Stellar Ecosystem
News

Puntored, a Colombian fintech serving low- and middle-income populations across Latin America, raised $2M from the Stellar Development Foundation's Enterprise Fund to expand its technological capabilities and enable cross-border transactions via the Stellar blockchain 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.

BAF explains why Stellar's protocol-level design is safer for payments than smart contracts. Built-in multi-signature accounts, compliance features, and automatic payment logic reduce complexity and attack surface. Particularly suited for CBDCs and cross-border transfers where security is paramount.

The Stellar Development Foundation released a documentary called 'The Onchain Effect' showcasing how blockchain technology is solving real-world financial problems. The film tells the story of an Australian entrepreneur in Colombia who uses Stellar and the Decaf wallet to safely pay his employees in USDC, eliminating the need to carry dangerous amounts of cash.

Stellar has released an interactive Anchor Network Map that visualizes the global reach of Stellar anchors across 180 countries. The map enables developers and financial institutions to discover on/off-ramp services and understand payment rail coverage by region.

OwlTing Group integrated its OwlPay Wallet Pro with Stellar to support USDC stablecoin, expanding access to 8+ million Stellar accounts. The integration enables compliant cross-border payments and allows users to pay transaction fees in fiat currency.

This article explains the role and importance of Lumens, Stellar's native currency, detailing how they function as transaction fees, maintain network security through minimum balance requirements, and serve as a bridge currency for cross-border payments. It also highlights Stellar's unique consensus protocol (SCP) and its advantages over traditional blockchain networks.

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.

This guide explains how Ugandan users can withdraw cryptocurrency from Binance to Ugandan Shillings (UGX) via Mobile Money or bank accounts using Bingtellar, a web3 payments platform. It provides a detailed step-by-step process, highlighting Bingtellar's advantages over P2P methods. The article mentions Stellar as one of the affordable blockchain networks for low-cost transfers.

Glo Dollar, backed by a $250,000 SDF donation, launches on Stellar to enable embedded philanthropy. Users can send Glo Dollars for remittances and social payouts while automatically supporting charities through reserve earnings, with potential to generate $3 million yearly for causes.

An educational article introducing Stellar's blockchain network, explaining its Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP), and demonstrating real-world applications through IBM World Wire and ClickPesa for cross-border payments and financial inclusion.

Decentralife interviews Bernardo Garcia, co-founder of Félix, a WhatsApp-based payments platform using AI and blockchain to enable cheap remittances for U.S.-based Latino immigrants to Latin America. Celebrating 10 years of the Stellar ecosystem, Garcia shares his immigrant journey and motivation to solve high-fee cross-border payment issues. Félix simplifies sending money via chat, delivering fast and affordable transfers.

Coinbase submitted CFTC filings to list futures products for five tokens—Polkadot, Shiba Inu, Stellar Lumens, Avalanche, and Chainlink—with trading slated to begin on or after July 15. The expansion aims to give traders more access points for risk management and price speculation.

GYEN and ZUSD stablecoins are now available for trading on Bitstamp, a major regulated exchange founded in 2011. The listing enables users to easily convert between USD and these Stellar-based stablecoins with enhanced security and compliance features.

Stellar's foundational content explaining the network's vision for interoperability—enabling blockchain networks and applications to interact with real-world services. The article highlights Stellar's unique design for low-cost value transfers, asset creation, and financial inclusion, with sections on exchanges as on/off ramps and a video featuring Candace Kelly on interoperability.

Bingtellar has been awarded an Activation Grant from the Stellar Community Fund to enhance its global payments infrastructure on the Stellar network, targeting cross-border payments in Africa. The grant supports expanding features, stablecoin utility, and connecting underserved Africans to the global economy. Bingtellar leverages Stellar's blockchain for fast, low-cost remittances, akin to 'TransferWise on Web3'.

Stellar Aid Assist is a blockchain-powered aid disbursement system launched on the Stellar network that enables transparent and efficient delivery of cash assistance to vulnerable populations. The initiative, deployed with UNHCR in Ukraine, marks a year of impact in demonstrating Stellar's real-world humanitarian applications.

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.

Zebec Network recaps a transformative month featuring a full rebrand, migration to the new $ZBCN token now live on major exchanges, release of their V2 whitepaper, and product upgrades. They highlight a Stellar Foundation grant for WageLink's cross-border remittance integration, enhancements to Zebec Instant Card with new tokens and currencies, and community rewards via airdrops. The update also covers their 'Future of Money' interview series and upcoming events.

The Stellar Development Foundation visited Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya in February to meet with ecosystem builders, creators, and fintech innovators. The trip highlighted local solutions addressing payment challenges, financial inclusion, and creative economy opportunities across Africa.

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.

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.

Stellar Aid Assist, a blockchain solution for crisis aid disbursement, has been nominated for Best Use of Web3 at the 28th Annual Webby Awards. The platform has already delivered over $2 million in aid to Ukraine-displaced individuals through UNHCR. Voting is open through April 18th.