Stellar Ecosystem
News

The Stellar Development Foundation announced a Matching Fund specifically for female founders, addressing the stark gender gap in crypto entrepreneurship where women receive only 2.2% of venture funding.

The Stellar Development Foundation and Wirex released a 2022 cryptocurrency adoption report surveying 8,257 people across the UK, US, Singapore, and Mexico. Key findings show 81% of the general population has heard of crypto, 39% own or have owned it, and adoption is spreading beyond the stereotypical young male demographic to women and older adults.

The Stellar Development Foundation highlights three women leaders on its Ecosystem, Recruiting, and Business Development teams in celebration of Women's History Month, sharing their career journeys and insights on working in blockchain.

Velo Labs and Philippine Digital Asset Exchange (PDAX) partnered to improve cross-border payments to the Philippines using blockchain technology, targeting the $34 billion annual remittance market with faster, cheaper, and more secure transactions.

Three African fintech leaders building on Stellar discuss why they chose the network for payments infrastructure, the $95B+ remittance opportunity across Africa, and advice for entrepreneurs launching in the space ahead of the Stellar Blockchain Bootcamp.

Stellar CEO Denelle Dixon announced that Stellar is working with Ukraine to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) using the hryvnia, with ongoing efforts despite delays from the conflict. The initiative involves partnerships with Bitt and Tascombank, and Ukraine has simultaneously seen significant growth in crypto adoption for donations and military purchases.

The Stellar Development Foundation hosted the Finance 3.0 Summit at SXSW in Austin, featuring an NFT hackathon, panels on DAOs and DeFi, and announcements about smart contracts and partnerships with MoneyGram and Techstars for Latin American fintech innovation.

A comprehensive overview of Africa's rapidly growing Web3 economy, highlighting major blockchain protocols (including Stellar), venture capital investments, NGO partnerships, and government initiatives shaping the continent's crypto and blockchain landscape.

The Stellar Development Foundation launched a $30 million matching fund for early-stage companies building on Stellar, with initial investments in cross-border payments and fintech platforms serving emerging markets.

SDF, MoneyGram, and Techstars launched a three-year startup accelerator program focused on blockchain-based cross-border payments solutions for Latin America. The program will select up to 12 FinTech startups for a 13-week mentorship initiative, with applications opening July 25.

Stellar Development Foundation announces Project Jump Cannon, a research initiative to bring native smart contracts to Stellar. SDF explains why the network initially avoided smart contracts and why ecosystem growth now demands this capability while maintaining Stellar's core values of safety, scalability, and equitable access.

The White House Executive Order on digital currencies marks a significant milestone for blockchain policy, directing government-wide strategy and regulatory clarity. The Stellar Development Foundation welcomes the order's call for inter-agency cooperation while emphasizing the critical need to include industry voices in the regulatory process.

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.

Stellar Development Foundation is sponsoring SXSW's Finance 3.0 summit from March 11-13, hosting a 48-hour NFT hackathon, workshops, and panels on DAOs, DeFi, NFTs, and digital assets with industry leaders.

Stellar is a blockchain focused on cross-border remittances and peer-to-peer payments, powered by the XLM token. Founded by Jed McCaleb, it differs from Ripple by targeting individuals rather than banks, enabling transactions in seconds for pennies while integrating with traditional financial systems through anchors and partnerships.

Stellar Development Foundation CEO reflects on diversity and inclusion efforts, highlighting that 47% of new hires in 2021 were women and 40% of total employees are women. SDF commits to intentional hiring and fostering an inclusive workplace culture across the foundation, ecosystem builders, and board.

The Script3 team announces that YieldBlox Protocol will delay its mainnet launch on Stellar Turrets and instead wait for Stellar's on-chain smart contracts due to superior security, community focus, and feasibility concerns. They detail the decision process following SDF's roadmap announcement and unsuccessful grant proposal. The project remains committed to launching securely with the YBX token once smart contracts are ready.

Aquarius is upgrading its SDEX rewards engine from v1 to v2 following successful nine-day tests on seven Stellar markets. The v2 engine uses a more sophisticated formula considering offer size, duration, spread proximity, and fulfillment to better reward genuine liquidity providers. Testing showed reduced rewards for wash traders, more users receiving rewards, and significantly increased market liquidity.

Aquarius introduces native 'Bribes' feature on the Stellar blockchain, enabling projects to reward AQUA holders for voting on liquidity markets without custom development. Bribes are set up via a simple interface at vote.aqua.network/bribes, using any Stellar asset with a minimum value equivalent to 100,000 AQUA. Distribution begins February 28th, with a 10M AQUA launch bonus for new markets.