What Meridian 2025 Really Told Us About the Future of Money : Session 1 - 11

What Meridian 2025 Really Told Us About the Future of Money : Session 1 - 11

What Meridian 2025 Really Told Us About the Future of Money : Session 1 - 11


Stellar Meridian 2025 in Rio was not a conference about slogans and speculative tokens. It was a preview of how ๐ฉ๐š๐ฒ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ, ๐ข๐๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ, ๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ฅ-๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ ๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ž๐ญ๐ฌ are quietly being rebuilt on open rails.

Across keynotes, fireside chats, and lightning talks, a clear pattern emerged:

  • Stablecoins are no longer experiments - they are infrastructure

  • LATAM and Africa are not edge markets - they are the blueprint

  • Regulation is finally catching up, and in some cases leading

  • Open systems only win if they are private, compliant, and boring enough to run trillions

Below are the biggest signals we took home from Meridian 2025 - and what they mean for the next decade of digital money.

1. Open Infrastructure Only Matters When Real Applications Run On It

Session: Opening keynote - Denelle Dixon, Stellar Development Foundation

Denelle Dixon opened Meridian with a simple idea: if the early internet connected computers, ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€.

Her core point was not about features - it was about design principles. The open web worked because it was built on shared standards like TCP/IP. The new financial web will depend on similar openness: protocols that anyone can build on, audit, and extend.

Dixonโ€™s blueprint for Stellar is pragmatic:

  • Keep the network ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ฏ๐˜† ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ป, not just by narrative

  • Bake ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ด๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ into the infrastructure

  • Focus on ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜€ - remittances, merchant payments, small businesses, aid

Stellarโ€™s 99.99 % uptime record and the launch of ๐— ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐˜†, a production smart wallet used live at the event, were not presented as shiny demos. They were examples of what it looks like when infrastructure is actually ready for people, banks, and fintechs to depend on.

Infrastructure only matters when real applications run on top of it.

2. Brazil Is Not Just a Fintech Story - It Is a Policy and Infrastructure Blueprint

Session: Fireside chat with Roberto Campos Neto (MoneyGram / Nubank)

Brazilโ€™s instant payment system ๐—ฃ๐—ถ๐˜… has become one of the strongest real world proofs that ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—น๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐˜† ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ.

Roberto Campos Neto, former president of Brazilโ€™s Central Bank and now Vice Chair & Global Head of Policy at ๐—ก๐˜‚๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ธ, reminded the room that Pix was not built to disrupt banks. It was built to ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—น๐˜‚๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฒ.

  • Millions of accounts were opened because of Pix

  • Banks still made money

  • A new payment habit emerged almost overnight

The system was designed to be ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฒ, ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ, which is why it now powers merchant payments, cash withdrawals at stores, and more. Nubankโ€™s next step is to bridge ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ป - where users can hold digital dollars or reais in one app and move between rails without needing to understand the underlying tech.

The lesson is clear: when regulators, fintechs and infrastructure work together, you do not get a crypto experiment - you get a new default for how money moves.

3. The Road To Institutional Adoption Runs Through Privacy

Session: The Roadmap for Privacy on Stellar - Tomer Weller

In traditional finance, privacy is assumed. On public chains, openness is the default.

Tomer Weller, Chief Product Officer at SDF, laid out a path where ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐˜† ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฟ.

Three principles stand out:

  1. ๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐˜† ๐—ฏ๐˜† ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐˜‚๐—น๐˜ - Stellar remains verifiable and open, with privacy as an opt-in feature at the application layer

  2. ๐—™๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ถ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ - developers decide which flows are private and where selective disclosure is needed

  3. ๐—–๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐˜† ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ป - privacy tools must still allow auditors and regulators to see what they need to see

Under the hood, this means investment in ๐˜‡๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ผ-๐—ธ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜„๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ด๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด (๐—ญ๐—ž ๐——๐—ฆ๐—Ÿ๐˜€, ๐—ญ๐—ž๐—ฉ๐— ๐˜€) and confidential token standards that can hide balances and amounts while preserving provable integrity.

For institutions, this is the missing bridge: the ability to use public rails while preserving commercial confidentiality and regulatory comfort.

4. Real World Assets Are Turning Blockchain From Speculation Into Infrastructure

Session: The RWA Revolution - Liz Ray, Graham Nelson, Lucas Viegas

By 2030, tokenized ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—น-๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜€ (๐—ฅ๐—ช๐—”๐˜€) are projected to unlock a market well beyond 30 billion dollars. The more important point from the panel was this: ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ณ๐˜ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐˜† ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ.

  • Asset managers and banks are tokenizing ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€, ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—ณ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ๐˜€, ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜€

  • Onchain capital is actively hunting for ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ด๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ, ๐˜†๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฑ-๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐˜€

  • Institutional players want access to that liquidity - without reinventing their entire stack

Three themes dominated the conversation:

  • ๐—ฌ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป is pushing treasuries and stable yield products onchain

  • ๐—Ÿ๐—ถ๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป is real - there is meaningful capital now living on public chains

  • ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† lets cash flows, covenants and compliance be automated instead of paper-based

As one panelist put it: an asset is an asset and credit is credit. What changes is ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ธ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜๐—น๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ, and that is exactly what blockchain is reshaping.

5. Identity Is Not a Feature - It Is the First Layer of Inclusion

Session: Restoring Dignity Through Digital Identity - Colin Walsh, Civitas ID

For hundreds of millions of displaced and undocumented people, the barrier to financial access is not a lack of apps - it is the lack of ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ด๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐˜๐˜†.

Colin Walsh, founder of ๐—–๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐—œ๐—— and board director at MoneyGram, framed digital identity not as a technology play, but as a ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—บ.

  • Displacement could affect 1 in 8 people by 2050

  • In many regions, registering as a refugee or securing formal ID can take ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜€

  • Without identity, people cannot access jobs, healthcare, housing or finance

Civitas ID is building ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ, ๐—ต๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ป-๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† that moves with people across borders. On Stellar, that identity can connect to wallets, banks, and aid agencies - with strong privacy protections and do-no-harm principles.

The message was simple: before you talk about credit or yield, you need to give people a way to prove they exist.

6. Yield, Local Currency, and Inclusion Are Converging

Session: Lightning Talks - Ondo Finance, Etherfuse, Kredete

Three short talks captured a big shift in how yield and inclusion are being rebuilt onchain.

  • ๐—ข๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ผ ๐—™๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ launched ๐—จ๐—ฆ๐——๐—ฌ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฟ - a tokenized U.S. Treasury fund that turns stablecoins into ๐˜†๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜€, bringing regulated, onchain yield closer to everyday users and platforms

  • ๐—˜๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ณ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ presented ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—•๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐˜€ - interest-bearing, local-currency assets backed by national treasuries like CETES (Mexico) or Tesouro (Brazil). The thesis: people should not have to touch USD to earn yield in their own country

  • ๐—ž๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฒ reframed Africaโ€™s story: from M-Pesaโ€™s 300+ billion dollar yearly volume to Nigeriaโ€™s NIBSS processing over a quadrillion Naira, the regions with the least money often move it the fastest. Kredete turns remittances into ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜-๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐˜€, helping people build financial history from the flows they already rely on

Taken together, these talks showed that the next phase of DeFi is not about new tokens, but about ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜„ ๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—น๐˜€ - yield-bearing stablecoins, sovereign onchain bonds, and cross-border credit systems that work where traditional rails are too slow or too expensive.

7. Cash, Stablecoins, and Global Families On Their Own Terms

Session: Money on Their Terms - Anthony Soohoo, MoneyGram

Anthony Soohoo, CEO of ๐— ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜†๐—š๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—บ, described a product roadmap built on a simple idea: people should be able to move money ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ฟ ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ป ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—บ๐˜€, whether that means cash, digital dollars or both.

MoneyGram has already built the largest ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ต ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐˜†๐—ฝ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ผ๐—ป/๐—ผ๐—ณ๐—ณ ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฟ. Now it is layering a ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜„ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ฝ, launching first in Colombia:

  • Hold ๐—จ๐—ฆ๐——๐—– ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฟ without needing to understand crypto

  • Send and receive funds instantly

  • Cash in or out through MoneyGramโ€™s global network when needed

  • Stay informed via channels people already use, like WhatsApp

Underneath is a new ๐—ฅ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐˜€ ๐—”๐—ฃ๐—œ, opening MoneyGramโ€™s reach - 200+ countries, 20,000 corridors, 500,000 locations - to developers and fintechs.

The bigger story is that a long trusted brand in remittances is now using stablecoins as a ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—น, not a marketing play. For many families, this is how blockchain will arrive: quietly, wrapped in an experience that feels familiar and safe.

8. DTCC Is Turning Tokenization From Pilot Into Plumbing

Session: Operationalizing Blockchain in Banking - Nadine Chakar, DTCC Digital Assets

DTCC settles nearly ๐Ÿฐ ๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜€ in trades every year. When an institution like that takes blockchain seriously, it matters.

Nadine Chakar described how DTCC is moving from exploration to ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜‡๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป:

  • Acquiring Securrency and building ๐——๐—ง๐—–๐—– ๐——๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—”๐˜€๐˜€๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜€

  • Running real experiments like the ๐—š๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—˜๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜, where collateral that once took weeks to move could be transferred and reused within minutes using tokenized assets, stablecoins and synthetic CBDCs

  • Designing an architecture that is open, compliant, and resilient enough to support institutional scale

Her framing was blunt: the technology and regulation are finally in place. What is needed now is ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ฒ, ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ.

The impact for banks and market infrastructure providers is straightforward - this is not a side bet anymore. Tokenization is being wired directly into the core.

9. Regulation Is Converging - But Not Uniformly

Session: Around the World - Hot Topics in Regional Crypto Regulation

A panel on regulation across the ๐—จ๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜€, ๐—•๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜‡๐—ถ๐—น ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ก๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฎ made one thing clear: the age of pure โ€œregulation by enforcementโ€ is fading.

In the U.S., the ๐—š๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜‚๐˜€ ๐—”๐—ฐ๐˜ provides a long awaited federal framework for ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜†๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜€ - with requirements for 100 % backing, audited reserves and banking style oversight. It is a major step toward clarity, even if yield-bearing models remain under heavier scrutiny.

Brazil is pushing hard as well:

  • The Central Bank is set to regulate virtual asset service providers

  • Multiple public consultations are already complete

  • Legislation under discussion aims to ensure the Central Bank can regulate stablecoins even when they pay yield - avoiding regulatory overlap

Nigeria and other African markets are leaning into sandboxes and pragmatic oversight while dealing with very real demand for FX, remittance, and savings solutions.

The lesson for builders and institutions is not to wait for some perfect global standard. It is to recognise that ๐—ฐ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐˜, and those who build there early will set the pattern.

10. Payments, Compliance and RWAs - Built in Five Minute Lightning Bursts

Session: Lightning Talks - Arculus, PwC US, AlfredPay, Mercado Bitcoin

A second Lightning block brought four different but connected stories.

  • ๐—”๐—ฟ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐—น๐˜‚๐˜€ showed ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฝ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜† ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜†๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐˜€ on Stellar that look and feel like a normal card transaction, powered by a secure hardware card and onchain USDC

  • ๐—ฃ๐˜„๐—– ๐—จ๐—ฆ highlighted that enterprise blockchain challenges are less about tech and more about translating ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—น๐˜€, ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ธ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€ into this new environment

  • ๐—”๐—น๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐˜† outlined an API layer that is quietly wiring up ๐—Ÿ๐—”๐—ง๐—”๐—  ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜€ with Stellar stablecoins, Pix, QR payments, virtual accounts and a USC Visa card, already used by over a million users

  • ๐— ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ผ ๐—•๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ถ๐—ป announced plans to issue ๐Ÿญ ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—•๐—ฅ๐—Ÿ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ฅ๐—ช๐—”๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฟ, building on a track record of 450+ issuances and more than 1.5 billion BRL tokenized private credit

The throughline was not theory. It was ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป - merchants paying, users transacting, credit flowing, and institutions getting cheaper financing via tokenized structures.

11. What Enterprise Grade Really Looks Like On Stellar

Session: Scaling the Rails - Jose Fernandez da Ponte, SDF

Jose Fernandez da Ponte, now President and Chief Growth Officer at SDF, tied many of these threads together.

From his time at PayPal, he has seen the shift in conversation firsthand:

  • Institutions are no longer asking ๐—ถ๐—ณ digital assets matter

  • They are asking ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐˜†, ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ด๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ธ ๐—ถ๐˜€, and ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜†

His framework for ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ boils down to three things:

  1. ๐—จ๐—ฝ๐˜๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† - Stellarโ€™s decade of 99.99 % uptime is not a trivia fact, it is a precondition for handling billions in flows

  2. ๐—–๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—น ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐˜€ - trustlines, deterministic fees, and account level controls make it easier to map real world regulation into onchain logic

  3. ๐—•๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป - protect decentralization and openness while allowing layers like Soroban smart contracts and privacy tooling to push the network forward

He also stressed that ๐—Ÿ๐—”๐—ง๐—”๐—  ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ ๐—ฎ ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ - it is where many of the most advanced payment systems in the world are already live.

The goal from here is straightforward: make Stellar the place where ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€, ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ can meet in the middle - with enough stability to trust and enough innovation to matter.

Closing Thoughts

Across identity, RWAs, payments, regulation and infrastructure, Meridian 2025 made one thing very clear:

  • Stablecoins and tokenized assets are shifting from narrative to ๐—ฝ๐—น๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด

  • The most interesting work is happening in ๐—•๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜‡๐—ถ๐—น, ๐—”๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ, ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜€๐—ผ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ด๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜€

  • Institutions are no longer just โ€œmonitoring the spaceโ€ - they are deploying

  • Open, compliant and reliable rails will quietly define who wins the next decade

At BP Ventures, we sit at the intersection of this shift - helping institutions, fintechs and builders move from exploration to execution with ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜€, ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น๐˜€, ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ built on Stellar.

If you are exploring how any of this fits into your roadmap - from cross border flows and disbursements to stablecoin issuance, RWAs or enterprise integration - we would be happy to talk.

Book a call: calendly.com/jpbpventures

โœ‰๏ธ Email: sales@bpventures.us