Qtum (QTUM) has recently seen its price rise by nearly 30% in a small amount of time, after the smart contract platform’s developers revealed they’ll be working to add privacy features to it after an expected upgrade in September of this year.
At press time, according to CryptoCompare data, one QTUM token is trading at about $5.5 after rising 27.6% in the last 24-hour period. Over the last 30 days the cryptocurrency’s price has risen 83.3%, with most of the rise coming from a recent ump.
According to a Telegram AMA the developers did with the community, an upgrade to the cryptocurrency’s blockchain, Qtum 2.0, is set to be released later this year. After it’s out, the developers will work on making private smart contracts and ‘confidential assets’ work on the network.
From a transcript of the AMA, a developer stated:
After we release Qtum2.0 in September, we will working on QIP19, it will enable use Mimble Wimble Technology to release confidential assets on Qtum, we did huge research on all privacy solutions, and we think the MW Technology is one of the best. So After QIP 19, you can release confidential assets and confidential token on Qtum network.
The developer added this means Qtum is going to be bridging the gap between smart contract platforms and privacy-oriented cryptocurrencies. He explained that while privacy coins like zcash and monero are used as cash, it isn’t possible to create smart contracts on their blockchains.
On the other hand, he added, smart contract platforms like EOS and Ethereum aren’t completely private, as blockchain data can reveal users’ identities. This, although the importance of privacy features has been recognized by ETH’s developers. The developer added:
So Qtum want be the First Smart Contract Platform with Privacy. We also think to Airdrop some Privacy Asset later, but this not decided yet.
Behind Qtum’s rise are likely other factors, including it being added to Binance’s Trust Wallet in May of this year. That same month, Qtum also unveiled a full suite of blockchain developer tools in a partnership with Google Cloud.
Qtum, along with TRON, has been seen one of the “top challengers” to the leading smart contract blockchain, Ethereum. Bitcoin’s surge to $12,800 and a wider crypto market rally also played a role in Qtum’s price rise.
