Blockchain Startup Chain Acquired by Lightyear, Moves Business to Stellar Protocol

San Francisco-based technology startup Chain Inc. has been acquired by Lightyear Corp., with two companies forming a new entity called Interstellar. As reported by Reuters, Interstellar will migrate Chain's customer base and products onto Stellar's public ledger, creating a platform that will enable organizations to issue, exchange and manage digital assets. Chain Chief Executive officer Adam Ludwin said: "We were looking for a way to help our customers move the projects that we have been working on from a private network to a public one." According to Ludwin, when Chain started several years ago the company's "customers were not ready for a public network." "Fast forward to three years, they're willingness has gone up, and the maturity of the public networks has changed a lot," he added. Chain raised more than $40 million from companies such as Visa, Citi Ventures and Nasdaq. Ludwin declined to disclose financial details of the acquisition, but said Chain investors were cashed out.