DeFi, payments, tokenization, Soroban, governance, and project launches — curated daily from publications, project blogs, and community channels across the Stellar blockchain ecosystem.
COCA delivered major Q2 growth with 74% increase in monthly active users, 101% growth in card holders, and 199% increase in card transaction volume. The platform launched ETH staking, COCA cashback rewards, and new integrations including Ramp and Uniswap listings.
The Stellar Community Fund (SCF) #36 round received 53 submissions and awarded $2,088,654 worth of XLM to 23 innovative projects. Funded initiatives span stablecoin payments, DeFi infrastructure, cross-border remittances, compliance tools, and Soroban smart contract enhancements. Highlights include Stables, Splyce Finance, and Uniblock, showcasing the ecosystem's growing sophistication.
human.tech integrates privacy-preserving identity tools like Human ID, Human Passport, and Human Wallet with the Stellar blockchain to verify humans, simplify onboarding, and enable compliance. These zero-knowledge proof-based solutions address identity gaps for the unbanked, enhancing Stellar's applications in remittances, humanitarian aid, and tokenized assets. Supported by Stellar's Community Fund, the tools are now live and rolling out progressively.
The Stellar Development Foundation showcased 'Stable Summer' at ETHCC in Cannes, highlighting real-world stablecoin use cases including payroll in crisis zones, cash-in/cash-out flows, and institutional adoption. Key themes emphasized infrastructure, interoperability, trust-based design, and B2B payments over speculation.
Stellar and BAF concluded a Latin American hackathon with 136 hackers from 6 countries building 27 projects. Winners included Pacto (P2P stablecoin exchange), Kredible (decentralized reputation protocol), Stellar Onboarding Hub (gamified onboarding dApp), and GoLazy (challenge rewards platform).
Trustless Work participated in Casa Builders CDMX, a Stellar-hosted hackathon in Mexico focusing on financial inclusion, digital identity, and public good transparency. Their team built Pacto, a decentralized P2P stablecoin ramp using Trustless Work's programmable escrow, and won the event. The hackathon united Latin American builders, with strong Costa Rican representation.
Keyrails, a stablecoin-based operating system for cross-border payments in emerging markets, has selected Dfns to power its wallet infrastructure. The platform supports stablecoins across multiple blockchains including Stellar, enabling programmable treasuries, fast settlements, and compliance. This partnership enhances security and scalability for high-value transactions in regions like Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Tellus Cooperative announces a July lineup of free virtual events focused on fintech, blockchain, and AI for Latin America, featuring Stellar Quest workshops and spotlights on projects like TuCambio, A0X, and Skipo. Participants can learn Stellar basics, join discussions with innovators, and win official Stellar Chile merchandise through live raffles. The events aim to build a collaborative Web3 ecosystem in the region.
Airtm, Bridge, and Stellar blockchain have integrated to enable fast, low-cost stablecoin payouts for global freelancers and gig workers. Nearly half of Airtm's stablecoin payouts now use Stellar, processing over 1.2 million transactions across seven continents since March 2024. This partnership leverages Stellar's anchor network for seamless fiat on-ramps and off-ramps, revolutionizing cross-border payroll.
This article highlights Stellar blockchain's role in revolutionizing remittances, cooperative fund management, and financial inclusion in Latin America. It showcases apps like Tempo, Vibrant, and LOBSTR enabling instant transfers, transparent records, and bankless access. Stellar is positioned as a leader in practical blockchain adoption.
Range announces a partnership with Peersyst to bring its cross-chain monitoring, security, and intelligence tools to the XRPL EVM sidechain launching in 2025. XRPL EVM introduces Ethereum-compatible smart contracts to the XRP ecosystem while preserving XRPL's speed and low costs, enabling DeFi, staking, and interoperability via IBC, Axelar, and Wormhole. Range will provide day-one support including its Cross-Chain Explorer, Monitoring and Alerts, and Trail forensic tool.
Trustless Work is participating in OnlyDust OS Wave #1 from June 26 to July 6, offering high-impact tasks for contributors preparing for mainnet launch. Tasks include escrow viewer refactors, wallet analytics, smart contract optimizations, passkey integration, and backoffice enhancements on the Stellar blockchain. Contributors can join via OnlyDust to work on real smart contracts, UI features, and dev tools for the stablecoin economy.
Stellar released its 2025 developer roadmap, featuring upgrades to Lab 3.0/4.0 developer tools, Protocol 23 targeting 5,000 TPS, and enterprise payment features to position the network as a major DeFi and institutional blockchain.
PayPal announced plans to bring PayPal USD (PYUSD) stablecoin to the Stellar network pending regulatory approval, expanding PYUSD beyond Ethereum and Solana. The move aims to leverage Stellar's speed, low costs, and extensive on/off-ramp infrastructure to enable fast cross-border payments, financial inclusion, and emerging payment financing solutions.
MoneyGram has reached $30 million in transaction volume through its crypto-to-cash service on Stellar, operating in over 170 countries. The partnership demonstrates real-world blockchain adoption for financial inclusion, enabling users to convert stablecoins to local currency and facilitating humanitarian aid distribution.
The Stellar Community Fund Kickstart #11, held in March 2025, was a five-day virtual program that accelerated 13 blockchain startups from 9 countries through design sprints focused on MVP development, UX, architecture, GTM, and SCF submissions. All participants received Kickstart Awards, with standout projects like XHIBIT, Vaquita, WYT Network, Peridot Finance, and Dobprotocol recognized for their innovation on the Stellar ecosystem. Participants praised the program's organization and mentorship.
Stellar is advancing its blockchain with a public roadmap emphasizing scalability, usability, and developer tools like Soroban optimizations, Freighter wallet, AI assistants Stella and Contract Copilot, and integrations with OpenZeppelin. It powers real-world assets with $522 million on-chain and $17 billion in volume across 70 countries. The ecosystem offers robust support via the Stellar Community Fund and production-ready infrastructure.
The Stellar Q2 testnet will reset on June 18 at 17:00 UTC, wiping all contracts, assets, accounts, and data. Simultaneously, Trustless Work v2.0 will launch on the main branch with major upgrades including multi-release escrows, API changes, and new escrow logic. Developers should prepare for breaking changes with upcoming guides and documentation.
Trustless Work has launched a live demo dApp at demo.trustlesswork.com, a testnet-ready reference implementation for integrating escrow flows using Stellar wallets. It serves as a teaching tool, playground, and launchpad for developers to explore escrow roles, milestone payments, and configurations. The open-source repo and NPM SDK enable quick integration from testnet to mainnet.
This guide introduces Trustless Work, an escrow infrastructure on the Stellar blockchain, and provides step-by-step instructions for deploying a smart escrow on the Stellar testnet using a demo app. Users connect their Stellar wallet, configure details like financial setup, roles, and milestones, then deploy and interact with the escrow. It highlights ease of use without SDKs and offers bonus tools for integration.
The Stellar Community Fund (SCF) #35 round received 77 submissions and awarded $1,840,348 worth of XLM to 21 innovative projects. Funded initiatives span payments, DeFi, cross-chain infrastructure, wallets, and developer tools on the Stellar network. Highlights include AirGap's secure cold wallet, Wirex Pay's Visa-supported payment solution, and Cobo's institutional custody integration.
Blend is a DeFi protocol primitive on Stellar that enables users to create customizable lending pools for depositing assets to earn interest or borrowing against collateral. The article explains Blend's core components including isolated pools, backstop modules, BLND tokens, and its integration with applications like the SCF-funded Meru wallet to expand financial inclusion.
Tellus Coop explains why to learn blockchain with them, emphasizing a Latin American, collective approach with real projects. They highlight practical benefits like digital governance and decentralized projects. Stellar is chosen for its efficiency, financial focus, and active ecosystem, where Tellus contributes with open-source tools.
Hana Wallet now supports Sonic's native token S on both mobile and desktop versions. Users can send, receive, and view S token balances alongside other chains like Stellar. Token swaps for Sonic via Sodax integration are coming soon.