DeFi, payments, tokenization, Soroban, governance, and project launches — curated daily from publications, project blogs, and community channels across the Stellar blockchain ecosystem.
The development team shares updates from April 26, 2024, including bug fixes, new UI testing for the Custom Risk Framework, and live Governance and Tokenomics V2 dashboards. Key advancements feature Stellar Soroban nodes deployment, internal client readiness, and API support for circuit generators. Additional improvements cover data pipelines, price oracles for Optimism tokens, and Ethereum/NEAR analytics.
The Stellar Development Foundation announced it will limit historical data access on its free Horizon service to one year of rolling data, effective August 1st, 2024. This change aims to reduce operational overhead and eliminate a centralized point of failure in the network, while directing users with longer historical data needs to alternative solutions like Hubble, third-party Horizon providers, or self-hosted infrastructure.
STOCKen CAPITAL has been awarded in Stellar Community Fund #24, marking a key milestone in integrating Soroban services. The funding enables enhancements in cryptocurrency payments via Stellar, smart contracts with Soroban, and oracle connections for secure legal processes. This advances their platform for capital acquisition and digital governance using blockchain.
Runtime Verification completed an audit of Band Protocol's Rust implementation of the Band Standard Reference Soroban Smart Contract. This contract enables querying real-world asset prices from BandChain into the Stellar network's Soroban mainnet. The audit identified issues and informative findings, with a detailed report available.
A comprehensive guide explaining authentication and authorization mechanisms in blockchain, with specific focus on how Stellar and Soroban implement these security features through digital signatures, multisig, thresholds, and smart contract-based account abstraction.
The Stellar Development Foundation submitted a response to the U.S. Treasury's Request for Information on Financial Inclusion, advocating for open-source blockchain technology and transparent systems to advance financial access. SDF emphasized the importance of free or low-cost digital financial services, smart contracts, and open data initiatives in creating inclusive financial systems.
This tutorial provides a step-by-step guide to deploying a Soroban RPC server on DigitalOcean Kubernetes using Stellar Development Foundation Helm charts. It covers cluster creation, Helm repository setup, configuration for testnet, Nginx Ingress installation, DNS setup, and verification. Benefits include improved reliability, control, and performance for Stellar smart contract interactions.
Aquarius announces updates and 2024 plans for building AMMs on Stellar using Soroban smart contracts. They've developed CPMM and StableSwap models inspired by Uniswap and Curve, with AQUA rewards for liquidity providers. A new UI and integrations are planned post-Soroban mainnet launch on January 30, 2024.
Range announces a long-term security partnership with Margined Protocol to enhance security for its on-chain perpetuals and vaults on Cosmos. Range will provide customized monitoring, analytics, risk dashboards, and incident response tools. Margined is innovating DeFi perpetual products on CosmWasm networks.
Obsrvr provides blockchain infrastructure solutions tailored for the Stellar.org network and Soroban smart contracts platform. Their offerings include the Obsrvr Gateway, a managed service combining Horizon API and Soroban RPC servers, and Obsrvr Nodes for customizable, dedicated instances. These tools simplify blockchain adoption, enhance security, and enable businesses to integrate seamlessly with Stellar.
Range partners with Oak Security to deliver end-to-end security for Cosmos projects, extending audits into continuous monitoring. This addresses limitations like dynamic codebases and third-party risks. Range, trusted by Stellar among others, provides customized real-time security tools.
Range CEO Andres Monteoliva spoke at the Modular Summit on security advantages of app-specific roll-ups over monolithic blockchains. Range provides intelligence and risk platforms for cross-chain stablecoin infrastructure, trusted by Stellar, Solana Foundation, Circle, and others. Their tools include Faraday for transaction routing and compliance, and a Stablecoin Explorer tracking nearly 200 stablecoins.
Range CEO Andres Monteoliva discusses mitigative measures for blockchain bridge exploits at the DeFi Security Summit. The talk covers types of bridges and security mechanisms like rate limits and circuit breakers. Range, trusted by Stellar and others, provides cross-chain stablecoin infrastructure with compliance and risk tools.
The Stellar Development Foundation announced updates to the Stellar Disbursement Platform (SDP), an open-source tool for bulk payments that now supports supplier payouts, global payroll, government transfers, and enterprise remittances. The platform features self-hosting, on-demand wallet creation, multi-level access controls, and support for any Stellar-based digital asset.
The Stellar Development Foundation announced the Wallet SDK at Meridian 2023, a self-service tool that enables fintechs to build Stellar network-enabled wallets with interoperability features without requiring deep blockchain expertise. The SDK supports deposit/withdrawal services, KYC, and web authentication across Flutter, Kotlin, and Typescript.
Owny is a white-label platform that leverages Stellar blockchain and AI to streamline private equity fund management, capital raising, and investor relations. The platform tokenizes assets on Stellar, enabling fast, low-cost cross-border payments and simplified compliance for alternative asset marketplaces.
Fonbnk is a fintech platform that enables financial inclusion in emerging markets by converting prepaid mobile airtime into USDC on the Stellar network, providing seamless on and off-ramps for cash-based economies across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Scalps leverages Soroban smart contracts on Stellar to power a loyalty management system for merchants worldwide, using the POINTS token for discounts and minting branded Loyalty NFTs. These NFTs include Discount, VIP Membership, Event Access, and Collectible types, each with specific smart contract features for minting, validation, and benefit application. The system optimizes storage with IPFS and Soroban storage types to manage fees effectively.
Vesseo is a wallet app built on Stellar by Sunship, Inc. (an SDF subsidiary) that enables Argentines to quickly and cheaply purchase and hold USDC to protect against peso devaluation. The app leverages Stellar's fast settlement, low fees, and asset issuance capabilities to provide a simple alternative to traditional dollar-holding methods.
The Stellar Development Foundation launched Hubble, a BigQuery-based analytics dataset offering complete historical records of the Stellar blockchain. Hubble enables complex data analysis without maintaining full history databases, supporting large-scale computing and historical applications previously difficult to implement.
Source of Tales releases early access for Windows, Linux, and Android, featuring Stellar wallet login via Albedo. Funded by Stellar Community Fund #10 grant from Stellar Development Foundation, it implements blockchain-based authentication using a custom Mana Stellar Bridge. Further Stellar integrations for character data storage are planned.
SEP-24 is a standardized API that enables anchors to offer hosted deposits and withdrawals directly within apps, eliminating the need for custom integrations and improving user access to on/off ramps for fiat and digital assets.
BP Ventures has launched three new open-source crypto wallets to facilitate company integration with the Stellar Blockchain. These include a white-label retail wallet supporting key SEPs, a compact command-line wallet, and documentation for Stellar Anchor integration. The initiative underscores BP Ventures' commitment to open blockchain networks.
MYKOBO recaps its 2022 journey, from inception inspired by remittance challenges to launching Version 2 on the Stellar blockchain with EURC stablecoin. Key achievements include over 400 users, 155K EUR traded volume, and integration with Stellar protocols like SEP-6, SEP-24, and SEP-31. The company anticipates 2023 expansions like EURC swaps, new payment corridors, IBAN services, and debit cards.
The Stellar Newsletter highlights recent ecosystem developments including Soroban smart contracts live on Futurenet with a $100M developer fund and Sorobanathon. It covers Meridian 2022 on-demand sessions, Stellar Quest Live Series 5, bridge bounty grants, and the new Anchor Platform. Additional updates include stablecoin launches, SDF investments in NetXD and Wave, and community fund discussions.
Stellar Development Foundation launched the Anchor Platform, a prepackaged API that enables businesses to connect to Stellar in three steps with reduced development time and cost. The platform simplifies fiat-to-digital asset integration for banks and money transfer operators.
YieldBlox, from the Script3 team, aims to address Stellar ecosystem challenges like poor capital efficiency and weak incentives by introducing money markets for lending and borrowing. It enables passive users to earn interest on deposits while active users leverage assets, boosting liquidity and productivity. Additionally, it provides fintech platforms with revenue models through yield delegation and staking incentives.