DeFi, payments, tokenization, Soroban, governance, and project launches — curated daily from publications, project blogs, and community channels across the Stellar blockchain ecosystem.
Stellar's Protocol 20 upgrade, which enables Soroban smart contracts on Mainnet, is approaching a validator vote. The upgrade implements 12 Core Advancement Proposals and unlocks new possibilities for developers while maintaining Stellar's existing capabilities.
Decaf, a non-custodial wallet built on Stellar, is empowering Latin Americans with seamless fiat-to-crypto on and off-ramps through MoneyGram integration. The article showcases real-world impact in San Francisco, Colombia, where the platform enables financial inclusion for unbanked populations.
FxDAO announces a shift to quarterly updates and the deployment of its protocol on Soroban testnet. They've launched a new self-hosted website, a JavaScript S…
The Stellar Development Foundation released its Q3 2023 report highlighting major progress on its roadmap, including Soroban's advancement toward Mainnet laun…
This article explores the history and advantages of asset tokenization on the Stellar network, highlighting how institutions like Franklin Templeton, WisdomTree, and the Bank for International Settlements leverage Stellar's native asset control features for issuing securities, money market funds, and bonds with operational efficiency, transparency, and sustainability benefits.
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.
Meridian 2023, the annual Stellar conference held in Madrid, showcased major ecosystem developments including MoneyGram's non-custodial wallet launch, Circle's EURC stablecoin deployment, and significant upgrades to developer tools like the Anchor Platform and Stellar Disbursement Platform.
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.
Cheesecake Labs has released an updated Stellar Asset Sandbox with new features including role-based access control, expanded token management, custodial solutions, and treasury management capabilities. The no-code platform enables institutions to test asset tokenization on Stellar's testnet before deploying real assets.
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.
The Stellar Newsletter highlights key developments including the launch of the open-source Stellar Disbursement Platform, Allbridge's cross-chain bridge connecting Stellar to Ethereum, Solana, Celo, and Polygon, and SDF's investment in MoneyGram International. It also promotes Meridian 2023 conference, developer tools for Soroban, and various ecosystem updates like Airtm's USDC integration and Q2 review. The content emphasizes Stellar's growth in interoperability, financial inclusion, and smart contract scalability.
Soroban has achieved feature completeness after a year of public development through 10 preview releases, with over 70 ecosystem projects now building in parallel. The platform is closing in on a stable release candidate with a renewed focus on developer experience, tooling, and documentation.
This educational article explains blockchain oracles as bridges between smart contracts and real-world data, covering their types, decentralization levels, and the oracle problem. It highlights oracle use cases in DeFi and mentions Soroban as Stellar's native smart contracts platform.
A comprehensive guide to Stellar wallets covering types, features, and best practices for storing and sending lumens. The article explains wallet functionality, custodial vs. non-custodial options, and answers common questions about wallet usage and security.
An educational guide explaining how stablecoins work, their benefits on the Stellar network, and use cases. The article highlights Stellar's advantages for stablecoin issuance including speed, low costs, compliance features, and lists major stablecoins like USDC, EURC, GYEN, ZUSD, and AUDD available on the network.
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.
The Stellar Newsletter highlights upcoming events like Meridian 2023 in Madrid with Idris Elba, MoneyGram's USDC case study on Stellar, and Coinbase's integration with USDC on the network. It covers improvements to the Anchor Directory, wallet on/off-ramp integrations, Soroban infrastructure projects, and a new Soroban security bug bounty. Developer updates include proposed transaction changes and SCF submission best practices.
Soroban Preview 10 introduces new State Expiration logic to address blockchain bloat issues, along with Rust SDK changes and clearer smart contract limits. July focused on refactors rather than new features, including rethinking governance token distribution. A new Stable Liquidity Pools contract for stablecoins is in development for future deployment.
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.
FXDAO announces it is the first legally incorporated DAO on the Soroban network, providing legal recognition to the project. They are developing a governance contract to manage all other protocol contracts, ensuring community approval for changes. The protocol is nearing completion and ready for deployment on Soroban once the network launches.
A DAO is nearing legal incorporation and aims to be the first fully operating on the Soroban network. They've completed the Safety Pool contract, which liquidates undercollateralized vaults to maintain protocol health, but face integration issues due to Soroban preview limitations. Next steps include refactoring contracts and developing the Staking Pool.
The Stellar Newsletter highlights Q1 achievements including Franklin Templeton's OnChain Fund surpassing $270M AUM on Stellar blockchain, SDF's strategic progress, and new board member Asiff Hirji. It covers partnerships like Arf, Cebuana Lhuillier, and blockchain remittances, plus Soroban smart contracts developments and community spotlights. Upcoming Meridian 2023 in Madrid is announced.
FxDAO shares its April 2023 monthly update on building the first legally incorporated DAO on the Stellar Soroban network. They've developed a protocol compatible with Soroban preview 8, deployed webapps on Futurenet for vault management, and are progressing toward legal incorporation within 30-60 days. Future updates will cover ongoing protocol development and DAO setup.