DeFi is coming to Qtum on Friday

Long-standing smart-contract platform Qtum will be home to a new decentralized exchange on Friday after QiSwap, an independent liquidity protocol, completed its testnet phase. 

Qtum indicated in a recent press release that the integration of QiSwap has moved the platform “one step closer to realizing its decentralized finance ambitions.”

The launch of the QiSwap mainnet on Friday will allow anyone to build decentralized finance applications and provide liquidity on top of the Qtum blockchain. QiSwap is a decentralized exchange that provides liquidity for the Qtum cryptocurrency and other native assets, dubbed QRC20 tokens.

During Phase 1 of the mainnet, QiSwap will enable trading between Qtum and the Qcash (QC) stablecoin. In the weeks following launch, QiSwap plans to add additional trading pairs and pursue listings on major exchanges. In the more distant future, dubbed Phase 4, the platform will launch the governance contract for its Qi token.

QiSwap founder and chief operating officer Robert Gaillard told Cointelegraph: 

"Qiswap will further allow the community to take control of the Qtum protocol because it is one of the foundational money legos of the DeFi ecosystem. We see QiSwap as the first step into a broader push of DeFi tools that we are being told are lined up over the next few months on Qtum."

Qtum was launched in 2016 as a blockchain protocol that combined Ethereum’s smart-contract capabilities with Bitcoin’s security. The Qtum cryptocurrency is ranked 66th by market capitalization with a total value of $233.5 million.

Qtum’s foray into DeFi comes at an opportune time in the market’s evolution. More than $13.3 billion has been locked into DeFi projects at the time of writing, with the vast majority of funding coming in the last six months. It wasn’t until May that the total value locked reached $1 billion.

The market for decentralized exchanges, or DEXs, peaked just north of $4.6 billion last week.