Stellar pushes utility focus for network growth
Stellar’s Meridian 2026 conference opened in Lisbon on Wednesday, focusing on how financial institutions use its public blockchain. The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) argued the network’s next phase should be defined by utility, measured in payments volume and tokenized assets used as collateral, not just held in wallets.
SDF Pushes for a Utility Era
The SDF calls the network’s next phase a “utility era.” An SDF post by Chief Product Officer Tomer Weller suggests reconsidering Stellar’s tokenomics. He asks if a rewards mechanism funded from the network’s existing fee pool could boost utility.
SDF’s yardstick is real-world use. President and Chief Growth Officer José Fernández da Ponte stated this year’s priorities are increasing payments and stablecoin volume, plus using more tokenized assets as collateral for lending, margin, and repos. He said a tokenized money market fund in a wallet is “good but it’s not great.”
Project Thruput Aims for Speed
The SDF is testing a faster way to run Stellar called Project Thruput. It allows many transactions to be processed at once, letting the network handle more payments by adding computers. There is no per-transaction fee. When busy, accounts holding more XLM get more capacity.
The preview is running on FutureNet, Stellar’s test network. The SDF says one validator reached 7.02 million payments per second on eight machines. This figure covers one part of the system, and no one outside SDF has replicated it.
Institutions Showcase Real-World Applications
Announcements at the event show institutions building on the network. Securitize added Stellar to its supported chains, which include Ethereum, Solana, and Avalanche. Its CEO, Carlos Domingo, noted Stellar has the fourth-largest tokenized real-world asset ecosystem.
Janus Henderson and Centrifuge announced JQQQ on October 27. This is a Nasdaq-100 tracking fund licensed for non-U.S. professional investors, with a minimum of about $100,000. It uses Stellar as its only chain at launch, though subscriptions are not yet open.
Archax launched €GOVY, a euro version of its tokenized T-bill product. It also joined Pontoro on a pool pairing money market assets with private-fund interests. An SEC filing lists a $200,000 minimum. The SDF has invested in both Archax and Pontoro.
French fintech Spiko manages $3 billion in tokenized cash funds on Stellar, mostly overnight money market funds. CEO Paul-Adrien Hyppolite says about 90 percent of the assets belong to companies, nonprofits, VC funds, and public institutions, and the funds’ holder counts show up in public on-chain data. “Many treasurers, CFOs we speak with really like the fact that our funds are not black boxes,” he said.
U.S. Bank issued a dollar-backed token, USBDC, on Stellar. It used the token in September to move value between its North American and European entities.
What Banks Consider Before Building
Hyppolite warned that fear of missing out is pushing some institutions to launch products just because others have. “I would not do that,” he said. “Distribution first.”
Fernández da Ponte said institutions weigh three factors when choosing a network: its design for financial services, the depth of its developer and customer ecosystem, and its stance toward regulators. “If you work in financial services, you need to love your regulator,” he said.
Key Advice for Financial Institutions
Executives advised banks and asset managers to know their product buyers before building on a public network. They also emphasized choosing a network that works with regulators.
Thursday’s Sessions Address Open Questions
Thursday’s schedule includes sessions to answer questions from the first day. At 10:05 AM, Jamie Walker of U.S. Bank will discuss the bank’s stablecoin pilot. At 11:15 AM, Centrifuge and Janus Henderson will cover JQQQ subscriptions and U.S. investor access. The closing session at 5:10 PM will feature a special announcement.
