Stellar news

BVNK has added Stellar network support to its stablecoin payments platform, enabling business payments across 130+ markets via its existing API. The integration allows customers to use Stellar for cross-border payments, payouts, remittances, and treasury transfers without separate blockchain connections. Stellar's XLM rose 2.7% to $0.2135 following the announcement. The move follows Mastercard's acquisition of BVNK in August, valued at up to $1.8 billion, and U.S. Bank's pilot of its USBDC stablecoin on Stellar. BVNK reported $55.6 billion in transaction volume in 2025. The integration adds another commercial use case for Stellar, though actual payment volume and XLM demand impact remain unconfirmed.

Mastercard-owned BVNK has integrated the Stellar blockchain into its stablecoin payments platform, allowing business clients to move stablecoins over the network via a single API. The integration adds another blockchain rail for cross-border payments, merchant payouts, and treasury disbursements, and is now live for all BVNK enterprise customers across more than 130 countries. Stellar processed $55.6 billion in payment volume in 2025, according to BVNK and the Stellar Development Foundation. BVNK says its platform processes about $39 billion in annualized volume and abstracts the technical complexity of connecting to individual blockchains. Stellar Development Foundation CEO Denelle Dixon touted the network's decade-long track record for institutional-grade transfers and settlement.

Stellar activated Protocol 28 on Sept. 17, introducing atomic contract-fleet upgrades (CAP-85), sparse-map data migration functions (CAP-86), and new consensus tooling (CAP-83). The upgrade coincided with a record sustained throughput of 211 transactions per second, though the network notes this milestone predates the full rollout of parallel transaction-set downloading. The upgrade comes as Stellar supports roughly $3.3 billion in tokenized real-world assets, ranking it third among blockchains, with stablecoin supply near $884 million and DeFi TVL around $294 million. Adoption remains optional for Soroban developers, and validator consensus changes are being gradually enabled, making the protocol's real-world impact dependent on whether major issuers and applications opt in.

XRP and XLM rose over 8% on September 14 as traders positioned ahead of a critical Senate vote on the CLARITY Act, which aims to classify certain digital assets as commodities. The bill, if passed, would reduce legal uncertainty for payment networks like XRP and Stellar, which recently completed a U.S. Bank stablecoin pilot. A cloture vote is set for September 15 at 2:15 p.m. ET, requiring 60 votes to advance. With Republicans holding 53 seats, bipartisan support is needed. Unresolved disputes over ethics rules, developer liability, and stablecoin yields complicate passage, and prediction markets put odds at 30% or lower. Failure would likely delay legislation to 2027.

U.S. Bank has completed a live cross-border payment pilot using its proprietary USBDC stablecoin on the Stellar blockchain. The transaction moved value between the bank's own entities in North America and Europe, making it an internal intercompany test rather than a customer-facing service. The bank did not disclose the amount transferred, a timeline for customer access, or a commercial rollout date. The pilot tested minting, redemption, freezing and clawback functions, with the transaction integrated into the bank's core finance, risk, compliance and operations systems. U.S. Bank said the test validated the connection between its internally developed Digital Asset Platform and traditional banking infrastructure. The Stellar Development Foundation noted the network's issuer-control features supported the test. Both organizations are exploring other institutional applications, including liquidity management, collateral mobility and cross-border treasury operations, though these are not yet committed products. USBDC currently stands as evidence of a working institutional pilot, with the next key signal being whether U.S. Bank expands the token beyond intercompany transfers or sets a client-use timetable.

U.S. Bank has completed a live cross-border payment using its proprietary dollar-backed stablecoin, USBDC, on the Stellar public blockchain. The transaction moved value between the bank's North American and European entities, testing its Digital Asset Platform's minting, redemption, freezing, and clawback functions while integrating with its finance, risk, and compliance systems. The pilot, announced on Sept. 9, demonstrated technical and operational capabilities rather than a commercial rollout. U.S. Bank did not disclose the transaction amount, settlement time, reserve structure, or any plans for public access to USBDC, distinguishing it from widely circulating stablecoins like USDC and USDT. The bank is now exploring potential uses in liquidity management, collateral mobility, and cross-border treasury operations.

U.S. Bank, the fifth-largest U.S. commercial bank, has completed a live cross-border payment using its proprietary USBDC stablecoin on the Stellar blockchain. The pilot moved funds between its entities in North America and Europe, testing minting, redemption, freezing, and clawback functions while integrating with its existing risk and compliance systems. The bank said the transaction validated its internally developed Digital Asset Platform. The pilot builds on U.S. Bank's push into digital assets, following its October 2025 creation of a dedicated digital assets and money movement unit. The bank has been testing custom stablecoin issuance on Stellar since November 2025 with PwC and the Stellar Development Foundation. This move comes as major financial institutions, including Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, and UBS, have announced plans to form a company to issue stablecoins, with a dollar-denominated token targeted for the first half of 2027. Fidelity also launched its Fidelity Digital Dollar in February.

US Bank has completed a live pilot of its proprietary USBDC stablecoin, executing real-time cross-border payments between its North American and European divisions on the Stellar blockchain on September 9. The test, one of the first by a major American bank for a dollar-backed stablecoin on a public blockchain, covered minting, payment execution, redemption, freezing, and clawback functionality. The pilot builds on a November 2025 collaboration with the Stellar Development Foundation and PwC. CEO Gunjan Kedia emphasized its role in accelerating global cash management. US Bank, the fifth-largest U.S. bank, plans future uses including 24/7 payments, liquidity management, and collateral mobility. Its choice of public blockchain infrastructure contrasts with JPMorgan's permissioned Kinexys platform, signaling that regulated institutions can operate on open networks.

The value of tokenized real-world assets (RWA) on the Stellar network has surged about 360% in 2026 to nearly $4 billion, up from $868.8 million at the end of last year, according to Dune Analytics data. As of Aug. 29, the market cap stood at $3.996 billion, concentrated among issuers like Spiko, Realiz, Tradable, Franklin Templeton and Ondo. Stellar has also gained ground in non-US government debt, holding about $490 million in tokenized assets such as Mexican CETES and Brazilian bonds. The growth is driven by deepening institutional adoption. The DTCC plans to connect its tokenization service to Stellar, with DTC-tokenized assets expected in the first half of 2027. Tokenization platform Tradable announced plans to bring up to $1 billion in private credit assets to the network, and MoneyGram launched its MGUSD stablecoin on Stellar in June. Despite the RWA expansion, XLM is down about 11% year to date, trading near $0.18.

Stellar's tokenized real-world asset (RWA) market surged from about $785 million in January to over $3 billion by July, driven by products like Spiko's U.S. Treasury fund ($536 million) and Ondo's USDY ($533 million). However, only roughly $2 million has entered RWA-enabled lending pools on Blend, reflecting a stark gap between issuance and DeFi usage. RedStone's report highlights that continuous, reliable pricing, facilitated by the SEP-40 standard, is essential for RWAs to serve as collateral. The DTCC plans to add tokenized assets to Stellar in 2027, potentially expanding the pipeline, though the $114 trillion figure represents custody assets, not the value moving onchain.