Your guide to buying, selling and trading QSP in Australia.
Quantstamp is a smart contract security-auditing protocol designed to find vulnerabilities in Ethereum smart contracts. It extends Ethereum technology to find bugs and security vulnerabilities before a contract is published to the blockchain.
The Quantstamp Token (QSP) is used to pay for and receive verification services in the Quantstamp network. Let’s take a closer look at what Quantstamp does, how the token works, and what you need to do to buy or sell QSP in Australia.
Where to buy, sell and trade QSP
You can find QSP on several cryptocurrency exchanges, such as:
A step-by-step guide to buying QSP
If you want to buy QSP, check out the steps below for one example of how you can do it:
Step 1. Register for an account with CoinSpot
Local cryptocurrency exchange CoinSpot permits the exchange of Australian dollars (AUD) for QSP. You’ll need to register for a free account by entering your email address and creating a password. You’ll also need to provide your full name, contact information and proof of ID before you can deposit Australian dollars and start trading.
Don’t forget to enable two-factor authentication on your account to provide increased security for your trading funds.
Step 2. Deposit funds into your account
Click the “Deposit AUD” link on your CoinSpot account dashboard and type in the amount of AUD you want to deposit via POLi or BPAY. Alternatively, you can also deposit cash at a newsagency via Blueshyft.
Note: Many cryptocurrency exchanges don’t allow you to swap fiat currency, such as AUD, for cryptos. With this in mind, you’ll often need to acquire a cryptocurrency that’s available in a pairing with QSP, such as bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH), and then exchange those coins for QSP.
Step 3. Buy QSP
Click the “Buy/Sell” link at the top of your account dashboard and search for “QSP”. Click on “Buy QSP” and either type in the amount of AUD you want to spend or the amount of QSP you want to buy.
You’ll then be given a chance to review the amount of QSP you’re buying and the total cost of the transaction, before deciding whether to confirm and finalise your purchase.
How to sell QSP
If you want to sell your QSP holdings, the process you’ll need to follow is essentially the same as that outlined in Step 3 above. All you’ll need to do differently is look for the link to “Sell QSP”, while it’s also important to remember that you may not be able to directly exchange QSP for the currency you want.
Which wallets can I use to hold QSP?
Storing cryptocurrency on an exchange is not recommended for security purposes. As QSP is an ERC20 token on the Ethereum blockchain, you’ll need to find an Ethereum-compatible wallet that supports these types of tokens. Examples of wallets you could use include:
How Quantstamp works
Quantstamp was founded in June 2017 by Richard Ma and Steven Stewart and aims to solve the problem of smart contract security. While smart contracts offer huge potential for the widespread use of blockchain technology, they’re not entirely secure.
This was most notably evident in June 2016, when a hacker stole US$55 million in ETH from the Ethereum DAO by exploiting a smart contract bug. A separate hack in July 2017 saw US$30 million in ETH stolen due to a bug in the smart contract code of the Parity multi-sig wallet.
Auditing smart contracts is an expensive and lengthy process that currently takes at least a week, so Quantstamp aims to create a protocol that can quickly and cost-effectively secure all smart contracts. Quantstamp’s auditing network extends the Ethereum blockchain and features two main parts:
- An automated software verification system that checks Solidity programs.
- An automated bounty payout system that rewards people for finding errors in smart contracts.
Quantstamp Tokens are used to pay for, receive or improve verification services through the protocol. A pre-sale and ICO were held in 2017, ending in November, and raised in excess of US$31 million.
Key things to consider if you’re thinking about buying QSP
Cryptocurrencies are complex and speculative, so you’ll need to be fully aware of all the risks involved before buying any cryptocurrency. If you’re thinking of purchasing QSP, make sure you consider the following factors first:
- Supply. According to CoinMarketCap, at the time of writing (31/01/18) the circulating supply of QSP was 617,314,171, out of a total supply of 976,442,388 QSP.
- Use. Quantstamp Tokens are essential to pay for Quantstamp’s verification services, and any user who wants a smart contract verified will need to pay QSP. QSP is also used to reward those who provide verification, as software developers receive QSP for contributing software that verifies Solidity programs, while people who run Quantstamp validation nodes get QSP tokens in return. Finally, those who find bugs in smart contracts are rewarded in QSP.
- Availability. The availability of a crypto on a number of exchanges ensures ease of access and can increase levels of demand. At the time of writing, QSP was only available on a limited number of exchanges compared to some more widely-known currencies, so keep an eye out for any announcements about additional exchanges listing QSP in the future.
- Proof of Caring. Quantstamp runs an initiative to reward loyal QSP holders who keep their tokens off exchanges. Known as Proof of Caring, this program sees regular airdrops to QSP holders of coins audited using the Quantstamp protocol. The amount of coins you’re eligible to receive depends on a variety of factors, including your level of support, contribution to and community involvement with the Quantstamp project. Check out the official announcement here.
- Potential for growth. Smart contracts are widely predicted to become increasingly popular across a wide range of industries, and Quantstamp aims to solve a key problem with this form of technology and hopefully increase their adoption. This means there’s certainly plenty of potential demand for Quantstamp’s services, and the level of demand will be closely linked to the value of the QSP Token.
- Future developments. Quantstamp is not yet a finished product, so it’s important to keep up to date with company news and announcements to get an idea of upcoming technological developments. For example, the Quantstamp test network is scheduled for deployment in April 2018, with mainnet version 1 scheduled for release in August 2018.
- Market competition. It’s also important to consider the competition that Quantstamp could face from other companies working on similar projects. Other projects focused on smart contract creation that are worth researching and considering include OpenZeppelin, BlockCAT and Etherparty.
- Risk. Finally, if a smart contract audited by Quantstamp is ever hacked, this could cause a serious loss of trust in the company and have a huge impact on demand for QSP.
Assess all the risks and potential benefits before deciding whether you should buy QSP.
