Stellar.org said that from early next month it will begin accepting submissions for the inaugural Stellar Build Challenge, and has extended invitation to developers across Africa to participate.
Over 2 billion lumens (lumens are bitcoin-like virtual currency), equivalent to $3 million USD, will be awarded to several winners in four categories through the quarterly awards. The first round of winners will be announced on October 1, 2016.
Stellar.org is a tech non-profit organization that built and supports an innovative back-end financial infrastructure that facilitates low cost, real-time and transparent financial transactions. Lumens are the native digital currency to the network, similar to bitcoin.
The purpose of the program, according to the platform, is to encourage creativity and technical development in the Stellar ecosystem.
Stellar.org will grant awards in the following four categories: Anchors, Applications, Exchanges, and First-Time Submissions.
They will announce the first round of winners on October 1, 2016.
Award
Build Challenge awards will be funded by unclaimed lumens from the bitcoin-lumen program. This pilot challenge is simple by design: it’s an experiment to find ways to develop services that are fair, affordable, and community-driven, and at the same time drive uptake of the Stellar network to maximize efficiency and reach. We plan to learn from it and offer similar programs in the future.
Categories and Awards
Stellar.org is starting with the four categories for awards including Anchors: 4 Annual Awards, Based on Usage: Anchors are either banks, licensed money-service providers, or mobile money operators that accept deposits, issue credits, and honor withdrawals on the Stellar network. They are vital to the success of the Stellar network.
Entries will be evaluated based on usage and uptake. 1st: 55 million lumens; 2nd: 44 million lumens; 3rd: 33 million lumens and 4th: 22 million lumens
To qualify as an anchor, organizations that enter the challenge must meet the following criteria: Record customer balances of some asset in the Stellar ledger; Support federation for deposits and withdrawals; Have a proper stellar.toml so others can add your anchor by domain name; Comply with local regulations; Sustain activity and placement for 12 months.
These awards will be determined on October 1, 2016. The lumens will be held in escrow and will only be delivered on July 1, 2017, if the anchors still qualify at that date.
