ChainCatcher news, according to VentureBeat, Stellar has launched the smart contract platform Soroban, and the Stellar Foundation has initiated a $100 million ecosystem incentive program to encourage developers to create applications for its platform.Previously, Stellar was only used for processing cryptocurrency payments, and the launch of Soroban allows developers to create blockchain applications on-chain. Soroban will conclude its two-year testing phase in January 2024.

ChainCatcher news, according to the official blog, Stellar announced plans to introduce smart contract functionality in its upgrade, which will be rolled out in phases in the first half of 2024.Validators on the Stellar network will vote on the upgrade on January 30. To ensure a high-quality experience for developers at launch, Stellar will evaluate experimental contract deployments and communicate with developers when the smart contract platform (referred to as Soroban) reaches user-available transaction processing levels per second.

ChainCatcher news, Airswift announced that it has received the Stellar Community Fund (SCF) award to support the product development of its on-chain supply chain finance platform, releasing liquidity for global suppliers. The Stellar Community Fund is a community-driven reward program aimed at promoting the development of projects based on Stellar and Soroban. Airswift's supply chain finance platform is built on the Stellar native smart contract platform Soroban and will utilize a combination of accounts receivable tokenization technology and decentralized payment liquidity pools to help small and medium-sized suppliers obtain the necessary funds before buyer payments, while assisting buyers in optimizing their capital usage.It is reported that Airswift is a fintech company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, founded in 2022, providing crypto payment solutions for businesses and consumers worldwide. It offers services such as decentralized payment protocols and on-chain supply chain finance platforms to connect businesses with cryptocurrency consumers. (Source link)

ChainCatcher news, the Stellar Development Foundation has launched a $10 million incentive program for Soroban through the Stellar Community Fund. Soroban is a new smart contract platform built for Stellar, and this incentive program aims to support developers in trying to build applications based on Soroban, including tools, DeFi, DApps, and educational resources focused on Soroban.Previously reported, the smart contract platform Soroban announced in October 2022 that it received $100 million from the Stellar Development Foundation for development on the Stellar network. Soroban will allocate funds to developers creating tools and products for the Soroban ecosystem through incentive programs such as Sorobanathon: First Light. (Source link)

ChainCatcher news, Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), released an end-of-year review. Important achievements for Stellar this year include: processing 1 billion network operations over two quarters, launching the digital wallet deposit and withdrawal service MoneyGram Access in partnership with MoneyGram, and investing a total of $24.725 million in 8 Stellar ecosystem companies, among others.In addition, the smart contract network Soroban launched by Stellar this year has gone live with the incentivized testnet Futurenet and is set to launch on the Stellar mainnet in mid-2023. SDF is working on the Stellar 2023 roadmap, which will continue to energize Stellar Quest and the Stellar community. (Source link)