DeFi, payments, tokenization, Soroban, governance, and project launches — curated daily from publications, project blogs, and community channels across the Stellar blockchain ecosystem.
PayFi integrates payments with on-chain financing and blockchain technology to enable the free flow of value on-chain. By combining Web3 payments, Real-World Assets, and DeFi, PayFi unlocks new financing opportunities and helps businesses unlock liquidity through tokenized assets.
The Stellar Development Foundation published a comprehensive 2024 year-in-review highlighting major ecosystem achievements including the mainnet launch of Soroban smart contracts, expansion of DeFi protocols like Blend, integration of payment solutions with MoneyGram and Stripe, real-world asset adoption through Franklin Templeton and Paxos, and humanitarian aid initiatives through UNHCR partnerships.
Denelle Dixon argues banks must choose between proprietary and open blockchain infrastructure for tokenized assets, as this decision creates lasting path dependencies. Open networks offer interoperability, reduced concentration risk, better auditability, and faster adaptation compared to vendor-controlled systems.
Stellar Aid Assist, a blockchain-based humanitarian aid disbursement solution built on Stellar, has successfully deployed with UNHCR to distribute $4.6 million in direct cash assistance to 2,500 households in Ukraine, with expansion planned to Argentina.
Libeara and FundBridge Capital are launching a tokenized Wellington fund on Ethereum with plans to expand to Arbitrum, Avalanche, and Solana. This follows Libeara's earlier Stellar-based SGD Delta fund, which received a Moody's rating as one of the first tokenized funds on a public blockchain.
Etherfuse, a real-world asset tokenization platform, announced it will join the Stellar network in 2025, bringing its Stablebonds product to the ecosystem. Stablebonds function as on-chain savings accounts backed by government bonds, offering inflation-resistant returns.
Velo Labs integrates OpenEden's tokenized U.S. Treasury bills as reserve collateral for USDV stablecoin, expanding its Real World Assets aggregation mission and enabling yield generation for token holders through institutional-grade assets.
ClickPesa has launched the ClickPesa Debt Fund, a DeFi lending facility built on Stellar and powered by Soroban smart contracts, designed to provide financing to SMEs and women-owned businesses across Africa. The fund's SME I Pool uses Script3's Blend protocol and offers up to 12% annual interest with quarterly repayments, backed by ClickPesa Collateral Tokens (CPCT) pegged to real microfinance loan books.
Huma, a Payment Financing (PayFi) network, raised $38 million led by Distributed Global with backing from the Stellar Development Foundation, Hashkey Capital, and others. The SDF invested $10 million in Arf's RWA assets, and Huma plans to expand to Stellar and Solana.
Huma Finance closed a $38 million investment round ($10M equity, $28M in tokenized RWAs) led by Distributed Global with participation from Hashkey Capital, Folius Ventures, Stellar Development Foundation, and TIBAS Ventures. The funding will support expansion to Solana and Stellar's Soroban network.
Pendulum ecosystem advanced infrastructure for traditional finance integration in August. Vortex demonstrated multi-bridge crypto-to-fiat conversion spanning Polygon and Axelar to EUR via Pendulum and Stellar's Circle EURC. Spacewalk expanded XLM bridging capacity, new assets arrived via Subwallet, and MYKOBO completed migration from proprietary to Circle EURC. Governance moved forward with three referendums.
Franklin Templeton expanded its tokenized money market fund FOBXX to Avalanche blockchain, three years after launching on Stellar. The fund now operates across multiple chains with $402 million in assets under management.
The Stellar Development Foundation released its Q2 2024 quarterly report, highlighting network growth to 8.4 million addresses, real-world asset supply exceeding $598 million, and significant progress in tokenization and Soroban adoption. The report showcases achievements including WisdomTree's expanded retail access, $7.8 million in enterprise investments, and $5 million in Stellar Community Fund awards to 107 projects.
Etherfuse, a tokenized real-world assets platform, raised $3 million in seed funding co-led by White Star Capital and North Island Ventures, with participation from the Stellar Development Foundation. The company is tokenizing emerging market government debt on Stellar and Solana blockchains, starting with Latin American sovereign bonds.
Huma Finance publishes a comprehensive overview of PayFi (Payment Finance), a new frontier in real-world assets that combines stablecoins with financing mechanisms to enable scalable, compliant payment solutions. The article introduces the PayFi Stack—a framework with six layers (Transaction, Currency, Custody, Financing, Compliance, Application)—and highlights Stellar's role alongside Solana in providing high-throughput, low-cost transaction infrastructure for payments.
Taurus, a digital asset infrastructure provider serving major financial institutions, has expanded its custody and tokenization platforms to the Stellar network, joining other major players like Franklin Templeton, WisdomTree, and Circle in leveraging Stellar for real-world asset tokenization.
Decentralife features Reeps100 (Harry Yeff), an internationally acclaimed media artist and creative technologist who uses blockchain to preserve human voices through Voice Gems NFTs. The interview explores how he combines art, AI, and blockchain technology to create new experiences and democratize access to creative tools.
Stellar is a leader in tokenized investment assets, enabling issuers to tokenize securities, commodities, and financial products like money market funds, ETFs, and bonds. The network offers benefits including cost reduction, operational efficiency, compliance controls, and fast 3-5 second transaction times.
A Stellar Development Foundation leader reflects on their five-year tenure, highlighting SDF's strategic focus on building a viable ecosystem through payments infrastructure, on/off-ramps, and real-world assets. The post celebrates Stellar's growth metrics and the recent launch of Soroban smart contracts as the next phase of ecosystem expansion.
The Stellar Development Foundation released its Q1 2024 quarterly report highlighting major ecosystem achievements including the launch of smart contracts on Stellar, $3.2M in Stellar Community Fund awards, the introduction of the Soroban Audit Bank for security, and significant growth metrics including 8M+ network accounts and $1.6B in real world asset payment volume.
Franklin Templeton enabled peer-to-peer transfers for its BENJI tokenized money market fund on Stellar and Polygon, allowing direct investor-to-investor token transfers without intermediaries. The $380 million fund now supports secondary market trading and DeFi collateral use cases.
Huma Finance and Arf merge to create a combined liquidity platform for cross-border payments. The integrated platform leverages real world asset tokenization and USDC to reduce capital requirements for financial institutions, targeting $3 billion on-chain liquidity by year-end.
Tomer Weller, VP of Product at Stellar, discusses the blockchain's decade-long evolution, Soroban smart contracts, and real-world use cases including Argentina's adoption and Franklin Templeton's tokenized securities.
WisdomTree, a $100B+ asset manager, launched WisdomTree Prime, a unified financial platform built on Stellar that enables customers to seamlessly manage digital assets, traditional investments, and fiat currencies in one application. The platform leverages Stellar's native asset controls and tokenization capabilities to offer 13 digital funds and a gold token.
Arf, an RWA-backed working capital platform on Stellar, surpassed $1 billion in onchain liquidity volume, supporting global payments institutions. The milestone addresses a $4 trillion liquidity gap in cross-border transactions, with Arf's transparency protocol ensuring on-chain risk visibility for lenders.
This article explains asset tokenization on Stellar, covering what it is, who can tokenize assets, key benefits like operational efficiency and transparency, and the technical process for creating digital representations of real-world assets on the network.
This article explores the history and advantages of asset tokenization on the Stellar network, highlighting how institutions like Franklin Templeton, WisdomTree, and the Bank for International Settlements leverage Stellar's native asset control features for issuing securities, money market funds, and bonds with operational efficiency, transparency, and sustainability benefits.
Cheesecake Labs has released an updated Stellar Asset Sandbox with new features including role-based access control, expanded token management, custodial solutions, and treasury management capabilities. The no-code platform enables institutions to test asset tokenization on Stellar's testnet before deploying real assets.
Owny is a white-label platform that leverages Stellar blockchain and AI to streamline private equity fund management, capital raising, and investor relations. The platform tokenizes assets on Stellar, enabling fast, low-cost cross-border payments and simplified compliance for alternative asset marketplaces.
