Stellar Ecosystem
News

The Stellar Development Foundation released its Q1 2022 report highlighting major initiatives: Project Jump Cannon for native smart contracts, Starbridge for Ethereum interoperability, $1.5M in Matching Fund investments, and continued USDC adoption across exchanges.

DFS Lab and the Stellar Development Foundation are launching their second Blockchain Bootcamp in April 2022, bringing together 10 African startups to build payment and financial inclusion solutions on Stellar over three days, with winners receiving prizes and demo day pitching opportunities.

The Stellar Development Foundation announced Project Jump Cannon will use WebAssembly (WASM) as its smart contract runtime. After evaluating EVM, Move, eBPF, and other options, the SDF chose WASM for its robust execution environment, thriving ecosystem, and alignment with Stellar's values of safety, scalability, and equitable access.

SDF launches Stellar Campus Experts, a community-driven program for university and bootcamp students to learn blockchain technology, organize campus events, and build careers in the space with stipends, networking, and exclusive opportunities.

Stellar Quest is splitting into two components: Stellar Quest Learn, an evergreen educational platform launching today with five initial quests and NFT badges, and Stellar Quest Live for periodic competitive events. The redesign addresses community feedback about accessibility and consistent engagement.

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.

SDF spotlights two women building on Stellar: Mercedes Madanire in business development and Jeesun Kim in frontend development. They discuss their roles at Vesseo, a USDC wallet for Latin America, and share insights on representation and career growth in blockchain.

The Stellar Development Foundation announced a Matching Fund specifically for female founders, addressing the stark gender gap in crypto entrepreneurship where women receive only 2.2% of venture funding.

SDF and Wirex survey of nearly 10,000 consumers across US, UK, Mexico, and Singapore shows 81% crypto awareness and 45% have sent crypto internationally, with 52% viewing crypto as valid alternative to traditional remittances.

The Stellar Development Foundation highlights three women leaders on its Ecosystem, Recruiting, and Business Development teams in celebration of Women's History Month, sharing their career journeys and insights on working in blockchain.

Velo Labs and Philippine Digital Asset Exchange (PDAX) partnered to improve cross-border payments to the Philippines using blockchain technology, targeting the $34 billion annual remittance market with faster, cheaper, and more secure transactions.

Three African fintech leaders building on Stellar discuss why they chose the network for payments infrastructure, the $95B+ remittance opportunity across Africa, and advice for entrepreneurs launching in the space ahead of the Stellar Blockchain Bootcamp.

Stellar CEO Denelle Dixon announced that Stellar is working with Ukraine to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) using the hryvnia, with ongoing efforts despite delays from the conflict. The initiative involves partnerships with Bitt and Tascombank, and Ukraine has simultaneously seen significant growth in crypto adoption for donations and military purchases.

The Stellar Development Foundation hosted the Finance 3.0 Summit at SXSW in Austin, featuring an NFT hackathon, panels on DAOs and DeFi, and announcements about smart contracts and partnerships with MoneyGram and Techstars for Latin American fintech innovation.

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.

The Stellar Development Foundation launched a $30 million matching fund for early-stage companies building on Stellar, with initial investments in cross-border payments and fintech platforms serving emerging markets.

SDF, MoneyGram, and Techstars launched a three-year startup accelerator program focused on blockchain-based cross-border payments solutions for Latin America. The program will select up to 12 FinTech startups for a 13-week mentorship initiative, with applications opening July 25.

Stellar Development Foundation announces Project Jump Cannon, a research initiative to bring native smart contracts to Stellar. SDF explains why the network initially avoided smart contracts and why ecosystem growth now demands this capability while maintaining Stellar's core values of safety, scalability, and equitable access.

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.

The Stellar Development Foundation spotlights three women on its Developer Relations and Engineering teams, sharing their career paths, daily work, and advice for others entering blockchain and tech roles during Women's History Month.