Stellar Ecosystem
News

SatoshiPay integrates Bankhaus von der Heydt's euro-backed stablecoin (EURB) into its cross-border payment service DTransfer. The EURB launched on Stellar via a partnership between the 270-year-old German bank and Bitbond, providing regulatory-compliant EUR transfers across the Single Euro Payments Area.

Circle Internet Financial will issue USDC stablecoin on Stellar, launching by February 2021. The asset will enable businesses to build payment apps with reliable access to tokenized USD for cross-border transactions.

Meridian 2020, SDF's annual conference, brought together global leaders including Tim Berners-Lee and former World Bank President Jim Yong Kim to discuss blockchain's role in financial inclusion, cross-border payments, and solving real-world challenges through open networks and decentralized technology.

SendIt is a user-friendly wallet built on the Stellar blockchain that enables sending and receiving payments via email addresses, eliminating the need for public keys or technical blockchain knowledge. It supports stablecoins, XLM, and asset swaps like USD to NGN for instant cross-border transfers via Stellar anchors. The testnet is live, with mainnet launch planned in two months to drive mass adoption and financial inclusion.

Lettuce Pay, a Stellar Community Fund grantee, surveyed 130 U.S. small business owners on cryptocurrency payment acceptance. Key findings: 30% have been asked to accept crypto, 75% would if it instantly settled to USD, and two-thirds believe crypto will become mainstream in five years. The company is building a product to let merchants accept crypto while dealing only with USD.

Denelle Dixon, CEO of Stellar Development Foundation, spoke at the IMF World Bank Annual Meetings on a panel about cross-border payments, emphasizing that private sector innovation must prioritize use cases, interoperability, and developer-friendly technology to enable financial inclusion through permissionless networks.

Stellar CEO Denelle Dixon will speak on a panel at the IMF's annual meeting about the private sector's role in cross-border payments, alongside leaders from eCurrency, Mastercard, and Celo. The panel will be webcast on October 19.

Circle announced USDC stablecoin integration with Stellar blockchain starting Q1 2021, triggering a 10% price surge in XLM to $0.08 and doubling trading volumes. USDC becomes Stellar's first major USD-pegged stablecoin.

Circle announced USDC stablecoin support for Stellar blockchain by Q1 2021, making Stellar the third network to support USDC after Ethereum and Algorand. The move expands Circle's multi-chain strategy and enables Stellar developers to build financial inclusion solutions.

Stellar validators will vote on Protocol 15 upgrade on November 23, 2020, introducing Claimable Balances and Sponsored Reserves to simplify user onboarding and reduce friction for anchors and app developers building on the network.

Stellar's SEP-24 and SEP-31 standards define how anchors integrate with wallets and each other for fiat on/off-ramps and cross-border payments. SEP-24 enables direct user deposits/withdrawals through wallet interfaces, while SEP-31 allows anchor-to-anchor bank transfers without end-user involvement.

Denelle Dixon, CEO of the Stellar Development Foundation, briefed the House Financial Services Committee on blockchain's role in transforming payments, focusing on how Stellar enables fast, low-cost cross-border remittances through real-world examples like Cowrie in Nigeria and Tempo in Europe.

Stellar is purpose-built for stablecoins, enabling interoperable global payments by bridging fiat and digital currencies. The network's native asset issuance and Anchor infrastructure create a frictionless cross-border payment system with near-instant settlement and ultra-low costs.

Stellar has been integrated into Samsung Blockchain Keystore, becoming the fifth cryptocurrency supported alongside Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron, and Klaytn. Samsung Galaxy users can now securely store private keys and sign transactions on Stellar dapps.

The Stellar Development Foundation announced Meridian 2020, its second annual virtual conference (November 16-20), designed as a global forum to address systemic challenges through diverse perspectives and collaborative action on financial inclusion, cross-border payments, and equitable access to financial systems.

Stellar explains how anchors bridge traditional banking and the Stellar network by issuing fiat-backed tokens and providing on/off-ramps. The SDF outlines anchor functions, business opportunities, and the path to becoming an anchor in the emerging global payment standard.

The Stellar Development Foundation partnered with Elliptic to integrate crypto-asset risk management and AML compliance tools into the Stellar network, enabling businesses to conduct enhanced compliance checks on assets from issuance to redemption while maintaining the network's built-in compliance functionality.

SatoshiPay raised $550,000 in XLM via convertible loan from Stellar Development Foundation to launch a B2B instant money transfer service on Stellar, processing transactions in 5 seconds with minimal fees.

The Stellar Development Foundation converted its $550,000 Series A pledge to SatoshiPay into a loan after the coronavirus pandemic derailed the funding round, providing the micropayments firm with 12 months of runway while it develops new B2B solutions.

Stellar Development Foundation aims to become the global payments standard within 5 years, with CEO Denelle Dixon highlighting CBDCs as a key opportunity. The foundation is pursuing government adoption of CBDCs on Stellar's network, though founder Jed McCaleb acknowledges this remains early-stage. Protocol 13 and Horizon 1.0 upgrades are planned for June.

Stellar co-founder Jed McCaleb stated at Consensus: Distributed that no crypto projects are currently making a real difference in people's lives beyond speculation. He argued crypto startups should focus on building useful products rather than bank partnerships and business development deals.

SEP-29 enables exchanges and wallets to solve the "forgotten memo" problem on Stellar. Exchanges can now require memos by setting a simple data entry flag, while wallets upgraded to the latest SDK will automatically prevent memo-less payments to those addresses.

SDF hosted a webinar featuring Cowrie Integrated Systems, a Nigerian fintech company using Stellar to enable low-cost, instant payments into and out of Nigerian bank accounts via their NGNT stablecoin and anchor integration.