DeFi, payments, tokenization, Soroban, governance, and project launches — curated daily from publications, project blogs, and community channels across the Stellar blockchain ecosystem.
Beans App and Blend Capital partnered to bring DeFi to underserved markets via Stellar's Soroban platform. Users can now convert physical cash to crypto through MoneyGram, earn yield on Blend's lending pools, and withdraw back to fiat, eliminating traditional banking intermediaries.
Stellar launched smart contracts on Mainnet on Feb. 20 with a phased rollout prioritizing network stability. Over 160 projects on Testnet will gradually deploy as transaction limits increase, enabling low-cost DeFi applications built on Rust and WASM.
This article provides a comprehensive overview of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and its implementation on the Stellar blockchain. It explains DeFi's core components—including blockchain, smart contracts, DEXs, and liquidity pools—and highlights how Soroban, Stellar's native smart contracts platform, enables developers to build DeFi applications with access to real-world financial rails.
Blend, a permissionless on-chain lending protocol, has launched on Stellar Testnet. Users can now test lending, borrowing, and backstopping features using browser wallets like Freighter. The protocol offers high capital efficiency, flexible pools, and risk mitigations for the Stellar DeFi ecosystem.
Aquarius announces updates and 2024 plans for building AMMs on Stellar using Soroban smart contracts. They've developed CPMM and StableSwap models inspired by Uniswap and Curve, with AQUA rewards for liquidity providers. A new UI and integrations are planned post-Soroban mainnet launch on January 30, 2024.
Velo Labs announced strategic partnerships with TransactCloud, FT Worldwide, and an unnamed fintech innovator to advance its Web3 Finance offerings. The collaborations aim to enhance liquidity, trading, and Web2-Web3 connectivity through Velo's Universe platform and Lightyear trading bot.
Range announces a long-term security partnership with Margined Protocol to enhance security for its on-chain perpetuals and vaults on Cosmos. Range will provide customized monitoring, analytics, risk dashboards, and incident response tools. Margined is innovating DeFi perpetual products on CosmWasm networks.
Stasis Euro (EURS), the top Euro stablecoin by market cap at $136M, is now live on Stellar Network. Despite leading in market cap, EURS ranks third in daily trading volume, with Stasis positioning it for DeFi use cases on Stellar.
ClickPesa and Pendulum announced a partnership to expand DeFi-based financing for SMEs in Tanzania. Pendulum's blockchain bridges Polkadot and Stellar, enabling the ClickPesa Debt Fund to provide capital to microfinance institutions serving underserved businesses and women entrepreneurs.
The Stellar Development Foundation submitted a comprehensive response to the French financial regulator AMF's DeFi discussion paper, advocating for regulatory frameworks that balance innovation with consumer protection through open source technology and decentralization principles.
Range CEO Andres Monteoliva discusses mitigative measures for blockchain bridge exploits at the DeFi Security Summit. The talk covers types of bridges and security mechanisms like rate limits and circuit breakers. Range, trusted by Stellar and others, provides cross-chain stablecoin infrastructure with compliance and risk tools.
Stellar's Testnet upgraded to Protocol 20 on September 20, enabling Soroban smart contract support. Developers can now test DeFi applications in a sandbox environment, with Mainnet upgrade expected before year-end. This unlocks cash-to-DeFi opportunities through partnerships like Moneygram.
Beans app announces partnership with Blend, a DeFi lending and borrowing protocol on the Stellar blockchain. They demoed the integration at Meridian 2023, showcasing seamless DeFi features. The integration is in proof-of-concept phase with plans for a safe release soon.
This article explains the importance of swap functionality and Automated Market Makers (AMMs) for financial inclusion, detailing how AMMs work, their advantages, and challenges like impermanent loss. It highlights how Soroban smart contracts on Stellar enable developers to build sophisticated AMM protocols for trustless, incentivized liquidity provision.
AssetDesk has secured an R&D grant from the Stellar Community Fund to develop the AssetDesk protocol, a new money markets protocol for Stellar's Soroban smart contracts platform. The protocol enables decentralized borrowing and lending with features like margin trading, flash loans, NFT lending, and stablecoin markets. It aims to enhance capital efficiency in Stellar's DeFi ecosystem.
This article explains how decentralized finance (DeFi) lending and borrowing markets work, contrasting them with traditional banking by highlighting their accessibility, trustlessness, and use of smart contracts. It covers the mechanics of liquidity pools, collateral requirements, and integration with oracles and AMMs, while discussing risks like liquidation and price volatility.
This article outlines the essential building blocks required for a thriving smart contract ecosystem on Soroban, including financial protocols (AMMs, lending markets), data access tools (oracles, indexers), user interfaces (wallets, block explorers), and security mechanisms. It demonstrates how these interconnected components enable real-world DeFi use cases like decentralized lending.
The Stellar Development Foundation shared progress on Soroban's Minimum Viable Ecosystem, outlining priority building blocks like financial primitives, data tools, and wallets needed before mainnet launch this fall. The foundation is actively funding projects through the Stellar Community Fund and inviting developers to help shape the platform.
Aquarius announces participation in Stellar Community Fund round 15 to develop Soroban-powered AMMs on the Stellar network. The project aims to create Uniswap v2-style smart contracts, advanced AMM types, and AQUA reward distribution on Soroban futurenet. This builds on Aquarius' established liquidity incentivization system, which has distributed over $2.25M in rewards.
Allbridge launched a cross-chain bridge connecting Stellar to Ethereum, Solana, Celo, and Polygon, enabling seamless asset transfers and expanding DeFi opportunities on the Stellar network.
Soroban is Stellar's smart contract platform launching on mainnet, combining Rust and WebAssembly to enable DeFi applications while leveraging Stellar's 8-year track record in payments and anchor network for global financial access.
EU regulators finalized MiCA crypto regulation and are working on a Data Act that could impose problematic requirements on smart contracts built on public blockchains, potentially hindering DeFi development across Europe.
An overview of the Stellar network, its foundation, and thriving ecosystem. The article explains Stellar's blockchain technology, the Stellar Development Foundation's role in supporting growth, and highlights real-world applications across various sectors.
Blend is a new liquidity protocol primitive for Stellar, enabling anyone to create insured lending pools with Soroban smart contracts. It provides lending and borrowing capabilities, adapting to market conditions while protecting suppliers via a backstop module. The protocol enhances Stellar's ecosystem for fintech, trading, DAOs, and DeFi applications.
Arf launched a USDC-backed working capital solution in partnership with the Stellar Development Foundation, providing unsecured short-term loans for cross-border payment institutions. Within four months, the platform deployed $80M across 800+ locations globally, generating $150M in cumulative on-chain USDC volume.
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.
EURC is a Euro-pegged stablecoin launched on the Stellar blockchain by UAB MYKOBO, offering secure, fast, and sustainable transactions. It has seen significant adoption with over 150k in circulating supply and substantial trading volume on Stellar's DEX. To celebrate its launch and MYKOBO's anniversary, zero transaction fees are offered throughout March 2023.
Soroban needs essential developer tools, financial primitives, and educational resources before Mainnet launch to attract developers and ensure ecosystem success. The article outlines key fundamentals including block explorers, security tools, oracles, and collateral-backed tokens.
Tommaso De Ponti, a Stellar developer since mid-2020, shares his journey from learning programming at age 11 to building Soroban smart contracts. His work includes DeFi projects and a zero-knowledge proof coin mixer built with his brother.
The Stellar Development Foundation announced five winners of its $5 million Bridge Bounty Program, awarding up to $1 million in XLM each to teams building cross-chain interoperability solutions connecting Stellar with other DeFi ecosystems. Winners include Allbridge, Axelar, Cubist, Kaladin, and Multichain.
