Stellar Ecosystem
News

WhiteBIT, a major European exchange with 3M+ users, integrated USDC on Stellar, enabling deposits and withdrawals. This expands USDC availability across digital asset platforms and strengthens the Stellar ecosystem's growth.

Nium partners with Stellar Development Foundation to enable fiat payouts in 190 countries via API integration, allowing businesses to access real-time cross-border payment services without building their own infrastructure.

Nium and the Stellar Development Foundation announced a partnership enabling fiat payouts to 190 countries via Stellar. Businesses can now leverage Nium's API to facilitate near-instant cross-border payments without prefunding local treasuries, combining Nium's global reach with Stellar's blockchain infrastructure.

MoneyGram and the Stellar Development Foundation launched a global on/off-ramp service enabling users to convert between cash and cryptocurrencies at MoneyGram locations. The service, powered by Stellar and USDC, is now available in Canada, Kenya, Philippines, and the U.S., with global cash-out functionality expected by June 2022.

MoneyGram launched an on- and off-ramp service for digital wallets in partnership with Stellar Development Foundation, enabling users to convert between fiat and cryptocurrency without bank accounts. The service rolls out in Canada, Kenya, the Philippines, and the US using Circle's USDC stablecoin, with Vibrat and Lobstr wallet integration.

Stellar network successfully upgraded to Protocol 19 on June 8, 2022, introducing new transaction preconditions and signer types that enable payment channels, blockchain bridges, and key recovery solutions.

Stellar Development Foundation's Chief Legal Officer Candace Kelly praised Senators Lummis and Gillibrand's Responsible Financial Innovation Act as a bipartisan framework for crypto regulation, calling it a milestone for establishing clear legal guardrails that balance innovation with consumer protection.

Mercado Bitcoin, Latin America's largest digital asset platform, now enables USD Coin trading on the Stellar network with transaction fees of a fraction of one cent, expanding USDC accessibility and liquidity for the region.

Mercado Bitcoin, Latin America's largest digital assets platform, now offers USDC on the Stellar network, enabling customers to transact with fees of a fraction of a cent. This marks the first time the exchange has offered the same asset across multiple networks.

Aquarius announces ICE tokens, a new mechanism for AQUA holders on Stellar to freeze their tokens and receive boosted liquidity rewards and enhanced voting power. By locking AQUA via the locker tool, users gain four non-transferable ICE tokens (ICE, upvoteICE, downvoteICE, governICE) that increase yields on SDEX/AMM and enable simultaneous use in liquidity and governance voting. ICE tokens melt linearly over the lock period, up to three years, with voting power scaling up to 10x.

Stellar Development Foundation submitted comments to the Federal Reserve on how CBDCs could improve financial inclusion, reduce payment costs, and enable cross-border remittances. The SDF highlighted Stellar's role in CBDC infrastructure, citing examples like Brazil's central bank partnership and cost comparisons showing Stellar's efficiency for remittances.

The Stellar Development Foundation joined Mercado Bitcoin's CBDC consortium for Brazil's LIFT Challenge to develop a digital Real. The initiative aims to demonstrate instant settlement and delivery versus payment for crypto-assets, with a pilot potentially launching in Q4 2022.

Mercado Bitcoin partners with Stellar Development Foundation on LIFT Challenge Real Digital, exploring CBDC use cases for Brazil's central bank digital currency launching in H2 2022.

The Stellar Development Foundation partnered with PwC US to create a blockchain sustainability assessment framework. Applying it to Stellar, they found the network uses just 481,324 kWh annually with 173,243 kg CO2 emissions, equivalent to 33.7 U.S. homes. SDF committed to offsetting the network's historical carbon footprint through carbon dioxide removal.

Aquarius Governance v2.0 launches with major upgrades including a mandatory discussion phase, editable proposals, redesigned fees, vote lock periods, and improved UI. These changes address low participation and other issues from v1.0, built on the Stellar blockchain via SDEX and AMM integrations. The system now encourages better proposals and early voting.

The Stellar Development Foundation advocates for clear stablecoin legislation that requires audited, fiat-backed reserves held in regulated banks. SDF emphasizes the need to distinguish genuine stablecoins from other token structures and calls for consistent global regulatory guardrails to protect consumers and build trust in blockchain payments.

Freighter 2.0, the Stellar browser wallet, now enables users to create, sign, and submit transactions directly from the extension, including trustline management and payments. The update features a refreshed UI built on the Stellar Design System and sets the foundation for future capabilities like asset swaps and claimable balance management.

Alfred Pay, a Stellar Community Fund winner, is building a LATAM-focused remittance platform using USDC on Stellar. The fintech operates as both an anchor and consumer wallet app, launching anchor services in the Dominican Republic this June with plans to expand across Latin America.

Stellar validators will vote on Protocol 19 upgrade on June 8, 2022, introducing new transaction preconditions and signer types to enable payment channels, bridges, and key recovery solutions. The upgrade enables Layer 2 scaling with Starlight prototype achieving 1.19 million payments per second.

Novatti Group announced the launch of AUDC, an Australian Dollar-backed stablecoin on the Stellar blockchain. The 1:1 AUD-backed digital asset will integrate into Novatti's payment solutions, enabling faster, lower-cost domestic and cross-border transactions with support from the Stellar Development Foundation.

Stellar Development Foundation CEO reflects on three years of leadership, highlighting past achievements like bringing USDC to Stellar and the MoneyGram partnership, present momentum with ecosystem products launching, and future priorities including smart contracts via Project Jump Cannon, bridging, and scalability.