Stellar Development Foundation Q3 2023 in Review

Nearing the end of 2023, and the Stellar Development Foundation made significant strides on its roadmap to further its strategy: utility is the growth exponent. To that end, SDF delivered on the three building blocks: make innovation easy and scalable, win over builders, and focus on utility to build trust.

Our Q3 report outlines what SDF has accomplished, measured against the three building blocks. Highlights include:

• Soroban inches ever closer to launching on Mainnet, with the smart contracts platform now live on Testnet and the validator vote for the Protocol 20 upgrade approaching early 2024.
• Soroban is built with security in mind. To further augment the platform and its cutting-edge formal verification capabilities, SDF and industry-leading security firm Certora have announced security support for Soroban.
• The Anchor Platform, designed to simplify integration to the Stellar network, added a second 'standard' for on and off-ramping. This enhancement makes it easier for businesses to connect to the Stellar blockchain and offer their services through various digital wallets.
• The Stellar Asset Sandbox, a testing ground for exploring asset tokenization on the Stellar network, also received new features courtesy of Cheesecake Labs. These include role-based access control, expanded token management, treasury management, and custodial solutions. It will also support Soroban, enabling users to test DeFi applications powered by smart contracts on the Soroban testnet.
• Fintech companies can now integrate the Wallet SDK to build network-enabled wallets without requiring in-depth blockchain expertise.
• The Stellar Disbursement Platform is now open-source, with multiple wallet apps making use of the platform.
• SDP also welcomed its first third-party host, Zodia Custody. Third-party hosts enable organizations that don’t want to support the technical requirements of the SDP to use the Platform to quickly send bulk disbursements to thousands of recipients at once.
• Circle’s EURC stablecoin is now live on the Stellar network. Like USDC, EURC is a fiat-backed stablecoin and always redeemable 1:1 for euro under a full-reserve model. At launch, the Stellar network is the third chain on which EURC is now available.
• MoneyGram International announced plans to launch their own non-custodial digital wallet on the Stellar network. The wallet, which will officially debut in Q1 2024, will enable consumers around the world to leverage stablecoin technology to seamlessly move from fiat to digital currency, to fiat again — all with the same global brand they trust.
• There are over 100 projects on the Soroban project directory, and over 40 Soroban projects demoed at Meridian. Soroban Adoption Fund programs such as the Stellar Community Fund, RPCiege, and Sorobanathon continue strong and provide new opportunities to get engaged with the ecosystem. Join the Stellar Developers Discord today to learn more!
• A refreshed brand and messaging better highlight what SDF and the Stellar ecosystem are all about – that Stellar is focused on blockchain’s real world utility. With the new tagline “Where Blockchain Meets the Real World” and updated visuals and feel to reflect the vibrancy of the Stellar ecosystem and the people they serve, this marks a new era for Stellar.
• At the end of September, SDF and the Stellar ecosystem gathered in Madrid, Spain for Meridian 2023. The theme of the event, "Unlocking Human Potential," set the stage for a series of electrifying talks and discussions. Attendees left the conference eager to empower people to meet their potential in real, tangible ways.
• SDF also engaged in new research on financial inclusion. Developed by PwC US with input from SDF, a new whitepaper and framework, titled “Enhancing the social handprint of financial service providers: Using blockchain to foster financial inclusion,” offers important insights into how to measure the impact of digital financial services on increasing financial access and inclusion.

‍Read the Q3 report to learn more about these highlights and other strategic achievements from this quarter. You can also watch the Q3-in-review webinar below, where Denelle Dixon (SDF CEO and Executive Director) was joined by Jason Chlipala (COO) and Candace Kelly (Chief Legal Officer) to cover growth metrics for the Stellar network and other highlights and accomplishments from the third quarter of 2023.