Stellar Ecosystem
News

The Stellar Development Foundation's 2022 year-in-review highlights major milestones: 7M+ network accounts, Soroban smart contracts launching mid-2023, MoneyGram Ramps enabling cash-to-crypto conversion, and Stellar Aid Assist delivering humanitarian aid via blockchain.

Sorobanathon: First Light, the inaugural program of the $100M Soroban Adoption Fund, concluded December 15th with 59 technical submissions from 27 developers and 93,600 XLM distributed. Highlights include smart contracts for DAOs, lotteries, Dutch auctions, and developer tools, plus NFT art contributions for Stellar Quest Live Series 5.

Stellar Quest Live Series 5 concluded after a year-long hiatus, attracting 2,344 unique accounts and distributing over 1 million XLM across six Soroban-focused challenges. The series was the most successful to date, driving 50+ submissions to Sorobanathon: First Light despite technical challenges and XLM farming issues.

UNHCR launches a blockchain-based cash assistance pilot in Ukraine using Stellar, Vibrant wallet, and USDC stablecoins to distribute humanitarian aid to war-displaced Ukrainians. Recipients can convert funds to local currency and withdraw via MoneyGram.

WisdomTree gained SEC approval for nine blockchain-enabled funds that maintain secondary ownership records on Stellar and Ethereum blockchains. The funds, which invest in US Treasurys, equities, and other traditional assets, will launch on WisdomTree Prime mobile app next quarter.

Synced's December 2022 development log outlines aims to release dashboards on their dev web app, learn Rust and Soroban, and test a simple DAO contract. Progress includes merging dashboards into the main product and gaining comfort with Rust, noting Soroban's simplicity. The log is signed by Tejas.

Coinbase Wallet will delist XLM and three other major cryptocurrencies effective Dec. 5, citing low usage. Users can withdraw balances after the deadline using recovery phrases.

Airtm CEO Rubén Galindo Steckel discusses how blockchain and cross-border payments can enable Latin Americans to participate in the digital economy, reducing dependency on unstable local governments and creating income opportunities without migration.

Stellar Quest Live Series 5 celebrates community resilience through memorable bugs and breakthroughs. From crashed anchors to Futurenet peer limits, the Lumenaut volunteer team has repeatedly turned infrastructure failures into network improvements while maintaining humor and camaraderie.

The Stellar Newsletter highlights recent ecosystem developments including Soroban smart contracts live on Futurenet with a $100M developer fund and Sorobanathon. It covers Meridian 2022 on-demand sessions, Stellar Quest Live Series 5, bridge bounty grants, and the new Anchor Platform. Additional updates include stablecoin launches, SDF investments in NetXD and Wave, and community fund discussions.

GMO Trust launched GYEN, the world's first regulated JPY stablecoin, and ZUSD on Stellar, enabling fast, low-cost cross-border transactions with 1:1 fiat backing and monthly audits.

Stellar Quest Live Series 5 returns after a year hiatus, featuring six Soroban smart contract challenges running November 10 through December 1. Developers compete in real-time quests to earn NFT badges and share 534k XLM in rewards.

SDF launched the Anchor Platform at Meridian, a new product that reduces development time for fintechs integrating into Stellar by translating existing APIs into SEP-compliant interfaces. Bitso and Red Chapina are already using it for cross-border payments.

Starbridge protocol uses Stellar's existing features to enable secure token bridging between Ethereum and Stellar without smart contracts. The team formally verified the protocol with Ivy to ensure users cannot double-spend or exploit withdrawal and refund mechanisms.

The Stellar Development Foundation released its Q3 2022 report highlighting major progress: Soroban smart contracts launched on futurenet, a $100M adoption fund was announced, Meridian 2022 conference drew 380+ attendees, and the Anchor Platform entered final testing.

SDF invested $10 million in NetXD Inc., a Web3 platform for asset securitization and digital asset custody. NetXD will build on Stellar, leveraging its compliance features and native capabilities to enable embedded finance for businesses.

Soroban, Stellar's smart contracts platform, is now live on Futurenet. The SDF launched Sorobanathon: First Light, the first program under its $100M Soroban Adoption Fund, offering developers 250-3,000 XLM rewards for creating tutorials, code examples, and documentation.

The Stellar Development Foundation announced a $5 million investment in Wave, an African mobile money app serving over 10 million users across five countries. The investment supports Wave's integration with Stellar to expand affordable financial services across Africa.

The Stellar Development Foundation and ecosystem members gathered in Rome for Meridian 2022, their fourth annual conference. Themed around Leonardo da Vinci's 'Urgency of Doing,' the in-person event brought together the community to discuss solutions to pressing problems and left attendees motivated to take action.

Stellar Development Foundation announced Soroban, its native smart contracts platform, is now live on Futurenet testnet, alongside a $100M adoption fund to support developers building on the platform.

The Stellar Development Foundation announced a $100M Soroban Adoption Fund to support developers building on Soroban, its native smart contracts platform now live on Futurenet. The fund includes Sorobanathon: First Light, an incentive program rewarding developers for testing and providing feedback.

Wirex now supports USDC on Stellar, enabling 5 million users to save and spend the stablecoin via crypto-enabled debit cards with rewards up to 8% in WXT tokens across 39 countries.