Stellar Ecosystem
News

Newton, a Canadian crypto trading platform with 450,000 users, now supports USDC deposits and withdrawals on Stellar, offering near-zero transaction fees and instant settlement alongside multichain USDC support.

A comprehensive overview of Africa's rapidly growing Web3 economy, highlighting major blockchain protocols (including Stellar), venture capital investments, NGO partnerships, and government initiatives shaping the continent's crypto and blockchain landscape.

Shift Markets and Nexus Markets integrated USDC on Stellar, enabling institutional and retail clients to deposit, withdraw, and swap USDC across blockchains while earning yield through Nexus Vaults.

Stellar is a blockchain focused on cross-border remittances and peer-to-peer payments, powered by the XLM token. Founded by Jed McCaleb, it differs from Ripple by targeting individuals rather than banks, enabling transactions in seconds for pennies while integrating with traditional financial systems through anchors and partnerships.

One year after USDC launched on Stellar, the ecosystem has grown significantly with new payment corridors across Africa, Europe, Philippines, and Latin America, plus integrations from major exchanges like Bitso, Liquid, and Okcoin enabling faster, cheaper cross-border payments and financial inclusion.

Okcoin becomes the first US exchange to offer USDC deposits and withdrawals on Stellar, enabling faster and cheaper stablecoin transactions with near-zero fees and 5-second settlement times.

The Stellar Development Foundation released its 2021 Q4 report, highlighting major achievements including USDC integration, MoneyGram partnership for cash-in/cash-out services, $80.25M in Enterprise Fund investments, three protocol upgrades, and international CBDC pilots in Ukraine.

SDF CEO Denelle Dixon testified before the US House Committee on Financial Services on digital assets and blockchain's role in financial innovation, highlighting Stellar's use cases in cross-border payments, remittances, and stablecoin issuance while addressing regulatory frameworks and environmental sustainability.

YieldBlox announces updates to its YBX airdrop due to bot activity, introducing day-zero staking with a 10x multiplier for genuine users and staggering payouts over six weeks. The testnet beta saw over 472,000 YBX farmed, revealing key insights into user strategies and protocol improvements on Stellar. Upcoming changes include UX enhancements, smart contract fixes, and mainnet launch by late November.

The Stellar Development Foundation released its Q3 2021 report highlighting Protocol 18 AMM upgrade preparations, a $40 million investment in Tala for digital banking, new payment corridors in Europe-Philippines and Latin America, and Canadian stablecoin VCAD launch by VersaBank and Stablecorp.

MoneyGram announced it will use Stellar blockchain to enable USDC stablecoin payments and near-real-time settlement for its customers, with rollout beginning this year and international expansion in 2022.

MoneyGram partners with Stellar Development Foundation to enable crypto payouts in local currencies using Circle's USDC stablecoin, integrating MoneyGram's network with Stellar blockchain for cross-border payments and settlement.

Arf and Tempo Payments launched a Stellar-based payment corridor from Europe to the Philippines using Circle's Stellar USDC, enabling compliant cross-border transactions with near-zero fees and instant settlement.

VersaBank and Stablecorp are launching VCAD, a Canadian stablecoin issued by a North American bank and live on Stellar. Each VCAD unit represents a one-dollar deposit with VersaBank, offering fast, low-cost cross-border transactions.

Anclap launched the first Peruvian sol stablecoin on Stellar, 100% backed by local currency. The digital asset is exchangeable for multiple Latin American currencies and wallets, advancing Anclap's goal to build a cross-border payment network reducing remittance costs.

Stellar Development Foundation CEO Denelle Dixon discusses how El Salvador's bitcoin adoption opens doors for broader cryptocurrency use, particularly stablecoins and remittances. She highlights how stablecoins on Stellar can reduce remittance costs from 7-8% to pennies, enabling faster cross-border payments.

THORWallet now supports Stellar asset management with single and multisig wallets, enabling XLM and USDC swaps on mobile. The integration includes Blend protocol access for yield generation, bringing institutional-grade DeFi security to Stellar.

Liquid exchange now offers Stellar USDC with fee-free withdrawals, enabling customers to save $12-15 per transaction and settle in seconds compared to Ethereum-based USDC.

Stellar Development Foundation's Lisa Nestor discusses how USDC on Stellar enables fast, cheap cross-border payments and remittances, with transaction costs measured in fractions of a cent versus thousands on other networks.

USDC expansion on Stellar enables new money flows through anchors like Wyre, Stably, BitGo, and FinClusive, creating fast, low-cost cross-currency transactions and global financial interoperability.