August 2018

Stellar Ecosystem Updates

Lightyear buys Chain

The long-rumored deal is now official! Lightyear, the company behind Stellar’s IBM partnership and products like StellarX, has bought Chain, another leading blockchain company. Chain builds enterprise products for financial organizations including Visa, Nasdaq, and Citigroup.

With the deal, Lightyear will triple in size and the Stellar ecosystem will add huge new partners and relationships. The new combined company is rebranding itself to become Interstellar and aims to bring many, many more businesses and developers to the Stellar platform. Adam Ludwin, Chain’s CEO and blockchain thoughtleader will become Interstellar’s CEO, while Jed will move to CTO.

SDF will remain independent, focusing on its original mandate.

You can read the full press release here for more details.

Stellar Build Challenge #7 Results

The 7th Stellar Build Challenge is complete! Thank you to everyone who provided feedback, support, and thoughtful discussions surrounding the build challenge. Discover the winners here!

Protocol 10 public network rollout

The time has come for the network to upgrade to version 10 of the protocol! The target upgrade date is September 13. Please read for important details regarding the upgrade.

Stellar Developer Updates

Platform Team Releases:

• Signature checks have been added to https://www.stellar.org/laboratory/#xdr-viewer

Reminder! The Stellar StackExchange is in Public Beta – We are currently using StackExchange to help developers find the answers they need when working on projects. Come join the community!

Events

Upcoming

• Jed McCaleb @ Money 20/20 USA - October 21-24
• Boris Reznikov @ StartEngine Summit - October 19th

New Projects and Project Updates

• Pigzbe is a digital ‘piggy-wallet’ for children aged 6 and up, powered by Wollo, a family-friendly cryptocurrency on the Stellar Blockchain. Pigzbe is on a mission to introduce a new generation of children and their families to cryptocurrency in a safe and secure setting, while also teaching kids about the fundamentals of 21st-century finance.
• SQUID is an expansion of fivesquid, an established and successful international marketplace for freelancers. Platforms like fivesquid are becoming the basis of international trade for large populations. SQUID seeks to provide its community with a currency in which they can trade and hold their earnings, for which they will be rewarded.
• SureRemit launches the SureRemit App. SureRemit is a non-cash remittance service provider utilizing the Stellar network to facilitate global remittances.
• Exodus wallet has added support for Stellar Lumens.