Stellar Ecosystem
News

The Stellar Development Foundation hosted a Cash-to-DeFi challenge track at Consensus X EasyA 2024 Hackathon in Austin, attracting global developers to build real-world financial solutions. Five winning projects were selected, including DeFindexes, Global Rupee, RampMeDaddy, Punch Starter, and Lumen Finance, each addressing financial inclusion and DeFi accessibility.

Stellar launched Soroban, a smart contract platform integrated into Protocol 20, addressing key blockchain challenges like transaction speed, security vulnerabilities, state bloat, and high costs while leveraging Stellar's extensive payment rail network for real-world DeFi applications.

FxDAO's peg system for synthetic currencies on Stellar uses XLM collateral and arbitrage incentives similar to the gold standard, not algorithmic stablecoins. It features controlled issuance, redemption, and liquidations to maintain stability and health. The protocol ensures debt cannot exceed collateral value, enforced by smart contracts.

The Spacewalk bridge connects Stellar and Polkadot ecosystems, enabling Stellar users to access Polkadot's DeFi capabilities and Pendulum's fiat-DeFi infrastructure. This integration allows seamless asset transfers, forex DEX, yield farming with stablecoins, and cross-border payments. It expands opportunities for Stellar community in advanced blockchain applications.

The development team shares updates from April 26, 2024, including bug fixes, new UI testing for the Custom Risk Framework, and live Governance and Tokenomics V2 dashboards. Key advancements feature Stellar Soroban nodes deployment, internal client readiness, and API support for circuit generators. Additional improvements cover data pipelines, price oracles for Optimism tokens, and Ethereum/NEAR analytics.

This guide details how XLM holders can provide liquidity to the KSM/XLM pool on Zenlink DEX via the Amplitude network on Kusama. It covers setting up a Polkadot wallet, acquiring KSM and AMPE, bridging XLM using Spacewalk from Lobstr, and adding liquidity. The process enables earning rewards while enhancing liquidity in the Amplitude ecosystem.

Cables Finance launched on Stellar as a hybrid FX exchange combining centralized liquidity with on-chain settlement. Features include central limit order book (CLOB), slippage-free trading, and OTC capabilities, backed by Stellar Development Foundation.

Cables Finance has launched on the Stellar network as a semi-decentralized FX trading platform featuring a central limit order book, slippage-free trading, and OTC capabilities. The launch represents a collaboration between Cables Finance and the Stellar Development Foundation to democratize access to cross-border payments and FX trading globally.

Script3 founder Markus Paulson-Luna discusses Blend Capital, a decentralized lending protocol on Stellar that lets users, DAOs, and institutions create customizable lending pools. The interview covers Blend's architecture, insurance mechanisms, and integration with Beans.

Pendulum's Q1 2024 roundup highlights the launch of the Spacewalk bridge connecting Stellar and Polkadot ecosystems for seamless XLM and stablecoin transfers. Key developments include reward structures for bridge vaults, new liquidity pools on Zenlink and StellaSwap, and progress on Forex AMM powered by Nabla. Community engagement and governance updates further strengthen the ecosystem's growth.

The Spacewalk Bridge is now live on the Pendulum network, enabling trust-minimized transfers of XLM and fiat-backed stablecoins like EURC, AUDD, NGNC, TZS, and BRL between Stellar and Polkadot ecosystems. Stellar users can trade XLM on Zenlink DEX and provide liquidity in pools such as XLM.s/PEN and XLM.s/DOT. Pendulum's Forex DEX powered by Nabla offers single-sided liquidity provision without impermanent loss, enhancing DeFi accessibility.

Soroban smart contracts platform launches on Stellar mainnet with $100 million adoption fund committed by SDF. The fund has already supported 160+ projects building DeFi applications on Stellar.

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.

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.