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José Fernandez Da Ponte, a key Stellar figure, discusses why payments is becoming a compelling use case in LATAM fintech. The ecosystem is moving beyond hype cycles to infrastructure-first thinking: companies like Etherfuse, Félix, and Meru are building on Stellar not to sell crypto, but to solve real financial problems at scale. Distribution wins when 80% of users don't know they're using blockchain.

Bermuda's government announced it will move its national economy on-chain using the Stellar network, becoming the world's first fully on-chain national economy. The government approved digital asset acceptance and investment policies, and will modify its FinTech Development Fund to support the ecosystem.

Two Stellar ecosystem projects, ArcusX and SoZu Pay, were awarded the InstaWords Award for a four-week sprint. ArcusX is building a freelance marketplace on Stellar to reduce fees and payment delays in Latin America, while SoZu Pay is developing NGO disbursement infrastructure using stablecoins and the Stellar Disbursement Platform.

A documentary-style introduction to Medellín's emerging web3 and blockchain innovation ecosystem, exploring how the city is becoming a hub for builders experimenting with decentralized finance and digital asset ownership.

Blessed UX and Telus Cooperative are launching a five-workshop Web3 builder program in Chile, teaching participants to create wallets, smart contracts, and deploy apps on Stellar.

Educational overview of Stellar's mission to create accessible global finance, explaining the Stellar Consensus Protocol, anchors as fiat bridges, and introducing Soroban smart contracts with a practical crowdfunding example.

Podcast on interoperability in blockchain featuring Meru and Etherfuse discussing stablecoin and stablebond adoption across Latin America, regulatory progress, and building financial infrastructure for emerging markets.

Justin Rice, VP of Ecosystem at Stellar Development Foundation, discusses the future of Stellar's ecosystem, emphasizing interoperability, DeFi protocol growth, zero-knowledge proofs via XRP-25, and the importance of developer community events in fostering innovation across Latin America and globally.

Justin Rice, VP of Ecosystem at Stellar Development Foundation, discusses interoperability, DeFi growth, and the emerging builder community across Latin America. Key focus: more assets and on/off-ramps connecting to DeFi protocols, zero-knowledge primitives enabling new use cases, and unexpected innovations from decentralized builders.

A documentary explores Argentina's economic crisis, hyperinflation, and heavy reliance on informal dollar markets and stablecoins like USDT and USDC. Despite economic improvements under President Milei, distrust in the formal banking system and high taxes drive continued adoption of stablecoins as a dollar proxy. The content reveals stablecoins bridging fiat and crypto in emerging markets facing currency instability.

At the Meridian event, lightning talks feature Stellar ecosystem innovators. Ondo Finance announces USDY, their yield-bearing tokenized treasury, now live on Stellar. Etherfuse introduces Tesoro, a Brazilian stable bond offering high yield in local currency, and Credit discusses remittances and financial innovation in Africa.

Civitas ID, a human-centered digital identity system for displaced persons and refugees, is being built on Stellar to solve the invisibility crisis affecting 123 million displaced people globally. The platform aims to bridge humanitarian aid dependency into formal economic participation through portable, verifiable credentials.