A subsidiary of Stellar, in the process of merging with a new startup, will change its name to Interstellar

Lightyear is about to merge with blockchain startup Chain. According to a Stellar blog post, Lightyear is a not-for-profit company that was created to enable innovative financial institutions to easily join the Stellar ecosystem.

Chain CEO Adam Ludwin told Reuters that the new company, called Interstellar, will migrate Chain's network of clients and existing products to the global public blockchain Stellar, thereby aiming to create a new public digital asset management platform. He also noted that previously customers were not ready for a public network, but after three years and with the development of public networks, now, in the company's opinion, is the time to offer customers new opportunities.

The companies have been negotiating a merger since late 2017 and have finally concluded a deal, although they prefer not to disclose its financial details. According to Reuters, Chain recently raised more than $40 million to develop blockchain financial services infrastructure, with investors including Visa, Citi Ventures and Nasdaq.

Following the merger of Chain and Lightyear to form Interstellar, Ludwin will serve as CEO of the new company, and Jed McCaleb, co-founder of the Stellar Development Foundation and Lightyear, will serve as CTO. The team will consist of 60 people with main offices in San Francisco and New York. The company's products will include the recently announced Stellar digital asset marketplace powered by "StellarX", which is still in beta.

According to cointelegraph.com