transaction!
• Local wallets that the individual has complete and sole control over in a world with an increasing interest to diversify asset portfolios with cryptocurrency.
• Website and data hosting that removes reliance and governance by third parties, where free trade of information can thrive!
• A decentralized platform on which anyone can build without the worry of the base infrastructure being subject to compromise; a place where we can build new systems to empower lives.
• Internet service replacement with mesh networking and satellite bridging to alleviate the reliance associated with existing service providers.

 

With the current ‘crypto winter’ among us, now is the time where projects like Qortal shine. Development of our project has no reliance on the rest of the crypto space, although trade value of QORT has decreased substantially. It certainly has more to do with third party markets than it does Qortal directly. With that said, it’s important to remember that QORT is only a small part of the overall platform, and its value will hopefully move more independently compared to other markets, as it has already. Quite often we look at ‘current price’ of QORT in fiat terms, and often only based on the fiat bridge with LTC; QORT’s trade value as displayed on exqlorer.com is based on the average of the last 5 trades and is displayed in USD value based on LTC’s direct value to USD. This is an indirect fiat value for QORT that’s determined by a third party’s market value (LTC-USD). The actual trade value is between QORT-LTC, and not QORT-LTC-USD. In other words, QORT’s direct ‘current price’ or trade value average in the LTC market could be 0.01 – 0.02 LTC per QORT, and much higher or lower depending on P2P trades! This means the value of QORT is determined by the buyers and sellers, and please remember that there are no ‘sell walls’ so you can buy any listed sell order!

 

QORT can also be obtained via minting! Now is a great time to get started if you haven’t already! It’s important to note that minting is totally optional and is not required to use the rest of the platform such as the local wallets, Trade Portal, Q-Chat, QDN, and Q-Apps when launched. Minting is only required if you’d like to level up your account, earn QORT rewards, and gain weighted influence in the voting system once that goes live.

 

This project is all about perspective, and we hope that the massive roadmap for Qortal resonates with those who take the time to study. Qortal is meant to be so much more than surface-level features. Our technology can be utilized to rebuild virtually every aspect of our digital lives. This includes the ability for the entire world to begin transitioning into a safe haven where collective consciousness and individual sovereignty can thrive. Qortal removes the controlling grip of the elitists who get in the way of the common good of the people. We are not anarchists per se, but we do believe in building an anarchistic platform that is free of regulation by outside forces. With that comes the future plans of greater security and privacy features such as support for privacy coins, private transaction types, obscuring IP addresses, and more. The world is our oyster with a decentralized platform like Qortal, and time will tell an amazing story.

 

Imagine a world where the people are in complete control of their banking, communications, trade of information, and building systems that make the conventional options subpar. These capabilities allow us to get off old systems, and regain control of what is rightfully ours. Qortal will evolve into a thriving e-commerce and collaborative space where many dreams can come true, such as rebuilding critical aspects of infrastructure including education, food supply, logistics, warehousing, off-grid capabilities, and beyond. You are taking part in the very beginning of a humanitarian project to put the power back into the people’s hands worldwide. Qortal is bigger than ‘crypto’.

 

The current state of Qortal is progressing quite well with all things considered. Qortal did not launch with an ICO or any real source of funding (as seen in the crypto space where projects raise millions in funding). Most of our developers work full time jobs and work on Qortal in their free time. This of course means that the rate of development is not as fast as we’d like, but is a testament to how genuine people can come together, and build together despite the less-than ideal circumstances. The same can be said about the rest of the team and community who find ways to contribute however possible. The majority of us share the same vision for what Qortal can become, and/or have our own ideas on how we’ll carve out our own space to see our own concepts through. As Qortal is the base platform, with a suite of default plugins, and eventually Q-Apps where anyone can build out their ideas freely (excluding projects seeking asset issuance which requires DevTeam and community approval to prevent scams on our platform).

 

A lot of work is happening in the background, as developers fine tune existing features, and work towards the grander scope of the project. Sometimes it may appear that not much development is underway, but trust and believe that a lot of work goes into coding our infrastructure which is not a clone of any other project and requires out-of-the-box thinking. Qortal will soon be recognized across the crypto space as the right platform to build upon, rather than platforms like Ethereum. Qortal will also soon be recognized as the superior codebase for projects to clone and build their own chains with (if desired). The latter would be quite the compliment as we concluded long ago Qortal would have to be built from scratch (there were no existing codebases sufficient for Qortal to clone and build off of – other than some basic snips of code taken from QORA and built upon).

 

We’re still in ‘Phase 3’ which is the era of core 3.0+ including the Qortal Data Network (QDN). This was a massive step in the roadmap where we launched a proof of concept that empowers individuals to host their own websites and data from their nodes (free of any reliance of third parties). There are current limitations, and the platform overall can be a bit clunky, but things will only improve further over time. The development team is working on the governance system to combat those gaming the minting system. Thereafter the voting system can be launched fairly. Soon we’ll launch Q-Apps, as well as Q-Chat enhancements and a mobile app for Android. One of the soon-to-come milestones will be the moment we are able to host all of our GitHub code repository on Qortal’s infrastructure and show the world a viable decentralized solution for their repos too!

 

If you haven’t already, be sure to read the wiki in your spare time to grasp the scope of the project. Start with the video on the homepage to familiarize yourself with the general layout, then dive in! The wiki contains overview information, help guides, links to all the interviews and podcasts, and more! Cheers to all of our fellow Qortians in the virtual land of Qortia!

 

Scan the QR code below to link to the Qortal Wiki:

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) in the blockchain space are designed to work without any hierarchical structure and utilize a voting system to determine outcomes. DAOs often include weighted votes that are based on staking the project’s asset (coin/token). The first “DAO” was actually called “The DAO” and built on Ethereum in 2016. The DAO was a company that gave its investors/members a vote in the decisions the company makes when spending the raised capital. It expanded into a venture capital fund, and raised over $150M worth of ETH, then was hacked and lost around $50M worth of ETH. The company is still around, but “The DAO” never regained its original status and this hack led to one of Ethereum’s historic forks.

 

The term DAO has evolved into a descriptive acronym, and is quite a common buzzword in the blockchain space. Most DAOs follow the same blueprint with crowdfunding and member voting – even block rewards for running a node and validating (in our case minting). Some DAOs are quite successful these days, having raised billions in funding. Here’s why Qortal is not a DAO: 1) we do not stake coins for a weighted vote and 2) the community votes do not take action directly with the code. Voting weight on the Qortal chain will be based on blocks minted (time and contribution). These votes will NOT directly update code (as smart contracts do on DAOs). 

 

In Qortal, we have the overall “DevTeam” and also DevTeam “Admins”. The DevTeam Admins manage the codebase and require a 60% approval among the pool of Admins to push updates to the core (this is how auto-updates work). Anyone is welcome to join the Dev server to begin collaborating on the codebase, and be considered as part of the development team or “DevTeam”. Based on time and contribution, these new team members may eventually be vetted for by the DevTeam Admins and become an Admin themselves. That process will include: 1) developer contributes over time, 2) Admins can confidently vet for the developer, 3) Admins submit a summary to the Qortal community as to why the Admins vet for the developer, 4) community votes to approve the decision to make the developer an Admin, 5) Admins conduct a 60% on-chain vote – giving the vetted developer’s Qortal account the Admin permission. This structure allows us to carefully consider the Admin pool and safeguard our project, while the Admin pool grows and becomes more decentralized over time.

 

When it comes to decision making, the final say in some cases relies on the Admins. When the community can be involved in a vote to determine the project’s direction, every level 1 or higher Qortal account will be able to cast their vote. This type of voting can be used to determine how the DevTeam should allocate time for new coins to add, or building support for a new project on the Qortal Network. For example, when the time comes to potentially change the block reward, or transaction fee, the community will get to determine the outcome with options presented. All of these different voting types will simply tell the Admins which option to move forward with, and the Admins will then follow through, conducting their 60% vote separately when the update is ready.

 

As we see, Qortal is not a DAO where every minting account gets to take part in voting that directly affects network updates. It doesn’t make sense for everyone to take part in voting code that cannot be read and vetted. This is also why some Founders are not “Admins” as it would not be a fair vote. With that said, it’s important to note that Qortal is building infrastructure and anyone can build on-chain without permission (unless a project desires its own asset which requires Admin vetting to prevent scams on our chain). Qortal itself may not be a DAO, but it can certainly host a suite of DAOs (projects built on-chain) and is intended to become a superior alternative to Ethereum. 

 

The Voting System Overview page on the wiki has more info on Qortal’s voting system concept which has yet to be fully implemented: https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=voting_system_overview

Greetings Qortians! We are excited to announce monumental changes at Crowetic Hardware Development (CHD). First, let’s review the history of CHD:

 

• Founded on June 28th 2021 – an LLC in Nevada between @crowetic @gfactorQORT @fdmdynamics.
• Launched www.crowetic.com to provide pre-built QORTectors with custom 3D printed cases as a means to help onboard newcomers who might get discouraged otherwise with setting up a node to take part in the network.
• CHD is simply a third-party service that is totally optional for those interested. Please note: CHD will never sell your information or infringe on your privacy rights as we see so many companies abuse!
• Everything we build is fully open source without anything proprietary – everyone is free to buy the components elsewhere and build their own device (we’ll even provide you with the 3D printing files).
• Retail pricing for a QORTector (8gb RAM) began at $420 – due to supply and demand issues for computer boards, starting price has been increased to $535.
• As with any business, pricing must be profitable and allow for scalability. We feel our pricing and margins are modest. Some feel our pricing is too high, while others feel it could be higher. Everyone must keep in mind that this is a business, with expenses and labor. Not to mention we are also profit sharing 20% with development of Qortal.
• To date, CHD has not taken any ‘profit’ to pay its owners. All revenue has been invested back into the company, as Crowetic and G Factor have funded CHD’s startup without any other parties. The investment wasn’t much, but was enough to get the operation off the ground. @fdmdynamics invested his 3D printers and time to make custom cases possible. As you see, we are three Qortal co-founders doing what we can to provide the community with a needed service that makes sense.
• Order turnaround time has typically been between a couple days up to two weeks in some cases, due to varying circumstances. Our goal is to have a more consistent 3-5 day turnaround time. Bear with us as there are a lot of variables!
• The QORTector has had 5 software versions so far, each expecting to have improvements over the previous version it replaces: Plumbus, SinclairMATE, Titan Plasma, TitanMATE, and TitanPLUS. Customers do not need to update their device each time there is a new software version unless it is desired to have the latest and greatest (assuming the newest release doesn’t have any unexpected disappointments like SinclairMATE). Updating the software is not difficult, but does require a second computer that can support the software required as well as a working USB port.
• The idea of the QORTector is to have a stand-alone and dedicated minting machine that can be left running 24/7. These devices only use 5W/5V of power – the equivalent of charging a cellphone! This means there will not be a significant power cost to take part in the Qortal Network! Ideally, the QORTector can be left running at home, always synced and minting while freeing other computers from the hassle.
• Anyone can become an ‘affiliate’ for CHD, there is no requirement of ID verification – simply let G Factor know what you’d like your promo code to be and help drive sales on www.crowetic.com.
• Every affiliate gets the same program which is currently a 5% off coupon for customers, and $20 worth of QORT per device sold to the affiliate. Payouts will be monthly, and the idea here is to help more sovereign-focused individuals find and adopt Qortal! The affiliatie’s focus should be less money-driven, and more adoption-focused for Qortal. CHD is not a cash-grab scheme and hopefully affiliates will get onboard for the same reason. 

 

Now let’s discuss the update of CHD obtaining funding and the plan to take things to the next level:

 

• CHD secured investment into the company in exchange for 20% equity and is allocating $80k towards development and the DevFund (in Litecoin). Developers still get paid on a case by case basis, almost always after work has been completed. We are simply excited to contribute more funding towards the cause!
• @gfactorQORT and @fdmdynamics are now full time CHD and Qortal! G Factor is now building the devices to offset Crowetic’s workload; Sawyer is now able to dedicate more time to his side of the operation. As time unfolds, there will be more noticeable improvements.
• Ten 3D printers are being added to the current five, so there will be fifteen total! This will really help prepare for scalability and turnaround times.
• A new website is being built: better layout, more information, color options for devices, shipping options, and… a merchandise store! Prepare yourselves for a suite of clothing options as well as various goods such as mousepads, banners, flags, pint glasses, coffee mugs, stickers, etc. The merch store will have frequent updates as the design and manufacturing process is rolled out. Eventually the community will be able to share ideas as well as custom ordering.
• We’re adding the QORTector KB to the hardware options: a keyboard with the computer components built into it! This 4gb RAM option comes with a mouse, power supply, HDMI cable, ethernet cable, etc. so all you’ll need is a monitor and internet connection.
• R&D is in the works for next-gen QORTectors utilizing other boards besides Raspberry Pi. Future plans also include cell phones and laptops as well as solar and battery packages.
• While the founding focus of Qortal has been one of grassroot and organic growth, we can certainly get more creative and productive with our marketing efforts – so hopefully CHD’s efforts will help motivate the community to do more too! As Qortal is greater than one’s self and together we are the chain!