Stellar discussions by the Public Node community

JoeShon "Joe" Monroe from A Stellar World Podcast brings Public Node's Weekly Wrap-Up of Stellar-related news.

In news this week, the Hack the System event started on the 25th of February 2021 and will last six weeks. 

The Stellar Development Foundation announced there will be a Women Building in Blockchain event on March 8th where Denelle Dixon will moderate a discussion among several high-profile women in blockchain.  The discussion will focus on their experience and hot to unlock financial inclusion for a truly global audience.

Finally, the Flare network announced that they will be integrating XLM as an F-Asset that will bring scalable smart contracts to XLM.
https://stellar.org/events/hack-the-system

Hack the System - Stellar Development Foundation

https://stellar.org/events/women-building-in-blockchain-unique-perspectives-on-developing-products-and-businesses

Women Building in Blockchain: Unique Perspectives on Developing Products and Businesses - Stellar Development Foundation

https://twitter.com/StellarOrg/status/1364999579821768705

Stellar on Twitter: "Next week, SDF's @andreatlo and Karen Chang will join the #WOCBlockchain delegation of industry leaders virtually heading to DC to talk to policymakers and regulators about small business and the cryptoeconomy. Sign up here to tune in: https://t.co/gXQF1l8M7d" / Twitter

https://twitter.com/FlareNetworks/status/1365052160531197954

Flare on Twitter: "Flare will be integrating $XLM as an F-Asset, bringing XLM to scalable smart contracts and a trustless gateway to #Stellar. Decentralisation is far too important for maximalism. Ecosystems must be united. @stellarorg #UnlockingValue" / Twitter

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JoeShon "Joe" Monroe from A Stellar World Podcast brings Public Node's Weekly Wrap-Up of Stellar-related news.

News this week includes an upcoming  Stellar-based Hack the System event where programmers can earn XLM prizes to complete certain Stellar-related challenges.   Stellar Lumens (XLM) Hack the System from February 25, 2021 to 10 Weeks Forward.

On February 16th 2021, iTrustCapital announced they now allow you to purchase Stellar lumens in a crypto IRA / 401k retirement account.  Stellar (XLM) is now available in your Crypto IRA / 401k Retirement Accounts.  On the same day, Trustee Wallet announced support for Stellar XLM in their multi cryptocurrency wallet.

On February 15th 2021,  Akoin, a Stellar-based project started by Akon, the musician and entrepreneur, sent a tweet that reiterated its project is built on Stellar.  Akoin stated that this model is great as it ensures high speed and low cost when transferring Akoin tokens.

On February 18th 2021, Grayscale reported that they have $29 million lumens under management.

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JoeShon "Joe" Monroe from A Stellar World Podcast brings Public Node's Weekly Wrap-Up of Stellar-related news. 

On Sunday Cointelegraph included Stellar Lumens in their top 5 currencies of the week. It also included BTC, DOT, LINK, and THETA.

On Tuesday Yahoo Finance reported that “Lightnet Expands Payout Services Across Southeast Asia Through Collaboration With MoneyGram”.  It goes on to say that “Lightnet…launched a collaboration with MoneyGram International, a global leader in cross-border P2P payments and money transfers.”

On Monday Denelle Dixon, the CEO of the Stellar Development Foundation, provided a report on how businesses are already using USDC and what this means for use cases on Stellar via Stellar Org’s Twitter account.

Grayscale Trust reported their Net Assets Under Management, Holdings per Share, and Market Price per Share for their Investment Products on February 8th.

Grayscale reports they have $22.5 million dollars in Stellar Lumens under management. With a 12.53 percent increase over a 24 hour period.

For more discussion on the current Stellar news of the week and price within the market please listen to A Stellar World Podcast on Anchor.fm and Spotify.

Links:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/top-5-cryptocurrencies-to-watch-this-week-btc-dot-link-xlm-theta

Top 5 cryptocurrencies to watch this week: BTC, DOT, LINK, XLM, THETA (cointelegraph.com)

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lightnet-expands-payout-services-across-030000996.html

Lightnet Expands Payout Services Across Southeast Asia Through Collaboration With MoneyGram (yahoo.com)

https://www.forbes.com/sites/benjessel/2020/01/15/lightnet-targets-moving-50bn-annually-in-international-payments-on-the-stellar-blockchain-network/?sh=6347ce5c2e36

Lightnet Targets Moving $50 Billion Of International Payments, Annually, On The Stellar Blockchain Network By 2022 (forbes.com)

https://twitter.com/StellarOrg/status/1358908280119132161?s=20

https://stellar.org/usdc

USDC (stellar.org)

https://twitter.com/Grayscale/status/1358894200910188545?s=20

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Brian and Daniel discuss their observations of cryptocurrency market prices.  Specifically, that they tend to go up and down together more often than they do not.  They then provide some explanations for why that might be, but also point out that it's still a bit unusual given how different many blockchain projects are from each other - like gold and shoes. 

Brian and Daniel then go on to explain how market prices reacted to the Security and Exchange Commission's (SEC) complaint against Ripple Labs., Inc, Bradley Garlinghouse, and Christian Larsen.   Understandably, the market saw the SEC's complaint as negative for XRP, but at first the market also appeared to believe it was negative news for XLM too.  Both Brian and Daniel found this a curious market response and attempt to break it down a bit. 

The discussion then leads to security law in the United States and what makes something a security.  They attempt to explain the Howey Test and the "family resemblance test" as laypeople and how they believe it may relate to Ripple, Stellar, and other digital assets.

• SEC Complaint against Ripple Labs, Inc., Bradley Garlinghouse, and Christian Larsen.  
• SEC Digital Asset Framework
• Digital Asset Transactions:  When Howey Met Gary (Plastic)

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FinClusive's mission is to bring secure, compliance-centered banking to the 2.5 to 3.5 billion people and businesses worldwide who are financially excluded or underserved.  FinClusive is using the open and inclusive Stellar network to deliver on this mission.

Sam Conner and Amit Sharma (CEO of FinClusive) discuss Amit's background and how the United States' response to the September 11th attack ultimately resulted in excluding both good and bad people from the world's financial system.   Amit further explains how these new regulations disproportionally impacted low income and other groups of people and businesses as banks evaluated the cost of compliance and made the commercial choice to "derisk" - i.e., not do business with certain segments of the economy.

Sam highlights Amit's statement that a quarter of the United States is either unbanked or underbanked - the plight of the unbanked or underbanked is not just a global poor phenomenon.

Amit then explains how FinClusive provides compliance as a service to lower the cost of compliance and expand the number of entities able to provide compliant financial services to people and businesses.   The podcast ends on use cases and a future vision for which leaves Sam nearly speechless.  

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Clic.World is creating an end-to-end community centric financial based eco-system in Africa using the open and inclusive Stellar network. 

Sam Conner and Andre van Zyl (co-founder of Clic.World) discuss Clic.World's six-year journey, from inception to big plans for 2021 - the year when Andre believes the handbrake will be released and everything is going to happen.  The discussion starts with a promise of sharing Uganda's Big Gorilla Coffee and a declaration from Andre that this coffee powers Clic and is not for amateurs. 

The discussion quickly moves to Africa and the need to bring technology that supports and makes more robust the African model of social banking rather than trying to force the monolithic banking model that works in other areas of the globe.  Andre explains his excitement when he first read the Bitcoin white paper and how he now believes Stellar built on that white paper and made possible a solution to the financial problems that Clic.World is working to solve.  

The podcast ends with recent successes with African regulators and an exciting roadmap with partnerships that put Clic at the financial crossroad for modernizing social banking across all of Africa.

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Brian and Daniel discuss the two exciting new features that went live on Stellar with the release of Stellar Core Protocol 15.  The features are claimable balances and sponsored reserves.  Brian and Daniel explain how these two features combine with the fee-bump feature that was released with Protocol 13 to provide developers the trifecta of tools needed to put the blockchain technology completely behind the scenes for users.

Brian and Daniel discuss how these new features can streamline the rewards token use case, including making it easier to track the amount of fish Brian buys at his local farmers' market.  The discussion leads to the purpose of the Stellar lumen and how it is a facilitator of a healthy and liquid Stellar network, but, as Protocol 15 emphasizes, the lumen never needed to be the star of the show. 

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Cowrie Exchange is a Nigerian based fiat to crypto gateway that provides a way to trade cryptos with local fiat currency in the region.

Sam Conner and Ladi Okorodudu, from the Cowrie Exchange, discuss what the Cowrie Exchange has done so far for Nigeria and how it plans to be the leading African payment network using Stellar.  The discussion begins with Ladi explaining the current state of Africa and the entrepreneurial spirit of Nigerians.  Ladi then highlights how the Cowrie Exchange integrates directly with the Nigerian banking system - allowing payment in NGNT, an asset backed digital token pegged to the Nigerian Naira, to cash payout of Naira at the local brick and mortar bank in 60 seconds. 

Ladi shares his experience with the people at the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), including a recent heartfelt outreach from the SDF's CEO Denelle Dixon. 

Ladi then provides insight into the Cowrie Exchange's decision to use the Stellar network as compared to Ethereum.  The discussion then moves to the End SARS movement where Ladi provides his perspective into that movement and the youth in Nigeria.  The podcast ends with big plans for the future with the Cowrie Exchange's planned expansion from Nigeria to several other countries in Africa.  
 

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Sam Conner and Tyler van der Hoeven from the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) discuss the current state of the Stellar Community Fund (SCF) and the robust launch of Stellar Quest.

The interview begins with Tyler in his parents' basement picking apples and planting pumpkins.  It ends with Tyler's palpable excitement around Stellar Quest.   Tyler explains how he found Stellar and how he ultimately got hired by the SDF.  Sam and Tyler discuss the difference between the Seed Fund and the Lab Fund that are community funds available to help provide financial rewards to people building on Stellar. 

The discussion ends on Stellar Quest and how participation has far exceeded Tyler's expectations.  Tyler explains his vision for Stellar Quest to be the catalyst that onboards the next wave of Stellar developers.  

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COINQVEST provides cryptocurrency payment processing so that a business can accept and settle payments in Bitcoin, Ethereum and Stellar Lumens while also keeping accountants and tax authorities happy.  COINQVEST, in conjunction with the Stellar blockchain technology, also allows the business to receive national currencies like EUR, USD or NGN regardless of whether their customers choose to pay in Bitcoin, Ethereum or Stellar Lumens.

Sam and Stefan (co-founder of COINQVEST) discuss the COINQVEST service and how it leverages the Stellar blockchain technology to provide digital cryptocurrency payment processing.  Stefan shares his appreciation for the funding received through the Stellar Community Fund (SCF) and how the SCF helps lengthen the runway for startups like COINQVEST.   He goes on to explain why COINQVEST chose the Stellar technology and provides a quick explanation of how Stellar's path-payment feature works.  The episode ends with an overview of how a shop owner can get started with COINQVEST to reach new customers and do so with plugins that work with the top e-commerce platforms - Wordpress, WooCommerce, Shopify, and Magento.  

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