Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Quarkcoin (QRK) is a Pump & Dump - Or Is It Really?

If you still don't know what Quarkcoin (QRK) is, Jason explains it pretty well in his recent video below.

Since Bill Still talked about Quark in his recent video, it has exploded within the Bitcoin community and has received huge critism, with many dismissing it as a "scamcoin" or a "pump and dump" scheme. See the Reddit discussions below for more information.

Reddit: Are we being mislead by Quarkcoin Propaganda? 
Reddit: Pump and Dump scheme


Apart from Quark being more secure by using 6 different hashing algorithms, I have yet to be able to find any substantial evidence that this coin is "not a scam" or "better" than most other alts out there. The conversations about Quark have exploded in Reddit over the last few days, and the most asked question is regarding the issue of 98.9% of the Quarks being already mined out.

In fact, almost everyone in the Bitcoin community has been calling Quark a scam, and saying that the heavily vested (Max Keiser & Bill Still) are overhyping a premined coin for their own profits. However, someone like Bill Still or Max Keiser pumping a "useless" coin solely for their own benefits seems like a stupid thing to do. In my opinion, there has to be a better reason as to why they really believe so!

Also, I want to emphasize that Quarks were NOT pre-mined! Instead, the 98% of Quarks that have already been mined were mined by a community of ~100 or so people, who in the case of Quark, will be the central nodes of distribution for Quarks. This then leads to the more important question, how can the Quarks held by 100 people be fairly distributed among the rest of the new adopters?

This was covered in depth in a few discussions that I found, but there is still no concrete answer to the question posed.
  1. Quark Forum: Decentralization and Supply of Quark
  2. Reddit Discussion: How to answer the Premining question
  3. Quark Forum: Question Pre-Mining

The closest answer we have lies in Quark's design. QRK is designed in a way that only CPU mining is efficient. Quark is being mined during a short period of time, which discourages GPU or ASIC miners and keeps the coin fair since Developing ASIC miners takes considerable time and man power. Quarks are mostly mined by early miners, and have been well distributed before the value of this coin goes high like Bitcoin. So there are no ASIC miners and hence we don't have a case where a minority of privileged people mining using specialized hardware gain big profits. From this point of view, Quark is more decentralized since virtually everyone (rather than certain groups of people with special hardware) can mine it; the likelihood of monopolization is smaller.

[Source: Quark Forum: Decentralization and Supply of Quark, Quark Forum: Question Pre-Mining]

Secondly, from the official information posted on Cryptocointalk, it is interesting to note that the supply of QRK is inflationary, wtih a total of 247 million QRK will be mined in ~ 6 months, after that ~ 1 million QRK p.a. (~ 0.5% p.a inflation). This is interesting because it is a completely opposite take on Bitcoin's limited supply. And this means that the value of QRK is deflationary.

Thirdly, Quarkcoin also brings with it several technical benefits when you compare it to Bitcoin, as pointed out by user majormax (see the discussion here). Some of them are listed below:
  1. Secure and different Hashing algorithm. 9 rounds of hashing from 6 hashing functions, rather than a single Hash function, which most coins use. Although the single hash function is considered sufficient at present, the multiple hash gives a further layer of security against future unknowns.
  2. Rapid block generation times. The block generation time for QRK is 30 seconds against 10 minutes for BTC.
  3. A rapid decrease in the Mining Subsidy. This increases scarcity at a greater rate: the newly mined coins available for sale do not affect market price as much as other alternative currencies.

I have also compiled some Quarkcoin related news, which I recommed you watch/read before investing in Quark.


  1. http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1rvcpd/bill_still_to_talk_about_cryptos_on_the_max/
  2. http://dailysilverupdate.com/blog/2013/12/max-keiser-bill-still-on-bitcoin-litecoin-quarkcoin-prices/
  3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7daKwO3cgiU
  4. http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1rwfni/shame_on_you_bill_still_you_hate_on_bitcoin_for_2/
  5. http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1rr4eg/keiser_promoting_another_scamcoin_pump_and_dump/
  6. http://www.reddit.com/r/QuarkCoin/comments/1rxcs4/stop_pulling_out_of_quark_there_is_nothing_to/


After doing this preliminary research, I still have no clue as to whether or not Quark will be here to stay. On the other hand, Quarks will soon experience the Keiser Effect, and I'm not going to miss this boat. I will continue to research into Quark, and buy more (as the price decreases, just my prediction) until it rises after the 19th of December, when Keiser Report airs. Don't forget to vote on my Quark poll on the right column! Also, please tell me what you think in the comments section. Whether not you agree or disagree with me, I just want to know what you think, so shoot me!

Another coin to watch is Zetacoin, which also has an infinitely inflationary supply. Read up more about Zetacoin by clicking here. Also, watch out for Bitcoinsachs' upcoming blog post or follow his Twitter account @BitcoinSachs. Might cover that over the weekend. Stay tuned!

12 comments:

  1. I was attracted to buying QRK for all the positives over Bitcoin that you mentioned. I think QRK will tend to be an everyday spending currency while Bitcoin will act more like a store of value (gold) due to its scarcity and volatility.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's an interesting point and very true! With 98% coins out there already, QRK prices will stabilize much quicker than any other cryptos. From this view, Quarks could replace Litecoin's position as silver to Bitcoin's gold. I wonder.. what happens to Litecoin then?

      Delete
  2. http://www.reddit.com/r/QuarkCoin/comments/1rxhxz/explanation_why_quark_is_falling/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for posting this interesting thread [Explanation why Quark is falling]! Author, Wwojtek, wrote:
      "Quark was digged in 97-98%. So most of coins are in digger hands, diggers by definition are not investors - what investors want is to get coins, what is the simplest way? They make a small bubble, all diggers are selling and people with small sense of market are buying. Why do I think that? Do you really think that QRK will drop after Max Keiser Report (on 19 December)? Have you seen QRK volume? Do you really think that only private people could invest 1k BTC on cryptsy in yet on existing coin?
      What will happen in my opinion. QRK will be transferred from diggers to investors. Investors will stop anty-advertising the currency. They already have 1k BTC waiting to pump up the market. We will see in 2weeks-month, keep this post in mind."

      What I do not understand is, why does the thread starter's explaination lead to a conclusion that Quark is falling? If QRK is transferred to investors, yes we will see a bubble over the next weeks, but don't you think prices will increase as more buyers are willing to pay a higher price?

      This has nothing to do with whether or not Quark will fail. That will be decided by its design and characteristics, and eventually adoption. If anything, the 98% that have already been mined will lead Quarkcoin prices stabilizing much quicker than Bitcoin.

      Delete
    2. Hi, Wwojtek here I answered your question in both places. I was saying that there will be (and is!) teporary fall of QRK to point where investors gather enough coins :) I guess I should add word 'temporary' to my post :) (I was writing it in times of huge QRK fall, so back then everybody understood it, or I guess believed that they did)

      Delete
  3. I've invest about 850 quarks and I'will be happy if this happen, not only for my profit, but for the community. I see how bitcoin has some issues and I hope quark will fix them in the future.

    I will think about to invest more money in quark but I still wondering.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I most definitely hope so too ;) Will probably buy more over the next 2 weeks, as I sell off my alts. To the moon!

      Delete
  4. i think Quarkcoin has managed to break a barrier between tech people and investors.

    The amount of trades that are happening at the moment gives me an indication that it is not all owned by a few people. If this trade rate keeps up then the coins must be moving around without any central control, at least thats how i see it.

    If i look at it right now i think I'm pretty safe to buy now and sell later and make a profit. I don't really care if someone else has more than me, I'm happy with my bit

    ReplyDelete
  5. Why are Bitcoin fan boys, always butt hurt over Alts, do we not want a free market? Have we not had enough of monopolization of power. seriously is like a religious cult yet Jim Jones is Satoshi...I got to give it to Quark, you certainly got them rattled like no other Alt.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This coin would do far better if you did not have scammer pump and dumpers like Max looking to make a fast buck, given time they will not be able to effect the market with these pump and dumps as much.

    ReplyDelete
  7. It could be that the Bitcoin people are behind the claims that Quark is a scam. Could it be that they are worried that competition from Quark might hurt them? Who knows for sure?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Quark - Money, Reinvented Video
    http://youtu.be/HQI2mVr8wUw

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.