2024 Year in Review

With 2024 in the rearview mirror, we at the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) are reflecting on what was another exciting and innovative year for the Stellar ecosystem.

This year, the SDF launched the Stellar smart contracts platform, opening up new possibilities for bringing everyday financial solutions on-chain. We continued to strengthen our partnerships with institutions like Franklin Templeton and forged new relationships with partners like Yellow Card and Paxos. And we collaborated in-person with builders at the annual Stellar Meridian conference.

Let’s take a look back at the year.

Smart contracts launched on Stellar

The Stellar smart contract platform Soroban went live on mainnet, enabling anyone to build, deploy, and interact with Stellar-based decentralized applications. Soroban offers a faster, cheaper, and more secure alternative to existing smart contract platforms.

We launched passkeys for a more seamless smart wallet interface

With the introduction of passkeys on Stellar, we made Web3 more accessible to a Web2 audience by providing them with a smart wallet onboarding experience that feels familiar. With passkeys, users can easily sign contracts and verify transactions using biometrics, eliminating the need for traditional two-factor authentication (2FA) and reducing the risk of data breaches.

First protocol crossed $10M in TVL

Blend, a modular liquidity protocol, reached an all-time high of $12M in TVL as of December 4, 2024. This growth is supported by key integrations with wallets like Meru, highlighting its expanding ecosystem and user adoption.

Protocol 21 and 22 network upgrades launched on Mainnet

Protocol 21 and 22 brought a lot of improvements to the Stellar ecosystem, including passkey signing capabilities, flexible contract management, efficient contract initialization, advanced cryptography support, lower costs, and higher performance.

Franklin Templeton’s Benji investment platform reached all-time supply high

Franklin Templeton’s Benji investment platform, built on Stellar, reached an all-time supply high of roughly $450 million.

GYEN and ZUSD were listed on Bitstamp

This collaboration between GMO-Z.com Trust Company and Bitstamp allows users to seamlessly trade GYEN and ZUSD on Bitstamp, providing a trusted and more secure entrance to interact with digital assets on the Stellar network.

New integrations with on the Stellar network were announced

• Paxos, the leading blockchain infrastructure and tokenization platform, announced plans to bring assets to the Stellar network to facilitate the institutional adoption of stablecoins.
• Taurus-PROTECT, a custody platform, and Taurus-Capital, a digital issuance and tokenization platform, integrated with Stellar, enabling banks and issuers to issue and process any tokenized asset via the Stellar network.

Yellow Card, the largest and only licensed stablecoin on/off-ramp on the African continent, introduced USDC on Stellar. With this integration, users on the Yellow Card app can now send USDC on the Stellar network, offering game-changing convenience to 20 African Countries.

Stellar launched on Dune and Artemis

Stellar is now live on Dune, the crypto ecosystem’s top on-chain data platform, reinforcing our commitment to offering the tools and insights that the ecosystem needs to build with ease. Artemis, another on-chain data platform for crypto, marked Stellar’s second third-party analytics launch of the year. This launch furthers SDF’s mission to create equitable access to the global financial system through blockchain technology.

Security provider Blockaid joined the ecosystem

Blockaid, the on-chain security platform trusted by projects like Coinbase and Metamask, will now help protect user interfaces like Lobstr. Blockaid also provides tools to monitor, detect, understand, and respond to on-chain threats.

SDF and the UNHCR celebrated the two-year anniversary of Stellar Aid Assist

For two years, Stellar Aid Assist has been revolutionizing blockchain-based humanitarian aid delivery, empowering refugees with direct access to digital financial aid. The UNHCR uses Aid Assist to provide financial assistance to internally displaced persons (IDPs) and other war-affected people in Ukraine. Building on the success in Ukraine, UNHCR expanded the use of Stellar Aid Assist to Argentina enhancing aid disbursement and grants for refugee entrepreneurs while safeguarding value and mitigating local currency devaluation.

The German government (GIZ) successfully piloted the Stellar Disbursement Platform (SDP)

GIZ, the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM), and Digibank successfully leveraged SDP to support payroll for hospital workers in Syria, off-ramping through a network of vetted hawalas (bills of exchanges). As a result of this initiative, GIZ and UOSSM noted at least 25% savings in HR time to process payments and 100% satisfaction from participants.

Draper University launched two new accelerator programs

Draper launched two programs targeting startup funds in both early and high-growth stages to bolster the adoption of the Stellar network and Stellar smart contract capabilities. Draper is committed to fostering the next generation of blockchain pioneers.

The Stellar ecosystem came together at Meridian

More than 700 members of the Stellar ecosystem came together for three days in London, U.K. where we celebrated builders’ impact and envisioned what’s next on the path to transforming everyday financial services.

More than $17.4 million in lumens was awarded to the Stellar community

Through the Stellar Community Fund, projects can apply for funding to take their initiatives to the next level. In 2024, more than 200 projects received funding to expand and build new features.

We can’t wait to see the projects, releases, and collaboration that’s to come in the new year.