What Is Stratis? Introduction To STRAT Token

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What is Stratis?

Stratis is a Blockchain-as-a-Service provider, built on a modular blockchain platform created with the C# programming language on the .NET Framework. It allows enterprises to build their own private blockchains, which can be integrated with the main Stratis blockchain. The cryptocurrency token used to power Stratis is STRAT.

Introduction to Stratis

Stratis was initially created to help with enterprise logistics with a blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) model, but its scope has since broadened to become a blockchain development network competing with Ethereum, Neo, Lisk, etc. This London-based project’s differentiator is the usage of the C# programming language for Microsoft’s .NET framework. It’s a development platform as much as a finished product, for the old-school developers that want to use the blockchain platform without switching over completely.

Although Ethereum’s smart contract network has first market advantage, many who adopted it stumbled developing in its Solidity language. Competitors like Lisk and NEO each uses a more familiar programming language to achieve the same skeletal blockchain technology as Ethereum, with the inclusion of sidechains.

The Stratis blockchain’s C# smart contract alpha launch in May 2018 and rapid development through 2018 make it an easier sell than Ethereum for interested enterprises. Onboarding any new system on that level is a complicated process, and many large organizations are still using platforms based in C#, so they have programmers available that will embrace the Stratis platform.

It has promise, but there’s still a long development road ahead for the Stratis platform. They also need to snag enterprise partnerships. Before digging into the Stratis blockchain technology and associated projects like the Breeze Wallet, as well as the blockchain applications, let’s review the Stratis STRAT token.

Breakdown of STRAT

The highest price of Stratis so far was $21.21 on January 8, 2018, and approximately $1-2 million worth of STRAT is traded on an average day.

Stratis is a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain, which limits miners to a proportion of their own coin supply. In simple terms, you can’t process blocks to mine STRAT unless you already own STRAT. PoS was created to fix the Proof-of-Work 51 percent vulnerability that affects cryptos like Bitcoin and Litecoin.

In a PoW blockchain, miners and mining pools controlling 51 percent of network computational power can take over the network. With PoS, you would need to control 51 percent of the coin supply to control the network, and if you’re the 51 percent owner of coins, you have a greater stake in its survival.

The Stratis ICO occurred from June-July 2016, in which it earned nearly 1000 BTC. This made it one of the first successful ICOs in history. It launched its own ICO platform in May 2018 to help others replicate its success.

STRAT is accepted on a variety of cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, HitBTC, Bithumb, Upbit, Bittrex, and Poloniex. Trading pairs include BTC, ETH, and fiat currencies like KRW and EUR.

The Stratis Core Wallet and Breeze Wallet both support STRAT and are available for web.

The Decline of the ICO

Many altcoins struggled to gain market acceptance in the wake of Bitcoin’s rise in popularity. Many, like Stratis, used a new strategy based on Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) where companies take their stock to public exchanges like Nasdaq. The Initial Coin Offering (ICO) became a popular way to release a new cryptocurrency or blockchain project.

Ethereum changed the game even further by hosting tokens on its blockchain, letting developers skip rebuilding the wheel to get to the ICO stage. Still, Ethereum uses a proprietary programming language called Solidity, which put a steep technical learning curve in front of developers.

Large volumes of money being raised drew a lot of bandwagoners to the industry, and by 2017 there were 913 ICOs attempted, raising $5.6 billion in capital. Unfortunately, only 48 percent of ICOs were successful, and $1 billion was lost to fraudulent ICOs. This drew the ire of government regulators worldwide, as complaints flooded in from those who lost investments.

Major ad networks like Facebook, Google, Twitter, and MailChimp soon followed up by banning advertising of ICOs on their platforms. Prices dropped across the industry, and people became wary of cryptos and blockchains. Crypto-friendly forums like Reddit, Steemit, and Telegram are the best places these days to keep up.

Many crypto projects in 2018 are eschewing the ICO altogether, instead using Airdrops to distribute cryptocoins or simply offering their tokens to venture capital firms. For airdrops, Hodling certain coins and tokens in supported wallets and exchanges or participating in social media forums earns people new tokens for free instead of having to donate to an ICO.

Stratis is a strong project with a big vision but launching an ICO platform may seem a desperate bid to relive the glory days of the past. Although 2016 was only two years ago, that’s an eternity in cryptocurrency news terms. It’s a new world now, and a turnkey ICO solution goes against the direction of both the industry and regulators worldwide.

Why the Stratis Blockchain Is Still Viable

Stratis is still an impressive blockchain project, and the Stratis STRAT coin consistently outperforms the U.S. dollar. CEO and Founder Chris Trew has a decade of Enterprise IT experience, and he got Stratis listed on Microsoft Azure’s BaaS platform.

Although this isn’t necessarily an endorsement of Stratis as an organization or blockchain. It’s because of the .NET support. There are currently 6 million .NET developers in the world. While this is a smaller pool than Java or JavaScript, it represents a sizable portion of enterprise developers, especially for older companies. It has a chance to integrate with the wider world, which is a bigger problem than the blockchain experts like to admit.

Microsoft developed the .NET framework, which encompasses the C# programming language, and heavy enterprise usage of Windows (Microsoft’s OS) means they’re deeply engrained in every industry to this day. Microsoft has a stake in .NET’s sustainability, and by simply existing, Stratis was already predestined as the tech giant’s poster child.

Enterprises looking to transition their hybrid cloud networks into blockchain-based solutions will find Stratis has the lowest barrier to entry. Existing C# development teams can be reassigned to this project and can pick up speed much faster than by learning an entirely new language from scratch.

This C# kit was vaporware until May 2018, however, and a lot of new projects caught up with and surpassed Stratis in this timeframe. The Breeze Wallet Mainnet beta wasn’t released until October 2017, and it’s not as revolutionary as it sounded in the summer of 2016.

While it has admirable ambitions, the team seems to be lagging further behind projects popping up from Asia and North America that support C++, JavaScript, and more. Early fanfare hasn’t translated to early adoption – its biggest partnership so far has been in 2017 with Earth Twine, an unknown startup seeking to disrupt seafood logistics using the blockchain.

Still, the team added several blockchain-based pharmaceutical partnerships in 2018 and is working to add support for Java and JavaScript in 2019. It still has a fighting chance.

Stratis Summary

Stratis is an impressive European blockchain project that has the distinction of being one of the first successful ICOs. It has all the right technical pieces in play, but it isn’t being adopted as quickly as many hoped. Still, it’s in a great position to grow with the blockchain industry, so long as it leverages its strengths.

• Stratis is a London-based blockchain that supports C# and .NET development. Because of this, its featured in Microsoft Azure’s marketplace as part of its BaaS platform.
• STRAT’s market price has consistently outperformed the U.S. dollar since the beta launch of the Stratis Mainnet.
• Stratis launched an ICO platform in May 2018 to provide a turnkey solution for any ICO. This comes at a time when government regulation against ICOs is at an all-time high and consumer trust is at an all-time low.
• Stratis improves upon Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work vulnerabilities with a Proof-of-Stake system that incentivizes majority coin holders to keep the network stable.

Stratis is slow-moving, but sometimes the slow and steady wins the race. It only takes one or two major wins to turn things around, and it has all the pieces in play for those hits to happen. Supporting older generations working for older enterprises is a risky play, but it’s bound to pay off if blockchain is adopted as an industry standard on a mass scale across all industries.

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