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Lauren Thorbjørnsen, VP and Chief of Staff at the Stellar Development Foundation, discusses Stellar Meridian 2024 in London, highlighting the conference's 10-year anniversary theme of transformation, 800 expected attendees from 65 countries, and key sessions on financial inclusion, Soroban smart contracts, and emerging markets.

Paxos announced it will launch its family of stablecoins, including dollar and gold stablecoins, on the Stellar network. CEO Charles Cascarella discussed how stablecoins democratize access to dollars and yield for unbanked populations globally.

ClickPesa launches a DeFi debt fund on Stellar's Soroban to bridge the $421 billion financing gap for SMEs and women entrepreneurs in Africa, partnering with microfinance institutions to automate lending and expand capital access.

Elizabeth Carpenter, COO of Circle, discusses how USDC and blockchain technology enable real-world financial inclusion, from farmers in Brazil to cross-border payments, emphasizing the importance of trust, user experience, and the 'caring edge' over hype-driven innovation.

Donnell Dixon of the Stellar Development Foundation interviews Mary Ellen Iskandarian, President and CEO of Women's World Banking, exploring how financial inclusion for low-income women drives economic empowerment, family outcomes, and GDP growth across developing economies.

Australian entrepreneur Zach Barrowdale uses Decaf, a Stellar-powered payment app, to pay workers in San Francisco, Colombia without risking his life carrying cash. After being shot during a payroll run, he switched to crypto payments via USDC on Stellar, enabling financial inclusion for 50+ women in a remote farming town.

Danelle Dixon interviews Rick Martin, co-founder of Decaf, a non-custodial wallet enabling fiat-to-crypto onboarding in 200 countries. They discuss building real-world impact through accessible financial tools, trust-building, and amplifying stories of users in underserved markets.

Stellar Startup Camp demo day featuring multiple projects: a carbon credit tokenization platform for environmental restoration, ClipStack for creator financing via ad revenue sharing, Horizon for accessible credit access with DeFi benefits, and EcoTrade for carbon credit trading on Stellar.

Tori Samples, Senior Product Manager at SDF, discusses the Stellar Disbursement Platform, an open-source bulk payments tool enabling organizations to send money to multiple individuals simultaneously on Stellar. The platform supports humanitarian aid, payroll, government programs, and other use cases while bringing financial inclusion to underbanked populations.

Three Stellar ecosystem wallets (Beans, Decaf, Boss Money) demonstrated integration with the Stellar Disbursement Platform, showcasing how organizations can send bulk payments globally to recipients who onboard seamlessly into crypto wallets for the first time.

Zodiac Custody, Stellar, International Rescue Committee, and MoneyGram announced a partnership to enable charities to distribute aid globally using blockchain technology and stablecoins, solving critical gaps in humanitarian payment infrastructure.

Stellar Development Foundation's fifth annual Meridian conference celebrates builders creating real-world blockchain solutions for financial inclusion. Speakers highlight ecosystem projects like Decaf, Flutterwave, MoneyGram, and 40 Soroban developers proving that blockchain can unlock human potential and democratize access to global finance.

Elroy, a fintech platform built on Stellar, launches Elroy Global for free money transfers to Mexico with plans to expand to 30+ countries. The service offers high interest rates, virtual cards, and seamless international payments using Stellar's standardized protocols.

Panel discussion on bulk payments in the Stellar ecosystem, featuring Circle, SDF's Disbursement Platform, UNICEF, and Ping. Speakers explored how blockchain enables faster, cheaper disbursements for aid, payroll, and creator payments while addressing regulatory challenges and last-mile delivery.

Panel discussion featuring founders of three Soroban lending protocols: Slender (compounded lending), Trilobyte (cash flow financing for Cuba), and XLR Labs (tokenized T-bills and repo lending). Speakers discuss how lending primitives drive DeFi ecosystem growth and financial inclusion.

SDF and MoneyGram launch the MoneyGram Award program, offering up to $50,000 in marketing support to wallets and fintechs integrating with MoneyGram's 300,000 agent locations for cash-to-crypto on/off ramps. No consumer fees through June 2024, with five winners selected quarterly.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.