Stellar Ecosystem
News

Meridian 2023, the annual Stellar conference held in Madrid, showcased major ecosystem developments including MoneyGram's non-custodial wallet launch, Circle's EURC stablecoin deployment, and significant upgrades to developer tools like the Anchor Platform and Stellar Disbursement Platform.

Qolaq opens final beta testing for its community-driven health insurance platform on Stellar. Users can enroll in Critical Illness or Life programs with QLQ tokens, participate in community voting on claims, and access full wallet functionality. Beta participants earn rewards in XLM and USDC.

Circle launched EURC, its euro-backed stablecoin, on Stellar as the third blockchain after Ethereum and Avalanche. The stablecoin enables 24/7 global transactions with low costs and near-instant settlement, with integration into aid disbursement systems and expansion by Ripio to Spain.

The article explores the evolution of identity authentication from paper documents to Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) and Verifiable Credentials (VCs), emphasizing self-sovereign identity on blockchain. It highlights benefits like ownership, privacy, interoperability, and real-world applications in government, refugees, finance, and more. It teases upcoming content on implementing DIDs on the Stellar network.

The Stellar Development Foundation announced its support for the World Economic Forum's Humanitarian and Resilience Investing Initiative, positioning itself as the sole blockchain organization in the initiative. SDF aims to leverage blockchain technology to address poverty and insecurity affecting 2 billion people globally while advancing its mission of inclusive financial infrastructure.

This article explains the importance of swap functionality and Automated Market Makers (AMMs) for financial inclusion, detailing how AMMs work, their advantages, and challenges like impermanent loss. It highlights how Soroban smart contracts on Stellar enable developers to build sophisticated AMM protocols for trustless, incentivized liquidity provision.

Beans, a non-custodial payments app on Stellar, announced major updates including a redesigned UI, support for Nigerian Naira and USD bank deposits/withdrawals via new partners Link and Kado, an in-app QR scanner, and a new support page. The app has doubled its user base over three consecutive months.

AssetDesk has secured an R&D grant from the Stellar Community Fund to develop the AssetDesk protocol, a new money markets protocol for Stellar's Soroban smart contracts platform. The protocol enables decentralized borrowing and lending with features like margin trading, flash loans, NFT lending, and stablecoin markets. It aims to enhance capital efficiency in Stellar's DeFi ecosystem.

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.