QUANTSTAMP A Protocol for Securing Smart Contracts on the ETHEREUM Blockchain! ICO Review

Quantstamp https://quantstamp.com/ is another good ICO that has come to my attention in the last week or so thanks to @ianbalina and Crush Crypto on YouTube primarily so I thought I would take the time to post a quick review based on what I know about this project. First off I will say everyone I have spoken to about this is very positive about Quantstamp so that bodes well and made it stand out in my thinking above the current glut of nonsense projects and affiliate links that seem to be clogging up all the media channels.

The premise of Quantstamp (why do I keep pronouncing it quaint-stamp..?) is to secure smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. This is exciting as it will protect investors and improve the security of Ethereum.

The big advantage of Quantstamp will be the savings made on a security audit of an Ethereum blockchain, which currently runs at about $5000, and may come down to as little as $10 with this new technology... yeh, I know, you just spat out your tea didn't you? With those sorts of savings, and with the increased security, well there's big potential here right? Yep, that's what I am thinking too.

So, how are they going to achieve their stated goal? It's a two pronged attack. They are going to use a software verification program that will check Solidity programs and they are offering a bounty for human users that find errors within the solidity program too. This combination of upgrade-able software and human verification will contribute to the overall effectiveness. See the infographic below as to how it will work.

That's all fine and well but how does it actually work? I will attempt now to explain in simple terms. The developer will submit the code for a security audit to Quantstamp. There will be a smart contract created and the code will be checked by the Quantstamp node then a report is created with a list of issues and their severity. The report can then be private to the developer or released to the public. Nice. See the nice infographic below that shows what I have attempted to explain.

So we now know what they are attempting to do, are they serious and do they actually have a working product? YES! There is a prototype now available which can be found here: https://github.com/quantstamp
This is all very reassuring for any potential investors. They even have a roadmap which I have posted below.

They have apparently completed some security audits already and some more in the pipeline before the end of the year. The validation node will be built in April and by August they will undertake a full audit of their system. Action is well underway on this ICO so no long waiting time for them to even come up with a viable demo while spending your hard earned Ether.

Here are the token sale terms:

Hardcap: $30M, including both presale and crowdsale (The cap has not changed)

Presale: $11M (10/9/17–11/9/17)
Decisions about individual allocations will be made on a rolling basis. How much allocation you get and what tier you are in will be based on the quality of your Proof of Care. You need to submit your Proof of Care on this form.

Caring level 1 ($3M): 1 ETH = 10,000 QSP (unchanged)
Caring level 2 ($4M): 1 ETH = 7,000 QSP
Caring level 3 ($4M): 1 ETH = 6,000 QSP

Crowdsale: $19M (11/15/17–11/22/17) The crowdsale will have individual caps so that everyone on the whitelist can participate. Due to individual caps, no proof of caring is needed for the crowdsale.
Crowdsale ($19M): 1 ETH = 5,000 QSP

This I found interesting as I have never done any proof of care before, I though that was what the Police asked me when I was looking after my old grandmother before she slipped and drowned in the bath... no, seriously, I really don't know what this is about. Well, it's pretty clever actually, it is about maintaining and building a community of people that actually give a shit about this project, and having an active community behind it and that's important. It also ensures the people getting in on pre-sale terms deserve a little recognition, you know, for writing Steem articles and stuff. hint hint

My only concern with pre-sales and bonuses is those that invest in crowdsale may not be able to make any profits due to the amount of cheaper pre-sale tokens on the exchanges. I know a lot of people are just into flipping ICO's and that's fine, but I tend to hold for the longer term on good projects so it is only a minor niggle.

Is there an actual use for the QSP tokens? Again, YES! The tokens will be used to exchange for the validation services, giving them an actual use. People that validate the solidity programs will get some, people that contribute software will get some and people that find bugs will also receive tokens (keep that araneae in the jar, I am not talking about those sorts of bugs).

As to the team I am not that bothered about peering over their CVs, meticulously picking apart their careers. They look strong enough to me given their experience in their fields. They could work in McDonald's part time for all I care, they appear to be doing a good job on this project and have good direction.

So, will I be investing? Yes, I will be dropping a few ETH into this project. It ticks all the boxes for me. You should too if you can afford it. thisisnotinvestmentadviceblahblahblahetcetcetc

I have posted Crush Crypto's review below and you can find @ianbalina on Steem and YouTube should you wish to learn more. Thanks for reading and happy investing!