The Blueprint Comes to Life

This year at Meridian, we gathered at the historic Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro, where Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation, opened the conference with a simple but powerful idea: “What’s built right is what’s built upon.”

That message took shape for this year’s theme, The Blueprint. It represents how every part of the Stellar ecosystem, from validators and core engineers to developers building real-world applications, works together to build in the open, strengthen the network’s infrastructure, and create the foundation for the next generation of finance.

That spirit of collaboration was on full display in Rio. Meridian has always been more than a conference. It's where innovation meets implementation and where builders and partners come together to shape what comes next for the network. This year, that connection was visible everywhere, from HackMeridian, our two-day hackathon, to mainstage announcements from PayPal, Ondo, and others helping to drive the network forward.

If you didn’t make it to Rio, we’ve got you covered. Watch every session from Meridian and read about the big moments below!

Denelle kicked things off

Denelle began day one of Meridian by welcoming the crowd of more than 1,200 attendees to Rio, and setting the stage for two days centered around how the Stellar ecosystem is laying The Blueprint for the future of finance. The Vice-Mayor, Eduardo Cavaliere, joined Denelle to discuss why he’s betting on blockchain to transform major cities like Rio in order to expand access and transparency in urban economies.

Denelle also introduced Meridian Pay, the first smart wallet built by SDF in partnership with Cheesecake Labs, bringing the Stellar network’s full capabilities together in a single experience. Designed for Meridian 2025, it served as a conference tool and a live demo of what’s possible on Stellar.

With Meridian Pay, every attendee became a participant in the network - collecting NFTs from sessions, unlocking hidden swag, and exploring interactive experiences throughout the Copacabana Palace. What started as a way to enhance the event doubled as a blueprint for builders and a glimpse into how smart wallets can turn engagement into real connection.

Mercado Bitcoin is tokenizing fixed income and equity

During a Lightning Talks session, Fabricio Tota, SVP of business development at Mercado Bitcoin announced that the largest digital asset platform in Latin America will be issuing $200 million of tokenized fixed income and equity financial instruments on the Stellar network.

On the partnership, SDF’s Chief Business Development Officer Raja Chakravorti said: “Mercado Bitcoin’s diverse array of permissioned, tokenized assets are a unique offering that will strengthen the Stellar network and bolster the network’s reputation as the preeminent blockchain for tokenized real-world assets.”

Tomer outlined the privacy roadmap

SDF’s Chief Product Officer, Tomer Weller, took to the Copacabana Stage to outline the roadmap for privacy on Stellar. Tomer explained that as traditional financial institutions continue to adopt blockchain technology, privacy is becoming increasingly important to bring everyday financial services onchain.

Stellar is poised to be the proving ground for real-world privacy and will achieve this through a strategy that prioritizes: supporting research and innovation, investing in core privacy infrastructure, and building open-source solutions. You can read Tomer’s full blog on privacy here.

Centrifuge is bringing deRWA to Stellar

The leading platform for tokenizing real-world assets, Centrifuge, announced the upcoming launch of deRWA on Stellar, beginning with deJTRSY, the DeFi version of the Janus Henderson Short-Term US Treasury strategy, and deJAAA, the DeFi AAA-rated CLO strategy.

These funds will premiere on the network with a $20 million anchor investment and will enable the distribution of institutional-grade yield through consumer-facing products in emerging markets. Centrifuge’s day-one partners on the network are Aquarius and Soroswap for 24/7 trading, Blend for lending and borrowing powered by deRWAs, and DeFindex for yield-backed savings products.

Ondo Finance launching USDY on Stellar

Then, Ondo Finance announced the launch of its yieldcoin, USDY, on the Stellar network. The integration enables global users on the Stellar network to access permissionless, high-quality, yield-bearing assets tied to tokenized U.S. Treasuries for the first time on Stellar.

MoneyGram stopped by to share what’s new

Anthony Soohoo, CEO of MoneyGram, sat down for a conversation with Sam Ewan, Head of CoinDesk Studios. During the conversation, Anthony announced the launch of MoneyGram’s next-generation app designed to offer a faster, safer, and more flexible experience, allowing users to send and receive funds instantaneously. Built exclusively on Stellar, this app will give users a USD-backed stored value account designed to work seamlessly with both traditional fiat currencies and stablecoins.

Stellar Meridian Town Hall and cocktail party

Day one wrapped with an SDF Town Hall, featuring Denelle, Tomer, Raja, as well as SDF’s Chief Legal & Policy Officer Candace Kelly. Together, the executive team shared what’s ahead for Stellar, from growth priorities to upcoming network developments, and invited the audience into the conversation, turning the session into a genuine exchange about the future of the ecosystem.

The day ended on a high note with a PayPal-hosted cocktail reception, where a live Brazilian band set the rhythm for the evening and anticipation for day 2.

Denelle rounded out two packed days of collaboration with her closing remarks, where openness took center stage. As we continue to lay the groundwork for a better financial system, Denelle emphasized the importance of keeping Web3 open, saying: “Every protocol that you build, make it interoperable. Every standard that you create, make it open. Every decision you make, ask whether it moves all of us forward and closer to openness, or further away from it.”

We also revealed the winners of the Stellar i³ hackathon, awarded to projects that are pushing the ecosystem forward. The community voted on four finalists in each category, and a panel of judges at Meridian chose the winners. Decaf, Etherfuse, and DeFindex took home the prizes (100,000 XLM each) for impact, innovation, and interoperability, respectively.

Denelle also announced the location for next year’s Meridian: Abu Dhabi. Much like Latin America, Web3 is seeing an explosion of growth in the Asian-Pacific region, making Abu Dhabi an ideal choice for our next Meridian.

After that rousing send-off, it was time to party. We threw a closing celebration complete with drinks and dancing. If you’re feeling FOMO, don’t worry. You can start planning your trip to Abu Dhabi now.. And watch everything you missed here!