Q – An Ethereum based blockchain for universal governance and sustainable economics
Tags: blockchain, web3
Published: 2022-05-23 08:48:58

Hi everyone,

we are looking for developers who are keen on developing for a new project with a heavy focus on governance and an innovative dual node model. Here are the details for our new L1 Blockchain Q:

**What is Q?**

The Q project is building a unique L1 protocol with a clear governance process as well as security that is based on several layers of diverse node operators and its constitution as well as legal enforceability and dispute resolution for applications building on top. While many projects are working on technical scalability, scalable governance and economic scalability are neglected – therefore Q wants to establish more than the usual industry standards like high TPS. Rather the project solves two major blockers to scalability of current blockchain designs: It employs a novel approach as to how it creates robustness and resilience beyond technical means through a multi-layered consensus and governance model. Introducing an independent layer of “root nodes” and integrating private arbitration enables decentralized judgement decisions. Applications on Q can be integrated to inherit the security properties of the Q blockchain.



**Q Token and Constitution**

Generally, Q token holders have the power to elect root nodes & stake on validators as well as to change the constitution (with supermajority requirements). The constitution defines the basic principles, the rights and responsibilities of different node types, penalties for misbehaviors, arbitration processes as well as processes and requirements to alter the constitution itself. As such, the constitution itself defines a protocol that governs network behavior (governance by the infrastructure), while the amendment process can be viewed as governance of the infrastructure.



**Q Governance**

An independent layer of “root nodes” ensures highest level of resilience against technical and economic attack vectors, while a transparent, enforceable ruleset and dispute resolution mechanism provides certainty for all stakeholders. Q will add a universal approach to decentralized governance as well as an option to ensure economic scalability to the crypto ecosystem. Whereas protocols like Solana, Binance Smart Chain, Ethereum or Cardano offer only selective solutions, Q offers all of this:

• Participation in applications’ revenues

• Active participation in governance

• Explicit and transparent ruleset

• Effective enforcement of network rules

• Independence from central actor(s)

• Permissionless participation



**Q technology**

Q is fully EVM compatible and thus runs on state-of-the-art base layer technology that integrates seamlessly into the existing crypto ecosystem. Here are some of the technical facts:

• Based on Ethereum technology

• Client based on GETH

• Smart contracts based on Solidity

• Two tier node system: validator nodes maintain state, root nodes fulfill monitoring

• Delegated proof of stake

• Blocktimes ca. 5 seconds

• Ca. 100 tx/s

• Token bridges to Ethereum (and potentially other chains)

A decentralized borrowing and lending system has already been implemented as a first proof-of-concept for an integrated application on the Q blockchain. Q has been fully developed, the main net is up and running. Now the team is focusing on feature extension and building the Q community.


**
Potential Use-cases and Applications**

The Q constitution and its ability to act as an official document used in real world arbitration makes Q a suitable platform to deploy applications which require:

• Interacting with or bridging to the real world (financial and legal system), where code-is-law approach is not applicable, and more flexibility/interpretation is required. This includes tokenization of off-chain assets such as real estate or loans with real-world legal entities & enforceable claims in case of default.

• Long-term oriented use-cases (e.g. insurance) which are too dependent on long-term predictability in their design to sustain the common L1 governance volatility and uncertainty.

• Governance-heavy decision-making for protocols like e.g. treasury management, where a legal back-stop might be required.

• Handling of hacks and exploits as well as addressing protocol changes/hot-fixes that might be sped up via the governance process on the L1 level.


**Resources and further reading**

To learn more about Q, the [website](https://q.org/) is a good place to start. You will find links to the Q Constitution, the White Paper and more. If you are interested in building on Q, check out the [documentation](https://docs.q.org/) and the [project repo](https://gitlab.com/q-dev). The documentation also provides information on what you need to know if you are interested in supporting the Q protocol as a validator, root node or expert. If you have any questions regarding Q, or just want to get to know the Q community and chat to the team, make sure to join the project’s [Discord server](https://discord.com/invite/UNYBagZRRd).