Stellar Ecosystem
News

The Stellar Community Fund (SCF) #37 round awarded $1,861,405 worth of XLM to 19 innovative projects building on the Stellar blockchain. Projects span DeFi protocols, privacy solutions, real-world assets, wallets, and developer tools. Out of 76 submissions, 43 were first-time applicants, showcasing the vibrant Stellar ecosystem.

Trustless Work launches Vibe Coding, a new documentation section that provides AI-ready prompts and global context for developers to build escrow-powered applications using AI tools like GPT-5 and Claude. The guide includes step-by-step workflows, coding standards, and verification checklists to ensure production-ready code.

Certora Prover Version 8.1.0 introduces breaking changes including minimum Java 19 and Python 3.9 requirements, default sanity checks, updated requireInvariant semantics, and dedicated commands for Solana and Soroban verifications. New features include CVL formatter, re-routing summaries, transient storage hooks, and Foundry remappings support. Users must review specs and workflows before upgrading.

Templar Protocol, a decentralized lending platform, published its roadmap for expanding Cypher Lending across multiple blockchains. Starting with Bitcoin and Ethereum in Q2 2025, the protocol plans to add Stellar, Solana, Cardano, and dozens more chains through 2026, with privacy features and chain abstraction.

An educational guide on using Blend, a permissionless lending protocol on Stellar, to transfer funds between accounts while avoiding cryptocurrency exchange rate volatility by borrowing XLM as collateral.

This article argues that USD Coin (USDC) is the best stablecoin to hold in 2025 due to its transparency, regulatory compliance, multi-chain availability including Stellar, and growing adoption in emerging markets. It contrasts USDC with alternatives like USDT and DAI, highlighting risks in less transparent or volatile stablecoins. USDC's institutional support and real-world utility in remittances and DeFi make it a standout choice.

Protocol 23 introduces CAP-67 events that can emit data for both new and historical ledgers. Operators must enable two new core flags—EMIT_CLASSIC_EVENTS and BACKFILL_STELLAR_ASSET_EVENTS—to build a complete unified events feed covering classic operations and Soroban transactions.

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.

Pacto is a non-custodial, decentralized peer-to-peer exchange for Stellar-based stablecoins, built in 48 hours at the Casa Builder Hackathon using Trustless Work. It enables merchants and users to trade stablecoins for local fiat via on-chain smart escrow contracts without intermediaries. The open-source project supports community ramps, merchant off-ramps, and DAO payouts.

A developer shares her firsthand experience winning a track at Casa Builder México 2025 hackathon, building a Stellar/Soroban smart contract project with a mixed Web2/Web3 team despite having no prior Rust or Stellar experience. She details the technical stack, timeline, challenges, and key lessons learned about participating in hackathons.

Balanced protocol is transitioning post-merger with ICON into SODAX on Sonic, with PARROT9 taking over the app. They've added Stellar support for intent-based trades, fixed bugs, and supported Stellar campaigns. Q3 plans include money market demos, full intent trades, and shipping Balanced v2.

The Stellar Development Foundation outlines its 2025 scalability roadmap to increase Stellar Core's theoretical throughput to 5000 TPS through five key initiatives: Protocol 23 with multi-threaded smart contract execution, increased parallelism in Core, decoupling consensus from execution, aggressive caching for state loads, and improved benchmarking frameworks.

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.

Trustless Work participated in the Stellar Hackathon in Mexico City, hosted by the Blockchain Acceleration Foundation. Builders from five countries, including a dozen from Costa Rica, focused on accelerating stablecoin adoption in Latin America through workshops and mentorship on escrow-enabled flows. The event highlighted Latin America's growing role in programmable finance.

Yugo Cabrio and Changmin Cho completed Milestone #1 of the UltraHonk Verifier for Soroban project, delivering a pure Rust implementation of the UltraHonk proof verifier that enables Noir/Barretenberg proofs to be verified on Stellar Soroban. After discovering incompatibility with the Taceo-labs extraction approach, they implemented the verifier from scratch in Rust with full CI/CD integration.

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.

Dobprotocol is a Web3 platform combining AI, tokenization, and blockchain to enable the 'Economy of Machines,' where physical devices like EV chargers and autonomous scooters become tokenized, income-generating assets. Selected for the Stellar Community Fund's SCF Kickstart program, it offers transparent, fractional ownership and real-time monitoring of machine performance. Founders highlight the program's role in strategic alignment and rapid development.

Trustless Work has released a major update introducing two escrow contract types: Single-Release for one-shot payouts and Multi-Release for milestone-based payments. The API has been restructured with type-scoped endpoints, and a new React library is available in beta. Upgraded Backoffice and Demo dApps provide enhanced UX and examples for developers building on Stellar.

The U.S. GENIUS Act has passed the House, providing regulatory clarity for USD-pegged stablecoins and enabling compliant innovation. This is a major boost for builders on Stellar, especially with USDC and new entrants like PYUSD. It unlocks opportunities in LATAM remittances and programmable payments via infrastructure like Trustless Work.

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.