What if I told that there is a blockchain that combines distributed computing and finance, all powered by cutting-edge AI, which as a result eliminates transaction fees and instead increases scalability and security? Well this is where Qubic comes in!
Qubic, also known by the market ticker QUBIC, is a layer-1 blockchain protocol that aims to revolutionise cryptocurrencies with its AI training and quorum-based computation system.
At its core, Qubic aims to remove transaction fees, improve scalability, and increase security.
However, Qubic can be best described as a blockchain built for distributed computing and finance which uses elements of AI to optimise its efficiency.
But, what exactly does that all mean? And how can Qubic revolutionize the crypto space?
Today we find out!
What is Qubic?
Founded by Sergey, sometimes better known as Come-from-Beyond, with the Qubic blockchain itself going live in 2023.
Sergey is perhaps best known as the co-creator of IOTA and NXT.
Qubic itself is a layer-1 blockchain that boasts the fastest Turing-complete smart contracts written in C++.
This allows Qubic to execute smart contracts in seconds, and perhaps more importantly for users, it does so for free.
Well, not exactly free, but instead of charging a fee to use Qubic, they charge a commission on the smart contract, with the commission size voted on by the nodes that make up its active network.
But, to really understand how Qubic works, we’ll need to look under the hood.
How does Qubic work?
Qubic runs on a Useful Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism.
Useful Proof-of-Work is similar in ways to regular Proof-of-Work, as utilised by Bitcoin, but there are some key differences.
For example, Qubic is powered by 676 Computors, also known as AI miners, who are responsible for executing smart contracts on the network.
To break down some definitions, the Qubic network is made up of Miners and Computors.
Unlike most networks, the Miners aren’t rewarded for their work mining.
However, these Miners back the validators, which are known as Computors.
In total, 676 active Computors are rewarded for their work.
To keep the network at peak performance, each week, a ranking determines the top 451 performing Computors.
The top 451 of the 676 active total will retain their place as Computors, while the remaining 225 will be rotated from a pool of Candidates and lower-ranking Computors.
Another key difference is the utilisation of AI training within the Proof of Work consensus mechanism itself.
To explain, Qubic does this by employing AI training tasks to the consensus mechanism.
The result is instead of competing to solve complex mathematical puzzles, like in Proof-of-Work, the Computors who manage consensus on Qubic, utilise AI models to solve intricate training tasks.
This can include tasks such as processing large datasets or training machine learning models on specific problems. The benefit here is instead of just being for maintaining network security and confirming transactions, the Qubic network can also contribute to real-world services and applications.
The Qubic team hopes as AI models progress, this could eventually lead to better optimisation, which could lower the energy cost of the network.
Though, it is worth noting that it is only lowering the energy cost relatively speaking.
In other words, relative to a regular Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism and the regular energy required for running large language models and other AI training sets, Qubic might become more energy efficient.
However, as it is a Proof-of-Work network running AI training sets, it is still likely going to be far more energy-intensive than a Proof-of-Stake network.
That said, having a smaller number of nodes at 676 it will naturally use less energy than the hundreds of thousands of Bitcoin nodes that are in operation.
What makes Qubic unique?
Naturally, the ability of Useful Proof-of-Work to transform the computational energy expended in the mining process into valuable, beneficial outcomes is what makes Qubic unique.
Through Useful Proof-of-Work the protocol directs this computational power towards the training of Artificial Neural Networks, or ANNs, thereby harnessing the network’s immense computational capacity for the progression of machine learning.
This helps negate one of Proof-of-Work’s main complaints, which is that it is wasteful regarding energy consumption.
Seeing as only one miner can receive the reward under regular Proof-of-Work, that means all the other hundreds of thousands of miners on a network as large as Bitcoin are spending energy to compete in solving a puzzle that only one person’s energy was actually required for.
Now, under Useful Proof-of-Work, instead of that energy being expended for nothing, it can all be used towards powering the next generation of AI apps and innovations which require an immense amount of energy to train and maintain their AI models.
However, as if not enough, another unique feature is their quorum-based computation.
To explain, quorum-based computation refers to a computing model where the result of a computation is accepted or deemed valid only when a certain threshold, or quorum, of nodes in a network agrees on the outcome.
Ultimately, this approach enhances security and reliability in distributed systems by requiring consensus among a predefined number or percentage of nodes, similar to concepts like the Byzantine Fault Tolerance on Proof-of-Stake networks.
QUBIC Tokenomics
QUBIC tokens, or more accurately QUs, which stands for Qubic Units, are the utility tokens which drive the Qubic network.
QU acts as a measurement of computational energy spent on the Qubic platform, such as through running smart contracts or requesting data from oracles.
Additionally, QU serves as the fuel for executing smart contracts and accessing other services on the Qubic platform.
A trillion QU is produced each week, with each Computor working at peak efficiency being eligible for 1/676th of that amount, or just under 1.5 billion each week.
This will continue until the maximum supply of 1000 trillion is achieved, which is about 19 years after launch.
Unlike most other crypto projects, QU is burned when used which helps to ensure there are deflationary measures to combat the weekly inflationary pressures of 1 trillion QU being mined.
Unlike Proof-of-Stake tokens which often have rounds of pre-sales, QU held a fair launch release meaning there was no pre-mining and no QU given away to early investors or adopters.
That means, if you wanted to get some QU coins, you had to either mine them or buy them from someone who had mined them for you.
Qubic is built on a solid bedrock with an experienced team at the helm
Ultimately, Qubic looks to reduce the wastefulness of Proof-of-Work mining and use this energy to help power the creation of next-generation AI applications and learning models.
Of course, nothing is guaranteed in crypto, but with a good foundation, it is certainly possible that Qubic’s best days still lay ahead.