In this bumper issue of the Stratis monthly, we review our progress over December and January. As 2019 came to a close, we announced the launch of our STO Platform and the Stratis Mobile Wallet.

This momentum has continued into the new year with the announcement of a framework partnership with Triad Group – a major milestone for our corporate development – and the conclusion of the Stratis Smart Contracts Challenge.

If that wasn’t enough, we also have another development update in this issue, so get yourself comfortable, ready to enjoy this double monthly update.

Development update

Over the past months, development has focused primarily on ensuring that the platform is wholly ready for business adoption. This includes significant testing of components that will be critical within specific use-cases.

As part of this development, a new product has also been introduced, demonstrating how the Stratis Platform can cater for the supply chain use-cases. Stratis’ supply chain solution is a showcase that will be utilised to highlight how blockchain solutions can bring huge benefits to all parties within a traditional supply chain.

Roadmap Update

Following on from an update that was provided in November, an update on the outstanding roadmap items can be found below.

Proof-of-Stake Sidechains

We will continue to focus on our existing sidechain implementation utilising the proof-of-authority consensus algorithm, this is primarily due to the level of decentralisation that is achieved through the utilised on-boarding process.

With the inclusion of dynamic membership, we can ensure that there is a diverse range of MasterNode operators providing the block production and transaction validation for individuals and organisations utilising Smart Contracts on a public chain.

This allows the current modal to scale and provide a high level of decentralisation and trust for both current and future sidechains.

Stratis Core 2.0

Stratis Core has undergone a facelift to improve the user experience and provide a template to incorporate new and exciting features. The pre-release will be available next week for a round of community testing!

Unity SDK

The Unity SDK and other technologies within the .NET Family are a significant focus for Stratis in 2020. Integration within the Unity development focus will continue to be a focal point for further development.

Expected: Q3

Breeze with Privacy Protocol

As mentioned in our previous update, the implementation of the Privacy Protocol for the Stratis network is reliant upon the successful integration and activation of SegWit. Development for SegWit is now code-complete, however, a significant amount of testing is required to ensure there is no unexpected behaviour introduced.

Unfortunately, this isn’t a quick process and requires some of the best minds at Stratis to ensure a wide variety of edge cases are assessed within a heterogeneous environment.

In addition, we are also exploring the option of activating SegWit on the Cirrus Sidechain to accelerate the process of activation on Stratis.

Expected: Q3

Stratis launches Security Token Offering platform

December saw Stratis take a great step forward with the launch of the STO platform, one of our key development roadmap milestones. We worked closely with clients to ensure the STO Platform is compliant with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations, which enables businesses to raise capital by issuing legally permissible, asset-backed securities on the Stratis blockchain.

The response to the launch of the STO platform has been very encouraging and has already generated a great amount of interest in the community and from businesses.

Partnership with Triad

To kick off 2020, we were delighted to sign an agreement with Triad Group, a leading UK provider of IT consultancy services and technology solutions. Triad is an established name in the digital consultancy sector and works with many prestigious clients across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. We will work closely with Triad to identify where their clients would benefit from blockchain and then help them build business-specific applications on our flexible, easy-to-use platform.

Our first collaborative project is the development of a blockchain-based, end-to-end parcel tracking application, which had originally been designed by Triad on the Ethereum platform and has already been ported across to the Stratis platform.

Matthew Tallamy, Senior Consultant at Triad, has published two blogposts on his experience working with blockchain and why they chose Stratis. Parts one and two of the series can be viewed on LinkedIn.

The collaboration with Triad was many months in the making and is a significant endorsement of Stratis that will open new doors to multiple organisations and businesses. We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship.

Winners of the Stratis Hackathon announced

The Stratis Hackathon was a huge success with nearly 200 developers registering to take part. The high standard and variety of entries was exceptional, making the judging panel’s job a very difficult one! After much deliberation, the judges revealed the top three winners, which are:

US$10,000 First Place: Cirrus Swap by Tyler Pena. The Cirrus Swap decentralised exchange application allows users to hold their own tokens and settle trades on Stratis’ Cirrus Sidechain. As more SRC-20 tokens join the Cirrus Sidechain, the application will make it easier for users to exchange tokens on chain in a decentralised manner, as opposed to utilising traditional methods like cryptocurrency exchanges. US$5,000 Second Place: Wheelgame by Sergey Ankarenko. In this gambling web application, players log in with a decentralised, arbitrary private key to making it impossible for participants to cheat or gain an illegal advantage. US$3,000 Third Place: Stratis Signature by Divyang Desai. The Stratis Signature web application allows multiple users to securely create, sign and verify documents which enhances integrity and transparency.

We would like to congratulate all of our winners and thank all participants that submitted entries. We look forward to many more hackathons in the future.

Stratis in the news

It has been great to see all the recent progress at Stratis recognised in the media across many outlets from global newswire Reuters, European publication Government Europa, to several crypto press outlets. This will only continue as we add further functionality to the Stratis platform and win new business.