In this interview, In this interview, we meet the QX team, a dynamic group of researchers and technologists combining academic excellence with a passion for decentralization and privacy. With backgrounds from institutions like Arizona State University and the University of Ljubljana, they’re building QX Travel Experience—a platform that transforms how smart cities, brands, and communities engage digitally, while protecting user privacy. Through TrustChain, the QX team has found both a technological foundation and a strategic network, accelerating their mission to create human-centric, blockchain-powered experiences for the future of digital interaction.
Can you briefly present your team?
QX team combines academic excellence and technical innovation, with experts holding advanced degrees in computer science from prestigious institutions including Arizona State University and the University of Ljubljana. Passionate about decentralized technology, we aim to enhance digital interactions securely and privately.
How did you come up with this project idea and what benefits will it bring to the end users?
We developed the idea for QX Travel Experience through our collaborations with shopping malls and major brands, realizing a significant opportunity to leverage their existing customer engagement assets to build decentralized, privacy-focused community networks. Our solution enables smart cities, brands, and businesses to offer seamless digital experiences without compromising users’ personal data, fostering decentralized citizen and traveler communities.
How is TrustChain supporting your growth and what role does it play for the next steps in your development?
TrustChain has been instrumental in our growth, serving as a powerful enabler by offering access to a robust ecosystem of decentralized technologies developed by trusted partners. It has provided validation and credibility within the broader EU landscape, significantly accelerating our ability to scale, communicate effectively, and deliver enterprise-grade solutions for smart cities and major brands.
Why did you apply to the TrustChain call and has your vision changed since then?
As a young deep-tech startup, we initially faced challenges identifying a clear path and integrating within Europe’s innovation ecosystems. We chose TrustChain for its explicit commitment to decentralized technologies and its human-centric vision, which deeply resonated with our goals. Joining TrustChain significantly shaped our journey, reinforcing and sharpening our vision for building privacy-focused, user-driven solutions.
What is the most valuable takeout from the TrustChain project and why was the topic of the Open Call important to you/your team?
The most valuable takeaway from the TrustChain project was its human-centric strategy, which greatly shaped our approach and led us to significant insights—culminating in an academic publication. The Open Call’s focus on economics, democracy, and data democracy resonated deeply with our team, aligning with our core goal of building decentralized, blockchain-powered economic communities and atomic networks that empower users and ensure data sovereignty.
Did you establish collaboration with any of the TrustChain teams or plan for any kind of synergies? If yes, what is the biggest potential in such collaborations?
Yes, we established a productive collaboration with DIDROOM and are actively exploring additional synergies within the TrustChain ecosystem. The greatest potential lies in combining our decentralized wallet and engagement solutions with DIDROOM’s advanced decentralized identity and credential issuance technologies, enabling us to offer more secure, seamless, and scalable digital identity solutions across multiple use cases, particularly in smart cities and enterprise settings.
What are your expectations regarding the TrustChain software ecosystem and its contribution to the NGI priority areas?
Our expectations for the TrustChain software ecosystem are that it will significantly enhance interoperability, collaboration, and innovation across decentralized technologies. We foresee it playing a pivotal role in advancing NGI priority areas, particularly in data sovereignty, privacy preservation, democratic governance, and economic empowerment, ultimately establishing a robust foundation for a more human-centric and secure future internet.
What are the next steps for your team?
Our next step is to fully open-source all Web2 components of our platform—including loyalty systems, chat solutions, and digital engagement tools—to empower smart cities, brands, and local businesses, aligning closely with NGI principles and our company’s vision. Additionally, we’re excited to participate in TrustChain OC5, where we are developing our own blockchain with a nominated proof-of-stake consensus, explicitly designed for smart cities and enterprises, emphasizing energy efficiency and interoperability.
What is the message you would give to new and potential applicants to TrustChain Open Calls?
My key message to potential TrustChain Open Call applicants is to thoroughly explore the existing TrustChain ecosystem first. Many high-quality solutions, tools, and open-source projects developed by other teams can significantly accelerate your development process, enhance product quality, and quickly solve complex challenges—as we experienced firsthand in our own journey.