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Kaan hosts Yaman and Dennis from Trion Labs to introduce ZARF: a zero-knowledge protocol that lets users receive tokens via email addresses and claim them with Google login, keeping wallet identity private. The project exemplifies new use cases enabled by Stellar's X-Ray protocol upgrade.

OpenZeppelin released confidential tokens as a developer preview on Stellar testnet. The feature enables private transfer amounts and balances while keeping counterparty addresses visible. Designed for private payroll, grants, treasury management, and B2B settlement. Mainnet launch expected late summer after security audit.

Denelle Dixon discusses why Stellar has become the institutional blockchain of choice. DTCC selected Stellar as the first public blockchain for tokenizing securities and ETFs; MoneyGram launched MGUSD stablecoin. Institutional features built at the protocol layer (clawback, freezing, KYC controls) make Stellar uniquely trusted for regulated assets.

SDF senior technical writer Brie Wilde demonstrates Quarterly Ascension, an on-chain game where ten autonomous AI middle managers compete for a single VP promotion. Agents transact via Soroban smart contracts and MPP. Players direct their agents through 'life coaching' or let them act autonomously. The game showcases what developers can build with advanced Stellar infrastructure.

Dave Taylor, CEO of Etherfuse, argues that stablecoins alone are insufficient for efficient DeFi in non-Western economies. His solution: yield-bearing stablecoins backed by sovereign debt (Mexican CETES, Brazilian SELIC), providing competitive stores of value and enabling balanced AMM liquidity across local and foreign assets.

Blend, Stellar's largest DeFi protocol, faces competing V3 proposals: Templar wants institutional RWAs and fixed-rate lending with permission pools; the alternative keeps Blend primitive, letting builders layer features on top. No governance DAO; the backstop LP market migration decides which version wins.

Etherfuse founder Dave Taylor on why emerging markets need yield-bearing stablecoins denominated in local currencies. Tokenizing treasury bonds like Mexican CETES and Brazilian SELIC securities creates inherent yield without USD exposure or DeFi risk.

MoneyGram CEO Anthony Soohoo explains the strategic reasoning behind MGUSD, the company's native dollar-backed stablecoin on Stellar. Rather than treating stablecoins as trading assets, MoneyGram designed MGUSD as a platform for smart contract-based payments.

Stellar's RWA market cap exceeded $3 billion. This week's developer meeting features Gaian, a Southeast Asia payment infrastructure startup that uses USDC on Stellar to connect crypto wallets directly to local banking rails, enabling merchant payments and cross-border transfers that settle into real bank accounts. Gaian demonstrated their V2 API and self-serve onboarding dashboard.

Milan, 20, is building orbitkit.fun, a CLI tool that lets developers scaffold entire Stellar apps with one command. Winner of Best AI Dev Tool at Stellar Build residency, the tool addresses a core friction point: new builders arriving at Stellar face doc-heavy onboarding. Currently at 7,200 users, Milan is also running a web agency doing $12k MRR while studying engineering and working full-time.

Three builders discuss how Stellar Light, Stellar Passport, and Lumen Loop work together to solve the ecosystem's core visibility problem: new developers struggle to find projects and prove their contributions. The three tools form a complementary stack addressing onboarding, participation tracking, and signal aggregation.

SDF's DeFi lead explains how Stellar's partnership with Centrifuge enables tokenized real-world assets to unlock yield in DeFi while giving emerging markets unbiased access to institutional lending and financial services.

Stellar's weekly developer meeting features JavaScript SDK v16 release, a real-world ZK hackathon ($10K prize pool, 11 days remaining), and the CV Labs + SDF EMEA accelerator ($150K grants). Guest project XCCY demonstrates its interest rate swaps integration on Soroban.

Nelson, Risein Stellar Philippines' country lead, discusses blockchain's competitive edge in emerging markets. The key message: sustainable builders succeed through entrepreneurial thinking and 3-5 year roadmaps, not grant-chasing. Real opportunity lies in DeFi, where transparent, algorithm-driven systems outperform traditional banking.

In a Block by Block interview, Sandy Kaul of Franklin Templeton reflects on five years of Benji on Stellar. The money market fund demonstrates how blockchain removes operational friction: moving 50,000 transactions from $75,000 to $1.13 in costs. Kaul explores the smart contract realization that triggered the bet and Franklin Templeton's path to being the first institutional player on-chain.

Alejandro from Bolivia discusses building Polar, infrastructure for onboarding developers to Stellar. He shares his journey from economic crisis to blockchain adoption, and his philosophy of building for people in emerging markets.

Piggy Wallet brings family finance to Stellar to solve inflation in high-growth markets. Parents set up USDC savings accounts where kids complete chores to earn money. Founders Sofia Vasquez (CEO) and Matias (CPO) discuss gamifying financial literacy, why family finance is more than fintech, and how B2B2C partnerships with schools could drive mainstream adoption.

Two Costa Rican students, Sebastian and Daniel, are building ACTA, an identity and verifiable credentials layer for Stellar. The team recently secured SDF funding to develop a native decentralized identifier (DID) for the network, addressing critical infrastructure Stellar lacked. Mainnet live since January, ACTA offers API, SDK, and DApp interfaces, with real clients already using the platform for credential issuance and verification.

Two Indian developers, Surya and Saindipal, discovered Web3 through Ryzen's Kolkata hackathon community and won an Aptos competition with ZeroMove, an IDE for smart contract deployment that scaled to 3,000+ monthly users. They're now building on Stellar.

Introduction to Stellar Journey to Mastery 2.0, a 7-level learning program for building on Stellar. Video covers dashboard access, program structure, idea submission requirements, and how to navigate the progression from beginner to master builder track.

Sodax team presented cross-network execution tools at the SDF Developers Meeting on June 11. The SDK enables developers on Stellar to access cross-network swaps, lending, borrowing, and money market features without leaving their native blockchain. Sodax operates across 20 networks using intent-based execution.

Stellar's real-world asset tokenization jumped from $500M to $3B in one year. MoneyGram launches MGUSD stablecoin, DTCC selects Stellar for asset settlement starting H1 2027. Fireside chat explores what institutions actually need to scale on-chain: clear governance, privacy within compliance frameworks, and security protocols like CAP77.

Abraham Cobos discusses Bando's treasury management platform for Mexican companies, which abstracts blockchain complexity to enable investment in tokenized CETES. He outlines competitive modes, the acceleration of AI-driven development, and strategic decisions to maximize focus across Bando and partner initiatives.

GrantFox community call walks through the redesigned open-source contribution platform on Stellar. Founders showcase new UI updates, a dual-sided rating system for contributors and maintainers, and a flagging mechanism with strikes to maintain code quality.