Stellar Ecosystem
News

Stellar has released Protocol 25 (X-Ray) with a comprehensive upgrade guide for developers and infrastructure operators. The guide covers key dates, preparation steps, SDK updates, and breaking changes, with the mainnet upgrade scheduled for January 22, 2026.

The article details the design philosophy behind Cyberbrawl, a blockchain game built on Stellar, emphasizing that fun and core game loops should not depend on blockchain finality. The author argues for prototyping simple loops first, targeting casual-midcore players, and using blockchain solely as a continuity layer for ownership and persistence. Stellar's speed and efficiency enable this seamless integration without disrupting gameplay.

Stellar Meridian 2025 in Rio showcased the evolution of Stellar's blockchain into production-grade infrastructure for payments, identity, RWAs, and stablecoins. Key sessions highlighted open systems, regulatory progress, privacy innovations, and real-world applications from partners like MoneyGram, Nubank, and Ondo Finance. LATAM and Africa emerged as blueprints for financial inclusion and efficient money movement.

Stablecoins like USDC, integrated with Stellar and MoneyGram via Hana, are revolutionizing remittances in emerging markets by enabling near-instant, low-cost transfers convertible to cash. This addresses high fees and delays in traditional systems, particularly in Southeast Asia where remittances are projected to exceed $100 billion in 2025. The partnership provides financial stability and inclusion for unbanked populations.

Raja Chakravorti, Chief Business Officer at the Stellar Development Foundation, describes Stellar as invisible blockchain infrastructure that seamlessly integrates with existing financial systems to drive real-world financial inclusion. He highlights key partnerships with MoneyGram and Franklin Templeton, enabling crypto-to-cash services across 430K locations in 175+ countries. Stellar's focus is on scalability, institutional adoption, and making money accessible without users noticing the blockchain.

Wirex, a Visa principal member, launched dual-stablecoin settlement using USDC and EURC on Stellar, enabling on-chain card payment settlement with lower fees and faster processing without intermediary banks.

Stellar's Soroban runtime engineers have integrated Solidity support into Soroban via Hyperledger Solang, enabling developers to write smart contracts in Solidity and compile them to WebAssembly. The Solang Playground Web IDE is now available for developers to write, compile, and deploy Solidity contracts on Soroban Testnet.

Pavel Matveev of COCA, a non-custodial stablecoin-native wallet built on Stellar, is featured in the Stellar Community Fund Spotlight series. COCA received a $50K SCF grant and a $1M Series A investment from SDF to integrate USDC support and solve Web3 security and usability challenges for mass-market adoption.

Hana Wallet partners with MoneyGram, powered by Stellar and USDC, to enable instant cash withdrawals of stablecoins in Southeast Asia. Users can convert USDC to local cash at over 350,000 MoneyGram locations without banks or exchanges. This bridges digital finance with cash-based economies for freelancers, families, and businesses.

Nasdaq-listed Turbo Energy partnered with Taurus and Stellar to tokenize debt financing for solar-plus-battery systems in Spain, using Taurus' institutional tokenization platform on the Stellar blockchain.

RedSwan Digital Real Estate announced three tokenized investment portfolios totaling $259.4 million, including a $170M hospitality portfolio and $89.4M multifamily portfolio, minted on Stellar and Hedera for compliant institutional real estate access.

Abroad announces a partnership with Lobstr, a leading Stellar network wallet, to enable seamless USDC stablecoin payments in everyday life across Latin America and Southeast Asia. Users can convert USDC to local currencies like Brazilian reais via QR code scans directly in the Lobstr app. This integration bridges blockchain with real-world spending, enhancing speed, security, and borderless transactions.

Bitbond launches TokenTool API, an enterprise-grade platform for creating and managing digital assets across multiple blockchains including Stellar, without requiring deep blockchain expertise. The API offers pre-audited smart contracts, multi-chain support, and comprehensive token lifecycle management for businesses and developers.

Beans integrated DeFindex to launch stablecoin yield features in 3 weeks, attracting $610K in deposits within 90 days. The partnership eliminated 11+ months of development work by using DeFindex's pre-built yield infrastructure instead of building in-house.