Stellar's Progress: Smart Contracts, MoneyGram, and the Remittance Ecosystem

Over the past 30 days, Stellar's native token, $XLM, has experienced remarkable growth, surging by over 100%. While much of this growth can be attributed to the overall bullish sentiment in the cryptocurrency market, positive developments within the Stellar ecosystem have also played a significant role.

Earlier this year, Stellar introduced Soroban Smart Contracts, a significant upgrade addressing one of the ecosystem’s major criticisms—the lack of smart contract functionality. This milestone has already begun to yield tangible results, as developer interest in the platform has steadily increased since the launch. Currently, the number of smart contracts deployed on Stellar ranges from 1 to 100 daily, demonstrating consistent activity.

 In tandem with the rise of the $XLM token, November saw a notable surge in engagement with Stellar’s ecosystem. The number of daily smart contract calls increased dramatically, from several thousand to over 10,000 per day. While it remains challenging to assess the quality of these smart contracts at this stage, we are already witnessing the emergence of decentralized exchanges (DEXs) on Stellar—a promising sign of an evolving DeFi ecosystem.

These developments suggest that Stellar's strategic decision to implement smart contracts is bearing fruit. The ecosystem is beginning to reap the benefits, evidenced by a resurgence in community interest and activity. DeFi on Stellar is poised to complement its long-standing focus on remittances and money transfer solutions.

Stellar’s efforts in the remittance sector have also been making headlines. For instance, Felix Pago, a WhatsApp-based remittance service that leverages Stellar’s blockchain, recently secured $15 million in Series A funding to expand its operations in Latin America and the U.S. The service utilizes Stellar’s low-cost blockchain to send USDC to Bitso, a leading crypto exchange in Mexico, where it is converted into Mexican pesos.

In addition, Stellar continues to deepen its integration with MoneyGram, a traditional money transfer company in which Stellar has invested. Recently, MoneyGram and Stellar partnered with Chipper Cash, a money transfer platform with approximately 5 million users. Chipper Cash customers can now seamlessly deposit and withdraw funds in real time via MoneyGram agents, powered by the Stellar network.

Both MoneyGram and Stellar have collaborated with CEX.io to enable global crypto-to-cash conversions. Through Stellar’s technology, which is known for tokenizing traditional currencies, CEX.io can now offer fiat-to-USDC and USDC-to-fiat services at MoneyGram’s participating locations.

These advancements, coupled with the introduction of smart contracts and a bullish market environment, have placed Stellar firmly back in the game. The ecosystem is on a promising trajectory, demonstrating its ability to adapt and innovate. The question now is how Stellar will build on this momentum to solidify its position in both the DeFi and remittance sectors.