Quantstamp, founded in 2017, is a smart contract security company that creates automated security solutions and conducts manual audits.
The company conducts security assessments to guarantee that blockchain systems are functioning properly and effectively. Quantstamp says that discovering potential blockchain vulnerabilities can assist cryptocurrencies to lower the danger of future hackings by improving smart contract security, hence improving the reputation of projects that generate smart contracts.
With blockchain and smart contracts historically vulnerable to hackers and the industry booming to ever-increasing valuations, the need for auditors and security firms has, in theory, never been greater.
According to Quantstamp, rogue actors misusing the system have cost the system more than $8 billion. Today, the company claims to have conducted 200 audits and protected $200 billion in value, securing some of the major blockchains, including Ethereum 2.0 and Binance Smart Chain.
So, what exactly is Quantstamp (QSP)? Let’s take a closer look at this.
Quantstamp’s founders
Richard Ma and Steven Stewart created Quantstamp in July 2017 in San Francisco.
Ma received his bachelor’s degree in electrical computer engineering from Cornell University in New York state in 2010. He is the current CEO of Quantstamp and formerly worked in San Francisco as a senior quantitative strategist. He also serves on the Forbes Technology Council.
Stewart, who is based in Canada, is Quantstamp’s current CTO. He previously worked as a computer systems analyst for the Canadian Department of Social Development and as a software developer for Many Trees Inc.
The founders’ vision in inventing Quantstamp, they claim, was to help facilitate the general adoption of blockchain by assisting in the system’s security. Quantstamp claims to be active in all aspects of the crypto sector, from central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) to non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
How does Quantstamp operate?
NFTs are a major deal. Quantstamp aids with the auditing and security of smart contracts associated with transactions. The cryptocurrency provides insurance and consulting services to vendors of everything from digital real estate to some of the most costly digital paintings.
Its website lists notable projects such as Illuvium, a gaming platform, and Axie infinite, a growing metaverse environment.
Quantstamp (QSP) also collaborates with decentralized finance (DeFi) firms to protect systems and, according to their literature, “create[…] the infrastructure for tomorrow’s financial systems.” Maker and Curve are two notable companies with whom it has collaborated.
As many countries begin to build their own CBDCs, it is also increasingly involved in collaboration with central governments. Furthermore, crypto is involved in the security of stablecoins. According to its website, the crypto has helped secure a yen-stablecoin for GMO Online Group, a Japanese internet company.
In addition, the organization offers exchange, custodian, and insurance services.
What is the purpose of the Quantstamp coin?
QSP is an ERC-20 token that was established on the Ethereum blockchain. The coin is used for smart contract verification on the decentralized QSP Security Protocol. With QSP, coin holders can purchase automated scans of smart contracts. Validators can now earn Quantstamp money for assisting with network security scans.
Quantstamp completed a successful ICO launch in November 2017. The team was able to raise $30 million. The coin is number 736 on CoinMarketCap, and there are now 713.8 million QSP coins in circulation. According to CoinGecko, the maximum supply of QSP coins is 976.4 million. Quantstamp cryptocurrency has a current market cap of $31.2m, with each coin currently priced at $0.04375.
Quantstamp skyrocketed to all-time highs very immediately after its debut. On January 8, 2018, QSP was worth $0.7361. Despite a minor increase in the spring of 2021, QSP has yet to regain its early heights. According to CoinGecko, the QSP coin increased by more than 60% in 2001. However, it fell by more than 18% in the final 30 days of the year.
Finally, some thoughts Quantstamp appears to have a varied range of experiences as well as a strong customer portfolio. It is not, however, without competitors. There are other developing cryptos vying for popularity in the security and risk services business, including CyberForza, 4iQ, and BehavioSec.
It is still in its infancy, and it will be interesting to see how the platform evolves.
Buyers Say Quantstamp’s $65 Million Token Has Shaken Their Faith
Quantstamp, a blockchain startup, is under fire from community members who accuse it of misleading them about its QSP currency and proprietary technologies.
A blockchain project is under fire from members of the community who claim the team has been degrading the value of the token used to generate millions of dollars.
The battle over Quantstamp, the creator of a protocol that aims to decentralize smart contract audits, reached a fever pitch late last week, with vitriol overflowing into the project’s social channels. Representatives from the San Francisco-based business, which is incorporated in Delaware, fielded heated queries from token buyers.
The issue is Quantstamp’s acceptance of US dollars and ether as payment for smart contract audits rather than its token, QSP – which it used to generate a little more than $30 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) last November.
In that offering, the business raised $20.5 million from a first-round, exceeding its objective of $11 million by $9.5 million. The remaining $9.5 million was sold in an open crowd sale. So far, 65 percent of the issued QSP tokens have been distributed, out of a total supply of 1 billion.
According to a December filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Quantstamp raised the funds under a Reg-S exemption, which aims to cover U.S. firms soliciting capital abroad.
According to documents obtained by CoinDesk, the company has accepted ether (ETH) for services in one instance while pricing its offerings in US dollars in another, practices that appear to have run afoul of user expectations, with some claiming that this contradicts practices the company said it would pursue.
“We are concerned that you do not require the token to rise in value for your company to succeed as a payment for manual audits,” James Chun commented on June 10 in the Quantstamp project’s Telegram group.
On the same day, another user in the group, “Carine,” expressed her worry in the following way:
“Communication of the proportion of audits paid in QSP or USD would clear a lot [of] things up,” commented “Gato,” a third Telegram user, on June 11. However, “for the time being, it appears to be [a] extremely vague storey.”
Quantstamp told CoinDesk that “from the beginning, we’ve been following the path outlined in our initial white paper.” Numerous more inquiries were not answered on the record by the corporation.
Pricing services
However, taking a step back, it’s important to note that, despite user concerns, there is still a genuine demand for the type of product envisioned by Quantstamp. Quantstamp was founded by Richard Ma and Steven Stewart, both software engineers, who cited assaults on smart contracts in which hackers were able to steal millions as the impetus for launching the project and gathering money in their white paper. Last November, Quantstamp announced its participation in the Y Combinator class of 2018, a prestigious accelerator program that gives seed funding to startups.
However, it appears that token buyers are now questioning if the company’s decisions are economically aligned with their interests as well as the project’s initial intent.
Quantstamp, like most decentralized initiatives, anticipates that some players required for its launch will become less significant over time, but that a central body will be required to bootstrap the idea until its management can be left entirely to users.
“On the topic of open-sourcing our codebase, that has always been the long-term aim since how else can the community take over the project?” said co-founder Stewart on the Telegram discussion on June 10. “However, my current position is that the codebase must first acquire a particular level of maturity.”
A study of Quantstamp’s public Twitter and Medium postings, as well as its ICO terms and conditions, reveals that the business never explicitly declared that it would only accept QSP coins for audits. However, before Friday’s public questioning, the corporation had not indicated that it would accept US cash or ETH (though its white paper carves out room for exceptions).
“No one is obligated to enter into any contract or binding legal commitment in respect to the sale and purchase of QSP tokens, and no cryptocurrency or other form of payment is to be accepted on the basis of this white paper,” it adds.
Language on the Quantstamp website appears to hint at the sources of the confusion.
Quantstamp isn’t anticipated to start utilizing its own procedure for audits until late 2018, according to a timeline in the original white paper. However, according to this timeline, it was supposed to start working on smart contract insurance with partners in June. It is currently unknown how much of the company’s technology has been built.
It’s also worth noting that any tokens that would fuel such a protocol may not exist right now. QSP is currently a token that operates on the Ethereum platform. The company has not decided whether it will exchange those tokens for fresh ones once its network is operational, and the white paper makes no mention of this.
In a statement to CoinDesk, Quantstamp stated: “This is a significant choice, and we are devoting significant time and resources to determining the best course of action for our company, investors, and community. We will make an announcement at the right time.”
Nonetheless, consumers have chastised the company for conducting audits with open-source tools produced by competitors, especially Mythrill and Oyente, rather than the technology it claims to be developing.
Stewart confirmed this on the Telegram channel, saying, “Yes, the web product leverages Oyente, an open-source project to which we have also donated.”
However, many people misinterpreted the firm’s April 30 announcement of a “live functional product” as a sign of progress on Quantstamp’s patented technology.
What comes next?
Aside from Quantstamp’s technological and token economics concerns, the business is also dealing with a slew of recent employee departures.
On Quantstamp’s connected Telegram chat, these have also aroused concerns of internal strife.
“We restructured the team to support us in the next stage of product development,” Ma explained when questioned about the situation by concerned users.
He mentioned three employees – two engineers and a UX designer – who he said was let go due to poor performance.
“When a large number of individuals leave a firm, rather than just one or two, it’s usually a symptom of negative corporate culture or anything [such] internal issues,” remarked Telegram user “mindcrack.”
Following Friday’s acrimonious digital town hall meeting, the price of Quantstamp’s QSP token fell over the weekend as part of a larger cryptocurrency market meltdown. According to CoinMarketCap, the cryptocurrency was selling at around $0.10 late Tuesday afternoon, down from an all-time high around $0.80 in early January. QSP’s market capitalization is now $65 million.
Indeed, as one sympathetic Telegram user pointed out, the overall decrease in crypto prices since the beginning of the year has undoubtedly contributed to the dubious feeling in the Quantstamp community.
Nonetheless, a comment from one particularly disillusioned user, aplitt, seemed to embody the broader tone of public dissatisfaction and loss of investor trust exhibited in the thousands of messages exchanged on the company’s vast Telegram channel.
Quantstamp’s price has climbed by 20.34 percent in the last seven days. In the last 24 hours, the price has risen by 7.36 percent. The price has dropped by 2.72 percent in the last hour. The current price per QSP is 5.56979. Quantstamp is 91.49 percent of the way down from its all-time high of 65.46.
713,801,946.705 QSP are currently in circulation.