Stellar Weekly Roundup — week of May 8, 2026

Bermuda announced on May 12, 2026, that it will move national payment and financial services infrastructure onto Stellar, becoming the first sovereign government to commit to a fully onchain economy. The same day, Kraken enabled USDC deposits and withdrawals on Stellar, and Normal Finance launched a self-custodial savings app routing user USDC through Blend Capital lending vaults.

National Economy on Stellar

Bermuda's government published a formal announcement on May 12 laying out a plan to reduce payment processing fees and expand financial inclusion via digital wallets and stablecoin payments on Stellar. The initiative includes modifications to Bermuda's FinTech Development Fund to support the transition.

The news drew substantial community response. The Stellar April Monthly Recap X Space, hosted by @iamjayrome and @Rawritude on May 13, cited the Bermuda announcement alongside Protocol 26 and institutional adoption from State Street and Franklin Templeton as the month's headline developments.

Exchange Access and Stablecoins

Kraken announced on May 12 that it now supports USDC deposits and withdrawals on Stellar. USDC on Stellar is natively issued by Circle, meaning funds are fully reserved and transferable at sub-cent fees with near-instant settlement. The addition connects Kraken's customer base directly to Stellar's USDC rail.

DeFi and Developer Infrastructure

Normal Finance launched its self-custodial savings app on Stellar on May 11. Users deposit USDC into DeFindex vaults, which route funds into Blend Capital's lending protocol. The product carries audited smart contracts, no lockup periods, and a tiered fee starting at 0.5% on deposits.

OctoPos deployed an on-chain NAV oracle to Stellar testnet on May 12, paired with an off-chain API. The architecture lets developers choose between fast off-chain queries and trustless on-chain verification, removing the need for each wallet or protocol to maintain its own DeFi position indexer.

The May 14 Stellar Developers Meeting covered zero-knowledge group membership proofs for Soroban contracts (presented by Renat) and AI orchestration tooling including Paperclip for autonomous developer workflows (presented by Kaan). A broadcast recording is also available on X.

Hackathon Wave

Rise In launched the APAC Stellar Hackathon on May 14, spanning the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia with a prize pool of up to $60,000. Three tracks are open: Local Finance and Real-World Access; DeFi and Ecosystem Composability; and Payment Consumer Applications. Workshops, AMAs, and university tours run through summer, with a Demo Day and Grand Finale in late July. Registration is open at risein.com.

Rise In also announced the Build on Stellar Hackathon at Istanbul Blockchain Week, scheduled June 2-3 in Istanbul with a community party on June 4 at Feriye. Hackathon applications are open at luma.com/dal2zw2j.

Boundless and Trustless Work ran a four-day hybrid hackathon from May 13-16 with a $1,500 prize pool. Trustless Work's Soroban escrow contracts secured the prize funds on-chain before the event opened. A kickoff X Space covering both platforms ran May 12.

Ambassador Activity

Stellar East Africa launched the Stellar GIVE Program alongside Web3Bridge, drawing over 80 builders through three phases: Impact Bootcamp, Impact Studio, and Stellar Propel. The chapter held a session at JKUAT, where students worked through Stellar's architecture and ecosystem. Shamba Records shipped MicroVault on Stellar, an on-chain lending product serving farmers and SMEs in East Africa.

Stellar Chile is in week two of its Instawards Sprint, a multi-week builder showcase hosted by chapter president @bastiankoh. Stellar West Africa announced the winner of its Build Weekend Residency: Survvo, a platform helping companies recruit African users and collect real-world data, using Stellar for instant payouts and ZK privacy tooling.

Stellar Indonesia held a local ambassador meetup in Depok on May 10. StarMaker LATAM attended Consensus 2026 in Miami, appearing at sessions with Etherfuse and MetaMask.

Lightning Round

• EMEA 12-week accelerator: SDF announced a program for founders building on Stellar in payments, DeFi, and RWA, with a demo day at Meridian in Lisbon in October. (X Space)
• Philippines AMA: SDF, SwitchX, and Filipino Web Development Peers held a session on building on Stellar, covering payments, remittances, and asset tokenization. (X Space)
• Builder's Journey: Ash Francis, three-time Stellar Hackathon winner, discussed his projects and path to Stellar at a recorded X Space. (X Space)
• April Monthly Recap: @iamjayrome and @Rawritude hosted a full-month review covering Bermuda, Protocol 26, Lumenloop, and DeFi infrastructure updates. (X Space)
• Spanish-language XLM wallet guide: Noticias Trading reviewed six wallets spanning hot wallets (Lobster, Trust Wallet, Freighter) and cold storage (Ledger, Trezor, Keypair). (YouTube)
• Bermuda community coverage: YouTube breakdown of the Bermuda onchain economy announcement from The-Blessed-Invest channel. (YouTube)
• Circle Agent Stack demo: Circle released a demo of an agent that creates a USDC wallet, discovers services in a marketplace, and pays for API access via Circle Gateway. (agents.circle.com)
• Boundless x Trustless Work onboarding call: A welcome session for hackathon participants ran May 13. (Tweet)

Upcoming Events

• May 15 - Stellar Chile Community Call (Discord)
• May 15 - Blockotá: Stellar Summer Friday v19.0 - Bogotá, Colombia
• May 15 - Stellar en Bolivia: proyectos en mainnet - UPB Campus Santa Cruz, Bolivia
• May 15 - Stellar Town Hall (Discord)
• May 18 - Build on Stellar Philippines Hackathon - Online; Demo Day in Ortigas
• May 18 - CryptoMondays Cape Town: EMEA in 2026 - Cape Town
• May 18 - Weekly Brazilian Ambassador Meeting (Discord)
• May 19 - StarMaker Community Call (Discord)
• May 20 - Blockchain After Office: Morpho Edition - San José, Costa Rica
• May 20 - Stellar ConnectUs: Career Coaching for College Students - San Francisco, CA
• May 21 - Stellar Developers Meeting (YouTube/Discord)
• May 21 - The Open Deal Room by Stellar - Mexico City, Mexico
• May 21 - E.Africa Weekly Community Call (Discord)
• May 22 - Blockotá: Stellar Summer Friday v20.0 - Bogotá, Colombia

What to Watch

• The Build on Stellar Philippines Hackathon opens May 18; project registrations from Filipino builders will be visible in the days following.
• Bermuda's FinTech Development Fund modifications: the May 12 announcement named the fund as a vehicle for the onchain economy initiative, with implementation details outstanding.
• The APAC Stellar Hackathon workshop and university tour schedule: Rise In indicated events across the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia through summer.
• The next Stellar Developers Meeting on May 21 will follow up on ZK group membership proofs and AI orchestration tooling introduced May 14.
• Meridian Conference cohort selection for the EMEA accelerator: no intake timeline was published, but the 12-week program runs through October.

Window: 5 articles, 9 AV, 12 tweet signals. 16 upcoming events in the following two weeks.

LL

Written byLumen Loop