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 is hosting the Meridian 2023 Design Contest, inviting artists to create sticker designs inspired by the theme 'Unlocking Human Potential.' The winner receives a trip to Meridian 2023 in Madrid, Spain, September 26-28, with submissions open August 10-30, 2023.
The Stellar Development Foundation outlines seven current and upcoming developer programs for Soroban, ranging from content bounties and hackathons to educational challenges and coding puzzles, with awards up to $150,000 XLM for builders creating end-to-end products.
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.
An educational overview of blockchain fundamentals, explaining how distributed ledgers work, their advantages over centralized databases, and comparisons of major blockchain platforms including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Stellar.
This article explains the role of lumens (XLM), Stellar's native token, in the network's design. Lumens serve as a modest barrier to prevent spam and abuse while keeping the network accessible, with a minimum balance requirement of 1 lumen and transaction fees of 0.00001 XLM.
RPCiege is a series of Soroban smart contract coding puzzles that teach Rust fundamentals through gamified challenges. Players complete skirmishes to earn digital collectible cards, with eight challenges released so far covering contract invocation, string types, testing, RPC queries, callbacks, RNG, and byte array operations.
This article explores the various consensus mechanisms available in Hyperledger Fabric, including PBFT, Kafka, Raft, Solo, and IBFT. It details their characteristics, use cases, and how they integrate with Fabric's architecture like ordering services and endorsement policies. A brief mention of Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP) appears in the context of external consensus integration.
The Block by Block podcast returns for season 2 with Denelle Dixon interviewing Joey Krug of Founders Fund about crypto investing, early-stage ventures, and lessons learned from backing founders in the space.
The Stellar Development Foundation announced Meridian 2023, its 5th annual conference scheduled for September 26-28 in Madrid, Spain. The event will feature 400+ attendees, 100+ speakers including actor Idris Elba, and focus on how blockchain technology can unlock human potential and increase financial access.
Tomer Weller from Stellar Development Foundation interviews Sergey Gorbunov, co-founder of Axelar, to discuss cross-chain communication protocols and how both teams approach interoperability challenges for developers.
Elliot Voris has joined the Stellar Development Foundation as a DevRel team member after years of community contributions. He discovered Stellar through Stellar Quest during COVID and has since become a key contributor to community education, Soroban documentation, and developer tools.
The Stellar Development Foundation outlines three active programs under the $100M Soroban Adoption Fund: Stellar Quest Live Series 6 for competitive learning, Sorobanathon: Equinox for experimentation and content creation, and the Stellar Community Fund for building full products. Each targets different developer skill levels with varying award structures.
The Stellar Newsletter highlights the 2023 roadmap emphasizing utility through tools like Stellar Aid Assist and Soroban smart contracts. It introduces the Stellar Asset Sandbox for easy testnet asset issuance, reviews Q4 2022 achievements, and announces Sorobanathon: Equinox. Additional updates cover TASCOMBANK's blockchain pilot in Ukraine, SDF's CFTC involvement, network growth milestones, and developer resources.
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.
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.
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.
Stellar Quest Learn launches Level Three with XLM rewards (up to 100 XLM total), introduces a Pioneer Quest for wallet onboarding, and removes wallet connection requirements to reduce friction for new users.
Meridian 2022, Stellar's annual in-person conference, takes place Oct. 11-13 in Rome with 40+ sessions, 65+ speakers, and networking opportunities. Registration is free and mandatory online; the venue is Palazzo Brancaccio in central Rome.
Stellar's developer documentation received a major overhaul with new structure, reorganized sections including a new Fundamentals and Concepts area, and an expanded Encyclopedia. The update aims to improve the developer experience with iterative improvements rolling out over coming months.
Stellar's Meridian 2022 conference returns to Rome for the first time since 2019, bringing together the community to tackle urgent global challenges through collective problem-solving and diverse perspectives on blockchain solutions.
The Stellar Development Foundation published an updated security guide covering common scams targeting the Stellar community, including phishing, support fraud, look-alike assets, and false claims. SDF clarifies it never asks for private keys, controls accounts, or freezes funds, and provides guidance on protecting yourself and reporting fraud.
The article highlights the popularity and benefits of Answerly NFTs within a Stellar-based knowledge-sharing ecosystem. Holders gain lifetime pro-membership perks like increased rewards, higher limits, and ad-free experience upon connecting their Stellar wallet. A recent airdrop boosted interest, with ANSR tokens available for purchase to acquire these NFTs.
SDF launches Stellar Campus Experts, a community-driven program for university and bootcamp students to learn blockchain technology, organize campus events, and build careers in the space with stipends, networking, and exclusive opportunities.
Stellar Quest is splitting into two components: Stellar Quest Learn, an evergreen educational platform launching today with five initial quests and NFT badges, and Stellar Quest Live for periodic competitive events. The redesign addresses community feedback about accessibility and consistent engagement.
The Stellar Development Foundation spotlights three women on its Developer Relations and Engineering teams, sharing their career paths, daily work, and advice for others entering blockchain and tech roles during Women's History Month.
DFS Lab and the Stellar Development Foundation launched a second Blockchain Bootcamp for African startups to build on Stellar, offering $5,000-$20,000 XLM prizes and follow-on funding opportunities. The virtual three-day sprint runs April 26-28, 2022, with applications due March 27.
This article explains how NFT ownership on the Stellar blockchain can be proven even in an apocalyptic scenario where services like IPFS, Stellar, and marketplaces are down. It relies on best practices from SEP-0039, using cryptographic CIDs for art and metadata, transaction reconstruction from genesis, and Ed25519 signatures. Basic math and offline computation suffice to verify ownership irrefutably.
Stellar Quest Series 4 launches today with a new competitive challenge structure. The gamified educational platform has grown to 40,000+ visitors and 2,700+ unique accounts across three series, teaching developers Stellar fundamentals through hands-on coding challenges and NFT badge rewards.
The Stellar Development Foundation launched Stellar Next-Gen, an educational initiative partnering with universities and organizations worldwide to develop blockchain talent and foster financial inclusion through courses, hackathons, and mentorship programs.
