DeFi, payments, tokenization, Soroban, governance, and project launches — curated daily from publications, project blogs, and community channels across the Stellar blockchain ecosystem.
Stellar Build Challenge 7 launches with two submission routes: contributing to open-source Stellar projects or building one of four new cornerstone apps (quorum explorer, trade bot maker, social trading, peer-to-peer wallet). Submissions open June 1st with awards based on merit.
Kik's Kin Foundation announced it will fork Stellar to create its own blockchain for the Kin token, eliminating transaction fees entirely to enable micropayments. The move trades some decentralization for zero-cost transactions, using federated nodes run by ecosystem partners rather than Stellar's validator model.
The 6th Stellar Build Challenge concluded with record submissions and a 5x prize pool increase to 2.7M XLM. Winners include Soneso's iOS SDK, Stellarport.io exchange, and Python SDK documentation improvements, with 113 total projects receiving awards.
IBM is expanding cryptocurrency adoption beyond Stellar, meeting with 20 central banks to explore blockchain-based digital currencies and tokenizing assets like securities, commodities, and utilities across enterprises.
Kik announced its kin token will operate on both Ethereum and Stellar blockchains simultaneously using atomic swaps. Stellar will handle transactions with faster confirmation times and lower fees, while Ethereum maintains liquidity, allowing the messaging app to scale its cryptocurrency payments system.
Stellar Development Foundation released a formal specification for adopting Lightning Network technology to improve transaction scalability. The roadmap targets testnet launch by April 1 and production implementation by autumn, addressing demands from partners like Kik and IBM.
Stellar Development Foundation invested in Keybase, a cryptography startup co-founded by OKCupid creators, to build person-to-person cryptocurrency payments using Stellar's lumens blockchain with near-zero fees.
Mobius Network raised $39 million in an ICO on Stellar, hitting its hard cap in just two hours. The startup chose Stellar over Ethereum due to speed, cost, and security concerns, positioning itself to make crypto integration easy for traditional tech companies.
Stellar's 2017 year-in-review highlights 128 merged pull requests, smart contract functionality, IBM partnership with 12 currency corridors, and growing ICO adoption including Mobius and Smartlands. The foundation emphasizes that Stellar's proven performance metrics (1000 ops/sec, 4.96s settlement) position it as a leading global payment protocol.
A hacker stole over $400,000 in Stellar lumens by compromising BlackWallet's DNS server, redirecting deposits of 20+ lumens to another wallet. The attacker quickly moved most funds out, with some sent to Bittrex.
Mobius Network raised $35 million in a token presale on Stellar, exceeding its $25 million goal. The smart contract platform plans to facilitate machine-to-machine micropayments and will launch its full ICO on January 18, 2018.
Pundi X, a cryptocurrency POS provider, partnered with Stellar to become an Indonesian Rupiah anchor on the network, enabling faster and cheaper cross-border payments while supporting XLM in its retail payment platform.
Kik announced plans to migrate its Kin token from Ethereum to Stellar, citing Ethereum's scaling limitations and high transaction fees. CEO Ted Livingston stated Stellar's design is better suited for Kin's needs, with testing beginning by end of December and a potential Q2 rollout.
IBM and Stellar announced a partnership settling real cross-border payments using lumens as a bridge currency across Pacific currencies. The platform integrates private and public blockchain, with IBM handling transaction clearing while Stellar's blockchain conducts settlement.
Stellar, IBM, and KlickEx announced a blockchain-based cross-border payments solution now processing live transactions across 12 currency corridors in the Pacific Islands, Australia, New Zealand, and UK, dramatically reducing costs and settlement times.
The Stellar Development Foundation and Luxembourg House of Financial Technology published a 40-page white paper analyzing ICOs, covering technical elements, regulatory frameworks, use cases, and global regulatory developments to educate policymakers and industry leaders.
Stellar Development Foundation launched a Partnership Grant Program offering up to $2M USD per grant in XLM to incentivize development of high-impact projects, with primary focus on anchors and exchanges to promote financial inclusion.
Lightyear.io counsel Em Lindsay clarifies three common misconceptions about ICO legal compliance: utility tokens can still be securities, the Howey test isn't the only framework courts use, and regulatory compliance extends beyond securities law to taxes, consumer protection, and AML requirements.
Stellar offers a superior platform for ICOs compared to Ethereum, featuring built-in token issuance, a decentralized exchange, lower fees, faster transactions, and enhanced security for projects that don't require complex smart contracts.
Tutorial on issuing custom tokens on Stellar, demonstrating how to create, distribute, and manage tokens like the example HUG token with fixed supply and built-in exchange capabilities.
Stellar co-founder Jed McCaleb launched Lightyear.io, a for-profit company to help financial institutions integrate Stellar's open-source payments network. The move acknowledges that traditional banks are essential to building a global financial system.
Stellar.org announced a second lumen distribution program offering 16 billion lumens (16% of initial supply) to bitcoin holders, with claims opening June 27, 2017. The giveaway reflects Bitcoin's influence on Stellar's design and aims to build community ownership of the network.
Tempo Money Transfer integrated with Stellar blockchain to enable remittances from Europe to the Philippines via Coins.ph, allowing customers to send funds using just a recipient's name and phone number with 3-second settlement times.
Stellar announced partnerships with ICICI Bank, Tempo Money Transfer, Flutterwave, and Coins.ph to build cross-border payment solutions using its blockchain infrastructure, targeting remittances and international money transfers with reduced fees.
Coins.ph, Flutterwave, ICICI Bank, and Tempo Money Transfer have integrated with Stellar, enabling near-free remittances and cross-border payments across Southeast Asia, Africa, and India. The Philippines now has 22,000 cash-out locations for Stellar-based transfers.
Stellar cofounder Jed McCaleb discusses how banks are exploring blockchain partnerships to stay competitive, noting that understanding the technology and managing compliance remain the biggest hurdles for financial institutions adopting distributed ledger solutions.