DeFi, payments, tokenization, Soroban, governance, and project launches — curated daily from publications, project blogs, and community channels across the Stellar blockchain ecosystem.
PayPal announced plans to bring PayPal USD (PYUSD) stablecoin to the Stellar network pending regulatory approval, expanding PYUSD beyond Ethereum and Solana. The move aims to leverage Stellar's speed, low costs, and extensive on/off-ramp infrastructure to enable fast cross-border payments, financial inclusion, and emerging payment financing solutions.
MoneyGram has reached $30 million in transaction volume through its crypto-to-cash service on Stellar, operating in over 170 countries. The partnership demonstrates real-world blockchain adoption for financial inclusion, enabling users to convert stablecoins to local currency and facilitating humanitarian aid distribution.
Crypto card provider Rain has expanded its stablecoin-linked Visa cards to support Solana, Tron, and Stellar networks. This update enables companies on these chains to launch branded cards for real-world stablecoin spending anywhere Visa is accepted. The expansion highlights growing demand for blockchain-based everyday payments.
Balanced's Q1 2025 update details major cross-chain expansions including support for Stellar, Polygon, and others, with launches of cross-chain Savings Rate, liquidity pools, and rewards. The project announces a transition to SODAX as part of ICON's shift to a DeFi platform, with PARROT9 taking ownership. Financials show $50k in fees earned, alongside governance and enshrinement progress.
A Stellar Development Foundation policy hub page featuring articles on payments and digital assets, including discussions on government spending with digital assets, stablecoin standards, and global consensus on stablecoins.
MoneyGram launched MoneyGram Ramps, an API powered by Stellar and Circle's USDC that lets developers embed compliant cash-to-crypto and crypto-to-cash functionality. The service covers 30+ countries for deposits and 170+ for withdrawals.
CompoSecure's Arculus cold storage wallet integrated with MoneyGram to enable cash-to-USDC conversion on Stellar, allowing users to deposit cash at 440,000+ MoneyGram locations worldwide and withdraw local currency. CompoSecure also received an SDF grant to develop Soroban smart contracts for direct stablecoin payments at Visa/Mastercard merchants.
Tala launched a crypto wallet pilot on Stellar's blockchain to deliver stablecoins for financial inclusion in emerging markets, particularly Latin America. The wallet emphasizes self-custody, low transaction costs, and interoperability, enabling affordable credit, remittances, and digital payments for the unbanked. Stablecoins provide stability, speed, and accessibility over traditional banking.
Decaf rebuilt its wallet and payments platform from the ground up to scale stablecoin-powered financial services across 200+ countries. The rebuild adds faster onboarding, zero-fee transactions, Visa card integration, and DeFi access on Stellar and Solana. Decaf aims to impact 1M lives and save $1B+ in banking fees in 2025.
Untangled introduces an Embedded Yield Layer to simplify access to fragmented DeFi and RWA yields across multiple blockchains. It features modular components like Untangled Vault, Credio, and Untangled Pool for automated capital allocation, risk management, and private credit tokenization. Products like USDyc are live on Stellar, Celo, and Polygon, enabling seamless yield for users and institutions.
This article highlights how Stellar’s Disbursement Platform (SDP) and Decaf Wallet solve challenges in humanitarian aid payments by enabling instant, transparent USDC transfers across borders. It contrasts these blockchain solutions with costly, fraud-prone traditional methods like cash delivery and prepaid cards. A step-by-step guide demonstrates easy setup and cash-out via MoneyGram in 180+ countries.
Reflector DAO voted to add price feeds for Glo Dollar, a charity-focused stablecoin, and Etherfuse's CETES and USTRY stablebonds. The decision enables these real-world assets to be used as collateral in Stellar's Blend lending protocol.
COCA, a non-custodial stablecoin payments app with over 1 million users, secured strategic funding from the Stellar Development Foundation and FunFair Ventures to accelerate growth and deepen integration with Stellar's ecosystem, including MoneyGram remittances and Soroban smart contracts.
COCA, a stablecoin payments platform, has secured strategic investment from the Stellar Development Foundation and FunFair Ventures. The funding will accelerate COCA's expansion within the Stellar ecosystem, enabling seamless stablecoin payments through non-custodial debit cards and IBANs to over 80 million merchants worldwide.
The Stellar Development Foundation highlights how tokenization and blockchain technology are already improving financial access for vulnerable populations, from UN refugee aid payments to protection against hyperinflation in countries like Argentina.
Societe Generale FORGE plans to launch its MiCAR-compliant EURCV stablecoin on Stellar, joining Ethereum, Solana, and XRP Ledger. The move bridges traditional finance with digital assets through Stellar's established TradFi connections.
Ondo Finance announces plans to deploy USDY, its yield-bearing stablecoin backed by US Treasuries, on the Stellar network in the coming months. The integration will enable Stellar users to access institutional-grade yield-bearing assets for treasury management, cross-border payments, and wealth preservation.
The Glo Foundation has selected Coala Pay as the first recipient of its 'Strengthen Humanitarian Aid' funding, backed by a $250,000 donation from the Stellar Development Foundation. Glo Dollars on the Stellar blockchain now automatically support Coala Pay's platform for efficient international aid delivery. Users can fund humanitarian efforts seamlessly without additional donations.
Messari released a comprehensive PayFi Ecosystem Analysis report highlighting how blockchain technology on Stellar is enabling payment financing applications through instant liquidity and reduced costs. The report covers PayFi infrastructure, stablecoin adoption, and emerging use cases.
Empowch discusses blockchain's role in rebuilding financial systems in crisis-affected regions like Syria and Ukraine, highlighting how Stellar-based solutions enable direct aid distribution and financial inclusion through self-custody wallets and stablecoins.
Balanced's 2024 review highlights explosive growth with new features like Savings Rate offering 17% average returns, economic enshrinement with ICON, and expansion to 12 blockchains including Stellar. Key developments include cross-chain loans, BALN & sICX tokens, and intent-based trades for efficient swapping. The protocol looks ahead to 2025 with cross-chain liquidity, more chain integrations, and enhanced trading.
A blog post exploring how programmable payments and blockchain technology could improve charitable aid distribution by reducing inefficiencies and human fallibility in philanthropy. The author argues that using Stellar's infrastructure for conditional, automated payments could enable more direct and traceable delivery of disaster relief and social programs.
Stellar's DeFi ecosystem reached a record $61 million TVL on November 24, more than 150% above its mid-November peak, driven by surging XLM prices and growth across DEXs like Aquarius, LumenSwap, and Soroswap, plus the lending protocol Blend.
