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Stellar Development Foundation unveiled Stellar Aid Assist, a blockchain-based platform enabling organizations to distribute cash assistance to displaced people and vulnerable populations at scale. The system processes bulk payments via USDC and MoneyGram's global network, already deployed by UNHCR and International Rescue Committee in Ukraine.

Soroban design discussion on state expiration and storage. Team proposes unified storage interface combining temporary and restorable entries with rent-based model, automatic rent bumps on access, and optional manual bumps. Short-term entries (15 min) charged at lower rate than long-term (30 days) to incentivize temporary storage use.

Sergei Gurbanov, CEO of Axelar, discusses how the decentralized interoperability protocol connects multiple blockchains through a plug-and-play gateway model. Axelar is integrating with Stellar's Soroban smart contract platform and launching a virtual machine to scale cross-chain development.

Stellar Development Foundation's Q1 2023 quarterly review covering network growth to 7.3M accounts, $419M relevant asset transaction volume, Sorobon smart contract platform progress with two preview releases, and ecosystem initiatives including the $100M Sorobon Adoption Fund supporting developer adoption.

Soroban Developer Workshop livestream featuring Paul from SDF and Morgan from useSoroban.app demonstrating how to write your first smart contract on Soroban, including Hello World examples and stateful contract development with storage operations.

SDF hosted the Stellar Community Fund 12 project pitch event featuring 10 Soroban and Stellar ecosystem projects presenting their proof of intent deliverables, including developer tools, DeFi protocols, infrastructure, and financial inclusion applications.

Stellar Community Fund hosts an info session for the Asia Pacific SCF startup bootcamp, a five-day virtual program using design sprint methodology to help teams accelerate from idea to MVP. The bootcamp features mentorship, workshops, investor demo day, and prizes totaling 30,000 XLM.

Stellar core developers discuss three approaches for storing scalable network configuration settings in dedicated ledger entries instead of the ledger header, with approach two using Soroban emerging as the preferred option for simplicity and flexibility.

Lightecho is a crypto exchange rate search engine that helps traders find the best prices across decentralized, centralized, and instant exchanges for pairs like XLM, XRP, and stablecoins, emphasizing self-custody and security.

SDF launched the Stellar Asset Sandbox, a no-code toolkit built with Cheesecake Labs for exploring tokenization on Stellar testnet. The sandbox enables users to issue custom assets, manage supply, and control asset permissions through features like account freezing and clawback.

Stellar Development Foundation hosts detailed walkthrough of SCF submission process, covering eligibility requirements, project information, deliverables, budgeting, team qualifications, and submission platform features for Round 12.

Developer walkthrough of Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control, a Soroban smart contract coding game that teaches optimization through competitive challenges. The host covers the game engine, testing strategies, and Rust development practices for building efficient contracts.

Anke Liu from the Stellar Development Foundation presented updates to the Stellar Community Fund, announcing a new four-week submission cycle for awards up to $150,000 XLM, a virtual startup bootcamp launching in April, and a tiered verified member system with governance roles.

SDF Q4 2022 quarterly review covering network growth to 7.4M accounts, Soroban smart contracts launching on FutureNet with mainnet planned for H1 2023, Stellar Aid Assist deployment in Ukraine, and the 2023 roadmap focused on utility as the growth exponent.

Soroban design discussion on Authnext proposal covering account abstraction, standardized signature payloads, and invocation authorization. Dima presented the two-component system enabling flexible authentication while maintaining protocol standardization for contract interoperability.

Aaron Tyson from the Stellar Development Foundation presents Bucket List DB, a next-generation database replacing SQL for Stellar Core storage. The new system reduces disk usage by 50%, improves read performance 2.6-4.2x, and eliminates data duplication while maintaining fast hashing for consensus.

UNHCR treasurer Carmen Hurt discusses the organization's blockchain initiative on Stellar to deliver cash assistance to 100 million displaced people globally. The project uses USDC, Circle, MoneyGram, and the Stellar Disbursement Platform to provide refugees with financial autonomy and transparency.

Soroban design discussion on Auth Next proposal covering account abstraction and standardized invocation authorization. The proposal aims to simplify authentication, enable complex multi-contract calls with single signatures, and support custom account implementations beyond classic accounts.

Anthony Scaramucci discusses the FTX collapse and Sam Bankman-Fried's arrest, reflecting on his investment in FTX and lessons learned. He emphasizes blockchain's real-world use cases like remittances and payments while advocating for regulatory clarity and decentralized systems.

Stellar Development Foundation and UNHCR launched a blockchain-based aid disbursement system live in Ukraine, delivering digital cash assistance to internally displaced persons using USDC stablecoins, Vibrant wallets, and MoneyGram's cash-out network.

Danelle Dixon, CEO of the Stellar Development Foundation, interviews Ginger Baker, SDF's newest board member and head of financial access at Plaid. They discuss Baker's career spanning financial inclusion work at Facebook, Visa, Ripple, and Square, her focus on empowering women in emerging markets through financial services, and insights on solving real-world problems with blockchain technology.

Zach Freund and Justin Rice from Stellar Development Foundation discuss the FTX collapse's impact on crypto industry trust, regulatory challenges, and SDF's continued focus on use cases and ecosystem building through grants and Soroban smart contracts development.

Danelle Dixon (Stellar Development Foundation CEO) interviews Marique Flament (NEAR Foundation CEO) about leading nonprofit foundations supporting open source blockchains, navigating market volatility, grant-making challenges, and the FTX crisis impact on industry trust and regulation.

Sorbonne Talks stream featuring Stellar Development Foundation developers demonstrating Gitpod instant dev environment for Soroban smart contract development, showing how to build, test, and deploy contracts on Futurenet with minimal setup.