Stellar Ecosystem
News

Balanced's Q1 2025 update details major cross-chain expansions including support for Stellar, Polygon, and others, with launches of cross-chain Savings Rate, liquidity pools, and rewards. The project announces a transition to SODAX as part of ICON's shift to a DeFi platform, with PARROT9 taking ownership. Financials show $50k in fees earned, alongside governance and enshrinement progress.

MoneyGram launched MoneyGram Ramps, a developer-centric API enabling fast, compliant cash-to-crypto and crypto-to-cash integration powered by Stellar blockchain and Circle's USDC. The solution reduces deployment time from months to minutes and provides access to MoneyGram's global network across 30+ countries for deposits and 170+ for withdrawals.

This article provides a comprehensive overview of the Stellar blockchain ecosystem, highlighting its key statistics, use cases like cross-border payments, microtransactions, CBDCs, and aid distribution, and unique features such as the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP). It emphasizes Stellar's focus on low-cost, fast transactions for financial inclusion and DeFi innovation. The ecosystem boasts $62.24M TVL, 200 TPS, and partnerships with entities like MoneyGram and IBM.

CompoSecure's Arculus cold storage wallet integrated with MoneyGram to enable cash-to-USDC conversion on Stellar, allowing users to deposit cash at 440,000+ MoneyGram locations worldwide and withdraw local currency. CompoSecure also received an SDF grant to develop Soroban smart contracts for direct stablecoin payments at Visa/Mastercard merchants.

Tala launched a crypto wallet pilot on Stellar's blockchain to deliver stablecoins for financial inclusion in emerging markets, particularly Latin America. The wallet emphasizes self-custody, low transaction costs, and interoperability, enabling affordable credit, remittances, and digital payments for the unbanked. Stablecoins provide stability, speed, and accessibility over traditional banking.

Decaf rebuilt its wallet and payments platform from the ground up to scale stablecoin-powered financial services across 200+ countries. The rebuild adds faster onboarding, zero-fee transactions, Visa card integration, and DeFi access on Stellar and Solana. Decaf aims to impact 1M lives and save $1B+ in banking fees in 2025.

Researchers uncovered critical vulnerabilities in browser wallets including Stellar Freighter, enabling attackers to silently steal recovery phrases and drain funds just by visiting a malicious site, without user interaction. Detailed exploits in Stellar Freighter, Frontier, and Coin98 wallets were reported and fixed with bounties. These flaws highlight risks in wallet architecture and the need for robust security.

An article advocating for Stellar's adoption by the U.S. government for efficient aid disbursement and public sector payments, highlighting the Stellar Disbursement Platform's proven track record with UNHCR and other organizations.

The Stellar Community Fund (SCF) #34 round awarded $1,717,287 worth of XLM to 17 innovative projects building on the Stellar blockchain. Projects span DeFi, payments, developer tools, gaming, and infrastructure, showcasing Stellar's growing ecosystem for serious builders. Highlights include Greep Pay for stablecoin POS, NebulaVRF for on-chain randomness, and DappRadar for Soroban tracking.

This article explains composability in DeFi and blockchain development using a hot rod analogy, detailing how different protocols and smart contracts can integrate seamlessly on Stellar to create more powerful financial systems. It covers DeFi building blocks, composability benefits, TVL growth, and practical considerations for building composable projects on Stellar.

This article highlights how Stellar’s Disbursement Platform (SDP) and Decaf Wallet solve challenges in humanitarian aid payments by enabling instant, transparent USDC transfers across borders. It contrasts these blockchain solutions with costly, fraud-prone traditional methods like cash delivery and prepaid cards. A step-by-step guide demonstrates easy setup and cash-out via MoneyGram in 180+ countries.

Pelago Labs announced its integration with Stellar to build a crypto-enabled supply chain financing platform that tokenizes account receivables and provides working capital to suppliers through USDC settlements on Stellar.

COCA, a non-custodial stablecoin payments app with over 1 million users, secured strategic funding from the Stellar Development Foundation and FunFair Ventures to accelerate growth and deepen integration with Stellar's ecosystem, including MoneyGram remittances and Soroban smart contracts.

COCA, a stablecoin payments platform, has secured strategic investment from the Stellar Development Foundation and FunFair Ventures. The funding will accelerate COCA's expansion within the Stellar ecosystem, enabling seamless stablecoin payments through non-custodial debit cards and IBANs to over 80 million merchants worldwide.

Blend V2 is launching with audits wrapping up soon. The migration allows lenders, borrowers, and backstoppers to move to V2 at their own pace while V1 remains operational, with key improvements including flash loan support, expanded pool parameters, and better liquidation mechanics.

The Stellar Development Foundation highlights how tokenization and blockchain technology are already improving financial access for vulnerable populations, from UN refugee aid payments to protection against hyperinflation in countries like Argentina.

The Stellar Development Foundation announced the winners of a global challenge that received over 250 submissions from 20+ countries. The top three visionary ideas include The Crypto Oracle's education funding platform, José Toscano's biometric crypto wallet, and 8 other finalists spanning payments, real estate tokenization, carbon credits, and more.

The Stellar Foundation released its 2025 roadmap with three primary objectives: achieving $1.5 billion TVL and top-ten DeFi status, reaching 5 million monthly active addresses, and scaling Real World Assets to $3 billion while maintaining its second-place position in the RWA category.

Stellar Quest is a gamified platform for learning Stellar blockchain through interactive missions, from wallet setup to advanced transactions. Users cover topics like creating accounts, payments, trustlines, DEX offers, and path payments. It includes live Twitch streams and opportunities to win exclusive swag.

PaltaLabs won the Best Oracle-Based Smart Contract Award at the 2nd Reflector Dev Contest for Trustless Portfolio Manager, an automated DeFi portfolio rebalancing tool built on Soroban that combines Reflector price feeds, DeFindex vaults, and Soroswap AMM functionality.

Hana Wallet introduces the Hana Card, a multi-chain virtual debit card for spending crypto from non-custodial wallets anywhere Mastercard is accepted. It supports top-ups with ETH, AVAX, XLM and more, integrating seamlessly with Apple Pay and Google Pay. Launching first in Australia via partnership with Immersve, with global pre-registration open.