Chain Breaks the Hype With Open Source Code

Chain, the blockchain platform for enterprise solutions, has released Chain Core Developer Edition — open sourcing 30,000 lines of code. The Chain Core downloadable version is free for programmers and organizations to build blockchain-based prototypes.

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Chain Deploys 30,000 Lines of Open Source Blockchain Code

Devon Gundry and Adam Ludwin founded Chain in February 2014. Since then, they’ve kept the startup on a course to offer enterprise-grade blockchain innovation.

For its first two-years, Chain constructed a proprietary blockchain. The company has also raised over $40 million in venture capital. Companies such as the Digital Currency Group, Nasdaq, Citi Ventures and more have injected funds into its expansion.

Before the firm open sourced its code only partners such as Visa, Capital One, and Fidelity were allowed to use the Chain software. Now the code is available for anyone to command and add modifications to the program’s foundations.

Adam Ludwin, also Chain’s CEO, told Bloomberg:

Before today, most blockchain projects existed in PowerPoint presentations. We’re releasing the culmination of two-and-a-half years of work.

Chain Core Now Available For Everyone But Visa Has a Head Start

The Chain Core Developer Edition is licensed under AGPL and runs on Mac, Windows, or Linux to create a blockchain network. Users can also connect to the public testnet, which is operated by Chain engineers, Cornell University’s IC3, and Microsoft. With this set of tools, developers can deploy the docker and SDK and build on Chain’s blockchain framework.

Blockchain believers think these types of distributed ledgers can share data between multiple companies, efficiently trade assets, and secure all interoperability between parties. Even Visa has joined the blockchain revolution, and is utilizing the Chain blockchain fabric for its latest pilot.

The firm hopes the prototype will be ready by 2017 with a business-to-business payment platform. Participating Visa clientele will be able to harness Chain Core’s benefits adding blockchain efficiency to their systems.

Jim McCarthy, executive vice president, innovation and strategic partnerships, Visa Inc., said in the announcement with Chain:

We are developing our new solution to give our financial institution partners an efficient, transparent way for payments to be made across the world.

Breaking Away From the Hype

Chain and other members of the industry believe showing the world their project proves some startups are more than just hype.

In a Bloomberg interview, Emin Gun Sirer, an associate professor of computer science at Cornell University says Chain is “definitely not hype.” He described how Chain is one of the “most credible blockchain providers out there.” In fact, Gun Sirer believes this may be the start of a second wave of blockchain technology.

While the blockchain provider is on a path towards standardizing this technology it has competition. Beyond the vast amounts of public frameworks like Bitcoin, there are other enterprise blockchain vendors around the industry. Efforts from the Hyperledger Project and R3 CEV’s Corda are also looking to provide the same distributed ledger benefits.

Chain will have to position itself among these competitors, and it believes open sourcing its code will help infinitely. Ludwin is thrilled to be one of the first startups to allow developers a platform and testing ground.

“We’re excited to be among the first to actually get something real into the hands of developers,” he told press.

What do you think about Chain open sourcing 30,000 lines of code? Let us know in the comments below.

Images courtesy of Pixabay, Chain, and Fortune.

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