Heads up, we're trying something new, if you want the latest Daml Connect release notes scroll to the bottom. Also if you prefer to listen to this post Richard has a small podcast of it here.
First and foremost, we have partnered with SE2 to kick off a hackathon that will run for the next 6 weeks to help you build your very first smart contract app! No "gas" required. No advanced programming language required. We'll even host the ledger in Daml Hub, so you don't have to worry about that either! In fact, you choose your frontend!
... and the grand prize is US$10K cash! (as well, as two US$2.5K cash as runner-up prizes and several Best-Of cash prizes!)
That's a few months of mortgage, rent, or maybe even a year of car payments or gym membership fees. Donate your prize to a charity of your choice or invest it in some crypto! ;) Your choice!
More information can be found here: https://bit.ly/letsdaml
If you are new to the efficient world of smart contracts, no sweat! Check out the learning series we created for this: https://bit.ly/damlone
Bursa Malaysia announced earlier this morning that they are using Daml with VMware Blockchain for the dematerialization of securities certificates.
We are starting with a proof-of-concept (PoC) for the Exchange to test the efficiency and operational feasibility of smart contract and blockchain-powered technology in the issuance of dematerialized securities certificates. The PoC is focusing on Structured Warrants, or the right for investors to buy or sell underlying shares of a company at a specified price within a limited period of time.
With most of the world's exchanges already operating in a fully dematerialized, or transitioning to a dematerialized environment, this is a critical project for Bursa Malaysia that will transform the Malaysian securities industry. And, we are right in the middle of it, driving this effort for the Exchange.
As always we've got a new release of Daml. Among other awesome new improvements and additions, OracleDB is now available through the Daml Connect stack as part of the Enterprise edition. You can checkout the full release notes for 1.17.0 here.