DeFi, payments, tokenization, Soroban, governance, and project launches — curated daily from publications, project blogs, and community channels across the Stellar blockchain ecosystem.
The Stellar Development Foundation published a whitepaper explaining how the Stellar network is uniquely suited for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), detailing its asset issuance features, consensus mechanism, and implementation guidance for central banks.
Kazim Ozyilmaz from Arf discusses how the Swiss-regulated settlement banking platform uses Stellar for cross-border B2B financing and liquidity, operating as a meta anchor for financial institutions with DeFi integration planned.
Carole House, former White House cybersecurity director, discusses crypto's role in financial crime investigations, regulatory enforcement, and the push for an enabling US regulatory environment for digital currencies.
The Stellar Newsletter highlights Q1 achievements including Franklin Templeton's OnChain Fund surpassing $270M AUM on Stellar blockchain, SDF's strategic progress, and new board member Asiff Hirji. It covers partnerships like Arf, Cebuana Lhuillier, and blockchain remittances, plus Soroban smart contracts developments and community spotlights. Upcoming Meridian 2023 in Madrid is announced.
Arf, a Swiss-regulated settlement banking platform backed by the Stellar Development Foundation, launched the Arf Credit Line, offering unsecured USDC-based working capital financing for licensed financial institutions to enable same-day cross-border settlements without pre-funding.
The Stellar Development Foundation appointed Asiff Hirji, President of MoonPay, to its board of directors. Hirji brings 30+ years of fintech experience from roles at Coinbase, Figure, and other major financial services companies, strengthening SDF's mission to make cross-border payments cheaper and more accessible.
Stellar Development Foundation listed as creditor in Genesis bankruptcy with $13 million claim. SDF confirmed the loan but called it immaterial to its $200M+ treasury, stating it does not impact operations.
Ginger Baker, Head of Financial Access at Plaid, has joined the Stellar Development Foundation board of directors. Baker brings over a decade of experience in financial services and payment technologies to support SDF's mission of creating equitable access to the global financial system.
Stellar Development Foundation released a comprehensive sustainability assessment framework to measure blockchain environmental impacts. Applied to Stellar's Proof-of-Agreement consensus, the analysis shows Stellar's annual footprint equals emissions from 33.7 US homes, demonstrating efficiency by design.
Stellar Development Foundation's Chief Legal Officer Candace Kelly praised Senators Lummis and Gillibrand's Responsible Financial Innovation Act as a bipartisan framework for crypto regulation, calling it a milestone for establishing clear legal guardrails that balance innovation with consumer protection.
The White House Executive Order on digital currencies marks a significant milestone for blockchain policy, directing government-wide strategy and regulatory clarity. The Stellar Development Foundation welcomes the order's call for inter-agency cooperation while emphasizing the critical need to include industry voices in the regulatory process.
YieldBlox, from the Script3 team, aims to address Stellar ecosystem challenges like poor capital efficiency and weak incentives by introducing money markets for lending and borrowing. It enables passive users to earn interest on deposits while active users leverage assets, boosting liquidity and productivity. Additionally, it provides fintech platforms with revenue models through yield delegation and staking incentives.
Grayscale Stellar Lumens Trust began trading on OTCQX under ticker GXLM, alongside new Grayscale trusts for Horizen and Zcash. This marks the first time XLM is available as a publicly-quoted security on a U.S. market.
Stellar Development Foundation has contacted MoneyGram International about a potential acquisition in partnership with private equity firm Advent, according to Bloomberg. The deal would represent a significant move into remittances and could reshape the competitive landscape following Ripple's previous investment and subsequent exit from MoneyGram.
Project Venus is a DeFi protocol on Stellar using Turing Signing Servers (TSS) to enable trustless smart contracts without an on-chain VM. It implements short-term FX forwards to improve capital efficiency for Stellar-based financial institutions like remittance companies. TSS leverages off-chain servers (turrets) combined with Stellar's multi-sig for efficient DeFi.
Velo Labs is building a Federated Credit Exchange Network on Stellar that enables partners from legacy finance, CeFi, and DeFi to issue digital credits pegged to fiat currencies by staking VELO tokens, using the Hermes Warp Protocol to bridge Stellar with other chains for smart contract functionality.
Binance.US announced it will support Stellar alongside Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and other cryptocurrencies at launch, with five additional assets including Stellar becoming available for deposits shortly after.
Zelle co-founder Mike Kennedy becomes CEO of Interstellar, a for-profit company building payment protocols on Stellar. Kennedy plans to develop market making and liquidity solutions, positioning Stellar as a replacement for SWIFT and correspondent banking in international payments.
Franklin Templeton filed with the SEC to launch a blockchain-based mutual fund for government securities, recording fund share ownership on the Stellar blockchain to improve transparency and reduce settlement times while keeping investor mechanics hidden.
Coinbase Pro added support for Stellar (XLM), enabling deposits and trading. The listing follows Stellar's recent logo redesign and could lead to XLM being added to the main Coinbase exchange, historically boosting cryptocurrency prices.
Lightyear, formed by the Stellar Foundation, acquired San Francisco-based blockchain fintech Chain. The deal, rumored at $500m, will move Chain's operations to the Stellar network as part of Lightyear's rebranding to InterStellar.
Stellar is reportedly in talks to acquire Chain.com, an enterprise blockchain company founded in 2014 that has raised $40m and worked on token infrastructure for major financial institutions.
Stellar cofounder Jed McCaleb discusses how banks are exploring blockchain partnerships to stay competitive, noting that understanding the technology and managing compliance remain the biggest hurdles for financial institutions adopting distributed ledger solutions.
A legal dispute over $1 million in XRP held by Bitstamp involves Ripple Labs, Stellar Development Foundation, and founder Jed McCaleb. The case centers on whether McCaleb breached a settlement agreement by selling XRP through his cousin, with both parties seeking the frozen funds and disagreeing on jurisdiction and discovery procedures.
Bitstamp filed a legal complaint over $1m in disputed funds from a 96m XRP sale allegedly made by Jed McCaleb in violation of his agreement with Ripple Labs. McCaleb, who co-founded Ripple before leaving to establish Stellar, claims the XRP were gifted to family members before the agreement was finalized.
Stellar Development Foundation announced a public auction of stellars via Haste.co.nz, with 650 million STR placed at a 30-day trailing average price of $0.0031/STR. Bitcoin trading was added via Poloniex and Kraken to maintain price parity.
A New York Observer investigation details alleged interpersonal conflicts between Ripple Labs and Stellar founders Jed McCaleb and Joyce Kim, claiming the feud disrupted crypto adoption efforts at Wells Fargo and derailed a Stripe acquisition deal.
The Future of Money & Technology Summit in San Francisco featured a dedicated digital currency track with discussions on bitcoin, blockchain, and Stellar. Panelists highlighted emerging markets as key to cryptocurrency adoption and discussed innovations like sidechains.