Stellar-Based Lightyear Acquires Chain, Forms New Entity

Lightyear Corporation, a universal payments network built around Stellar’s open financial protocol, has announced the acquisition of Chain, in a merger that sees both brands combine to form a new entity called Interstellar.

Under the terms of the merger, Interstellar will help organizations build applications on the Stellar Network while the Stellar Development Foundation will remain fully independent. Former Chain CEO Adam Ludwin also becomes Interstellar CEO, while Jed McCaleb takes over as Interstellar CTO.

Chain became prominent as a startup that builds enterprise-level blockchain applications for financial organizations such as Visa, Citigroup, Nasdaq and many more. The company had also raised around $40 million from partners including Thrive Capital, Citi and Orange.

The combination of both companies creates a high-level, end-to-end blockchain development solution that will enable organizations to issue, exchange and manage assets on a flexible, scalable and multifunctional public network.

Speaking with Bitcoin Magazine, Interstellar CEO Adam Ludwin said, “At heart, we believe enterprise adoption of blockchain is synonymous with digitizing the assets issued by enterprises, and that is exactly what is being accelerated with this merger.”

Ludwin expressed admiration for Stellar and said that he looks forward to engaging with Stellar’s technical expertise.

“Chain has worked from inside the enterprise, while Stellar has focused on the network between organizations. As a single team, we will have a complete view and set of capabilities to make value-over-IP a reality,” he noted in a company statement.

Chain’s cloud ledger solution, Sequence, provides a reliable framework for tracking assets as they move between private ledgers and the Stellar network, making Interstellar the ideal choice for enterprises and developers to build innovative products on the Stellar platform.

“Chain’s team has led the market for enterprise adoption of blockchain technology, which is a critical component of building a future where money and digital assets move over open protocols,” said McCaleb.

In addition to Chain’s cloud product — Sequence — Interstellar’s new portfolio will also include StellarX, a full-featured trading app for Stellar’s universal marketplace.