16:32 <stellar-slack> <eva> @sacarlson hey! You might want to ask those questions in #dev to see if the devs there have any ideas :)

16:49 <stellar-slack> <eva> @fredolafritte: hi! Would it be okay if I dm you?

17:00 <stellar-slack> <fredolafritte> Dm or pm ?

17:05 <stellar-slack> <eva> pm - on Slack they're the same thing :)

20:37 <stellar-slack> <jroweboy> Hello! I'm working in a startup that is bringing digital payments to micro finance institutions. Our goal is to empower the unbanked to have affordable access to banking through us and their micro finance institution, and we are looking into both stellar and ripple as digital currencies. In the coming days, I'm going to be on call with some of the developers behind Mifos-x (the leading open source MFI software

20:37 <stellar-slack> stellar or ripple with Mifos. (At least, thats what I understand, I could be wrong, but I'll know more when the calls actually happens) So I'm looking for answers. I've been reading up on the histories and comparisons between stellar and ripple for a while now, but I'd like to hear from someone in the chat to tell me why they think we should go with stellar instead of ripple. Any thoughts on the matter are greatly apprec

21:11 <stellar-slack> <eva> @jroweboy welcome to Stellar's chat, it's great to have you! Sounds like your startup is doing really critical interesting work for MFI's and the unbanked. Would love to hear more about that!

21:11 <stellar-slack> <eva> In terms of technical differences of Stellar + Ripple, you might find this helpful: http://www.quora.com/What-is-the-main-difference-between-Stellar-and-Ripple-protocols/answer/Nicolas-Barry-1

21:12 <stellar-slack> <eva> please feel welcome to ask specific technical questions in #dev, where developers will be able to help out and point you in the right direction

21:13 <stellar-slack> <eva> Just FYI, some MFI's in Nigeria are going to use Stellar, so you'd be in good company :) http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/02/28/bitbeat-stellar-takes-a-step-into-the-microfinance-world/

21:20 <stellar-slack> <jroweboy> Thanks for the response @eva Concerning the rewrite of stellar that took place, I understand you have made a new consensus protocol, and put lots of effort in making a distributed ledger, but I still can't tell whether stellar still has a stellar currency as part of it or not. From my investigations, Ripple still has RPL which is used in the protocol, but I can't tell yet what happened to the Stellar currency

21:20 <stellar-slack> far as technical questions go, I'll have those when I get a chance to dive into the tech.

21:23 <stellar-slack> <eva> Ah, I can see how that's unclear - so the Stellar network will still have a "native currency," called lumens.

21:24 <stellar-slack> <eva> FYI, we did already start the giveaway, though it's currently paused as we work on a new educational program for it. It's in our mandate that 95% of the native currency *must* be given away.

21:24 <stellar-slack> <eva> does that help clarify?

21:24 <stellar-slack> <eva> there will be a lot more info on this in the coming month or two as we develop better tools for Stellar devs

21:27 <stellar-slack> <jroweboy> That also kinda answered my next question which was about the timeframe you see these features being rolled out.

21:30 <stellar-slack> <eva> heh. We don't have a set-in-stone date for the new network launch yet, but there is a roadmap you can follow: https://trello.com/b/Clb1VMP5/platform-roadmap

21:31 <stellar-slack> <eva> you can also hang out in the #dev channel for realtime updates, if you prefer

21:31 <stellar-slack> <eva> plus Stellar Foundation and other community devs are always around if you need clarification

21:42 <stellar-slack> <jroweboy> Well, truthfully, I'm not a big fan of slack, so I'll probably just follow development on Github myself :) Thanks for being upfront and answering my questions. If I could ask a somewhat personal question though, why do you personally think Stellar is a good idea?

21:43 <stellar-slack> <jroweboy> I've gotta get going now, but I'll read your answer later. Thanks!

21:43 <stellar-slack> <eva> sure - there's also an IRC mirror, if that's more your style. https://kiwiirc.com/client/irc.freenode.net/#stellar-dev

21:43 <stellar-slack> <eva> TTYL!

21:44 <stellar-slack> <eva> I can say why I personally choose to work with Stellar: I feel strongly that everyone should have a fair chance at independently bettering their own life. Stellar, as a network and as a nonprofit, is dedicated to making that happen. The ethos of an org is extremely important to me, personally, and Stellar's is very much in line with my own.

21:45 <stellar-slack> <eva> hope that isn't too sappy!