DeFi, payments, tokenization, Soroban, governance, and project launches — curated daily from publications, project blogs, and community channels across the Stellar blockchain ecosystem.
Stellar Development Foundation announced a partnership with Keybase for a 2 billion XLM airdrop over 20 months, distributing 100M XLM monthly to authenticated Keybase users. Keybase has integrated Stellar into its chat platform with features like inline XLM sends and phone number payments.
Stellar, Ethereum, Tezos, Oasis, and NEAR foundations partnered with IDEO CoLab and CoinList on a hackathon running Aug 5-Sept 22 focused on building user-friendly blockchain applications. Teams compete to simplify crypto UX and drive mainstream adoption, with prizes up to $10,000.
The Stellar Development Foundation announced Stellar Meridian, its first sponsored conference, taking place November 4-5, 2019 in Mexico City. The event will bring together developers, entrepreneurs, and ecosystem projects to discuss financial inclusion, regulation, and Stellar's role in the future of finance.
IBM's global blockchain head Jesse Lund has departed the company. Lund led IBM's Stellar-based World Wire payment network, which connected six banks across 72 countries. Stellar co-founder Jed McCaleb said the departure won't impact the platform.
Wirex, a UK FCA-regulated fintech, launched 26 fiat-backed stablecoins on Stellar for its 2M+ users. The stablecoins enable low-cost international remittance, can be spent via Wirex Visa card, and are pegged to major currencies including USD, EUR, GBP, HKD, and SGD.
Stellar launched as Coinbase Earn's largest partner, committing 1 billion XLM to reward users for educational videos about the platform. Users can earn up to $50 in XLM by completing lessons and referring friends.
Currency Matters joined IBM Blockchain World Wire, a real-time payments network built on Stellar protocol, enabling cross-border transactions across 50+ countries with access to stablecoins and XLM.
IBM launched World Wire, a real-time global payments system built on Stellar that connects regulated financial institutions and replaces legacy correspondent banking. Supporting 47 currencies across 72 countries, it represents a major enterprise adoption milestone for the Stellar network.
IBM launched World Wire, a payment network built on Stellar blockchain, with six international banks signing letters of intent to issue stablecoins. The platform enables faster, cheaper cross-border payments and remittances, with operations in 72 countries and support for 48 currencies.
Denelle Dixon, former Mozilla COO, has joined the Stellar Development Foundation as CEO, succeeding creator Jed McCaleb who moves to chief architect. Dixon brings experience in privacy advocacy, open internet policy, and operations leadership to guide Stellar's growth and partnerships.
Coinbase Pro added support for Stellar (XLM), enabling deposits and trading. The listing follows Stellar's recent logo redesign and could lead to XLM being added to the main Coinbase exchange, historically boosting cryptocurrency prices.
Coinbase Pro announced it is listing Stellar Lumens (XLM), accepting deposits immediately with trading to follow once liquidity is established. XLM is not yet available on Coinbase's retail platforms. The listing comes after Coinbase identified XLM as a candidate asset last December.
Stellar announced a redesigned logo replacing its cartoon rocketship with a sleek, professional symbol resembling a currency mark. The new design, created by Stockholm-based agency Kurppa Hosk, aims to position Stellar as a mature cryptocurrency suitable for institutional and business use.
SatoshiPay received a $1 million grant from the Stellar Development Foundation to expand micropayments adoption beyond publishing into gaming, tipping, and other industries through a marketing program offering up to $100,000 grants to companies implementing paywalls.
HBUS listed Stellar Lumens (XLM) alongside Monero and Steem on its U.S. digital asset marketplace Huobi.com, bringing total tradeable assets to 15. The exchange plans to release an asset framework for transparency in its listing process.
Coinsquare acquired StellarX, a Stellar-native decentralized exchange, and will rebrand its previously acquired BlockEQ wallet as StellarX's anchor wallet. StellarX will operate as a Bermuda-based subsidiary while continuing development under its own brand.
SatoshiPay, a Stellar-based micropayments startup, partnered with Axel Springer SE to enable blockchain payments for content from major publishers like Business Insider and Rolling Stone, with wallet integration launching January 31.
SatoshiPay partnered with Axel Springer, Europe's largest digital publisher, to enable micropayments for news content using Stellar Lumens. The integration is expected to launch in spring 2019 across Axel Springer's brands including Business Insider and Bild.
Jed McCaleb, creator of Stellar, discusses the project's 2018 emergence as a mature blockchain platform after years of obscurity, highlighting partnerships with IBM and Blockchain.com, the Chain acquisition, and his vision for Stellar as a payments protocol connecting financial institutions.
The Stellar Development Foundation announced three major community initiatives: Stellar Clusters for local grassroots meetups, a first global Stellar conference, and the Stellar Community Fund to let the community guide lumen distribution. The post also highlighted Reddit governance experiments and a Community Champions program.
Blockchain wallet provider is distributing $125 million in Stellar lumens (XLM) to wallet holders, marking Stellar's first major airdrop partnership and an effort to onboard millions of new users to crypto.
Singapore-based TransferTo is partnering with Stellar to enable low-cost blockchain-based cross-border remittances for underbanked populations in emerging markets, with plans to send regular payments across the Stellar network by Q4 2018 using Lumens as the settlement currency.
Stellar and Ripple, both born from the same 2014 fork, are competing to replace SWIFT in cross-border payments. Ripple secured Saudi Arabia's National Commercial Bank while Stellar partnered with IBM on Blockchain World Wire, but both face a bear market downturn.
TokenSoft, a compliance platform for crypto startups, is now officially supporting token launches on the Stellar protocol. The company previously focused on Ethereum-based projects but cited Stellar's maturity and growing demand from entrepreneurs as reasons for expanding support.
Lightyear, formed by the Stellar Foundation, acquired San Francisco-based blockchain fintech Chain. The deal, rumored at $500m, will move Chain's operations to the Stellar network as part of Lightyear's rebranding to InterStellar.