Stellar (XLM): Notable Partnerships and Future Projects

Stellar Network Improves Global Financial Infrastructure 

While information technology has advanced significantly in the past few decades, today’s financial system has not caught up. The global financial system remains slow, expensive, and in many ways inequitable; these inefficiencies are some of the main barriers to entry for the 1.7 billion unbanked adults worldwide and for millions of small and medium-sized businesses in emerging markets.

Similar to how the internet allowed instantaneous access to information and content from all over the world, blockchain has the ability to empower marginalized communities to access, engage, and benefit from the financial system. Imagine a world where you can carry, spend, or send digital currency no matter the geographical location of your bank or where the recipient is located. Even better, imagine doing all of that without even having to rely on a specific bank. Stellar represents an opportunity to make international payments more efficient and specifically optimized to work with local gateways to create a borderless payment infrastructure. By dealing with digital tokens of value rather than fiat currencies or other tangible stores of value, the Stellar blockchain frees users from the latency that typically accompanies international transactions and conversion rates. And, by removing the cost and inconvenience of traditional money transfers, Stellar’s platform creates access and opens the door to financial inclusion for so many who are marginalized today.

An important opportunity exists for developers who look to issue digital assets and build applications that take advantage of a public distributed ledger to allow for greater financial inclusion. With extensive documentation, tools, and resource libraries available, Stellar supports both small, independent projects and enterprise-level applications aiming to create more accessible financial tools. These tools focus on improving the speed, affordability, and overall ease of transactions for all users — including those without access to traditional banking solutions — and contribute to a more equitable future.

Ecosystem Development via the Stellar Foundation

The Stellar network is constantly growing and changing because of those who build and support it. The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) shepherds the codebase for Stellar as well as the broader Stellar network ecosystem, and seeks to connect the world’s financial system by making money more fluid, markets more open, and people more empowered. Numerous organizations are devoting significant resources to foster technical and business communities in the Stellar ecosystem, and establish relationships with regulators and institutions worldwide with the aim of creating a brighter financial future for all. All of this work is done to grow the Stellar network.

Businesses, entrepreneurs, and developers are able to leverage Stellar’s decentralized, open-source network to expand the reach of their companies’ financial services. For this reason, several notable businesses have adopted the use of Stellar’s blockchain.

The Centre Consortium and Stellar USDC

Centre Consortium, a collaboration between Circle and Coinbase, developed and issued the Stellar USD Coin (USDC), a stablecoin fully backed by reserve assets and redeemable on a 1:1 basis for U.S. dollars. Due to this stablecoin’s liquidity, strong reputation, and volume in the network, Stellar USDC allows developers and businesses to start integrating into their own Stellar-based products and services. Businesses like FinClusive, Wyre, and Stably not only integrate USDC into their own offerings, but plan to become USDC anchors on the Stellar blockchain network. With the addition of on/off ramps for Stellar USDC, more users around the world are able to hold, transfer, and trade it just like any other asset on the network.

What does a world look like when people can use Stellar USDC easily? FinTech company Tala and Visa announced a partnership exploring opportunities to make it easier for underbanked consumers to convert, store, and use digital assets. Leveraging Stellar and USDC, Tala’s digital wallet will enable secure and stable storage of their money, fast and affordable cross-border payments, and easy exchange into other digital currencies or local fiat. Individuals who are underbanked can also use Visa cards linked to their Tala wallets, spending against their USDC balance at any of the 70 million merchants that accept Visa worldwide. Increasing the utility of a dollar digital currency, for the people who need it the most, brings the world closer to true financial inclusion.

Cross-Border Investing with DSTOQ

DSTOQ is another example of an application that was built on Stellar. DSTOQ is a FinTech company that tokenizes and issues digital assets representing U.S.-grade securities on the Stellar network. Cross-border investing is costly and time-consuming for those in emerging markets. To overcome these obstacles and traditional intermediaries, DSTOQ built a retail user app to make investing accessible, affordable, and readily available. Anyone with a mobile phone can purchase and own a U.S.-grade security from anywhere in the world and gain access to DSTOQ’s services through their financial institution.

Stellar Blockchain: Cross-Border Payments for the Unbanked

Simply put, Stellar is working towards a future where everyday people can send money anywhere affordably and quickly through an open-source network. Whether reducing the cost of cross-border payments or empowering developers to expand to new geographies, Stellar creates frictionless access to the global financial system and improves access for the world’s unbanked. Concerted efforts to include more of the population in the financial system will bring about a world where more people have access to financial tools to build a better life for themselves and their communities.