Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) recently announced the launch of a $100 million fund aimed at accelerating the adoption of native smart contracts on the Stellar blockchain. The Soroban platform, which is built on the Stellar network, will provide incentives to developers to create new tools and applications that enhance network performance.
Despite the current market conditions and regulatory challenges faced by the blockchain industry, there has been a surge in blockchain developments. The increasing number of developments in the space could potentially lead to a resurgence in crypto prices.
Developers worldwide can now engage with the Soroban ecosystem through initiatives like Sorobanathon: First Light. The project is also live on Futurenet, inviting experts from around the world to contribute by building, testing, submitting tutorials, and more. The goal of the Soroban Fund team is to develop cost-effective, advanced, and efficient financial products on the Stellar blockchain.
Tomer Weller, Vice President at SDF and leader of the Soroban Project, emphasized the need for a smart contracts platform that offers a seamless developer experience, scalability, and reliable access to financial infrastructure through the Stellar network.
Soroban stands out as a smart contract platform that leverages WASM and Rust for building. The platform focuses on creating energy-efficient computations for financial services products to reduce gas costs compared to other crypto projects. The Soroban ecosystem is currently undergoing testing by experts worldwide and will go through multiple testnet phases before its official launch on the mainnet in the first half of 2023.
In March of this year, SDF announced its plans to introduce a Turing-complete smart contract platform, with the current fund for adoption being part of the organization’s broader mandate that allocated $17 billion XLM for this purpose. The fund aims to attract software engineers to the blockchain space to meet the growing demand for builders in web 3 projects.
Justin Rice, Vice President of Ecosystem at SDF, highlighted the rapid growth of developers entering the web 3 space and emphasized the need for more talented individuals to join the blockchain and crypto industry. Initiatives like the Soroban Adoption Fund and Sorobanathon: First Light are designed to encourage developers to innovate and collaborate within the blockchain ecosystem.
Overall, the launch of the Soroban platform and the $100 million fund signal a significant step towards advancing the adoption of smart contracts on the Stellar blockchain. With a focus on efficiency, scalability, and developer-friendly features, Soroban aims to drive innovation and growth within the blockchain industry.
