Lindsay X. Lin “Many models of DEXs exist. A DEX could have: 1. On-chain order book, matching, execution, settlement (e.g. Stellar); or 2. #1 except with off-chain order book and/or matching (e.g. 0x relayers). Legal & risk analyses differs across models — often moot to loop into 1 category.” - EDUCATION Assets and Anchors Explainer Video The next video in my Stellar Overview Course is out - this video covers assets and anchors on the Stellar network. I’m on track to finalize this course by the end of the year - excited to provide a free, clear, easy way for newcomers to quickly understand Stellar. Link PROTOCOL Protocol v10 Public Network Rollout The testnet and SDF's Horizon and core nodes have been upgraded to v10. The upgrade timeline has been accelerated to hamper bot activity, and the planned network upgrade is scheduled for September 13, 2018. Link ECOSYSTEM Financial Services for Refugees on Stellar My friends and fellow Vanderbilt alumni at Leaf Global Fintech are helping refugees safely store and transport assets across borders from a mobile device. They are building on top of Stellar, received a $100,000 grant from Catalyst Fund, and have released an explainer video about their work. Link ECOSYSTEM Human-Readable Stellar Transactions Mazières suggests a SEP for txrep - a human-readable representation of Stellar transactions. Link DEX Interstellar Incorporates KYC Interstellar has built-in KYC, allowing you to encrypt and share your KYC information with anchors you choose ( see SEP-0006 ). Link NEWS Stronghold is launching a market-making program. Link



Smartlands (asset tokenization platform) partners with Civic to implement identity verification services. Link



IBM’s World Wire on CoinDesk. Link WEEKLY GIF When a new set of transactions is applied, a new “last closed ledger” is created. Each ledger is cryptographically linked to a unique previous ledger, creating a historical ledger chain that goes back to the genesis ledger. 👨🏻‍🚀,

- Kyle



P.S. We’ve known that IBM would be releasing a universal payments system, and, now that it has a name, people are starting to compare it to Ripple’s xRapid. SDF and IBM have suggested that their positioning is better because: SDF is a nonprofit and will eventually include financial institutions in governance in a fashion similar to how the Linux Foundation includes industry members building on top of their open source software.

97% of the world's largest banks are already IBM clients and 90% of global credit card transactions are processed on IBM mainframes.

Banks are risk-averse and would rather work with an established company, particularly one that they and their entire industry already trust with core infrastructure. IBM markets the use of a stablecoin as a bridge currency for settlement, maybe because their conversations with banks suggest that the instability of a volatile cryptoasset isn't appealing right now.



Holding lumens to maintain a pairing between a fiat currency and lumens can be a risky endeavor when the lumen price can fluctuate rapidly. Since one of the big arguments for the future value of lumens is its use as a bridge currency, this concerns some lumen holders.



While IBM’s World Wire is an important piece of the crossborder puzzle, it’s not the only player - there are many other crossborder payment users using lumens as a bridge currency.



I see Stellar’s fiat-friendliness as the wedge for long-term enterprise adoption - some businesses will be more likely to use Stellar today for cross-border payments if they have access to a stable bridge currency. Eventually, as usage grows, users may trend towards lumens as a bridge because 1) everyone has to hold it, so it is the most widely adopted liquid asset on the network and 2) it is the only asset that does not require a trustline, so it’s easier to use. It’s a debate between the stability of central bank digital currencies and the network effects of lumens, and there will be multiple winners. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up to receive an email like this one every week. I find the most interesting Stellar developments from the week and deliver them to you every Friday morning.