Stellar Roadmap—Game Changer? YES.

Note: This article is not meant to generate hype/speculation. Rather, it is meant to detail Stellar's Roadmap in an engaging and open-minded way. If I am biased, it is only because I have been following Stellar closely for the last 6 months, and I believe in the team and the brilliant work they are doing in the crypto community.

Here's...

a little background for those of you who are new to Stellar or the cryptospace.

Stellar whose coin is XLM (Lumens) released their road map today, Jan. 25, for this upcoming year. This has been a highly anticipated moment and many hodlers and hopefuls were hoping that major partnerships would be announced or that news about a new exchange (FairX) would be included.

However,

• the Roadmap came out
• the price dipped a smidgen
• and then the price continued rising

despite the common saying:

Buy the rumor, sell the news.

Some people were disappointed. Others believed it was a solid but not "splashy" plan. I, on the other hand, think it was a brilliant move. And I am feeling more bullish about Stellar than ever before.

To highlight,

there is a certain scene I'd like to call to mind from Christopher Nolan's masterpiece, The Prestige.

Christian Bale does a magic trick that is absolutely spectacular. He has spent his whole life building up to this one trick. And how does the crowd respond? There are a few claps and a few gasps. They don't understand quite what just took place. But Hugh Jackman says "It was the greatest magic trick I've ever seen."

And this is exactly what happened today.

Summary of the Roadmap:

• Opening
• Goal 1
• Goal 2
• Closing

The opening had humor. The goals were a little vague, yet ambitious and exciting. And then the closing was reassuring. There was a lot of talk about scalability and security. There was a reminder of everything Stellar has already accomplished. And then it just sort of ended.

Some people clapped. And some people gasped. And some people didn't quite understand what just happened.

What about STRIDE or FAIRX or the MARKET MAKER? What about partnering with NASA?

But let's take a closer look at that first goal.

Buckle your seat-belts and hang onto your hats, b/c this is about to get WILD.

Goal #1: SDEX – the Stellar Decentralized Exchange

This goal came first and got the longest explanation in the Roadmap, so maybe it's important right? RIGHT. Bitcoin began as a project in decentralized money. Not for criminals to use to buy hitmen. But in response to the 2008 financial crises, when a few people decided they didn't want to have to trust greedy/selfish bankers with their money.

Skip ahead, nearly 10 years, and crypto is catching on. But what happens every few months?

China or Germany/France or South Korea or Jamie Diamond or Warren Buffet announce some new regulation or a hope for a regulation, and the market goes crazy. Coinbase freezes. Kraken shuts down. Exchanges are hacked or corrupt.

What we have now is decentralized currency operating out of centralized exchanges.

Picture from CryptoCompare

Analogies suck,

but let's say cryptocurrencies are the gas, blockchains are the cars, and exchanges are the gas stations.

If gas stations decide they want to regulate all of the gas or shut down the stations, well then, the rest of it doesn't matter.

See, because the future of crypto depends on building a decentralized exchange. Here is a great article that details why this is and what dex's have come along in the last months. But they all have their own problems.

However,

Stellar is aiming to solve this through SDEX. And not only that, they are hoping to allow people to trade commodities of all sorts. From currencies to carbon credits to oil to whatever the hell you want. This is huge! And not only that, but they have several working exchanges already.

And NOT ONLY THAT, but with SDEX and FairX will be working together in the near future...

Okay. I must contain my excitement.

But here are a few clues (which you can put together however you like).

• The Roadmap said "internal prototypes are underway"
• Stronghold, Lupoex, StellarPort, Stellarterm, Quarx SPace
• Post from SWAMP12 on Reddit a month ago

I'm trying to get a sense of which SDEX interface people like the best. Here are the 5 I know of:
https://interstellar.exchange
https://lupoex.com
https://stellarterm.com
http://wallet.stellar.chat
https://quarx.space/
Which is your favorite and why?

• JedMcCaleb=SWAMP12
• this, from Michael Dowling & FairX

And lastly,

what the hell would a world look like with a decentralized exchange that you could use for any/everything?

Just think about it. Let your brain contemplate this beautiful idea. Beyond a new Coinbase. Beyond a new currency. This solves the problem of decentralization. From consumer to consumer. From peer to peer. From US to Nigeria. From the internet to the SWAMP.

Festina Lente

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