The further development of Stratis' InterFlux protocol has been quietly simmering, focusing on incorporating Token Swaps between Ethereum and the Cirrus Blockchain, enabling popular ERC20 Tokens to find their way to the Stratis Ecosystem. The added functionality within InterFlux is a critical development for Stratis, further bridging the gap between Stratis Blockchain Technologies and Ethereum.

Active projects, such as Opdex, the first wholly decentralized exchange on Stratis, benefit significantly from this further development. Providing the availability and access to popular and established tokens on Ethereum, such as USDT (Tether), Binance USD, SHIBA INU, Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC), and many more. Testing has already begun internally, with deployment to Testnet expected to occur in the coming days. A two week testing period will be undertaken on Testnet, with the view to promote to Mainnet after successful test criteria is met.

The further development also lays the foundation for supporting the ERC721 standard. Enabling the transfer of NFTs on Ethereum to Stratis for listing on Stratisphere.com resulting in NFT sales incurring 0% Platform Fees and significantly reduced transactional costs. You should expect to see some high-profile transfers occur once the ERC721 becomes activated in the near future! Stratisphere.com is the worlds first zero-fee decentralized NFT Marketplace, offering ultra-low transactional costs and a great user experience. Hundreds of NFTs have already been sold by various content creators using the platform, some of which are established community members with hidden talents, and some are brand new to our ever-growing community!

As always, development progress and community participation requests can be seen within our Discord Server. Be sure to join to keep track of the progress and get involved with testing the new functionality on our Testnet.

Neo community developer Robert Oschler has won second place in the SocialFi category of the Metaverse Alliance hackathon. Oschler's project, Neo3D Live, is a 3D metaverse world that allows users to interact with one another's avatars and participate in events like real-time auctions.

Oschler developed Neo3D Live so that anyone in any part of the world can access the 3D world, regardless of their ability to purchase powerful equipment. Neo3D Live was designed for most of the world's internet users – those without VR headsets or high-end equipment. He said:

Let Metaverse residents form meaningful connections in a virtual world that will run on common hardware, including the millions of smartphones that may be the only link to the Metaverse a citizen in an economically disadvantaged region has. This is a link that has the true power to uplift the millions, if not billions of hard-working, intelligent, decent human beings who have the misfortune of being born in a region that is not economically gifted like other parts of the world.

The platform leverages the ThreeJS graphics library, a graphics engine that is widely accessible. Neo3D Live runs on almost any browser and device, so there is no need for high-powered computer setups.

The platform's beta version allows users to congregate in a digital 3D environment. Real-time video conferencing is embedded into the moveable characters, so participants can see those they're communicating with via live video feed. Oschler said, "By combining true video conferencing where participants can see each other's faces as they talk to one another and move about a fun virtual world, people can once again feel the natural human joy of forming groups based on both social and spatial relationships like they would at a party or a shopping mall."

Oschler also incorporated other elements to make the space feel more natural and interactive. In Neo3D Live, intelligent objects are embedded in the virtual world, responding to an avatar's presence. For example, walking up to a wall with an embedded YouTube video will trigger the video to begin playing. And to create a more real-life experience, a user can hear the sounds of their movements and that of others around them.

NFT Showcase
The first demo of Neo3D Live included the NFT Showcase, a custom room where an individual can purchase an NFT on auction. A demonstration of the live auction can be found below:

The NFT designer can determine who can participate in the Showcase by whitelisting public wallet addresses on Neo N3.

The Neo3D Live smart contract supports derivative commissions, so collectors can earn profits when they sell an artist's NFTs if the artist grants them that right. Further, Oschler intends the NFTs bought and sold through Neo3D Live to be viewable and transferable via third-party marketplaces (i.e., Sky Hut, GhostMarket).

Looking forward, he aims to develop and release a drag-and-drop toolkit (that doesn't require coding ability), so anyone can build a virtual world.