Stellar Ecosystem
News

Stellar has launched a new passkey feature that brings Web2-style user experience to Web3, enabling users to sign transactions and verify contracts using biometrics instead of traditional 2FA. The non-custodial solution leverages Soroban and secp256r1 to provide enhanced security, reliability, and accessibility for decentralized finance.

xycloo Labs built Soroban Insurance, a decentralized insurance protocol for Soroban smart contracts that uses Reflector oracle price feeds. The protocol allows users to purchase policies protecting against asset price movements over defined periods, with liquidity providers earning premiums while covering potential claims.

Stellar's Protocol 21 upgrade activated on June 18, 2024, introducing five Core Advancement Proposals (CAPs) that enable passkey support for smart contracts, improve state archival, and reduce transaction costs through VM optimization and module caching.

Veridise security analysts discovered a critical issue in Soroban's build-test-deploy process where the `createimport!` macro allows deployment of contracts with outdated or incorrect imported dependencies without requiring them to be listed as crate dependencies, potentially leading to broken contracts in production.

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.

Reflector launches a dev challenge (June 5-19) for Soroban contracts utilizing its oracle. Prizes: $2,500 USDC plus Meridian conference tickets. Open to developers worldwide ages 18+; teams welcome.

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.

This article introduces Stellar and its Soroban smart contract platform to Polkadot users, highlighting integration via the Spacewalk bridge by Pendulum. It covers asset transfers for Stellar's stablecoins, use cases in DeFi and payments, and provides a getting started guide. The synergy aims to enhance cross-chain financial inclusion and innovation.

Stellar launches Soroban smart contracts platform, enabling a new DeFi ecosystem on the network. Built with Rust and WebAssembly for developer familiarity, Soroban maintains Stellar's focus on low costs, scalability, and financial inclusion while protocols like Soroswap and XycLoans already deploy on mainnet.

FxDAO shares its Q1 2024 update, highlighting the completion of a smart contract audit by Runtime Verification and adaptations to Soroban platform changes on Stellar. Despite challenges like limit downgrades requiring refactors, the team resolved issues to fit current network limits. They are preparing for mainnet launch with vaults for synthetic USD, EUR, and GBP, alongside plans for a custom oracle.

Draper University and the Stellar Development Foundation announced two new programs—the Astro Hacker House and Embark Accelerator—to support up to 80 startups building on Stellar and Soroban over the next two years, with a focus on AI integration and smart contract development.

Stellar Protocol 21 activated on Mainnet on June 18, 2024, introducing five Core Advancement Proposals (CAPs) that add passkey signing support, improve state archival, and reduce smart contract transaction costs. Developers and operators must upgrade their Stellar-related software and re-upload existing Wasms to benefit from the new cost model.

The Defiant published an explainer video on Stellar's Soroban smart contracts platform, which expands the network beyond its original focus on low-cost payments to enable decentralized applications while maintaining support for underbanked regions.

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.

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.

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.

STOCKen CAPITAL has been awarded in Stellar Community Fund #24, marking a key milestone in integrating Soroban services. The funding enables enhancements in cryptocurrency payments via Stellar, smart contracts with Soroban, and oracle connections for secure legal processes. This advances their platform for capital acquisition and digital governance using blockchain.

Runtime Verification completed an audit of Band Protocol's Rust implementation of the Band Standard Reference Soroban Smart Contract. This contract enables querying real-world asset prices from BandChain into the Stellar network's Soroban mainnet. The audit identified issues and informative findings, with a detailed report available.

The Stellar Development Foundation launched the Soroban Security Audit Bank, distributing up to $1M in audit credits from six top-tier firms to 20-30 high-priority projects building on Soroban to strengthen smart contract security across the ecosystem.

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.

The Stellar Development Foundation ran a dogfooding experiment called the Okashi Cakewalk, a web-based smart contract game built on Soroban that enabled all SDF employees—regardless of technical background—to write, deploy, and invoke smart contracts. Over 170 NFTs were minted on Futurenet, demonstrating successful onboarding to Soroban development and providing valuable UX feedback to the Okashi team.

Creit protocol on Stellar celebrates over 200 domains registered with 130k+ XLM collateral after one month. They're launching DAO governance by distributing nearly half the governance token supply to early adopters as thanks. Upcoming features include domain buy/sell and full governance contract by end of April.

A comprehensive guide explaining authentication and authorization mechanisms in blockchain, with specific focus on how Stellar and Soroban implement these security features through digital signatures, multisig, thresholds, and smart contract-based account abstraction.

A technical guide comparing data types between Solidity (EVM) and Rust (Soroban), part 2 of a migration series. The article covers primitive and composite types, key differences like String vs. Symbol, and provides code examples for both languages.

Stellar's Soroban smart contracts platform went live on mainnet after two years of testing, enabling developers to build decentralized applications. The SDF allocated $100 million to a Soroban adoption fund that has already supported over 160 projects.