Stellar Development Foundation Q1 2021 in Review

In our 2021 roadmap, SDF outlined our vision for the year, as well as the specific and measurable objectives needed to accomplish it. The roadmap is guided by three strategic pillars: ensuring the robustness and usability of Stellar, being the blockchain people know and trust, and fostering sustainable use cases. Each pillar pushes us closer to our mission of creating equitable access to the financial system and towards growing the network in measurable and meaningful ways: growth of the number of entities building on the Stellar network, growth of relevant transaction volumes on Stellar, and growth of the number of people who know about Stellar.

In our Q1 report, we outline our team’s accomplishments, rooted in the three pillars and tracked against our roadmap objectives that support them. We’re happy to report that by all measures, SDF delivered a successful Q1. Highlights from the quarter include:

• Stellar USDC officially launched on the Stellar network! This marks a transformational partnership for Stellar and Circle, pairing the world’s fastest growing USD stablecoin with the world’s fastest moving network. Businesses and individual users are now able to leverage USDC while taking advantage of Stellar’s low cost, speed, and security features.
• SDF made three Enterprise Fund investments in Wyre, Cowrie Integrated Systems, and DSTOQ, for a total of $6.5 million in Q1 and exceeded its target of one investment per quarter.
• SDF’s Marketing team developed a new case study featuring DSTOQ, Stellar’s latest Enterprise Fund recipient. This case study highlights DSTOQ’s latest business results and features several customers speaking to how DSTOQ empowers them to attain financial freedom.
• The eight finalists of the first ever Stellar Community Seed Fund have been announced. We saw a record 58 projects submitted for consideration, with an impressive breadth and depth of use cases on Stellar. Congratulations to those who made it in the top eight, and thanks to all who have participated!
• Data demonstrated the maturity and robustness of the Stellar network. We have seen a Q1 YoY increase in total accounts (+11%), total payments (+160%), average daily DEX volume (+196%), and total operations processed (+100%). Not to mention, there was an 84% increase in relevant assets from Q1 2020 to Q1 2021, accounting for an astounding 29x the amount of on-network transaction volume for these relevant assets – assets tethered to a real financial instrument, like fiat or stocks.
• SDF released Horizon 2.0 in its efforts to ensure the robustness of the Stellar network. A major upgrade to Stellar’s public API, Horizon 2.0 brings performance and architecture benefits that make running Stellar’s infrastructure easier than ever, while giving deployers more flexibility to deploy Horizon.‍

‍Read the Q1 report to learn more about these highlights and other strategic achievements from this quarter. You can also watch the Q1-in-review webinar below, where Denelle Dixon, SDF CEO and Executive Director, was joined by Justin Rice, Head of Ecosystem, and Jordan Edelstein, Chief Marketing Officer, to cover growth metrics for the Stellar network and other highlights and accomplishments since the start of 2021.