Qortal has its very own coin called QORT which powers on-chain functionality and can be used as a digital currency just as Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency, without an intermediary like a bank. There is no intention of listing QORT on other exchanges as Qortal has its own exchange and more importantly, is meant to be used on-chain.

Qortal aims to create an alternative infrastructure for a new Internet where among many other aspects, an especially important feature will be the ability for e-commerce services to host their sites and apps within the Qortal Network. These services will have the ability to accept QORT as a form of payment just as they will be able to with other cryptocurrencies we support. We will also create a jobs market board that can utilize QORT and the coins we support. All of this provides UTILITY for QORT on our very own platform! Take a moment to consider: a blockchain where its coin is designed to be used on its platform! Qortal has a roadmap that is much more than another cryptocurrency and ledger (bigger than crypto).

QORT is used as the base pair for the Trade Portal with cross-chain trades. For example, for a BTC-LTC trade, the trade will actually be BTC-QORT-LTC. QORT can only be obtained by conducting a true cross-chain P2P trade within the Qortal Trade Portal. As everything we are building is 100% decentralized on-chain which means there is no vault like there are on centralized exchanges where you can immediately convert fiat or crypto. This means to conduct a true P2P trade, you will need to run your own node, send LTC to your Qortal LTC wallet, then buy a listed sell order within the on-chain Trade Portal.

QORT is expected to be a great store of value for users to consider as 1) the wallets are fully secure 2) Qortal and QORT will provide an increasing amount of intrinsic value as time goes on with the plethora of applicability.

Please note: you do NOT have to hold QORT in order to use all of the features on Qortal - other than registering a name for your account if you would like to. Registering a name is totally optional - unless you would like to host data with the Qortal Data Network (QDN), in which registering a name is required.

Also note, that holding QORT gives no advantage over the Qortal Network - meaning you cannot leverage QORT in any way (such as staking) to obtain more block reward or bypass the Leveling System.

There is no cap on QORT production like Bitcoin has with its 21 million. You can learn more about this on the Block Rewards & Distribution page.

You can obtain QORT in two ways: 1) become a minter to earn block reward for supporting the network, and 2) trading other coins for QORT on Qortal's Trade Portal:

1) Becoming a minter entails finding a sponsor within the community, then proving your node to the network over 7200 blocks, thereafter you’ll reach Level 1 and be able to begin minting QORT for reward (refer to the Minting Overview page).

2) Trading coins for QORT on the Trade Portal entails purchasing third party coins from an exchange, sending that coin to your Qortal wallet, and then using the Trade Portal to trade those coins for QORT (refer to the How To Use The Trade Portal page).

ALWAYS REMEMBER: Not your keys, not your coins! This means we use third party exchanges ONLY to swap coins and fiat, as we are not in complete control of those assets on centralized services. So be sure to send the coins to your Qortal wallet immediately so that you are in 100% control of your assets! Also, be sure to follow the Account Setup & Recovery guide to ensure your account is properly secured!

QORT's has an INDIRECT value to fiat and does not have a 'set price'. Qortal's Trade Portal also does not have 'sell walls' or 'buy walls'. These aspects can be a bit confusing on first impression, but we'll explain!

First and foremost, QORT does not have a direct $USD price or with any other fiat currency (money made legal tender by a government). There are no plans to build direct support for fiat, so QORT cannot and will not be able to be bought directly on Qortal with fiat. Users must convert their fiat into one of the cryptocurrencies we support (BTC, LTC, DOGE, DGB, RVN, ARRR). Once users have coin to work with, they can deposit that coin in their Qortal wallet, then trade with QORT. The point to make, is that any reference to QORT in terms of fiat value is an INDIRECT value - meaning that it is based on a third party coin's DIRECT value to fiat.

For example and the use of simple numbers: if LTC was directly valued at $100 per coin, and was trading with QORT at a rate of 0.01 QORT per LTC, then QORT would be indirectly valued at $1. Now let's say later in the same day, LTC's price drops to $50 per coin, but is still trading with QORT at the same rate of 0.01 QORT per LTC, then QORT would be indirectly valued at $0.50!

When the crypto markets began to tank in spring of 2022, LTC's price began to fall drastically. QORT's trading rate with LTC remained relatively stable during this period. So while QORT's 'price' in USD began to drop, it was hardly a drop in trade rates between QORT-LTC, it was mostly LTC's direct value to $USD that began to tank. As you can see, indirect values with our coin are simply INDIRECT and not entirely accurate reflections of what's occurring in Qortal's marketplace.

Next, is to point out the indirect fiat value of QORT depending on what third party coin it's trading with: QORT-LTC versus QORT-BTC might be completely different. As BTC's direct fiat value does not fluctuate identically to LTC's (none of these coins do).

QORT has a price/rate shown in two main locations at the present time: exqlorer.com and within the Qortal UI. This metric is based on recent trade averages. At exqlorer.com (yes that's the correct spelling - exqlorer with a 'q' replacing the 'p'), the 'price' as shown below is the average of the 5-10 most recent trades (based on an algorithm):

This is important to note as the 'price' doesn't account for any trades prior to that, whether in the same hour, day, week, month, etc. The same situation occurs in Qortal's Trade Portal with the 'exchange rate' located at the bottom of the screen - it is also calculated by an average of the most recent 5-10 trades (based on an algorithm):

The neat thing about the Qortal UI's rate, is that each user can specify their own parameters as they see fit. This can be done via API, which is currently something users have to modify outside of the UI as shown below:

To access this, the user will need to 1) have api documentation enabled in their json settings (on their node), and 2) open an Internet browser to enter this link: 127.0.0.1:12391

This website is the 'Swagger' API application tool we currently use. Scroll down to the 'Cross-Chain' section:

Please note: You do not have to restart your core for these changes to reflect in the UI. Enjoy!

Did you know? You can list an order at any exchange rate as you see fit! You can also buy any sell order on the list as you see fit. This is what we mean by no sell walls or buy walls in the Trade Portal. These 'walls' would be large sell orders or a large number of sell orders at the same rates to set up a wall-like block of entries in the order book. These are historic crypto games and manipulative tactics that Qortal is not prone to.

Qortal is a massive work in progress. Part of the roadmap for the Qortal UI includes a built-in block exqlorer (for visualizing blockchain network metrics) as well as price charts! We've also implemented the Auto Buy tool which allows you to automatically buy a series of QORT sell orders. Rather than having to manually select and execute each trade, which can take time to complete, Auto Buy lets you specify the total amount of QORT, and the HIGHEST PRICE you would like to pay in the 'foreign coin'. Then the foreign coin AMOUNT is set automatically based on those two things.More is on the way, stay tuned!