The San Francisco-based distributed ledger technology company, Chain, was acquired by Lightyear, an entity powered by the Stellar network in an undisclosed agreement.
Announced last week, Lightyear will be renamed Interstellar at the same time as the merger, according to a company. Chain, which builds block-level professional-level products backed by financial giants Visa, Nasdaq and Citigroup, will offer its cloud product, Sequence, to Interstellar's portfolio.
Jed McCaleb, co-founder of the Stellar Development Foundation and Lightyear, will be Interstellar's technical director. According to him, the merger "will help organizations to develop Stellar". He added:
"Chain's team has dominated the enterprise adoption market for blockchain technology, which is a critical component in building a future where digital and digital assets evolve beyond open protocols.
Today, Stellar (XLM) ranks sixth in the world in cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $ 3.6 billion. With this acquisition, Interstellar will receive Chain's enterprise products and customer base, enabling organizations to issue, exchange and manage assets on a public network.
Previously, Chain has raised more than $ 43 million from various financial institutions, including Capital One, Citigroup, as well as technology-focused funds such as Khosla Ventures, Blockchain Capital and Pantera Capital.
Interstellar will help companies create financial services and products using the open Stellar network. Adam Ludwin, CEO of Chain, will be the CEO of the new Interstellar. He stated,
"Chain worked inside the company while Stellar focused on the network between organizations. As a single team, we will have a comprehensive view and a set of capabilities to make IP value a reality. "
With its launch, Interstellar will be headquartered in San Francisco, with office operations in New York and Singapore. As a first step, the startup aims to employ 60 employees, the report concluded.