Stellar Ecosystem
News

Decentralife is a new interview series from the Stellar Development Foundation profiling builders in the blockchain ecosystem. The first feature is Neema Adam, a front-end engineer in Tanzania working on ClickPesa (cross-border payments infrastructure) and Flexbeats (a platform for African music producers to sell beats globally).

RPCiege Siege 4 launches with three new Soroban Rust coding challenges (Skirmish 8-10) designed to teach smart contract development while gamifying the learning experience with a fantasy narrative.

This article explains how decentralized finance (DeFi) lending and borrowing markets work, contrasting them with traditional banking by highlighting their accessibility, trustlessness, and use of smart contracts. It covers the mechanics of liquidity pools, collateral requirements, and integration with oracles and AMMs, while discussing risks like liquidation and price volatility.

Stablecoins are revolutionizing global payments and remittances by offering low fees, fast transactions, and stability pegged to fiat currencies like the USD. USDC and USDT, available on blockchains including Stellar, provide secure, 24/7 cross-border transfers. The article explores their advantages, top stablecoins, non-USD options like EUROC, and future potential with CBDCs.

The Stellar Newsletter highlights key developments including the launch of the open-source Stellar Disbursement Platform, Allbridge's cross-chain bridge connecting Stellar to Ethereum, Solana, Celo, and Polygon, and SDF's investment in MoneyGram International. It also promotes Meridian 2023 conference, developer tools for Soroban, and various ecosystem updates like Airtm's USDC integration and Q2 review. The content emphasizes Stellar's growth in interoperability, financial inclusion, and smart contract scalability.

Soroban has achieved feature completeness after a year of public development through 10 preview releases, with over 70 ecosystem projects now building in parallel. The platform is closing in on a stable release candidate with a renewed focus on developer experience, tooling, and documentation.

The Stellar Development Foundation joined the Bytecode Alliance as only the second blockchain member, positioning itself to influence WebAssembly standards and advocate for blockchain developers' needs in the Wasm ecosystem.

The Stellar Development Foundation is accepting applications for its Female Founders Matching Fund, which provides $200K–$500K investments to female-led projects building on Stellar. Applicants must submit detailed information about their project, fundraising status, and planned Stellar integration.

Stellar Development Foundation made a minority investment in MoneyGram International as part of the remittance company's recent buyout, with SDF CEO Denelle Dixon joining MoneyGram's board. The partnership builds on their 2021 collaboration enabling stablecoin payments and USDC settlements on Stellar.

Stellar Development Foundation invested in MoneyGram International as a minority investor, with CEO Denelle Dixon joining MoneyGram's board. The investment aims to support MoneyGram's digital transformation and blockchain exploration to serve underbanked populations globally.

The Stellar Community Fund supports 70+ Soroban projects with educational tools and developer resources. Featured tools include Soroban-React, useSoroban.app, Soroban Learn, Sorobix, SoroSorcerer, and AnChain.AI's smart contract catalog, all designed to lower barriers to entry for Rust and smart contract development.

The Stellar Development Foundation partnered with PwC US to create a framework for assessing blockchain protocols' electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The guide addresses CBDCs' potential for financial inclusion, interoperability, and sustainability on open networks.

A comprehensive guide to Stellar wallets covering types, features, and best practices for storing and sending lumens. The article explains wallet functionality, custodial vs. non-custodial options, and answers common questions about wallet usage and security.

UNHCR and the UN's technology provider UNICC are piloting Stellar Aid Assist, a blockchain-based cash disbursement solution using the Stellar network and USDC stablecoin to deliver humanitarian aid directly to displaced persons in Ukraine. The program enables instant bulk transfers, eliminates banking requirements, and provides full transaction traceability.

The Stellar Development Foundation has published a comprehensive guidebook for policymakers and regulators on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), addressing the growing global interest in government-backed digital assets on blockchain.

This article explains the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP), a Proof-of-Agreement mechanism that enables Stellar to achieve fast, energy-efficient consensus without mining. It compares SCP to other consensus mechanisms like Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Stake, and details how Stellar's transparent, node-based validation process works.