Toma Weller, CPO at Stellar Development Foundation, discusses how Stellar powers real-world finance through native cash-to-DeFi experiences, institutional partnerships like MoneyGram, and the launch of Soroban smart contracts platform with focus on security, developer experience, and privacy solutions.
In this interview, Toma Weller, Chief Product Officer at the Stellar Development Foundation, shares insights on Stellar's evolution over 11 years and its mission to create equitable access to global finance. He explains how Stellar's anchor network enables seamless cash-to-crypto flows through partnerships like MoneyGram, which has processed over $30 million in transactions across 400,000+ agents globally. Weller discusses Soroban, Stellar's WebAssembly-based smart contracts platform launched in March 2024, which prioritizes security and developer experience over EVM compatibility. Key topics include institutional adoption drivers like reputation-based consensus and compliance features, the intersection of DeFi with real-world assets, and upcoming privacy infrastructure using zero-knowledge cryptography. He emphasizes the importance of product-market fit, user value, and staying mission-focused rather than chasing narratives.