Stellar Ecosystem
News

Coinme integrated USDC on Stellar across its 40,000+ U.S. cash locations, enabling low-fee cash-to-digital conversions and near-instant peer-to-peer payments. The partnership brings financial inclusion to unbanked Americans through Stellar's efficient payment infrastructure.

Arf, a Swiss-regulated settlement banking platform backed by the Stellar Development Foundation, launched Arf Credit Line, offering unsecured USDC-based working capital financing for licensed financial institutions. The solution enables same-day cross-border settlements without pre-funding, generating $150 million in on-chain USDC volume within four months.

Soroban smart contracts on Stellar enable a unique cash-to-DeFi pathway through the network's anchor infrastructure and MoneyGram Ramps, allowing underserved populations to access financial services directly from cash deposits to income-generating protocols.

The Stellar Development Foundation submitted a letter to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy recommending two priorities for digital asset research: software interoperability standards and programmable digital assets for social benefits like cash assistance.

Tori Samples, co-founder of Leaf Global Fintech (now BOSS Money Africa), discusses her journey building blockchain solutions for financial inclusion in Africa. She recently joined the Stellar Development Foundation as Senior Product Manager, leading work on Stellar Aid Assist for humanitarian disbursements.

The Stellar Development Foundation outlines its 2023 policy priorities, including advocating for robust blockchain regulation, pushing for bipartisan stablecoin legislation, and demonstrating real-world blockchain utility through projects like MoneyGram and Stellar Aid Assist.

The Stellar Development Foundation published its 2023 Strategic Roadmap, prioritizing utility as the growth driver through three building blocks: making innovation easy, winning over builders, and focusing on real-world solutions to strengthen network effects.

USDC addresses inefficiencies in cross-border payments with regulated, on-chain settlement. Four use cases—remittances ($1B+ via SDF partnership), B2B payments, liquidity provision, and global financial access—demonstrate institutional adoption at scale.

The Stellar Development Foundation is heading to the World Economic Forum in Davos to showcase Stellar Aid Assist, a blockchain-based aid disbursement system now being piloted by UNHCR and IRC to deliver cash assistance to displaced persons in Ukraine without requiring bank accounts.

The Stellar Development Foundation's 2022 year-in-review highlights major milestones: 7M+ network accounts, Soroban smart contracts launching mid-2023, MoneyGram Ramps enabling cash-to-crypto conversion, and Stellar Aid Assist delivering humanitarian aid via blockchain.

UNHCR launches a blockchain-based cash assistance pilot in Ukraine using Stellar, Vibrant wallet, and USDC stablecoins to distribute humanitarian aid to war-displaced Ukrainians. Recipients can convert funds to local currency and withdraw via MoneyGram.

Ginger Baker, Head of Financial Access at Plaid, has joined the Stellar Development Foundation board of directors. Baker brings over a decade of experience in financial services and payment technologies to support SDF's mission of creating equitable access to the global financial system.

Airtm CEO Rubén Galindo Steckel discusses how blockchain and cross-border payments can enable Latin Americans to participate in the digital economy, reducing dependency on unstable local governments and creating income opportunities without migration.

The Stellar Development Foundation announced a $5 million investment in Wave, an African mobile money app serving over 10 million users across five countries. The investment supports Wave's integration with Stellar to expand affordable financial services across Africa.

Wirex launched USD Coin (USDC) on Stellar through its app, enabling 5 million users across 39 countries to buy, hold, and spend the stablecoin via crypto-enabled debit card with up to 8% WXT rewards, marking a major milestone in the ongoing Wirex-SDF collaboration for financial inclusion.

Stellar Development Foundation released a comprehensive sustainability assessment framework to measure blockchain environmental impacts. Applied to Stellar's Proof-of-Agreement consensus, the analysis shows Stellar's annual footprint equals emissions from 33.7 US homes, demonstrating efficiency by design.

Stax, an African fintech app, received $500,000 from the Stellar Development Foundation's Matching Fund to build a non-custodial USDC wallet on Stellar, enabling offline payments via USSD for users with limited mobile data.

SDF CEO Denelle Dixon testified before the U.S. Senate on the Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act, emphasizing Stellar's role in financial inclusion for the 2 billion unbanked people globally and calling for regulatory clarity to unlock blockchain's potential.

The Stellar Development Foundation announced Meridian 2022, its annual in-person conference returning to Rome October 11-13. The event will feature keynotes from Alexis Ohanian, CFTC Commissioner Caroline Pham, and industry leaders, with sessions on stablecoins, humanitarian aid, regulation, and blockchain's role in financial inclusion.