It may have been August, but it was another busy month for Stratis, filled with updates from our developers. The main focus was the release of the block explorer for Cirrus and Stratis networks and improving the stability of the Cirrus Sidechain.

Development Update

A total of 47 commits were made during the month of August, this encompassed 320 file changes and 7,694 additional lines of code to the Stratis Full Node. A summary of the key developments can be found below.

Stratis Full Node

• Partially refactored the full node’s feature discovery mechanism and continued refactoring work to improve overall architecture surrounding network consensus rule registration
• Utilizing the Stratis Coherence Suite to ensure release stability

Cirrus Sidechain

• New Cirrus wallet feature to issue custom tokens and interact with them
• Improvements for stability of the Cirrus miner
• Feedback improvements from Cirrus’ cross chain transfer store to better log information to the console
• Fixed unconfirmed balance issues with Cirrus’ federation wallet

Smart Contacts

• Porting of Azure workbench sample smart contracts
• Improvements to smart contract receipt querying
• Fixes for smart contract storage access bug

Stratis Core Wallet

• Fixes for wallet transaction history
• Updated cold staking feature to include wallet feature explicitly
• Performed extensive performance testing and optimization of wallet database
• Created new SQLiteWalletRepository database store for wallets
• Added option for multiple wallets per database or one database per wallet
• Identified some reusable code and interfaces in the wallet database
• Added support for various RPC methods including GetAddressGroupings to wallet database

Block explorer

• Release of the block explorer for Cirrus and Stratis networks
• New improved responsive User Interface (UI) for the block explorer

Business Updates

Further to our development update, our business development team were also busy with a number of key engagements detailed below:

Stratis Listing on Crypto.com

We are pleased to have this month listed STRAT on Crypto.com, the global payments and cryptocurrency platform. You can see the full announcement here: https://blog.crypto.com/crypto-com-lists-stratis-strat/
Users that hold STAT in the Crypto.com app are being rewarded with the offer of a STRAT staking bonus, operating on a monthly basis. Full details of the scheme and the MCO Staking Booster can be are available on the exchange’s blog post here: https://blog.crypto.com/crypto-com-app-strat-staking-bonus/

Stratis & the Technical University of Munich

Stratis was invited by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) to contribute to its survey on Entrepreneurial Financing.
TUM is one of Germany’s most prestigious universities and regularly features highly in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and QS World University Rankings®. It is known for its strong science and technology research and close ties to business and industry.
We were pleased to contribute as part of our support for unbiased, respected research that leads to the advancement of blockchain technology.

Kookmin Bank visit to Stratis HQ

One of the hottest topics with enterprise clients right now is Digital Transformation, or ‘DX’ as it called by IDC, one of the leading analyst houses. IDC’s research shows that between 2013 and 2017, companies engaged in digital manufacturing, as one example, grew both their revenue and profits steadily, while non-digital manufacturers saw both their revenues and profits fall by between 2% and 3% year-on-year.
It is clear that for businesses to succeed in the modern age, they have to understand DX. This is especially true in the banking industry where so-called ‘challenger banks’ are entering the market with radical new, mobile-only propositions to slash costs and appeal to the current generation of digital natives who have grown up with smartphones.
The Stratis team was therefore pleased to welcome senior members of Kookmin Bank, one of the largest in Korea, to the Stratis offices in London recently to discuss our technology. A wide range of topics were covered, centering around the bank’s interest in the role of blockchain in Digital Transformation. According to IDC, by 2021, 82% of revenues derived from DX will be ecosystem-driven and blockchain is a key technology for establishing the trust necessary for those ecosystems to thrive.

 
 

July saw the successful release of the Cirrus Sidechain, secured by the Cirrus Sidechain Masternodes. By performing rigorous testing within our Stratis Coherence Suite, we were able to ensure a smooth release. This shows the benefit of Stratis Coherence Suite to cater for full end-to-end testing within a short time frame, enabling developers to have complete confidence in the public release of a product.
Shortly after the release of the Cirrus Sidechain, the first smart contract was executed on-chain – an ERC-20 equivalent named SRC-20 which allows anyone to issue their own token with just a few clicks within the Cirrus Core wallet. This landmark moment was the first time a smart contract has ever been executed on a platform built entirely from the ground up in native C# on Microsoft’s .NET framework.
We now look forward to releasing Cirrus Core 2.0 in the coming weeks, bringing one-click token issuance and full token management allowing you to manage issued tokens with ease.

Development Update

A total of 79 commits were made during the month of July, this encompassed 388 file changes and 5,613 additional lines of code. A summary of the key developments can be found below.

• Enhancements to P2P Feature
• Improvements to Mempool
• Cirrus Network changes
• Optimizations to Federation Wallet
• Improved P2P error handling
• Development of account-based wallet model
• Updates to Token Support within Cirrus Core

SegWit Update

Development of the Stratis implementation of SegWit has been proceeding smoothly. Both mining and staking of SegWit transactions and blocks has been tested, with these test scenarios becoming a permanent part of the integration test suite. Additional test coverage has been added to verify interoperability of SegWit-capable nodes with nodes running older software on the same network. This will help to ensure a seamless upgrade in future.
Several improvements have been made to the Stratis Full Node’s mempool implementation, enhancing its support for SegWit transactions and validation of all transaction types in general. Regression testing will soon begin, after which SegWit functionality can begin to be activated on the Stratis mainchain.

Stratis Academy

We are also pleased to announce the Stratis Academy is now open-source, allowing anyone to contribute and suggest changes via GitHub.
A new article has been added. detailing the Smart Contract deployment process on the Cirrus Sidechain.
https://academy.stratisplatform.com/SmartContracts/DeployingSmartContract/deploying-smart-contract-on-cirrus.html
In light of the Stratis Academy becoming open-source, we are excited to announce we will award a total of 1000 STRAT to the top three contributors in August. The prize fund will be split into 500 STRAT/300 STRAT/200 STRAT to the first, second and third winners, based upon contributions made.

Stratis appoints Luther Pendragon

Stratis has appointed Luther Pendragon to lead its corporate communications strategy. Luther Pendragon is a communications agency with a 25-year track record of advising clients around the globe. It will advise Stratis on its communications and marketing activities as we target new enterprise customers and further build our developer base.

Uganda backs Stratis partner MediConnect in fight against fake drugs

The Ugandan government has signalled its support for MediConnect’s blockchain solution, which runs on the Stratis platform, to tackle the country’s counterfeit medicines problem.
It follows a meeting in July in Kampala between MediConnect, the President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, and other high-level government officials.
A delegation including Dexter Blackstock, CEO of MediConnect, explained how it is developing a blockchain solution to track and trace drugs all the way through the supply chain. According to Ugandan National Drug Authority, 10 per cent of drugs prescribed in the country have counterfeit copies sold on the market. The meeting attracted media coverage in the UK and Africa, examples of which can be seen at: Cointelegraph-Uganda to Deploy MediConnect’s Blockchain Platform for Tracing Fake Drugs; and Nottingham Post-Dexter Blackstock gets support to tackle Uganda’s fake drug problem.
Dexter Blackstock, CEO of MediConnect, commented: “We see this as an important opportunity for MediConnect to form part of Uganda’s national infrastructure and protect its citizens by ensuring all drugs in circulation are authentic and safe.”

Stratis contributes to teQatlas research into blockchain benefits

Stratis was pleased to contribute to research by Swiss-based market intelligence provider teQatlas. We took part in their recently published report “Emerging Technologies for SMEs: Blockchain, AI and IOT, Use Cases, Opportunities and Challenges”.
The full report is behind their paywall, but our CEO and founder, Chris Trew, is named-checked as a contributor here. Stratis also features in the teQatlas Products & Services directory on their website here.
One of the issues highlighted by the report is how SMEs mistakenly think emerging technologies such as blockchain are for large enterprises. The study shows how firms can use them to optimize their business processes, cut costs and outperform the competition.

Leading university ETH Zurich puts focus on Stratis in technology study

Stratis has taken part in a study on the inner structure of distributed ledger technology by prestigious Swiss technical university ETH Zurich.
It is part of a European research project called FuturICT2.0. The project is looking at ways of harnessing innovative technologies to tackle threats such as resource shortages, climate change and economic dislocation. It brings together expertise in cutting-edge areas such as big data, AI, and blockchain.
One aim of the research is to devise new financial incentive systems to foster sustainable community behaviour and Stratis was pleased to be one of first projects they chose to look at.

The month of June focused on the delivery of the Sidechain Masternode release for the Cirrus Sidechain. This delivery was successfully made on-time on the 1st July 2019, allowing anyone to perform cross-chain transfers and actively begin developing Smart Contracts in C# to deployed on the Cirrus Sidechain.

Development Update

A total of 53 commits were made during the month of June, this encompassed 131 file changes and 4,217 additional lines of code. A summary of the key developments can be found below.

• Introduction of time off-setting and WAN emulation within Stratis Coherence Suite
• Improvements to feedback from the Address Indexer
• Enhanced logging for several components of the Full Node
• Optimizations to Address Indexer
• Development of Stratis Masternode Dashboard
• Revisions to the exchange of peer address data during node handshake
• Additional diagnostic API endpoints
• Improvements to feedback from the Collateral Checker
• Corrections to accuracy of wallet staking balance
• Increased throughput possible for federation wallet transactions
• Efficient signing of larger transactions

In addition to the development of the platform, the business development team have been busy engaging with prospective clients and organizations within the blockchain space.

Stratis working with global provider of market intelligence, IDC

Stratis is playing its part in the debate on the development of blockchain technology and the wider market. We are working with International Data Corporation (IDC), a global provider of market intelligence and advisory services for the technology market.
Many of the world’s largest enterprises use input and advice from IDC to make technology buying decisions and formulate strategy. Stratis is a member of IDC’s Research Innovation Council on blockchain, where it contributes alongside some of the technology sector’s best known and most innovative companies.
According to a report earlier this year from IDC, Worldwide Semiannual Blockchain Spending Guide, worldwide spending on blockchain solutions is forecast to be nearly $2.9 billion in 2019, an increase of 88.7% from the $1.5 billion spent in 2018. IDC expects blockchain spending to grow at a robust pace over the 2018-2022 forecast period with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 76.0% and total spending of $12.4 billion in 2022.

Stratis presents to Industrial Bank of Korea

Stratis presented our DLT Solution to 75 delegates from Industrial Bank of Korea, headquartered in Seoul, South Korea.

South Korea is a hot spot for DLT technologies and this was a valuable opportunity for us to showcase our products and services in front of one of Asia’s most influential financial services groups.
We are also discussing future opportunities to present to similar trade delegations from major businesses in sectors such pharmaceuticals, healthcare and financial services.
With the launch of our Cirrus Sidechain Masternodes this month, it will now be easier, cheaper and faster for developers to build DLT and Smart Contract functions bespoke to their business needs. Stratis is committed to making it easy for businesses to adopt blockchain solutions and we believe our technology can greatly benefit large enterprises and financial services companies as well as government organisations whose systems operate within Microsoft’s .NET framework.

Stratis attends All-Party Parliamentary Group on Blockchain

To keep up with the latest thinking on the impact of blockchain, Stratis is participating in the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Blockchain. We have attended evidence sessions at Westminster to gain insights from contributors from all corners of the industry.
The APPG states that its mission is: “To ensure that industry and society benefit from the full potential of blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies (DLT) making the UK a leader in blockchain/DLT’s innovation and implementation.”
Sessions this year have looked at blockchain and finance, the creative industries, next-generation services, healthcare, energy and environment. Members of parliament, government officials and industry leaders attended the sessions and have been presented demonstrations of real-world blockchain applications designed to educate policymakers.
As blockchain is becoming increasingly mainstream, it is vital that the benefits of the technology are highlighted to government organisations and businesses and we look forward to contributing to the APPG in the future.

Stratis listed in influential EU Blockchain initiative

Stratis was recently listed in the European Union Blockchain Observatory and Forum. The project was launched in 2018 to accelerate blockchain innovation and the development of the blockchain ecosystem in the EU and to help cement Europe’s position as a global leader in this transformative new technology.
Its mission is to monitor blockchain initiatives in Europe, produce a comprehensive source of blockchain knowledge, create a forum for sharing information and opinion and make recommendations on the role the EU could play in blockchain.
Observatory and Forum partners include ConsenSys, the University of Southampton, the Knowledge Media Institute at the Open University, University College London, and the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences.
Stratis is listed on the organization’s website as an open source project, multinational in scope, with a long-term vision to develop blockchain technology in C# on Microsoft’s .NET framework.
The Observatory and Forum’s June newsletter includes publication of an academic paper on Blockchains and Digital Assets Blockchains and Digital Assets by the University of Southampton. One of its conclusions is that “appropriate regulation is positive and will benefit all actors”.