Welcome to the Stellar Overview. In this edition, we look at BVNK’s integration with Stellar, Pods Finance’s collaboration with Pix to deepen payment services across Brazil, and a recent network upgrade for faster transaction processing.
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By the numbers
Total value locked: $264.8M (+14.5%)
Stablecoin market cap: $441.1M (+5.6%)
Stablecoin 30d transfer volume: $10.42B (+15%)
RWA distributed value: $3.36B (+2.8%)
RWA holders: 22,481 (+9.5%)
Lifetime network uptime: 99.99%
The percentages and metrics are calculated from its change over a 14-day time frame, unless noted otherwise.
A Big Move We’re Watching: BVNK integrates Stellar into its stablecoin payments platform
BVNK, acquired by Mastercard in August, has integrated Stellar into its payments platform, enabling the network to be used for international transfers, payments and treasury management.
This integration will allow BVNK’s customers to use Stellar, in addition to Ethereum and Solana. BVNK's platform, which Mastercard is connecting to its card and banking network, is used by companies like Worldpay, Deel, Rapyd and Flywire to make stablecoin payments.
The move gives Stellar indirect exposure to Mastercard's push to connect stablecoins with traditional payments, putting the network one step closer to the banks, fintechs and businesses that already rely on the credit card issuer’s infrastructure.
Exploring Stellar’s institutional side
Pods Finance, a Brazilian crypto infrastructure company, is connecting Stellar with Pix, an instant payments system run by Brazil's central bank.
Wallets, fintechs and digital banks can let their users convert Brazilian reais into assets on Stellar, giving users a direct way to fund crypto accounts from their existing bank or payment apps without having to go through a crypto exchange.
OpenZeppelin published an article about confidential stablecoins on Stellar, and how the platform is built using an open-source confidential token. This design lets them hide balances and transfer amounts behind zero-knowledge proofs while keeping account addresses visible so issuers can retain account-level controls.
Raja Chakravorti, chief business officer at Stellar Development Foundation, spoke on the Talking Tokens and RedStone podcasts about the network’s RWA growth, and why institutions and enterprises are choosing to tokenize assets now.
Diving into Stellar’s ecosystem
Stellar deployed its Adapter mainnet upgrade on September 16, which mainly focused on making apps easier to build and maintain. The upgrade includes:
Faster agreement on each new batch of transactions, which lets the systems running the network keep working when transaction data is slow to arrive.
One-step updates for apps that run many copies of the same code, so updates, patches and fixes reach every copy at once.
A standard way for developers to change how an app stores its data after launch, such as adding or removing a field.
The Stellar Community Fund awarded about $4.1M worth of XLM tokens to 40 projects as part of its 45th ecosystem grant round.
Funded projects span real estate and auto loan tokenization; stablecoin banking for users in Africa and South Asia; cross-border payment apps; and tools that let AI agents pay for online services.
Lock in to the ecosystem
Check out the latest job postings on the Stellar Development Foundation.
Until next time!
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This information is for entertainment purposes only. It should not be considered financial advice, nor should it be used to make investment decisions. Cryptocurrencies are high risk and you should consult a financial professional before making any financial decisions. Make sure you do your own research.