Where We’ve Been

One year ago today, on June 26th, 2018, the QRL blockchain was released to the world.

With the words, “The sleeper must awaken” and 34.679 KB of data, the first block was put into place. For those unfamiliar with the origin of the quote, it is from the 1984 film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s “Dune” The full line that it draws from is:

A person needs new experiences. It jars something deep inside, allowing them to grow. Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.

Ultimately, blockchain technology has the potential to change the world. If millions of people did not believe that across the globe, we would not have seen the wonderful explosion of development and activity over the past 10+ years of the technology’s existence. Passion is a necessary ingredient when starting any significant endeavor, all the moreso when that endeavor seeks to bring into this world something that has not existed previously. The status quo seldom leads to meaningful change, and our world needs changing.

Below are a few statistics (at the time of writing) regarding the network:

Current block height: 525,000+

Number of wallets with funds in them: 58,000+

Total number of transactions: 875,000+

Shortest block time: 1 second

Largest amount of total Quanta transferred in 1 day: 19,046,451

Quanta population: ~65% (68,364,000+)

What We’ve Built

Since hiring began at QRL in 2017, a little over 2 years has passed. In those 2 years, the time has been spent roughly in equal measure creating the network, and improving it. The past year has been spent entirely on improving the network, and we are proud to say that the QRL blockchain today has much more utility than it did at launch.

Some of the highlights of the past year of development:

Certainly, over 2018, the phrase, “To win the game, you must be in the game” came to mind somewhat frequently. Over the course of the so-called ‘crypto winter’ somewhere over 1,000 blockchain/cryptocurrency projects failed, exit-scammed, or were closed due to regulatory malfeasance. In any market, the best ability is availability, and a combination of tireless development work, passionate community support, and responsible financial management has allowed us to continue to work and iterate, when so many others have chosen to, or been forced to, close their doors.

Where We’re Going

Moving forward, the main objective continues to be creating the most secure, compelling, and interesting blockchain we can, all the while continuing our efforts to decentralize the project, as is appropriate. The QRL Foundation, which is still in its infancy, will help support the growth and maintenance of the network, as well as acting as an umbrella under which various development, research, outreach and educational efforts can be coordinated.

More generally, software development, in blockchain as elsewhere, is a balancing act. This is true both in terms of committing resources (both human and financial), as well as choosing directions, and making prioritizations. The QRL blockchain that launched last June was not the exact same as the first version of the whitepaper in 2016 described it, nor should it have been. Things were discovered along the way that needed changing, or re-thinking, or completely scrapping.

As we have moved forward from launch, that calculation has changed in part, but the balancing act remains. As we continue to consider what features to pursue, and what development objectives to prioritize, we will continue to bring the same forward-oriented perspective to development that we have so far. We appreciate the understanding that our community of users has demonstrated thus far, and we are very happy at how the QIP system has furthered this communication. We are looking forward to another year of exciting work on the QRL blockchain!