Stellar Ecosystem
News

The Stellar Development Foundation released its Q3 2021 report highlighting Protocol 18 AMM upgrade preparations, a $40 million investment in Tala for digital banking, new payment corridors in Europe-Philippines and Latin America, and Canadian stablecoin VCAD launch by VersaBank and Stablecorp.

MoneyGram announced it will use Stellar blockchain to enable USDC stablecoin payments and near-real-time settlement for its customers, with rollout beginning this year and international expansion in 2022.

MoneyGram partners with Stellar Development Foundation to enable crypto payouts in local currencies using Circle's USDC stablecoin, integrating MoneyGram's network with Stellar blockchain for cross-border payments and settlement.

Arf and Tempo Payments launched a Stellar-based payment corridor from Europe to the Philippines using Circle's Stellar USDC, enabling compliant cross-border transactions with near-zero fees and instant settlement.

VersaBank and Stablecorp are launching VCAD, a Canadian stablecoin issued by a North American bank and live on Stellar. Each VCAD unit represents a one-dollar deposit with VersaBank, offering fast, low-cost cross-border transactions.

Anclap launched the first Peruvian sol stablecoin on Stellar, 100% backed by local currency. The digital asset is exchangeable for multiple Latin American currencies and wallets, advancing Anclap's goal to build a cross-border payment network reducing remittance costs.

DFS Lab is hosting a three-day Blockchain Bootcamp in collaboration with the Stellar Development Foundation for nine African startups building financial solutions on Stellar. Winners will receive prizes and pitch to investors at a demo day.

Stellar Development Foundation moved $150 million of USDC on-chain to provide debt financing and working capital loans to ecosystem projects, expanding financial support beyond grants to accelerate growth in cross-border payments and remittances.

Jason Chlipala, COO of Stellar Development Foundation, discusses how blockchain enables safer, more efficient payment systems on shared infrastructure. He highlights Stellar's advantages for asset issuance, cross-border transactions, and financial inclusion, particularly in remittances where fees could drop from 7-15% to fractions of pennies.

Wilhelm Wanecek's research study estimates Stellar network electricity consumption at 0.222 Wh per transaction, with network traffic accounting for 94% of power use. The findings demonstrate Stellar's energy efficiency compared to proof-of-work blockchains and highlight the protocol's successful decoupling of decentralization from extreme power consumption.

Stellar's Meridian 2021 conference (Nov 17-18) will showcase local builders creating financial inclusion solutions on the network. The event features ecosystem updates, debates on regulation and digital currencies, and community product demos under the theme Build Locally, Impact Globally.

Velo Labs, TEMPO Payments, and Bitazza have opened a remittance corridor between the EU and Thailand on Stellar, enabling fast cross-border transactions for a $17 billion market connecting 600 million customers.

Stellar Development Foundation and Advent International are reportedly considering acquiring MoneyGram, the global money transfer company. The move reflects growing interest in integrating blockchain technology with legacy cross-border payment infrastructure.

SDF released its Q2 2021 report highlighting network growth, two protocol upgrades, $18M in Enterprise Fund investments, and the approval of Automated Market Makers for Protocol 18. The network demonstrated resilience after a temporary validator outage in April.

Liquid exchange now offers Stellar USDC with fee-free withdrawals, enabling customers to save $12-15 per transaction and settle in seconds compared to Ethereum-based USDC.

Stellar Protocol 18 proposal to add automated market makers (AMMs) was approved for implementation on June 25, 2021. AMMs will provide an alternative liquidity source alongside the existing order book exchange, enabling easier participation in market making and improving cross-asset payment efficiency.

Stellar Development Foundation's Lisa Nestor discusses how USDC on Stellar enables fast, cheap cross-border payments and remittances, with transaction costs measured in fractions of a cent versus thousands on other networks.

This article explains how to use the Stellar network for everyday payments and remittances, emphasizing its speed, low cost, and ecological benefits over traditional banking. It covers wallet options like Keybase, Lobstr, Freighter, and hardware wallets, security best practices, and methods to spend XLM via exchanges or crypto debit cards. The author shares personal experiences sending XLM to family members.