Stellar Ecosystem
News

Novatti launched the Novatti AUD Utility Token on Stellar Network, a one-to-one AUD-backed stablecoin. As the first AUD anchor on Stellar, Novatti enables instant AUD payments and settlements with access to global foreign exchange via the Stellar Network.

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.

The 7th Stellar Build Challenge concluded with 107 submissions and 3.52M lumens in total awards. StellarGuard and dotnet-stellar-sdk contributions won top honors, with 53 projects receiving recognition across multiple categories including wallets, SDKs, tutorials, and trading applications.

IBM has launched Blockchain World Wire, a cross-border payment solution built on Stellar that reduces costs and speeds up international transactions by converting currencies to digital assets through the World Wire API.

IBM Blockchain World Wire, built on Stellar's protocol, launched as a near-real-time cross-border payments system. The platform uses digital assets to bridge fiat currencies and promises faster settlement with reduced transaction costs for financial institutions.

Celsius Network, a crypto lending platform, partnered with Lightyear.io to offer borrowing and lending services for Stellar-based projects and ICOs. Celsius will add Stellar Lumens support to its wallet and enable interest-earning on Stellar tokens.

A developer created 'stcli', a simple, single-file Python REPL command-line wallet for Stellar-based assets like ETH, BTC, and EURT. It emphasizes code transparency, ease of review, and support for testing Stellar remittance functions including federation and compliance. The wallet addresses gaps in existing options by being Linux CLI-friendly and fully auditable.

IBM and Stronghold launched Stronghold USD, a dollar-backed stablecoin on Stellar, enabling businesses and asset managers to conduct faster, cheaper cross-border payments and foreign exchange settlements.

The article explores Stellar's federation system for human-readable addresses like anthony*tempo.eu.com, which simplifies payments compared to raw public keys. It discusses QR codes, URIs similar to Bitcoin's bip 0021, and compatibility among Stellar wallets like Lobstr and Papaya. Smart anchors like Flutterwave integrate federation for bank account validation.

Kik launched a crypto-economy allowing users to earn and spend Kin tokens through the Kin Marketplace Beta. Users can earn Kin by completing quizzes, tutorials, and polls, then spend it on premium app themes. Kin operates on its own blockchain forked from Stellar, enabling zero-fee transactions.

Stellar is reportedly in talks to acquire Chain.com, an enterprise blockchain company founded in 2014 that has raised $40m and worked on token infrastructure for major financial institutions.

Stellar Build Challenge 7 launches with two submission routes: contributing to open-source Stellar projects or building one of four new cornerstone apps (quorum explorer, trade bot maker, social trading, peer-to-peer wallet). Submissions open June 1st with awards based on merit.

Kik's Kin Foundation announced it will fork Stellar to create its own blockchain for the Kin token, eliminating transaction fees entirely to enable micropayments. The move trades some decentralization for zero-cost transactions, using federated nodes run by ecosystem partners rather than Stellar's validator model.

The 6th Stellar Build Challenge concluded with record submissions and a 5x prize pool increase to 2.7M XLM. Winners include Soneso's iOS SDK, Stellarport.io exchange, and Python SDK documentation improvements, with 113 total projects receiving awards.

IBM is expanding cryptocurrency adoption beyond Stellar, meeting with 20 central banks to explore blockchain-based digital currencies and tokenizing assets like securities, commodities, and utilities across enterprises.

Kik announced its kin token will operate on both Ethereum and Stellar blockchains simultaneously using atomic swaps. Stellar will handle transactions with faster confirmation times and lower fees, while Ethereum maintains liquidity, allowing the messaging app to scale its cryptocurrency payments system.

Stellar Development Foundation released a formal specification for adopting Lightning Network technology to improve transaction scalability. The roadmap targets testnet launch by April 1 and production implementation by autumn, addressing demands from partners like Kik and IBM.

Stellar Development Foundation invested in Keybase, a cryptography startup co-founded by OKCupid creators, to build person-to-person cryptocurrency payments using Stellar's lumens blockchain with near-zero fees.

Mobius Network raised $39 million in an ICO on Stellar, hitting its hard cap in just two hours. The startup chose Stellar over Ethereum due to speed, cost, and security concerns, positioning itself to make crypto integration easy for traditional tech companies.

Stellar's 2017 year-in-review highlights 128 merged pull requests, smart contract functionality, IBM partnership with 12 currency corridors, and growing ICO adoption including Mobius and Smartlands. The foundation emphasizes that Stellar's proven performance metrics (1000 ops/sec, 4.96s settlement) position it as a leading global payment protocol.