Ubiq is a digital assets and blockchain company which uses a decentralized platform for the creation and execution of smart contracts and applications. The blockchain acts as a large globally distributed ledger and supercomputer, and it allows developers to produce decentralized and automated solutions to thousands of tasks.

Ubiq is an open-source, public, blockchain-based distributed computing platform, featuring smart contract functionality, and is built upon an improved Ethereum codebase forked from Ethereum 1.5.8. Ubiq uses wallets as gateways to the decentralized applications within the blockchain.

The Ubiq network offers a secure and stable blockchain to host an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), which also integrates a decentralized virtual machine to allow for the generation of contracts and tokens.

The Ubiq network provides a stable blockchain to host an Ethereum Virtual Machine. With several more hard forks planned for ETH’s future, businesses wanting to implement applications on an Ethereum Virtual Machine would be subject to frequent updates and the the risk of instability associated with blockchain hard forks. The Ubiq development team’s commitment and focus on providing a stable and reliable platform, allows customers in finance and enterprise the ability to build today, without worrying about an uncertain tomorrow.

The value token of the chain, Ubiq(UBQ), was created after the development team transferred the value of a three-year-old token, Jumbucks (JBS), onto a blockchain with Ethereum functionality.

The UBQ can be traded on cryptocurrency exchanges, and is also used to pay for transaction fees and computational services within the Ubiq network.

The Team Behind Ubiq

Ubiq Technologies Inc. was founded by four members who had all been involved within the cryptocurrency world for several years. All the development team had worked as contractors or advisors with many different blockchains, built blockchain backed services, and had created integrations with financial platforms.

Julian Yap, a systems engineer has previously worked on projects with Bittrex exchange, Blocktech, and Decred, Luke Williams, developer of the Iquidus Explorer, a widely-used blockchain search tool, Kris Hansen, an established blockchain developer, and Alex Sterk, host of #blocktalk and educator of blockchain technologies.

This experience and exposure to blockchain technology is where the motivation and knowledge for developing one of the most well-rounded chains available comes from. The Ubiq team are aiming to providing the most stable, flexible, and bug-free platform for the development of enterprise applications, which will be attained through extensive observation, testing, and improvements to the various blockchain technologies currently available.

Ubiq has no ICO or premine, which they believe will pave the way towards a bright future for the company, due to there being no history of acquiring funding through unconventional and unproven methods.

To fund themselves and to evolve Ubiq’s functionality, the Ubiq Technologies Inc. company has been lined up to serve as a funding vehicle for the platform. This is already being achieved with their consulting opportunities, business partnerships, and technologies which are under development.

How Does It Work?

In most cases, an account will be setup by using a Fusion Wallet. However, Ubiq also implements a biometric indication for their users to join with. The biometric indicators are created from thirteen different points of the user’s fingerprint which is then randomized with other data. As accounts are classed as a digital signature themselves, you can sign transactions and contracts directly from your device.

Using a device guarantees secure access, every time a service is accessed it is logged, and once a transaction is signed and transmitted to the network there is then a permanent record of that activity on the blockchain. The option for smart contracts also means it is possible to have multiple signatures and keys on one party account.

All work on the blockchain is standardized to make sure problems are solved at a consistent rate, and users have a few options on how data can be stored which are in raw numbers, encrypted, or in tokens.

Incentivizing Miners with Uncle Blocks

Ubiq have opted for an 88 second block time, as opposed to the 60 seconds or less employed elsewhere, as they noted that there are often orphan blocks from where miners don’t receive each other’s work before solving their own when there is such a quick block time. By using uncle blocks, this work is still allowed to be included but Ubiq doesn’t have to rely on this work for regular operation. Any potential reward is then given to the miner working off the main chain.

To incentivize miners to mine the head of the chain and to minimize the unpredictable inflation of uncle blocks, miners of duplicate block solutions are rewards. If a miner mines an uncle block of depth 1, they are rewarded 50% of the current block reward. The reward amount is set and standardized, so a miner who includes an uncle block is rewarded an addition amount of the (current block award / 32) UBQ per block.

How to Create a UBIQ Wallet

To use the Ubiq platform, you will need to create your own wallet – you can choose to download the Fusion Wallet or you can use the browser based Pyrus wallet.

The wallet brings together all your accounts, assets, and applications into one secure interface, and features all the tools a user needs to write and deploy smart contracts and tokens.

There are two main ways to use the Fusion Wallet, as described on the Ubiq website:

Pyrus (Browser)

Pyrus is a browser based, client-side Ubiq wallet. Generate wallets completely client side, easily send Ubiq and any ERC-20 Standard Token (e.g QWARK, APX), generate and send offline transactions, ensuring your private keys never touch an internet-connected device.

Fusion (Desktop)

Bringing together all your accounts, assets and application interfaces, the Fusion Wallet combines all Ubiq blockchain functionality into one secure and powerful interface. With all the tools to write and deploy your own smart contracts and tokens.

How to Buy UBIQ

Purchasing UBIQ with “Fiat” currency is not currently possible, so the easiest way to purchase it at the moment is by buying either Bitcoin or Ethereum and then swapping these for it on an exchange. In this section we will show you how you can purchase UBIQ with a Credit or Debit card using the Coinbase website and then swapping it for UBQ at Bittrex.

Register at Coinbase

For first time buyers of crypto currency, we recommend that you use Coinbase to make your first purchase – its easy to use, fully regulated by the US government so you know it is one of the safest and most reputable places to purchase cryptocurrency from. Coinbase offers the ability to purchase Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum with a credit or debit card or by sending a bank transfer. The fees are higher for cards but you will receive your currency instantly.

You will have to carry out some identity verification when signing up as they have to adhere to strict financial guidelines. Make sure you use our link to signup you will be credited with $10 in free bitcoin when you make your first purchase of $100.

To get started, click the “Sign up” button where you will be taken to a registration form where you will need to enter your name, email and choose a password.

Coinbase will then send you a link via email to verify your email account, once you click the link in the email you will be taken to a verification page. You must then add your phone number and upload a photo of your ID – this can be a passport, driving license etc. You also have to add your payment details, so you can add your bank account or a debit or credit card as required – after a short period your account will then be verified and you can then make your first purchase.

Purchase Ethereum or Bitcoin

For this guide, we will be purchasing bitcoin to swap for our target cryptocurrency. So in Coinbase, visit the “Buy / Sell” tab at the top, select “Bitcoin”, choose your payment method and enter the amount you wish to purchase – you can either enter a US Dollar amount or a number of BTC.

You will then be asked to confirm your transaction, if paying with a card you might have to complete a verification with your card provider. Once that’s complete, your Bitcoins will be added to your account

Register at Bittrex

You will now need to create an account at Bittrex, which is a Cryptocurrency Exchange where you are able to purchase many different currencies.

You will now need to verify yourself with Bittrex by entering your personal information for the basic verification. You will also need to do the “enhanced verification” to be able to withdraw from the site. This entails uploading a photo ID such as passport or driving license and taking a selfie of yourself and also uploading that.

Send Your Bitcoin to Bittrex

In your Bittrex account, click the “Wallets” link at the top and next to Bitcoin Click the “+” symbol and a popup will appear – click the “New Address” button to obtain your wallet address.

Copy this address and head back to the Coinbase website and click the “Accounts” link at the top, select Bitcoin and Click “Send”

Enter the Bittrex wallet address in the “Recipient” box, choose an amount to send.

Important: Double check the wallet address matches your bittrex bitcoin wallet address as you could lose funds if you have a mistake here.

Click “Continue” and then you may have to confirm the transaction with your email or phone if you have 2 factor authentication enabled.

The transaction will now be sent over the Bitcoin network and will take a short while to arrive – you can check in your Bittrex account under “Wallets” > “Pending Deposits” to see the transaction. Once it has confirmed, the Bitcoin will be in your account and you can trade them for UBIQ.

Trade Bitcoin for UBIQ

In Bittrex, at the top left hand side – click the markets link and a dropdown will appear, enter Ubiq and then click “UBQ” to be taken to the trading screen.

This is what the trading screen looks like, it can be a little overwhelming at first but its quite simple really. At the top you will see the red and green candles which show the price UBIQ has been trading at, the price is measured in bitcoin. On the right at the top you will see the “last” price, “Bid” is what people are offering to buy it for and “Ask” is what people are offering to sell it for. It also shows the 24 hour high and low price.

Under this you will see the trading boxes where you can buy or sell, here you can enter the amount you want to buy, the price per unit in bitcoin you are willing to pay and the box will then calculate the total price for you.

Here you can see I have entered 100 UBQ in total and I selected the top bid of 0.00023571 Bitcoin per UBQ. Because they are offered by a seller at this price the order should go through – you can choose a lower price if you like and the order will stay on the books until it is fulfilled. This is not guaranteed though as the price may climb.

Once your order has been fulfilled, you can withdraw the UBQ to your wallet address you created.

The Monetary Policy

Ubiq has established a monetary policy with their cryptocurrency to maintain control over the inflation of the tokens. For the first year, the inflation rate is set at 7.3% per block, but the policy describes how inflation will be gradually decreased to 0.7% over the next eight years.

By implementing this monetary policy, Ubiq have provided a fixed inflation schedule and are preventing a fee-only mining market from developing within the network.

Conclusion

Ubiq could become a contender within the cryptocurrency world, as the market capitalization of UBQ was more than $80m USD in June 2017, and had already become the 47th largest digital currency. By 30th August 2017, the price of the native token hit its peak of over $3.

Since its initial release in January 2017, Ubiq have managed to cause quite a stir despite having not even been on the market for a year.

They have a team with a huge amount of knowledge and experience behind them, who have set standards and policies which will benefit all the cryptocurrency currency community and have already provided several innovations on top of the forked Ethereum codebase they started out with.