Qortal Blockchain Project
Decentralized Internet Infrastructure of the Future

Downloads

Download and sync the mainnet now, or wait until Genesis on Monday June 29
Existing Qortal Pre-Launch Users who are RUNNING THE MAINNET CHAIN CORE or NEW QORTAL USERS who would LIKE TO GET STARTED BEFORE GENESIS AUTO-UPDATE TAKES PLACE may download the v1.0.8 Qortal Core software, and SYNC the CHAIN, while AWAITING THE GENESIS UPDATE. Should a user choose to do this, they will be able to BE PART OF GENESIS REAL TIME REGARDLESS OF BEING AWAKE OR NOT. The mainnet chain, will Auto-Update to Genesis, restart the chain to block 0, and begin the FINAL CHAIN, on MONDAY JUNE 29th.

Windows v1.0.8 Qortal Core Installer Download
Linux/Universal/Portable v1.0.8 Qortal Core Download

Users can EITHER WAIT until Genesis and download release version... OR... download 1.0.8 core, sync, and await auto-update.

Qortal UI releases Github Download Page

Download the NEW Qortal UI App for your OS by choosing correct extension from page above... OR... by clicking links below based on OS.

Windows UI Installer
Linux UI Installer
Mac UI Installer

Download the new UI, and await more information from Qortal Team

After 6+ years of development, the infrastructure of the decentralized Internet of the future is prepared to launch Phase 1 on June 29th 2020!

Active development started in 2016 with the takeover of QORA project. Since then, the QORA codebase has been completely re-written, leaving none of the original QORA code. A completely new platform is born, capable of re-building the Internet entirely, on a entirely unhackable network. Built by the people, for the people!

A Truly 100% Decentralized Concept Unlike Anything Seen Before

Not a single aspect of Qortal’s core as well as core plugins are centralized or require any centralized components. Every person on the network runs a core node and UI application on their individual systems, and accesses the network and services via their own computer.

Qortal’s First ‘Core Application’ is Completed: ‘Q-Chat'

Blockchain-based, Real-Time, encrypted chat platform! Q-Chat is Qortal’s first demonstration of its application hosting aspect. It does not utilize servers for any reason as it utilizes a specialized tx type in Qortal, to send instant messages. Both GROUP and PM messages are possible.

On-Chain Groups System

The Qortal blockchain allows the creation of ON-CHAIN GROUPS WITH ADMINS. These groups can be either public or private, and can be used for multiple purposes. They can be utilized to create 1) a group that is representative of a country for mitigation of illegal content in that country, 2) for those who need to or want to follow ‘the rules’, or 3) for things as simple as public communication groups. There is no limit to the use of the on-chain groups of Qortal. When a group is created, by default a chat in Q-Chat is created for that group. So you can immediately have communication with your group on the chain!

QORT Service Token/Coin

QORT is the name of the Service Token and/or Coin that is the ‘main coin’ of the system. QORT will be utilized to power a variety of plugins (applications) on The Qortal Network, and can also be utilized for trading value, etc. The value of the QORT coin is derived from the power of The Qortal Network, and will be reflected in the Trade Portal, and its markets.

Minting System with Leveling

The method of ‘powering the chain’ in Qortal, is called ‘minting’. Minting is essentially the way you ‘prove yourself as a full node and online’ so that you can be rewarded for helping the Qortal Network grow to obtain further strength and reach. Minting is the first leveling-enabled account type of The Qortal Network. Accounts will gain level on the chain, and be able to utilize that level for the voting system, and anything else in the future that the levels are given extra value to. For now, as you level up by minting, you gain a larger portion of the block rewards as seen below:

Levels 1+2 = share 5%
Levels 3+4 = share 10%
Levels 5+6 = share 15%
Levels 7+8 = share 20%
Levels 9+10 = share 25%

Founders
are the people whom without the platform would not have been completed. There are a total of only 13 founders who share 5% plus the leftover % from any of the other level tiers that do not have users.

Original QORA holders
share 20% split between them which is based on the amount of QORA held and burned on QORA chain.

Name Registration System

On The Qortal Network, a user may choose to ‘register a name’. What this consists of, is tying a username to the user’s account. So that instead of using a long string of digits, someone may instead use their registered name to send coin, messages, etc. The name registration system will also be used in the future, for DOMAIN NAMES on The Qortal Network. Essentially it will be able to replace the centralized DNS system that the internet uses now.

Group Transactions

In a similar fashion to the method by which the auto-update transactions are carried out on The Qortal Network, other transactions may take place as well. A group can decide upon group creation, how many blocks until their transaction may be approved, and how long an unapproved transaction will sit on the chain unapproved before disappearing. They can also choose how many admins need to approve the transaction, in percentage. For example, in order for an auto-update transaction to be approved, 20% of the developer group on the chain, must approve the transaction within 1 day of the initial transaction being put up. If that doesn’t take place, then the transaction doesn’t ever go out, and the update doesn’t take place.

Asset Issuance

The ability to ‘issue assets’ is a portion of the system as well. A user may decide to create an asset for any given purpose, and issue it henceforth on The Qortal Network. Assets can be used for any number of purposes, including but not limited to re-building the Stock and FOREX trading networks...Securely.

Asset Trading

Inside The Qortal Network, once Assets have been issued, they will also be able to be traded, upon the completion of the Asset Trades Plugin. This plugin will be completed a short time after launch. With the Asset Trades Plugin, users may directly trade their assets within the Qortal Ecosystem, for QORT tokens, and then to any other asset.

Inbuilt liquidity

QORT can be traded for other assets such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, immediately upon Trade Portal Auto-Update.

Completely Decentralized Cross-Chain Trade Portal

The Trade Portal of Qortal, (and what has given Qortal its name) is a ‘market’ where users may trade DIRECTLY from one blockchain to another. The first coin that will be listed on the Trade Portal will be Bitcoin. Soon after the listing of Bitcoin other coins will be added (such as LTC and ETH).

Native BTC Support & Other Decentralized Coins

Other coin support will be added to portal after portal is implemented in an auto-update.

Gen 1 Hardware Device Specifically Designed for Qortal

QORTector network security and node device completed - Gen 2 device in development.

Blockchain Hosted Websites, Communication & Other Applications

This will come in Phase 3 of the overall launch (a few months after Genesis).

Community-Based Voting & Level System To Measure Influence

Voting system is planned for implementation in a future auto-update (a month or so after Genesis).

For The People, By The People With Endless Possibilities!

Background

The codebase for Qortal initially started as the QORA coin codebase. QORA had launched in 2014 and was completely custom written. Since the current team takeover of QORA in 2016, EVERYTHING HAS BEEN COMPLETELY REWRITTEN along with the addition of many new features or previous features done in a different fashion.

So why is Qortal not QORA?

Unfortunately, there were a number of factors with QORA which made it less rewarding to pursue development opposed to the new Qortal. Factors such as a slightly messy codebase that made development very difficult in comparison to what we have now and a convoluted amount of coins which devalued the project’s true worth (not to mention an unethical event where centralized exchanges lost QORA holder’s coins and a massive amount of coins remain ‘unavailable’). After considering the flawed aspects of QORA as well as Bitcoin today in comparison to the original white paper, Qortal has and will continue to be carefully designed to provide the world with a 100% decentralized blockchain concept that improves the way we make use of the Internet and blockchain technology!

In 2016, the Qortal team took over QORA development with plans to re-release QORA as QORA2. Qortal was originally conceived to be solely a 100% decentralized trade portal (DEX). However, as time went on, the decision was made to merge the two projects into a single, completely re-written codebase to be called Qortal with ‘QORT’ as the ticker for Qortal’s token.

Qortal is a custom-written and decentralized (fully P2P in all aspects) platform with a core that is capable of a great multitude of functionality.

On top of that, a completely custom web-based user interface (UI) platform that is focused on ease-of-use and simplistic presentation will allow users to easily understand and make use of the complex core with little effort. It will be one of the only completely written-from-scratch projects in the blockchain space. This means it is not a clone of any other platform! There were certain aspects of QORA that were kept, however, nearly everything in the system is completely new. For the portions of QORA that were kept, they were improved upon however deemed necessary to enhance the functionality desired.[/size]

The First Of Many Great Ideas

Those who are in support of the concept of decentralization will certainly be interested in Qortal. The platform is meant to never contain any aspect of centralization! This includes never needing a centralized platform to provide essential services like trading and to be capable of more than any other P2P system that has come before it.

The platform will have a completely decentralized trade portal that allows completely p2p trades in a fashion unlike any done before. The trades actually take place DIRECTLY FROM ONE BLOCKCHAIN TO ANOTHER. There is no need for any centralized control, or even temporary ownership of user coins/tokens. The Trade Portal will allow AUTOMATED creation of SmartContract Controlled Trades, execution of trades in a similar fashion to a centralized exchange, with NO centralized aspect whatsoever. The Trade Portal will be launched in an Auto-Update of the platform that takes place SHORTLY AFTER GENESIS. Stay tuned for updates.

This platform may well begin the process of rebuilding the internet without any centralized control!

The implementation of a fair voting system that is based on contribution by users to the network and its usability by others seems to be the fairest way to ensure anyone can get involved without sacrificing the security and stability a truly decentralized project like this will demand. Especially when it comes to addressing illicit attempts on the network which need to be sanctioned or removed all together. There will be a ‘level’ system on certain account types which will allow the weight of votes to be based on the amount of input the user gives toward the overall system’s functionality and usability. No longer will votes be weighted and based on the amount of coin a user has. We don’t want any person or entity to have the opportunity to manipulate their way into this new design and potentially sabotage the good intent/stability of its conception!

In other words, with the creation of the custom leveling/influence system, comes the ability to build a truly decentralized community-run economic system within the network. The ability to create ‘committees’ of users focused on any aspect of the system that may require some sort of oversight, such as the concept of ‘illicit activity’ is also well within the scope of the platform’s functionality.

Qortal has REMOVED ALL RELIANCE UPON MONEY in terms of a user's 'influence' on the network. Never again will 'money=power'. Within The Qortal Network, users are only as influential as they decide to be, and input the effort necessary to become.

Qortal aims to be the new completely decentralized internet infrastructure, for the future world.

Qortal Hardware

The QORTector device is 100% open-source both in terms of hardware and software. - more hardware information - http://wiki.qortal.org

Genesis Starts on Monday June 29th

Phase 1 – The Launch & Network Growth Phase

Phase 1 Launch Base Features

(items with * are not for sure yet)

QORT Service Token (main platform ‘coin’)
Shared Minter Rewards (reward-share transactions)
QORTector Device (Gen 1) (http://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=qortector_device_overview)
Minting & Rewards for Securing Blockchain
*Simple BTC/QORT Trade System prior to full Trade Portal*
Minter Creation via ‘Sponsorship’
Leveling for Minters
Voting System Based on Level
QORA Asset / Transition at 250 QORA to 1 QORT Ratio (250:1)
Custom Web Based UI Platform
Simple Account Creation
Secure Access Through Local or Hosted Nodes
*Asset System for Asset/Token Creation*
*Asset Exchange for Trade of Assets to Qortal*(Trade Portal will allow asset/BTC trades in future updates)
*Built-in Block Explorer*
*Code Repo on Qortal Itself*
*Qortal Site Hosted on Qortal Prior to Public Hosting Options*

Project Launch Phases Overview

(All Phases after Phase 1 will be pushed in an auto-update to the system)

Phase 1(current phase) – Genesis Network Launch, Minter Accounts with Leveling, Voting System, Basic Network Functionality, and potentially Basic Trade Options with BTC, without extensive order books.
Phase 2 – Shortly after Phase 1 launch, pushed in an auto-update – Trade Portal addition with at least BTC/QORT market. Taking votes and suggestions on next coins to list.
Phase 3 – pushed in an auto-update – Data Storage, Data Nodes, Data SuperNodes, Rewards for each based on fees paid by users of the storage, and Web Hosting for client side languages.
Phase 4 – pushed in a future auto-update – Blogs, Social Media, Communication with Rewards and Levels for content creators.

Features Planned and Status TLDR

Planned Update – development status (complete / in progress / not started yet / completion & update estimate)

Trade Portal – Nearly complete - will be pushed in auto-update shortly after Genesis

QrowdFund Decentralized Crowdfunding with BTC support – Back End and SmartContract Complete with automation of creation – Front End built in QORA; needs transferring to the new hosting method in QORT – Planned for after Phase 2 implementation. A previous QORA application and SmartContract system that allows for decentralized automated CrowdFunding. With added support for BTC thanks to native BTC support in Qortal.

Committees and Funds – Complete . Allow users to create funds with shared contribution from Minters or creation of committees (groups) for various use cases within the system, clubs and so on.

Data Storage / Data Nodes and Data SuperNodes with Rewards – Planned for Phase 3. Most of the back end work is complete. Rules and some UI work needed.

Decentralized Code Repo (on Qortal itself) – Planned for Phase 3. [/b]Hosting the code repo on the platform itself for no reliance upon centralized services for code updates.

Public Decentralized GitHub Repo for Other Projects – Planned around Phase 3. Hopefully the first ‘hosted app’ on the platform. Allowing others to utilize Qortal’s decentralized network for their GitHub repos.

Web Hosting – Planned for after Phase 4. Allowing users to host websites on the decentralized network of Qortal. Utilizing the Data Nodes to store the data. Client Side languages supported first followed by support for Server Side; along with rewards for dedication of both space and computer power.

Blogs/Social Media with Rewards – Planned for Phase 4. Allowing users to post blog posts and be rewarded for the content. Other users can vote on the content and increase the content creator’s level to receive larger rewards and higher influence. This also needs more thought for the details of the system as far as where rewards will come from/counterparts. Modification of block rewards may be necessary during this phase.

Application Hosting – Planned for after Phase 4. This will be the support for applications hosted on Qortal; will require details regarding how every aspect will function as well as how server side hosting and sharing of CPU power/Data required will take place within the system.

QORA Transition

Since the current team took over the QORA development, it was decided that allowing QORA to ‘transition’ into QORT was appropriate. Users who held QORA will be able to ‘transition’ onto the Qortal chain and into the QORT token/coin; QORA will not be usable in Qortal. Burning QORA by sending the coin to the QORA genesis account enables users to obtain Qortal via the QORA Transition.

20% of every block’s reward, regardless of who forged it or whether the QORA Transition User is a minter or not, will be distributed to the QORA Transition Users. The amount of each 20% payment a user will receive is based upon the amount of QORA they burned (giving them a ‘weight’ as the 20% is split among the total amount of QORA Transition Users). The QORA asset on Qortal is given to the Transition Users to denote the total amount of coin they burned. At the point that the ratio of 250 QORA to 1 QORT (250:1) is reached, the transition is then complete and that user is no longer rewarded from that 20% of the block reward for every future block.

USERS WHO DO NOT BURN THEIR QORA PRIOR TO THE QORTAL PHASE 1 LAUNCH AND START OF THE BLOCKCHAIN WILL NOT HAVE A CHANCE TO DO SO IN THE FUTURE! The information must be in the genesis block in order to be executed in a totally decentralized fashion. Therefore, the burn must take place prior to the launch.

QORT (Main ‘Coin’ and Platform ‘Service Token’)

Initial Block Reward is 5 QORT. Block reward occurs on an average of 60 seconds. This number will decrease every 6 months until reaching 2 QORT where it will stay unless voted to modify.
Reward Schedule and Reduction

Code:

[size=13pt]
  { "height": 1, "reward": 5.00 },
   { "height": 259201, "reward": 4.75 },
   { "height": 518401, "reward": 4.50 },
   { "height": 777601, "reward": 4.25 },
   { "height": 1036801, "reward": 4.00 },
   { "height": 1296001, "reward": 3.75 },
   { "height": 1555201, "reward": 3.50 },
   { "height": 1814401, "reward": 3.25 },
   { "height": 2073601, "reward": 3.00 },
   { "height": 2332801, "reward": 2.75 },
   { "height": 2592001, "reward": 2.50 },
   { "height": 2851201, "reward": 2.25 },
   { "height": 3110401, "reward": 2.00 }[/size]

No Total Coin Cap on QORT, every ‘6 months’ there is a decrease in block reward from its start at 5 coins, by .25, until 2 coins is the reward. That is, unless a vote is made with the suggestion of an increase, which is also possible by submission of a proposal in the system and subsequent vote. The potential for an increase of up to 1 coin per block is possible via vote, however, this type of vote can only take place one time per ‘year’ (in blocks).

For More Information

To learn more about the Qortal Project, please check out the wiki page at: wiki.qortal.org as well as join us on Discord ‘QORT Project Official’ chat: https://discord.gg/gehBYh6