How Qortal Is Building the Parallel Economy of the Future

In the last blog post, we explored how Bitcoin and Ethereum had, thus far, a mediocre impact on the existing internet economy. Now we turn our sights to a project making significant headway in changing the game about how to properly leverage blockchain technology to make a significant impact on the internet economy. This project is called Qortal!

Unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum, Qortal was designed from the ground up to be a fully decentralized ecosystem, aimed at providing real-world use cases beyond just transferring coins or running dApps on unreliable, overly expensive networks. Qortal’s approach is radically different: it offers a censorship-proof, peer-to-peer alternative internet infrastructure, powered by its own native currency, QORT. The key word here is alternative. The only tie a person using Qortal has to the normal internet is through their internet service provider (ISP), meaning that it is almost completely decoupled from the normal internet! And being built on a peer-to-peer network leveraging the power of blockchain technology, it also benefits from having trustless data transfers, the former being uncensorable, unhackable and completely private in the case of encrypted transactions.

A visual breakdown of how Qortal’s peer-to-peer architecture differs from traditional, server-based networks.

And since most of the transactions involve the transfer of QORT for the different services offered by the numerous Q-Apps found on Qortal, then by definition Qortal transforms into a parallel economy thriving and growing in its own decentralized ecosystem. Definitions are one thing, but how does Qortal work pragmatically at achieving a successful, thriving economy?

Well first, let’s look more closely at the QORT coin, which is at the heart of the Qortal economy. Upon looking into it, one will notice a very interesting concept: that of limitless coin supply. Unlike other crypto projects that place an artificial supply limit on their coins, Qortal does things differently, and offers a coin with no total cap!¹

Bitcoin is famously known for having a total limit of 21 million coins mined, which will be reached approximately in the year 2140.² This idea of scarcity was first perceived as beneficial, and has probably contributed to the elevated valuation of Bitcoin today. But upon further reflection, it is clear that this hard cap is a bad idea in the long-run. For one, the obvious reason being that around 3.7 million Bitcoin (approximately 20% of the total supply) have already been lost³, or are going to be lost in the future due to bad wallet management by human beings! As more coins are lost, the circulating supply will shrink, making the currency increasingly difficult to use and, ironically, creating more centralization as people are forced to rely on centralized exchanges to access liquidity. So the Bitcoin scarcity model, which was initially meant to drive up demand and valuation, eventually only served to centralize control into the hands of a few major exchanges that dominate its network. For example, 10 exchanges process about 90% of trades, and the largest, Binance, accounts for about half the market!⁴ This is not an example of true decentralization. Bitcoin has become a financial instrument masquerading as a decentralized network, driven by speculation rather than utility.

Now, contrast that with Qortal, which operates on a completely different economic model. Instead of a hard supply cap, Qortal employs an infinite supply model with a carefully designed release schedule. At first, this may seem counterintuitive. But in reality, it’s a revolutionary approach that ensures Qortal can thrive for generations to come.

How Qortal compares to Bitcoin and Ethereum across supply, infrastructure, and purpose.

Looking more closely, it becomes apparent that, unlike other Web3 projects in the blockchain space, Qortal focuses on actual utility and real-world use cases. Its economy is built around the principle that as the Qortal ecosystem grows, so too will the demand for QORT. And with countless Q-Apps being built, each one offering a unique way for users to interact with the network and exchange value, the potential demand is virtually limitless! Just like there are countless ways to spend money on the normal internet with a credit card, the same can be said about spending QORT on Qortal. Its valuation is real, and essentially the opposite of speculative.

To reiterate, Qortal’s economic model is designed to sustain itself indefinitely. Its supply is limitless, because its potential use cases are limitless! And when you compare Qortal’s current supply of just over 8.6 million QORT⁵ to Ethereum’s 120 million ETH,⁶ the sheer efficiency of Qortal’s model becomes strikingly obvious.

And that brings us to another important facet of the Qortal economy, which is how the coins are minted. Unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum, which both require lots of capital to validate transactions, and hence favors players with more money,^{7 8} Qortal’s “mintership” system promotes a free and accessible path towards participating in consensus of the blockchain. What’s more is that minting can be accomplished through almost any device, even something as small as a Raspberry Pi.⁹

Once you are admitted into the mintership group on Qortal, by proving you are not a bot, and actually care about the platform beyond simply earning QORT through it, you can begin leveling up, and go up what are called tiers, which is how block rewards are divided amongst the minters every 1000 blocks. The higher tier you’re in, the more you’ve kept your node online and shown your reliability and allegiance to Qortal, and so the more QORT you earn from the block rewards. At the time of writing in April 2025, there is a three QORT reward per block minted, which will trickle down to two over the next four years, where it will stay unless a vote happens to change it.

This design makes QORT’s distribution both merit-based and sustainable over time. And even with this ongoing issuance, projections show that by 2030 there will only be around 14 million QORT in circulation, a mere 11% of Ethereum’s current supply. This makes the argument that QORT’s infinite supply model leads to runaway inflation completely unfounded, especially when paired with a decentralized minting system that incentivizes contribution and reliability.

Now that we’ve established Qortal’s sustainable economic foundation, let’s now explore how QORT is actually being used inside the ecosystem. From digital tips to peer-to-peer commerce, QORT is already fully integrated into the real, parallel economy found on the platform! As we’ve seen in previous blog posts, Q-Shop, Q-Fund, Q-Share and Q-Tube are all propelled by QORT, allowing developers and users to thrive together, in tandem, within the ecosystem.

One prime example can be found on the popular Q-Tube app, which is one of the most popular at the moment on Qortal. One of the coolest features with the application is the ability to tip content creators for uploading interesting videos, through what is known as a super-like. Super-likes are simply normal text comments published on chain, with the exception that they are also tied to a specific QORT amount, which is transferred to the content creator’s wallet upon receiving the super-like. And it goes without saying that the entirety of the amount is received by the creator, with absolutely zero platform fees other than the tiny fee paid by the sender for making the transaction.

Tipping creators on Q-Tube with Super-Likes—100% of the QORT goes to the uploader.

Or perhaps another significant example is the ability to raise funds for any idea you may have on Qortal through the crowdfunding app called Q-Fund. This revolutionary idea, of raising funds to further build within the Qortal economy, can only be made possible by the permissionless, peer-to-peer nature of the Qortal blockchain, which was built to allow data transfers without any middlemen. Gone are the days where crowdfunders must pay extravagant platform fees to raise funds for their next big idea! Instead they can keep everything they earn. This opens up a revolutionary new path for entrepreneurs, software developers, solopreneurs and anybody else towards building on top of Qortal and being able to profit directly from its economy. And once again, all profits made on the platform are retained entirely by the app developers themselves, which flips the script on the revenue models or walled-garden app stores of the normal internet.

Q-Fund enables peer-to-peer crowdfunding with no middlemen and zero platform fees.

This creator-first, quasi feeless parallel economy is not only empowering, but it's also sustainable by design. Instead of relying on venture capital, third-party funding, or even token speculation to stay afloat, Qortal is growing organically, one app, one developer, and one user at a time. And because there are no hosting fees, no centralized infrastructure, and no dependence on third-party platforms, builders can scale their projects without ever sacrificing control or taking on financial risk. This slow-and-steady approach may not grab headlines like the latest memecoin does, but it's laying the groundwork for something far more enduring: a self-sufficient digital economy that doesn't collapse under its own hype.

So let’s recapitulate! Qortal is building an alternative internet where a parallel economy thrives! This is possible by its open source, peer-to-peer permissionless architecture which is maintained by the minters, who are rewarded with QORT for maintaining the integrity of the network. In other words, minters become the facilitators of the Qortal economy, being responsible for the distribution of QORT throughout the ecosystem, which attracts developers, users, and investors alike. Hence a sort of circular economy begins to form, all completely decentralized, with no middlemen or government intervention, as free economies should always be!

The no middleman concept is key here, as this is what allows Qortal to prosper indefinitely; unhindered, and unrestricted by big money or big tech which have stumped development on the normal internet for so long. Users are also free to participate in the economy without needing a bank account or divulging private information that could tie them back to any of their own activity. True economic freedom arises on Qortal!

The Qortal economy isn’t just something to casually disregard as the next Web3 fad. It’s a reinvention of how the internet itself can function: peer-to-peer, borderless, censorship-proof, and community-driven. With every Q-App launched, every new user onboarded, and every block minted, we move closer to a world where individuals, not corporations, own the web and the value exchanged on it. This is not a trend. This is not hype. This is infrastructure. And it’s already live. If you’re tired of waiting for real decentralization to arrive, you’re not alone. Join the builders, the thinkers, the freedom-lovers who are already here, on Qortal! The future economy isn’t coming. It’s here. And you can be a part of it. Install Qortal today. Start building tomorrow!

1. DodgersDesign. (2023, December 19). Understanding the Qortal project: A new perspective on max supply. Medium. https://medium.com/@dodgersdesign/understanding-the-qortal-project-a-new-perspective-on-max-supply-fc8e8989534

2. Gemini. (n.d.). How many Bitcoins are left? Gemini Cryptopedia. https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/how-many-bitcoins-are-left

3. Chainalysis. (2023, March 29). What Chainalysis data tells us about the Bitcoin market. Chainalysis Blog. https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/bitcoin-market-data-exchanges-trading/

4. Reuters. (2024, April 10). Crypto trading concentration a ‘considerable concern’, says EU watchdog. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/crypto-trading-concentration-considerable-concern-says-eu-watchdog-2024-04-10/

5. Exqlorer. (n.d.). Exqlorer. https://exqlorer.com/

6. Coinbase. (n.d.). Ethereum price. Coinbase. https://www.coinbase.com/price/ethereum

7. Toptal. (n.d.). What is Bitcoin mining? Toptal. https://www.toptal.com/management-consultants/blockchain/what-is-bitcoin-mining

8. CoinTracker. (2023, January 25). Ethereum 2.0 tax guide. CoinTracker. https://www.cointracker.io/blog/ethereum-2-tax-guide

9. Qortal Project. (n.d.). Qortal glossary. Qortal Wiki. https://wiki.qortal.org/doku.php?id=qortal_glossary