I've noticed Stratis being mentioned more and more frequently, lot's of subtle (and not so subtle) hints that is could be the next big thing, and also that it is a challenger to ETH.
So I decided to do some digging to try and educate myself and get a thread going. I’ve read through the Stratis sub, their Wiki, the website, the whitepaper and a tiny proportion of the 600+ page bitcointalk thread (caveat – total ‘research’ time on this is literally about an hour so conclusions could be WAY off). This is what I can make out thus far.
Rate Chart:
Stratis Group
It looks like Stratis has been created by members of Stratis Group, an organisation that aim to provide consultancy services and cloud infrastructure services aimed primarily at the enterprise market.
From the WIKI:
Q: How will Stratis Group monetize Blockchain applications created on the Stratis platform?
A: Stratis Group makes money by charging a subscription to customers using the platform and also via Stratis Group consultancy services. The platform includes features such as Cloud hosting, BaaS, as well as access to the Stratis SDK. A combination of service and technology based revenue will ensure Stratis Group remain a successful business.
It looks like the Stratis chain/platform will be just one of the technology platforms the team intend to support. Others include Bitcoin and Ethereum
From the whitepaper:
(1) "As well as offering the services integrated in its own blockchain, Stratis will specialise in providing hosting and consultancy for decentralised applications (Dapps) on top of the Ethereum blockchain."
(2) "Stratis will enable one-click provisioning of other major blockchain platforms aside from its own, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, BitShares and LISK”
The Stratis Blockchain
Stratis appears to be a platform built using forked bitcoin components, with some disassembly and reassembly involved, with a Proof of Stake consensus mechanism thrown in, and with emphasis on use of C# for ease of enterprise adoption.
The white paper leads me to conclude transactional features supported by the network will be similar to those sported by bitcoin. No Smart Contracts.
Features such as asset issuance are achieved using the OP_RETURN data space offered by bitcoin and pioneered for meta-protocol use by Omni and Counterparty.
It seems the idea is to create a primary Stratis chain, against which it will be possible to integrate private chains.
Current Network Status
There is a live public chain.
Currently at block 380k or so, the last 100 blocks arrived in 148 mins, so just over a block a minute.
Unclear on status of side/private chain integration.
Stratis tokens (STRAT):
From the wiki:
"Stratis is the currency which powers the Stratis Platform. A Proof-of-Stake (POS) cryptocurrency with limited emission and low inflation, Stratis (ticker: STRAT)."
STRAT token appreciation since ICO currently stands at just over 140,000% (https://icostats.com/vs-eth). Not too shabby.
The top 15 wallets seem to own >40% of tokens (https://chainz.cryptoid.info/strat/#!wallets)
There are suggestions the token may be used for more than basic transaction fees and staking rewards, but I have’t found any further explanation on this. From the whitepaper: [Process for creating a private blockchain] “Create an account on the Stratis Cloud Portal [then] Purchase Stratis to fuel your Private Chain.” < This point has me totally confused.
Conclusions:
In general, all sources of information are quite light on substantive detail describing how the platform (particularly public/private chain integration and possibly even cross chain token use) will work.
At risk of being too blunt, I’m unclear what the value proposition of Stratis (the platform) is beyond being a PoS bitcoin with faster blocks, which may be more accessible to C# developers. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a bad proposition (!), but does it compete with Ethereum? No. If anything this is another bitcoin competitor.
Maybe I am missing something / a lot, but given what I’ve read, I’m completely unable to justify recent hype or price rise.