Exclusive Interview: Stephen Xu, Former Lead Developer for QTUM

On May 17, 2018, Stephen Xu of QTUM shared his thoughts on the future outlook of blockchain integration and his plans to take on roles outside of Lead Developer in projects post-QTUM.Stephen Xu, Veteran Developer and Leader in Blockchain Innovation.

As a 2014 graduate of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Stephen Xu went on to work for Microsoft and Chinese internet conglomerate, Tencent, as a game developer.

In 2017, Stephen left Tencent and joined Patrick Dai as Lead Developer for the QTUM Foundation where he began his work on the hybrid smart-contract platform for decentralized applications development and established himself as an early expert in blockchain integration utility.

Xu has now taken on the role of Co-Founder of DREP Foundation, a newly developed decentralized reputation-value allocation platform.

Ex-Lead Developer for QTUM, Stephen Xu believes scalability is the primary issue surrounding current smart contract platforms.

Why Xu Left QTUM. Without qualms toward his previous workplace, Stephen asserted that QTUM is a project he was very proud to work on.

"QTUM is a very young blockchain platform. We started ICO last March, 2017 and three months later we released our testnet and three months later we released our mainnet, so it was very quick. Most blockchain projects deliver nothing, but we were a very high-efficiency team, so when we released our mainnet, I am very happy."

"The reason I left QTUM is I have talked to Patrick [Dai] many times about what we want to do or what I want to do and because I used to be a game developer, so I want to do something that is close to the users. I want to see some useful apps in this I want to do it myself, that's the reason I left QTUM to join DREP foundation to do this kind of platform to be closer to the users."

"QTUM is a public chain like Ethereum, so for public chain itself they are developing their technology for the developers, not directly to the users. You cannot use Ethereum directly, unless you can write smart contracts. But if you are not a coder/developer, you cannot really use it. You just transfer it like a currency If you develop an app, the users can really use it. The users can touch it."

Stephen Xu will be assuming the role of Co-Founder on the DREP team and will use his experience in blockchain to guide their efforts in developing a new "Infrastructure to accelerate internet platforms' user growth and traffic monetization."