Stellar Ecosystem
News

Taurus, a digital asset infrastructure provider serving major financial institutions, has expanded its custody and tokenization platforms to the Stellar network, joining other major players like Franklin Templeton, WisdomTree, and Circle in leveraging Stellar for real-world asset tokenization.

Taurus, a Swiss digital asset infrastructure provider, integrated its custody platform Taurus-PROTECT and tokenization platform Taurus-CAPITAL with the Stellar network, enabling banks and issuers to custody and issue tokenized assets with reduced fees and fast transactions.

Alterscope, a Stellar Community Fund featured project, offers a comprehensive risk dashboard for the Soroban ecosystem to enhance DeFi transparency and risk management. It provides real-time risk overviews, customizable frameworks, and metrics across security, liquidity, community, and governance. Integration benefits dApps by boosting credibility, attracting liquidity providers, and promoting regulatory compliance.

Stellar's Protocol 21 upgrade activated on June 18, 2024, introducing five Core Advancement Proposals (CAPs) that enable passkey support for smart contracts, improve state archival, and reduce transaction costs through VM optimization and module caching.

Alterscope introduces a comprehensive risk dashboard for the Stellar Soroban ecosystem, recently funded by the Stellar Community Fund. It provides real-time risk metrics, transparency, and customizable frameworks to help liquidity providers assess protocols. Integration benefits dApps by enhancing credibility, attracting investments, and promoting a safer DeFi environment.

GYEN and ZUSD stablecoins are now available for trading on Bitstamp, a major regulated exchange founded in 2011. The listing enables users to easily convert between USD and these Stellar-based stablecoins with enhanced security and compliance features.

The Stellar Development Foundation submitted comments to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) regarding blockchain sustainability and environmental impact, addressing energy consumption concerns and ESG indicators for distributed ledger technology under the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation.

Stellar launched Soroban, a smart contract platform integrated into Protocol 20, addressing key blockchain challenges like transaction speed, security vulnerabilities, state bloat, and high costs while leveraging Stellar's extensive payment rail network for real-world DeFi applications.

Reflector launches a dev challenge (June 5-19) for Soroban contracts utilizing its oracle. Prizes: $2,500 USDC plus Meridian conference tickets. Open to developers worldwide ages 18+; teams welcome.

Stellar and Soroban documentation sites have merged into a unified developer experience. The Stellar Development Foundation is launching the Deep Dive Docs Bounty program from May 29 to August 7, 2024, offering XLM rewards for community contributions to improve developer documentation.

FxDAO's peg system for synthetic currencies on Stellar uses XLM collateral and arbitrage incentives similar to the gold standard, not algorithmic stablecoins. It features controlled issuance, redemption, and liquidations to maintain stability and health. The protocol ensures debt cannot exceed collateral value, enforced by smart contracts.

This article introduces Stellar and its Soroban smart contract platform to Polkadot users, highlighting integration via the Spacewalk bridge by Pendulum. It covers asset transfers for Stellar's stablecoins, use cases in DeFi and payments, and provides a getting started guide. The synergy aims to enhance cross-chain financial inclusion and innovation.

Bingtellar has been awarded an Activation Grant from the Stellar Community Fund to enhance its global payments infrastructure on the Stellar network, targeting cross-border payments in Africa. The grant supports expanding features, stablecoin utility, and connecting underserved Africans to the global economy. Bingtellar leverages Stellar's blockchain for fast, low-cost remittances, akin to 'TransferWise on Web3'.

Stellar Surge is a developer community program designed to engage African engineers and startups building on Stellar and Soroban, offering learning resources, innovation support, and funding opportunities including access to the Stellar Community Fund.

The Spacewalk bridge connects Stellar and Polkadot ecosystems, enabling Stellar users to access Polkadot's DeFi capabilities and Pendulum's fiat-DeFi infrastructure. This integration allows seamless asset transfers, forex DEX, yield farming with stablecoins, and cross-border payments. It expands opportunities for Stellar community in advanced blockchain applications.

Stellar is a leader in tokenized investment assets, enabling issuers to tokenize securities, commodities, and financial products like money market funds, ETFs, and bonds. The network offers benefits including cost reduction, operational efficiency, compliance controls, and fast 3-5 second transaction times.

The Stellar Development Foundation joined industry peers in signing a letter supporting the bipartisan Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21), which represents the first major crypto markets legislation heading to a House floor vote.

Draper University and the Stellar Development Foundation announced two new programs—the Astro Hacker House and Embark Accelerator—to support up to 80 startups building on Stellar and Soroban over the next two years, with a focus on AI integration and smart contract development.

WisdomTree Prime, a retail financial app built on Stellar, is now available in 41 U.S. states. The app tokenizes 13 digital funds and a gold token on Stellar, enabling near-instant settlement and blockchain-native financial services for consumers.

Stellar Protocol 21 activated on Mainnet on June 18, 2024, introducing five Core Advancement Proposals (CAPs) that add passkey signing support, improve state archival, and reduce smart contract transaction costs. Developers and operators must upgrade their Stellar-related software and re-upload existing Wasms to benefit from the new cost model.