This bumper-update incorporates key internal development updates along with key information relating to Stratis Technologies and its partners.A significant amount of focus has been placed on bringing value to our public blockchain solutions, specifically the Cirrus Token associated with the Cirrus Sidechain. This of course inherently brings a benefit to the Stratis Token.Stratis public blockchain offerings play a significant role in providing a level of decentralisation to the more privatised blockchain solutions.We hope that this update has provides you with some insight into the activities at Stratis HQ. Our team of distributed developers and professionals have been working relentlessly to bring Stratis Technologies to the forefront of the Blockchain Software Vendor space.Moving forward, we will look to shift towards providing a quarterly update as this enables us to deliver much richer content for the respective projects we are working on internally.
Development Update:
The Stratis Full Node has provided a solid foundation for further development of features associated with a corporate environment. A combination of our existing extensive knowledge in blockchain technologies and the pre-existing development ethos that ensured extensibility and flexibility of our code; has enabled truly rapid development of new features.Features such as Stratis Membership Services (SMS), Stratis Channels, Private Data, Blockchain Interoperability, and many more have been incorporated into the solution, resulting in a truly enterprise-ready solution. In addition to these stunning features, we have also developed our own Certificate Authority that comes packaged with the DLT Solution.As with all of Stratis’ Enterprise-Ready Technologies, these solutions provide the ability to remain resilient through highly-available implementations and also scale horizontally, allowing the solution to grow with both adoption and utilisation.More in-depth information and documentation will become publicly available in the coming months, including a blog-post for each respective Stratis Product Offering.
IdentityTrust
As we began developing solutions for specific industries, it became evident that a robust identity solution would be required to remove the employment of a centralised digital identity management solution that has become the standard.This realisation resulted in the further development of an existing Identity product, however, the design has been altered to leverage Smart Contracts. Resulting in a truly decentralised, Self-Sovereign, and claims-based identity solution.The concept of Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) is that the digital identity of an individual is wholly owned and controlled by the individual as to who it belongs to. Segments of this identity can then be shared with individuals, organisations, and agencies, etc. with this control being administered by the individual.A new, re-designed mobile application for both Android and iOS has been developed to complement the newly developed Identity solution. Furthermore, the production instance will utilise the Cirrus Blockchain, both rewarding Masternode Operators and providing a truly decentralised solution.
Asset Management Toolkit
In August 2018, Stratis became the first company to publish a blockchain-based WebApp on the Azure Marketplace, the Stratis ICO Platform. As time progressed, the ICO Platform was further developed to suit the needs of the individuals and companies emerging within the space, this saw the delivery of the Stratis STO Platform that incorporated many changes. Several of those changes being a direct result of our interaction with the Securities Exchange Commission via our partner, Gluon.Once again, as Stratis Technologies grow with further development, we are presented with the opportunity to revisit solutions and further develop them to leverage these advancements. This is in addition to significant graphical changes to the user-interface to greatly improve user-experience.As with all of Stratis’ showcases, Stratis IdentityTrust support is available and encouraged by default, highlighting our commitment to ensuring public blockchains are utilised where applicable. To further remove any hindrance of trust, token creation and issuance are now governed by a Smart Contract, enabling a truly trust-less token offering.Whilst the platform can be employed to issue tokens on-chain to represent shares of a company or entity. It can also be leveraged as an Asset Management System to inventorise physical assets. Furthermore, through industry expert input and design and the platform is geared to become an accredited financial asset management system when combined with a Stratis DLT offering.
SupplyTrust
Another addition to the Stratis product offerings is Stratis SupplyTrust; a blockchain solution for logistics, and supply-chains. Delivering transparency, efficiencies and trust within traditional supply-chains through digital transformation.Manufacturers, producers, wholesalers, distributors, and every participant within a supply-chain can utilise SupplyTrust product to gain a definitive understanding of the lifecycle of a product.Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology provides the perfect synergy with Blockchain Technology when both delivering solutions within logistics and addressing the issues of trust and security inherent within these environments.Data such as; temperature and humidity sensors, vibration sensors, and location data are crucial pieces of information. Hashes of this data can be stored on-chain, utilising existing IoT devices to provide transparency and confidence in a solution.More information revolving around IoT and Stratis Technologies will be announced in due course. The decision to design and develop blockchain solutions leveraging the Microsoft .NET Framework has enabled us to wholly utilise the benefits of a rich ecosystem found with the Microsoft .NET Family.
Interoperability
We are fortunate to have a wealth of in-house experience within enterprise environments, enabling us to foresee scenarios that are all too common in a typical enterprise IT infrastructure.This knowledge and business acumen drove the design and development of a Blockchain Interoperability Solution. We appreciate that technology decisions made within major corporations are not always consistent, furthermore, we understand that partners and vendors of the aforementioned corporations may also have existing relationships with alternate software vendors.Blockchain Interoperability paired with the integrated support of established business communication standards forms a highly palatable blockchain solution. For both those who have already performed an internal Proof-of-Concept and are ready to take it to the next phase; alternatively, established businesses who are seeking to implement a blockchain solution whilst retaining compatibility with any relevant third-parties.The solution currently offers full support for Hyperledger Fabric and can support any platform offering Turing complete Smart Contracts. It is also important to highlight that our Blockchain Interoperability Solution is not solely focused on enterprise deployments. In addition to the clear benefits, it brings to enterprise environments, support for leading public blockchain solutions enables and encourages the migration from alternate public blockchain solutions.
Private Data & Chain-Channels
When it comes to corporations utilising blockchain solutions, data privacy is imperative. To put that into context, envision a blockchain solution that incorporates data and input from multiple organisations.Whilst data stored on the respective ledger may not be humanly readable, i.e. a hash of data. Legislation and governing policies will undoubtedly frown upon and restrict the sharing of senstivive data. Therefore, a solution that provides the ability to restrict and control access to the aforementioned data is crucial if it is expected to be implemented in a production environment.The development of Stratis Private Data and Stratis Chain-Channels and combined utilisation provides organisations the ability to store sensitive data within a separate ledger, whilst retaining a relationship with the primary ledger. This concept allows for role-based access controls to be put in place for such data to be accessed.Furthermore, expiration dates can be enforced for privately stored data, ensuring that data is purged after a defined period or event. Such functionalities are crucial when considering regulatory requirements such as the General Data Protection Regulation.These features are essential when considering the adoption of such technology within corporate and enterprise environments. The ability to promptly develop and integrate such features is a testament to the extensible foundations developed by Stratis.
Infrastructure as Code
As we brace ourselves for Enterprise Deployments of Stratis Technology, we recognise that we must not be tied to a specific Infrastructure-as-a-Service Solution with the solution we provide. Furthermore, it’s also imperative that we can ensure consistency with supported deployments to aid the support process if an issue was to arise.Enter Kubernetes.We have now designed and implemented both development and production environments for both public and private solutions leveraging Kubernetes. The utilisation of Kubernetes allows us to take advantage of the feature-rich framework provided.This enables, but is not limited to;• Simple Command Deployment• Resiliency• Self-Healing Solutions• On-Premise, Hybrid or Cloud environment support
Wallet Update
The updated Stratis Core Wallet has completed its extensive release candidate phase and will shortly be released. We will actively encourage stakers to migrate to this wallet as it is the only released wallet that signals for Cold-Staking activation.The current status of Cold-Staking activation can be viewed on the community ran stratis.guru website.Stratis Core 2.0 incorporates a change to the way wallets are stored on disk, this change results in significant increases in performance resulting in a greater user-experience when restoring and/or resyncing a wallet. Additionally, there has been a change to the User-Interface as a whole to increase the overall experience.The Cirrus Core Wallet has also seen enhancements, similar to the aforementioned changes to the Stratis Core 2.0 Wallet. There have also been some changes to the way user-addresses are displayed, specifically within the Token Management panel, as a result of community feedback. The release of the Cirrus Core Wallet will follow shortly after the release of Stratis Core 2.0.Feedback received by the community is truly invaluable and enables us to confidently release our wallet software. We would like to thank those that participate in the community testing and provide their feedback through the relevant channels.
Stratis Academy
The Stratis Academy has undergone a restructure. This results in developers being able to navigate the Academy more pragmatically.More importantly, in addition to the restructure, public API’s for all Stratis Networks is now available and ready to be interacted with. This enables developers to interact with Stratis Blockchains without the need to have their own fully synced node.Descriptions and examples have been created for all available endpoints too, ensuring there is an adequate explanation as to what you can expect from the endpoints.https://academy.stratisplatform.com/swagger/
Hackathon Update
Following on from the successful Stratis Smart Contract Challenge that saw several fantastic business use-case developments using Stratis Technology. Another Hackathon has been launched, specifically focusing on how Stratis Blockchain Technology can assist with the current pandemic.The #BlockchainCOVID19 Hackathon is an opportunity for developers to build software solutions that tackle challenges that have been highlighted by the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.Stratis Blockchain Technology can provide efficiencies, clarity, transparency, and traceability within one of the many industries affected by the current pandemic. A number of these industries have been highlighted on the #BlockchainCOVID19 landing page. To further assist developers, both new and current, additional content has been incorporated in the Stratis Academy as well as a rapidly deployable development network within Docker to get you started right away.There are still 19-Days left to submit your solution to the #BlockchainCOVID19 Hackathon. With three cash prizes available for selected winners, this is a great opportunity for developers to invest time into either growing or demonstrating your blockchain skills to build a solution that can truly make a difference.
Jonny Fry joins Stratis Advisory board
Jonny Fry co-founder and CEO of TeamBlockchain Ltd, is a Blockchain, Crypto, Digital Assets and funds specialist, with over 25 years’ experience as CEO of an asset management business which he floated on the London Stock Exchange with over £1Billion under management.His focus has been on the dynamics of financial innovation, advising on how Blockchain, Digital Assets are being used in the commercial world, he is also a regular speaker on these topics in the UK and overseas.He writes a weekly analysis that takes over 20 hours to research and write called Digital Bytes, which subscribers then use the content and create their own branded version to send to staff and clients offering insight to some of the developments in the Blockchain and Digital Asset sectors. This is now used by a variety of professional advisors, corporate brokers, accountants, lawyers, business schools, universities, trade bodies and corporations globally.He is Non-Executive Chairman of Gemini Ltd, which is regulated by the FCA, a Co-founder of The British Blockchain Frontier Technology Association (BBFTA) and sits on the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Blockchain (APPG Blockchain).He has helped a number of blockchain business and is an advisor for several companies helping them with their strategic growth and managing corporate and reputational risk.
