Stay Informed,
Stay Ahead

Stratis has started the year strong, engaging with several Enterprise organizations to demonstrate the power of the Stratis Platform and the benefits blockchain can bring into their traditional practices.

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.

Attracting nearly 200 participants and 13 high-quality submissions, the online hackathon produced a range of smart contract applications spanning finance, law, identity, trade, supply chain, charity, healthcare and gaming.

Stratis is pleased to announce the launch of the Stratis Mobile Wallet.

The Stratis STO platform is now ready to be utilised and deployed to conduct Security Token Offerings.

Last month, we provided a comprehensive update on our development roadmap and corporate news. As part of our ongoing commitment to keep the community across the latest developments, we also intend to publish a review of 2019 at the end of December. For those who just cannot wait to hear more, tuck into the latest news from the month of November. Development Update A high-level summary of the key developments can be found below. Stratis Full Node .NET Core 3.0 Upgrade Implemented SQL Wallet feature for Sidechain Wallets Improvements to SQL Wallet RPC Call alignment with Bitcoin Core Support for Bi-Directional Messaging in SignalR Testing of LevelDB implementation Block Explorer Enhancements to Block Explorer catering for Smart Contract data Various improvements to Indexer API Stratis Smart Contracts Challenge in full swing! We now have over 180 developers registered to take part in the Stratis Smart Contracts Challenge and win their part of the US$18,000 prize fund. The response from both community members and the wider developer network has been exceptional and from the discussions we have had with participants so far, we are anticipating some truly innovative submissions as we approach the 16 December deadline. Amid the excitement, the recent ruling that cryptoassets and smart contracts are valid in English law shows the very real potential of these applications. After all, the statement was based on “not what they would like the law to be, but what they believe English law to be now”. Not a bad time to be building Stratis Smart Contracts in C#. We would encourage you to continue to share the hackathon with your friends and contacts – even if they are not currently involved in the space, this is a fantastic opportunity for any C# developers to kick-start their blockchain journey. Stratis in the news Stratis was in the news again this month as the launch of the Stratis Smart Contracts Challenge was featured in the media. The announcement of the hackathon appeared in Financial IT, Crypto Ninjas and Enterprise AI. We are glad to see these publications supporting our online hackathon! Latest research: blockchain to create major cost-savings in the supply chain We continue to see widespread adoption of blockchain and DLT led by some of the world’s largest companies. In particular, there is growing industry focus of blockchain’s role in the supply chain to improve business processes, unlock cost-savings and restore the trust of consumers. A new study has found that the implementation of blockchain technology in supply chains could save businesses in Western Europe $450 billion in logistics-related costs. The report found that 60% of companies overpay their supply chain vendors and 70% have ‘visibility gaps’ between the initial supplier and internal clients’ systems. In the food industry alone, a Juniper Research report revealed that blockchain will save $31 billion by 2024 through the streamlining of supply chains, efficient food recall processes and “simpler regulatory compliance.” Meanwhile, in the automotive industry, a survey of 314 vehicle manufacturing executives found that 62% believe DLT will be a disruptive force in the industry within three years. This is encouraging news for enterprise adoption of the Stratis Platform, an enterprise-grade development platform on which businesses can deploy bespoke blockchain solutions in C# and .NET.

The primary development focus during October was exchange readiness and preparation for the Stratis Hackathon hosted on Devpost. The hackathon has received attention from a number of established hackathon contestants and we expect the number to increase throughout the coming weeks. Development Update A high-level summary of the key developments can be found below. Stratis Full Node Improved mempool handling of dust transactions Increased wallet security by removing password caching logic Stabilised various integration tests with regards to sidechain operations Refactored database locking Improved reliability of the PoA miner resulting in the avoidance of missing blocks Aligned RPC methods with Bitcoin Core 0.18 Greatly improved RPC Response times. Wallet Improved performance of the SQL Wallet User-Interface updates to the support SQL Wallet Testing and stabilising the SQLite Wallet integration Optimization of the Wallet Feature Bi-directional alignment of unconfirmed wallet transactions Improved the performance of console updates for the wallet Added improvements and features to the hackathon wallet Improvements for token management screen in Cirrus wallet Sidechains Implemented improved network rule registration across the Cirrus networks Improved transaction history for Cirrus Core Various fixes and improvements with regards to cross-chain transfers on Cirrus Smart Contracts Performance improvements for smart contract execution via caching Updated smart contracts tutorial for latest full node release Roadmap Update The development focus this year was to continue enhancing the Stratis Platform, incorporating new features as detailed on the Stratis 2019 Roadmap. These features play a key role in Stratis being an attractive viable option for developers and organisations blockchain needs. It is crucial for us to remain agile and actively develop solutions that bring a significant benefit to the platform. This has resulted in a number of key items being prioritised over items listed on the Stratis 2019 Roadmap. Development efforts have been shifted to deliver alternative technologies that will bring further value to the Stratis Platform, as an example, the Segregated Witness (SegWit) development on Stratis is now code complete and is due to undergo our rigorous test cases to ensure compatibility within a heterogenous environment. SegWit facilitates the future scalability of the Stratis blockchain by giving an effective increase to the size of the blocks permitted on the network. Furthermore, it opens the possibility of improvements to the transaction scripting language. This means that functionality that may previously have required a hard fork can now be implemented safely on the network. It also lays the groundwork for technologies such as Schnorr signatures and Merkelized Abstract Syntax Trees (MAST), that can again be leveraged to gain scalability benefits. The implementation of the Breeze Privacy Protocol also becomes achievable with the activation of SegWit on Stratis Mainnet. We expect the Breeze Privacy Protocol functionality to be the first delivery of extended functionality once SegWit is activated by majority of block producers move to a SegWit supported node. In addition, further development and refactoring of the Stratis Full Node to ensure like-for-like response times (in comparison to StratisX) when interrogating the node via Remote Procedural Call was a significant focus. Along with the complete re-development of the Stratis Full Node Wallet Feature, to significantly amplify the ability to scale and ensure data integrity. This ultimately provides current and future exchanges and third-parties the ability to utilise the Stratis Full Node as opposed to our legacy node that is currently leveraged. Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) has also received considerable attention, the further development includes the integration of a Certificate Authority and end-to-end encryption allowing private blockchain implementations to remain private and secure. The addition of memberships services and ‘token-less’ support for the Proof-of-Authority Consensus Algorithm are also additional features that have been incorporated into our DLT offering. These additional developments have not drawn the focus away from all items listed on the Stratis 2019 Roadmap. You can expect a significant number of deliverables to be released prior to the close of the year. A brief summary of the Stratis 2019 Roadmap can be found below: Stratis Payment Gateway We have been working closely with MediConnect to understand their business requirements and assisting them with both documenting and designing the Payment Gateway infrastructure. As we move into 2020 we will continue to liaise with MediConnect to provide a functional Payment Gateway that can be repurposed for similar use-cases. Stratis STO Platform The Stratis STO Platform has received significant attention to cater for the upcoming Gluon Security Token Offering (STO). Requirements have been fed directly from the U.S Security Exchanges Commission (SEC) as part of Gluon’s application, ensuring the platform meets the needs of an approved Security Token Offering. Stratis Mobile Wallet Development is being undertaken to make a mobile wallet available, the current focus is on porting an already established Mobile Wallet Service to support a Proof-of-Stake network and the Stratis networks, including Stratis and Cirrus. Unity SDK A Unity plugin has been a focus for 2019, we have successfully tested NStratis in Unity, however, a full production release of a Unity plugin will not be available until next year. Stratis Sidechain Masternodes The development of the Stratis Sidechain Masternodes to support the Cirrus Sidechain was a major development for Stratis in 2019. Currently all block producers on the Cirrus Sidechain are publicly operated Stratis Sidechain Masternodes, maintained by holders of the Stratis Token who meet the collateral requirements. Breeze Privacy Protocol The integration of the Breeze Privacy Protocol becomes possible with the implementation of SegWit, initial designs focused on integrating the Privacy Protocol being implemented natively, however, with the introduction of SegWit, it makes this integration possible with a significantly lowered network disruption. Java & JavaScipt Support An intermediary service supporting other programming languages is a development that will attract developers with expertise outside of the .NET ecosystem. The integration of JavaScript support is heavily tied with the Mobile Wallet deliverable. Proof-of-Stake Sidechains A design has been in place for Proof-of-Stake Sidechains, however, this development requires a significant amount of focus and resources were allocated to other important aspects of the business. As a result, the design will be re-assessed in the coming year. Stratis Core 2.0 The makeover of Stratis Core is underway, focusing on providing a new User Experience (UX) whilst catering for further developments and integrations into the desktop wallet. Since the conception of the Stratis Core User-Interface the developments of the Stratis Platform have changed dramatically, meaning there are more features to incorporate in the GUI (Graphical User Interface). A change of design was the best way forward to ensure that all these new features have a home without impacting the user experience. As we move into next year, the focus for private distributed solutions will grow significantly to accommodate business adoption within the private sector whilst also catering for those who wish to utilise a public network with an associated cryptocurrency. Stratis Smart Contracts Hackathon underway! It’s an exciting month for Stratis and developers with the start of the Stratis Smart Contracts Challenge. The Stratis Hackathon will run for six weeks until 16 December 2019 and you can enter now for the chance to win up to US$10,000 for first place with a total of US$18,000 up for grabs. Just go to our Devpost page and follow the instructions to enter. The hackathon is part of the Stratis Academy initiative to reduce barriers to entry for developers entering the blockchain space. As a result, significant effort has been put into simplifying the set-up process to make it as easy as possible for both new and existing developers to get started in a ‘click and play’ environment. Entrants can find a full tutorial, including instructions and examples, on the Stratis Academy website. We are grateful to C# Corner for their sponsorship of the event and to our judging panel, which includes developers, blockchain gurus and Microsoft MVPs. Already, over 35 participants have signed up to take part and we’re very excited to see the new and innovative applications of Stratis Smart Contracts in C# that emerge from the hackathon. Watch this space! Partner update – Gluon moves forward with SEC submission and grows fuel industry product, Petromo Gluon has been making headway with its registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Having begun the registration process last year, Gluon is now in the later stages of the procedure. Stratis is working closely with Gluon to assist with the submission process so that Gluon can begin its token offering. The business is also developing positively. Petromo, Gluon’s enterprise product which monitors fuel inventory, is expected to expand its footprint in the U.S. from 40 live locations to over 400 by the end of Q1 2020. Built for the widely used Gilbarco Veeder-Root system, Petromo’s IoT hardware allows users to monitor their fuel inventory remotely on their mobile devices. It is currently monitoring 4 million gallons of fuel per month at its 40 live business locations. Gluon has also received approval from Gilbarco for the development of a third-party backend office system which will also be a part of the Gluon platform. Stratis has been working with Gluon since January 2018. Gluon’s technology platform establishes a secure network of interconnected vehicles, allowing users to diagnose, track and monitor issues using IoT devices, AI and blockchain. Partner update – MEDI distribution process begins It’s been just over four weeks since MediConnect closed its ICO, raising 432,685.64 STRAT and 104.33 BTC for its pharmaceutical solution to protect patients both on and offline. Participants in the ICO are now being asked to create a Cirrus Core Wallet address and submit it to the ICO platform. This will allow the token distribution to run smoothly and efficiently. Detailed instructions are provided on MediConnect’s website. Stratis in the news Stratis continues to feature in the news as our CEO, Chris Trew, authored an article in Crypto Globe on Why Blockchain Will Be One of History’s Key Technologies. In the piece, Chris suggests blockchain can have a similar far-reaching impact as the other great technological leaps in history and help to define the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’.

The main focus of development in September was adding features to improve the stability of the wallet and adding functionality to the Stratis Full Node so that it is ready for exchanges. Development Update A total of 179 commits were made during the month of September, encompassing 437 file changes and 14,791 additional lines of code to the Stratis Full Node. A summary of the key developments can be found below. Wallet Created wallet repository feature Undertook extensive optimization of the wallet repository feature Added support for both database-per-wallet and multi-wallet-database to wallet repository Added cold-staking support to wallet repository Future-proofed wallet repository for use with federated transfers Updated wallet feature to use new wallet repository feature Added SignalR support for multiple wallets and accounts for Cirrus Core Updated API to expose SQL based wallets Stratis Core and Cirrus Core updated to use new SQL Wallet with latest SBFN codebase Various bug fixes and performance improvements Updated a large number of test cases related to the wallet feature to use the wallet repository RPC Optimized “gettransaction” and “listaddressgroupings” RPC methods Aligning of RPC calls with Bitcoin Core Bug fixes for RPC calls Certificate Authority Service Introduction of 'Roles' Handle issuance and revocation of certificates Check the revocation status of any given certificate Implementation of an API to manage accounts and associated certificates Smart Contracts Caching of contract code, for smart contract execution performance improvements Caching execution results between mining and validation for smart contract performance improvements Testing Update The wallet is a fundamental part of the Stratis Blockchain. In order to ensure future scalability, we have redesigned that key component to take advantage of a database engine rather than rely on the JSON file format. In order to prove the wallet is functioning as expected and can cope with a large volume of transactions, we have further developed our test environment specifically for the purpose of testing the functionality and performance of the wallet, more so than ever before. This test environment is based on a private blockchain and a large set of wallets with an even larger number of coins (i.e. UTXO). The test scenarios include creation of new wallets, filling them with predefined sets of coins and finally building and sending transactions on a significant scale. This setup allowed us to uncover and fix wallet-related defects as part of an ongoing effort to make our solution faster, more scalable and more robust. Hackathon announced - Stratis Smart Contract Challenge We have announced the Stratis Smart Contracts Challenge, an online hackathon which will begin on 1st November and run through to 16th December 2019. A total of US$18,000 is up for grabs with a first place cash prize of US$10,000, second place prize of US$5,000 and third place prize of US$3,000. The challenge is to develop smart contract applications that can have a big impact. They should be useful, easy to use, innovative and capable of being applied across a wide range of industries. These include banking and financial services, international trade and commodities, supply chain, energy, identity, Internet of Things, government, healthcare and medicine, automotive and gaming. We are very excited to see how contestants harness Stratis Smart Contracts in C# to develop a set of varied and innovative use cases. Partner update – MediConnect successfully closes ICO and proceeds with proof-of-concept It’s been a significant month for our partner, MediConnect, who closed its ICO at the end of September. MediConnect also completed the workflow for its proof-of-concept (PoC) and began the integration of UK Meds, an online pharmacy and partner of MediConnect, to the PoC platform. Stratis is developing the MediConnect blockchain as a bespoke solution based on the Stratis blockchain. The PoC is designed to trace medication through the supply chain from the point at which it is manufactured to its prescription by medical professionals and purchase by patients. Stratis features in the news Stratis CEO, Chris Trew, has been featured in the news recently as he discussed topics including the move towards a cashless society and the important role smart contracts can play in business. In a piece titled Blockchain and the cashless society in Financial IT, Chris discusses the growing momentum pulling businesses, financial institutions and central banks away from a centuries-old system based on banknotes to one built on blockchain. In another piece featured in Business Cloud, Chris discusses how Smart contracts have potential to speed up business and could revolutionise how companies operate in the same way as the cloud or AI.

Contestants from around the world are invited to take part in the Stratis Smart Contracts Challenge from 1st November to 16th December 2019. The competition is open to individuals and teams from around the world, including those from profit, non-profit, academic and public sector organisations. The total prize fund will be $18,000. Eligible entrants will compete for a first place cash prize of US$10,000, second place prize of US$5,000 and third place prize of US$3,000. The challenge for contestants is to develop smart contract applications that can have a big impact. They should be useful, easy to use, innovative and capable of being applied across a wide range of industries. These include banking and financial services, international trade and commodities, supply chain, energy, identity, Internet of Things, government, healthcare and medicine, automotive and gaming. The judges will be asking: does the tool provide a useful function, is it easy and engaging to use, is it doing something innovative, how well does the product function? Submissions can cover any kind of software application, such as the web, cloud, personal computer, mobile device or console, but they must utilise Stratis Smart Contracts in C#. Chris Trew, CEO and Founder of Stratis Group Ltd stated: We are very excited to be hosting this international hackathon and to provide an opportunity to show how Stratis Smart Contracts can unlock the potential of blockchain and transform the way industries work. We want to grow our ecosystem of developers. C# is one of the most popular programming languages in the world and at the Stratis hackathon, developers will be able to programme smart contracts in their familiar C# language. By working together, we can harness the combined expertise of this community of experts and push the boundaries of what is possible using blockchain. The hackathon will be hosted on the established Devpost platform, allowing us to leverage their existing user-base of talented blockchain developers. More information including the terms and conditions, will be released on the 1st of November when the Devpost event is live!

The Stratis Full Node 3.0.5 is now available for general use.

It may have been August, but it was another busy month for Stratis, filled with updates from our developers.

We are pleased to announce the release of block explorers for both Stratis and Cirrus networks.

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.

Over the past month development has been progressing to bring SegWit (Segregated Witness) support to the Stratis blockchain, resulting in upgrades to the consensus, mempool and wallet features. SegWit is an update to the transaction scripting layer that, among other things, increases the effective maximum transaction throughput. The latest milestone to be achieved is the successful sending of SegWit transactions on the Stratis TestNet. You can find more detail below regarding the SegWit transactions in question, shown in an experimental version of the Stratis Core wallet: Transaction 1 Transaction 2 Transaction 1 shown above, spends a legacy P2PKH (i.e. pay-to-pubkey-hash) input, and sends it to a native SegWit P2WPKH bech32 address (i.e. pay-to-witness-pubkey-hash). https://chainz.cryptoid.info/strat-test/tx.dws?2232080.htm Transaction 2 spends a native SegWit input, sending it to a SegWit address. This is therefore a fully native SegWit transaction with no legacy inputs or outputs. https://chainz.cryptoid.info/strat-test/tx.dws?2232387.htm These are the first encouraging steps to bringing SegWit support to the Stratis Mainchain, further development will continue, focusing on bringing SegWit support to our wallet implementations. The SegWit implementation will then undergo our full end-to-end testing procedure within our Stratis Coherence environment.

We are excited to announce an updated version of Cirrus Core that is now available for community testing.

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”.

We are pleased to announce that the SRC-20 Standard Token Issuance contract has been voted into the whitelist by the community operated masternodes and is now deployable on the Cirrus Sidechain. This enables anyone to deploy their own token on the Cirrus Sidechain that can then be utilised to meet many different use-cases. Deploying your own token from within Cirrus Core is simply achieved via the Smart Contracts tab within the wallet. Enter the ByteCode of the approved contract, located on the merged pull request and supply the token parameters to define the Token Supply, Token Name and Token Ticker. Select Create Contract and you have successfully deployed your own SRC20 Token on the Cirrus Sidechain. More information regarding the deployment of a token and guidance for Smart Contract developers can be found in the below document. Stratis Smart Contracts Developer Guide Cirrus Core 2.0 will also be released in the coming weeks, bringing one-click token issuance and full token management allowing you to manage issued tokens with ease.

Today marks a major milestone for Stratis with the launch of our Cirrus Sidechain Masternodes and Stratis Smart Contracts in C#.

As we move closer to the release of the Stratis Sidechain Masternodes, we have progressed extremely well with the current focus almost exclusively centring on testing and finalizing any outstanding items prior to the community testing phase. Development Update A total of 109 commits were made during the month of May, this encompassed 392 file changes and 14,219 additional lines of code. A short summary of the developments relating to the Stratis Sidechain Masternodes can be found below. • Improvements to wallet transaction tracking • Enhance the stability of the peer connectivity • Reduction in indexing resource consumption • Implementation of ‘burning’ STRAT for Sidechain withdrawals • Optimization of the Federation wallet • Introduction of a dynamic fee/reward for Masternodes In addition to the core development, work has also been undertaken to deliver an additional wallet catering for the Cirrus Sidechain. A preview of the Cirrus Core wallet can be found below. The Coherence Suite plays a pivotal role in allowing us to test edge cases within short timeframes. When testing many interconnected blockchain nodes it is important to monitor the overall network health through log interrogation. Contrary to the single instance scenario where a number of log files are relatively small, the whole network log monitoring is a more involved task. Utilizing the Exception Viewer tool within the Coherence Suite, the log monitoring begins before the node itself has started. A precise design of the NLog configuration targets specific components with additional tracing provided by Fody. When the nodes are running, we periodically execute a scan across the whole network and automatically classify logs based on predefined rules. This approach allows us to pinpoint key areas of interest.

We are pleased to announce the release of Cirrus Sidechain Masternodes will be on the 1st July 2019. This release includes Stratis Smart Contracts in C# and will be made available for community testing two weeks prior on the 17th June 2019 to allow Masternode Operators to familiarize themselves with operating a Sidechain Masternode and to allow users to interact with the Cirrus Sidechain. The community testing period is scheduled to last two weeks with the objective to receive valuable feedback. The network will then be restarted and announced as a full production release.

April was an incredibly busy period at Stratis.

As we move closer to the release of Sidechain Masternodes, we can now move onto the final stage of registration and define Federated Members for network creation. During the registration process, there was a requirement to submit a STRAT address that contained the relevant amount of collateral for the selected Sidechain Masternode tier. To complete the registration process, applicants must prove ownership of the collateral address that was originally provided. There will be a 5-day window in which the applicants can prove ownership of the collateral address. This final step of registration will need to be undertaken between the 6th May 2019 and 10th May 2019. To prove ownership, you will need to follow the below process. Ensure you still have your FederationKey.dat file and know the passphrase Identify the Collateral Address you provided during registration Send the collateral requirement to the collateral address you provided If the collateral amount already exists within the provided collateral address, simply send the entire balance back to the provided address. After the 10th May 2019, Federated Members will be defined for the Cirrus Sidechain. Please note that in no instances will Stratis attempt to contact you requesting you to send funds to an address.

Today we are pleased to announce our development roadmap for the remainder of 2019. The roadmap focuses on both adoption of the Stratis Platform and an increase in utilization of the Stratis Token. Java and JavaScript Support Introducing support of new programming languages inherently increases the audience that the Stratis Platform appeals to. The addition of this support will enable a new development community who are not familiar with the Microsoft .NET Core framework to interact with and develop on the Stratis ecosystem. Breeze Privacy Protocol for STRAT The further development of the Breeze Privacy Protocol will include a new version of the Breeze Wallet with enhanced security. In addition, we are working on bringing Segregated Witness support to the Stratis network to enable native Privacy Protocol support. Proof-of-Stake Sidechains The introduction of further consensus algorithms for Stratis Sidechains will grant even more bespoke use-cases on the Stratis Platform. We envision the development of further consensus algorithms on Stratis Sidechains will negate the requirement for the forking of source code. This will drive collaboration and encourage development on the already established Stratis codebase. Sidechain Masternodes Stratis Sidechain Masternodes will enable holders of the Stratis Token to operate as a block producer on a Stratis Sidechain. The first Sidechain Masternodes will be on the Cirrus Sidechain network, these Masternodes will earn rewards from transactions fees and smart contracts executed on the network. Stratis STO Platform Whilst we firmly believe there is still a market for Initial Coin Offerings (ICO), Stratis will extend the functionality of the Stratis ICO Platform to cater for the regulatory requirements needed to conduct a Security Token Offering (STO). The support for STO’s will also bring additional features to the ICO Platform, with the inclusion of the platform being Smart Contract aware. This will allow token issuance contracts to be utilized during a crowdfund. Stratis Core 2.0 The release of Stratis Core 2.0 will incorporate new features that will enable interaction with other components within the Stratis ecosystem. The focus of this update is to continue to provide a simple user-experience from within the GUI, allowing users to manage their tokens and deploy new smart contracts with ease. These features include: Token awareness to cater for tokens issued on a sidechain Validation and deployment of a smart contract Voting capability to interact with deployed sidechains Stratis Mobile Wallet A mobile application that caters for the sending and receiving of the Stratis Token will be delivered for both Android and iOS. This mobile wallet will allow users to simply transact on their mobile device utilizing a secure, functional and elegant mobile application. Stratis Payment Gateway Stratis will develop a Payment Gateway that can be deployed by third-parties to utilize the STRAT token as a form of payment. The payment gateway will be designed to allow other tokens launching on the Stratis Platform to seamlessly implement the Stratis Payment Gateway for their requirements. Unity SDK Integration Unity is the creator of the world’s most widely used real-time 3D development platform. Stratis will provide an SDK for Unity developers, enabling the utilization of the Blockchain during game development. This unleashes a wide range of functionality for in-game token and asset markets where the blockchain is a perfectly suited technology. The above development activities represent the core work that will take place at Stratis over the remaining course of this year. There are additional internal developments that we aim to deliver within the coming months, which will be detailed in due course.

The application process for the Cirrus Sidechain Masternodes has now come to an end. A great amount of interest has been received which has resulted in a significant number of Masternodes being assigned. The development of the Sidechain Masternodes is also drawing to a close, making this a great opportunity to offer a lower-level explanation as to how the network will operate and also what features to expect. On-Chain Voting An important development of the Stratis Sidechains solution is the inclusion of on-chain voting. This enables dynamic management of the chain. On-chain voting can and will be further extended to cater for a wide variety of functionality on a sidechain. Currently the functionality is limited to the below. • Request of Addition Federated Membership • Request of Removal from Federated Membership • Approval of a Smart Contract • Disapproval of a Smart Contract Operation Operating a Masternode consists of running and maintaining two nodes, one for each network. These nodes are a little different from the Stratis Full Node and include additional features that allow for bi-directional communication between the respective chain nodes. To ensure consistency, we have utilized PowerShell Core to deliver a deployment script, due to the cross-platform support that PowerShell Core brings. The script will configure and launch the two nodes required for Masternode operation, requiring user intervention, ensuring that any sensitive information is not stored locally or entered into a browser. Upon the release of the Masternode’s for the Cirrus Sidechain, full documentation will be provided. Day-to-Day operation of the node can be performed via the Sidechain Dashboard. The dashboard provides an informative page detailing the Masternode’s activity and status. Allowing a Masternode operator to act upon outstanding votes on the network, increase logging for troubleshooting and display wallet balances for transaction fees obtained. As time progresses, we aim to deliver a fully functional user-interface that behaves similar to wallet, catered for the operation of a Masternode. Collateral Ensuring the security of both the Stratis Mainchain and Cirrus Sidechain whilst incentivising the operation of nodes is something that is very important for both Stratis and the operators of a Masternode. As a direct result of received feedback, we have successfully implemented an additional consensus rule that will validate the balance of a given collateral address on the Stratis Mainchain. This crucial development ensures that Masternode operators can continue to stake their collateral, inherently further securing the Stratis Mainchain whilst actively operating a Sidechain Masternode on the Sidechain. During the registration process, you would have provided a STRAT address that contained the amount of collateral required for the relevant Masternode. This address will be tied to your public key, upon the production of a block, a check will be made ensuring that the balance remains above the set collateral amount. If the balance of the provided address does not meet the collateral requirement a block will not be produced. If this continues for subsequent blocks, the public key will be removed from the Federation. If this occurs, you will have to perform a new registration on-chain, this request is then approved by the remaining Federated Members. Once 51% of existing Federated Members vote for the addition, the public key will be included in the next cycle of block production. How do I get Cirrus Tokens? The Cirrus Sidechain is a Two-Way Federated Peg, meaning that it is connected with the Stratis Mainchain. Therefore, each Cirrus Token maintains a 1:1 ratio with the Stratis Token. Along with the release of the Sidechain Masternode’s there will be an update performed to Stratis Core, this update will introduce a new tab that will enable you to transfer STRAT from the Stratis Mainchain to the Cirrus Sidechain, crediting you with 1 CRS Token per each STRAT transferred.

Another month has passed since our initial monthly update.

The way enterprises store and process data doesn’t stay static. New technologies disrupt the status quo. Imagine 10 years from now. It is not far-fetched to predict that ideas currently in their infancy will, by then, have established dominance. Blockchain, with its inherent redefinition of how valuable assets are stored and accessed is one of those technologies. Blockchain, as devised for Bitcoin, was used to store an abstract asset. The network was public, provided a level of anonymity, and was decentralized in a way that fitted Bitcoin’s philosophy. However, enterprise assets often exist in the real world in a situation where there is good reason to know who has the rights to access the data. A dogmatic approach won’t work; developing blockchain for the enterprise requires that you cherry-pick blockchain innovations, and adapt them, on a case-by-case basis. Stratis is positioned at the heart of the blockchain industry and its focus is the enterprise. So, let’s explore some of the ways we see blockchain and the enterprise coming together over the next few years. Moving forward with people you thought were your competitors Who to trust with your data can be an issue for enterprises, and this issue has led to enterprises not cooperating with other entities. In these situations, data can be duplicated from organization to organization while, at the same time, the risk of being out-of-sync with other data sources remains. Blockchain has been described as “trustless” largely because one of Bitcoin’s innovations was to enable you to transact with a level of anonymity; when everybody has an immutable copy of the data, that’s all you need to know who has what before and after a transaction. Although anonymity is not usually desirable on a blockchain designed for enterprises, the design behind an enterprise blockchain is still unique in that it reduces the level of trust required by participating organizations. Providing an environment where an enterprise can share data with an organization they do not “trust” showcases one of blockchain’s revolutionary cornerstones in an enterprise setting. Sharing can drive new value in a consortium Enterprises need to work with official legislation. If the behaviour of the organization is called into question or in the case of a routine audit, it is fundamental that the data depicts the truth. The permissioned model often used by enterprise blockchain allows for a selective transparency. This enables regulatory bodies to hold and access sensitive data as and when required. However, transparency is not a blockchain’s only advantage here. The shared data approach can also help build towards a uniformed, standardized approach to regulation across an industry sector. Pioneering enterprises, who understand the need for regulation, can adopt a blockchain-based strategy which, for example, could receive widespread adoption relatively soon after 50% of the industry sector is signed up. Not every blockchain solution needs a crypto token Sometimes blockchain and cryptocurrency tokens are mentioned as if they are inseparable. This isn’t the case. For some business models there is no requirement for a token, and Stratis can implement a DLT solution on a private network to suit these models. However, some enterprises might benefit from some form of token. The token could potentially be listed on a cryptocurrency exchange, on the other hand, it could have a more limited distribution. Rethinking the token as a store of value for enterprises could involve loyalty point schemes and micro-payments, with an emphasis on value and convenience for customers rather than speculation. Disruptive technologies require radical enablement Blockchain innovations can also go hand-in-hand with other emergent technologies. The Internet of Things (IoT) is turning formerly dumb objects into sophisticated sensors capable of both streaming and processing data. Machine learning is being applied to these data flows to identify trends and discover previously hidden correlations and connections. A central question here is which method of data storage can facilitate this influx of data, which has such applicability to enterprises. The very fact the IoT opens so many possibilities makes the idea of holding it in traditional out-of-date data silos. Blockchain can, however, evolve with IoT. You need to do things differently if you want a different result Enterprises demand that technology serves them and brings visible benefits. Adapting blockchain to create data solutions for enterprises requires a flexible mindset that takes the strengths of blockchain, as applicable to each case. Perhaps most importantly, blockchain also gives enterprises the opportunity to take another look at their data strategy in tandem with other players in their industry sector.

The Stratis Full Node 3.0.2 is now available.

This is the first of our monthly updates and will provide an overview of the development and testing progress at Stratis.

As mentioned in our Stratis Sidechain Masternode announcement last week, to progress the allocation of Masternodes for the Cirrus Sidechain, an application form would be made available to begin the enrolment process. You can now apply to become a Masternode operator on the Cirrus sidechain by completing the form on the below page. https://www.stratisplatform.com/sidechain-application/ You will need to run the Stratis KeyGen utility that can be obtained via the below link. Stratis Keygen Utility The application process will be available until the 31st March 2019. In addition to making the application form available, Stratis has incorporated design changes to the collateral requirement for both Masternode Tiers. We are happy to announce the collateral will now be held within a Stratis Mainchain wallet allowing token holders to continue staking whilst securing the Cirrus Sidechain. This decision was made based on the feedback from the community on the original announcement and enables holders of the Stratis token to continue gaining staking rewards on the Stratis Mainchain whilst operating a Masternode. Information regarding the hardware requirements for operating a Masternode and key dates will be announced after the imminent major release of Stratis Core.

Stratis is pleased to announce the highly anticipated lower tier Masternodes that will support the Cirrus sidechain. The Cirrus sidechain is the first sidechain pegged to the Stratis mainchain where Smart Contracts in C# will be deployed. The latest addition to Stratis Masternodes allows holders of the Stratis Token to operate as two different types nodes on the Cirrus sidechain. This in turn will result in operators obtaining fees for both transactions and smart contracts that execute on the chain. Initially, there will be two tiers of Sidechain Masternodes that will maintain the Cirrus sidechain. Cirrus Chain Federated Masternode A Cirrus Chain Federated Masternode can produce blocks on the Cirrus chain, earning transactional fees and GAS costs for smart contracts executed on the chain. There is a 10,000 STRAT collateral requirement in place to be eligible to become a Cirrus Chain Federated member. Cirrus Chain Multi-Sig Masternode Similar to a Cirrus Chain Federated Masternode, a Multi-Sig Masternode can also produce blocks on the Cirrus Chain. In addition, these Masternodes form the multi-signature address that secures the chain. There is a 50,000 STRAT collateral requirement in place to be eligible to become a Cirrus Chain Multi-Sig MasterNode. The number of Masternodes that can operate on the Cirrus sidechain is currently limited to 101 members to ensure a level of decentralization as multiple entities will be producing blocks on the chain. We will soon release dynamic federation membership allowing nodes to join and/or leave the Federation, further increasing the decentralisation of the Cirrus chain and allowing additional nodes. The collateral amount for both Masternodes will need to be held within a wallet on the sidechain to meet the collateral requirements. On the 6th of March, Stratis will be revealing a submission page where you can express your interest to become a Cirrus Masternode and provide your Cirrus public key. A simple command line tool will be released prior to this submission page becoming available. What is PoA? Proof-of-Authority is consensus algorithm that can be used instead of Proof-of-Work or Proof-of-Stake. It does not depend on nodes solving arbitrarily difficult mathematical problems, but instead uses a set of “Masternodes” - that are explicitly allowed to create new blocks and secure the blockchain. This makes it easier to maintain a private chain and keep the block issuers accountable. Also, PoA is more predictable since blocks are issued at steady time intervals.