Stellar Ecosystem
News

Stellar-core v12.0.0 and Horizon v0.21.0 have been released with significant protocol upgrades. The core release implements three Core Advancement Proposals including PATH_PAYMENT_STRICT_SEND, bucket list optimizations, and inflation mechanism disabling, with a validator vote scheduled for October 28th.

Major cryptocurrency exchanges formed the Crypto Ratings Council to rate digital assets on a scale of 1-5 based on securities likelihood. Stellar scored 3.75, indicating moderate securities risk, while Bitcoin scored 1 (lowest risk) and XRP scored 4 (highest risk).

Coinbase expanded XLM and LINK trading to New York residents after regulatory approval. Both tokens were previously unavailable in the state due to strict financial regulations, but are now accessible alongside other US jurisdictions.

Binance.US announced it will support Stellar alongside Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and other cryptocurrencies at launch, with five additional assets including Stellar becoming available for deposits shortly after.

StellarX outlines how Anchors bridge fiat and crypto assets to the Stellar network, enabling faster, cheaper cross-border payments. Path payments let users send any asset and have it automatically convert to the recipient's preferred currency.

Stellar Lumens (XLM) surged 30% in 24 hours following the Stellar Foundation's announcement of a 2 billion XLM airdrop to Keybase users, worth over $120 million. The price jump surprised markets despite theoretical downward pressure from airdrops, signaling strong market interest in the token.

Mike Kennedy, creator of Zelle, became CEO of Interstellar, a Stellar-based blockchain payment platform competing with Ripple and Swift. Interstellar is crypto-agnostic and aims to enable faster, cheaper cross-border payments for banks without correspondent banking networks.

Stellar Development Foundation and Keybase announced a 2 billion XLM airdrop worth roughly $120 million, distributing 100 million XLM monthly to Keybase's 300,000 active users over 20 months. The partnership aims to introduce cryptocurrency to non-crypto-native users through an existing messaging platform.

Franklin Templeton filed with the SEC to launch a blockchain-based mutual fund for government securities, recording fund share ownership on the Stellar blockchain to improve transparency and reduce settlement times while keeping investor mechanics hidden.

Franklin Templeton filed an SEC prospectus for a money market fund whose shares would be recorded on the Stellar Network. The fund would invest in government securities and cash, with shares purchasable through the firm's app starting at $20 minimum.

Stellar Development Foundation released Horizon v0.20.1 with a new ingestion system that addresses architectural issues by building a full copy of ledger state from history archives instead of relying on Stellar-Core's database. The update enables new features like "Accounts for Signers" and significantly improves path-finding performance by up to 10x.

Anchorage, an Andreessen Horowitz-backed institutional crypto custodian, is now supporting Stellar and Tezos assets. The firm offers staking rewards between 1-7% and aims to compete with Coinbase and BitGo for institutional investors.

Stellar Development Foundation launched a redesigned stellar.org website featuring improved developer tools, clearer messaging about the network's capabilities in asset issuance and payments, and a new interactive Runkit for getting started.

Stellar, Ethereum, Tezos, Oasis, and NEAR foundations partnered with IDEO CoLab and CoinList on a hackathon running Aug 5-Sept 22 focused on building user-friendly blockchain applications. Teams compete to simplify crypto UX and drive mainstream adoption, with prizes up to $10,000.

Stellar's Decentralized Exchange faces a liquidity problem that market makers can solve. The SDF built Kelp, a free open-source trading bot in Golang that automates market-making strategies on Stellar's DEX and centralized exchanges, with v1.7.1 now available.

Binance discovered it earned 9.5 million XLM in staking rewards since 2018 and will now officially support XLM staking, distributing accumulated rewards to users starting in 42 days with September payouts worth 10-12 months of typical monthly rewards.

Stellar Development Foundation released stellar-core v11.2 with automatic quorum configuration and a quorum intersection checker to help validators manage Byzantine Agreement Systems more easily and safely.

Stellar Development Foundation's new leadership outlines five strategic priorities: achieving financial inclusion through technology focus, building products that prove Stellar's value, engaging on policy matters, and increasing communication. SDF is launching a dollar savings app for Latin America and hosting its first Meridian conference in Mexico City.

Stellar is hosting its first-ever conference, Stellar Meridian, in Mexico City on November 4-5. The event will focus on financial inclusion, payments innovation, and the protocol's role in shaping the future of global finance.

The Stellar Development Foundation announced Stellar Meridian, its first sponsored conference, taking place November 4-5, 2019 in Mexico City. The event will bring together developers, entrepreneurs, and ecosystem projects to discuss financial inclusion, regulation, and Stellar's role in the future of finance.

Crypto.com listed Stellar Lumens (XLM) on its Wallet & Card App, enabling users to purchase XLM fee-free via credit card or bank transfer and spend it globally through the MCO Visa Card at 40+ million merchants.