What shipped
Welcome to your November 2025 blockchain update! This week, several exciting developments have taken place across major blockchain projects, especially those focusing on payment solutions and smart contract technology.
First, the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) published a detailed post-mortem report addressing a recent state archival issue. This shows their commitment to transparency and continuous improvement of their network’s reliability.
In addition, Stellar has joined a new Blockchain Payments Consortium as a founding member. This consortium aims to enhance blockchain payment systems by encouraging collaboration among industry leaders.
On the broader ecosystem side, Chainlink shared several interesting updates around their SmartCon 2025 event, including new product releases and tools to help developers build more efficient decentralized applications (dApps). Notably, Chainlink introduced Confidential Compute, a technology designed to enable private smart contracts across different blockchains — an important step for privacy-focused applications.
Finally, some exciting market news: the firm behind the first U.S. spot XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) recently filed for a new MOG Fund, signaling growing institutional interest in Ripple’s XRP token.
Why it matters
Understanding why these updates are relevant can help you grasp the bigger picture of blockchain’s evolution:
- Stellar’s archival fix: Blockchain networks store all transaction history, known as “state.” Archival nodes keep this data long term to support transparency and auditing. Fixing archival issues ensures the network remains trustworthy and efficient.
- Joining the Blockchain Payments Consortium: Stellar’s participation can accelerate the adoption of blockchain payments by standardizing protocols and encouraging cooperation between projects and traditional financial institutions.
- Chainlink’s confidential compute: Privacy is a top concern for many users. Enabling private smart contracts means sensitive data can be protected while still benefiting from blockchain’s security and automation.
- Spot XRP ETF filings: ETFs allow investors to buy and sell cryptocurrency through traditional stock markets without holding the coins directly. New filings suggest more mainstream acceptance and easier access for everyday investors.
Builders’ corner
If you’re a developer or curious about the technical side, here are some highlights to explore this week:
- Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE): Chainlink recently published a guide on five ways to build with CRE. CRE is a developer toolkit that simplifies creating smart contracts and decentralized apps across multiple blockchains.
- Stellar’s quarterly report: The Q3 2025 report details Stellar’s progress scaling its network, growing its ecosystem, and improving developer tools. It’s a great resource to understand how Stellar plans to stay competitive.
- SmartCon 2025 insights: The SmartCon recap highlights new Chainlink products and partnerships, showing the rapid innovation happening in oracles — services that bring real-world data to blockchains.
Quick prices (as of November 13, 2025, 05:04 ET)
Here’s a snapshot of some popular cryptocurrencies and their recent 24-hour price changes:
- Bitcoin (BTC): $102,894 (-1.66%) — Bitcoin remains the most valuable cryptocurrency, trading just above $100,000 despite a slight dip.
- Ethereum (ETH): $3,490.86 (+0.07%) — Ethereum, the leading smart contract platform, held steady with a small gain.
- Ripple (XRP): $2.50 (+3.42%) — XRP showed strong growth, possibly driven by the new ETF filing news.
- Stellar (XLM): $0.293 (+1.77%) — Stellar’s price rose alongside positive network developments.
- Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR): $0.178 (-2.59%) — Hedera saw a slight decline but remains a notable enterprise-grade blockchain.
- Flare Network (FLR): $0.015 (-2.08%) — Flare experienced a minor dip.
- XDC Network (XDC): $0.058 (-4.39%) — XDC faced some pressure but continues building its hybrid blockchain platform.
What to watch
Looking ahead, here are some key areas to keep an eye on:
- Ripple’s ETF developments: Watch for regulatory updates and approval news around the spot XRP ETFs, which could impact XRP’s price and adoption.
- Blockchain Payments Consortium progress: As Stellar and other members collaborate, new cross-chain payment solutions or partnerships may emerge.
- Privacy-focused smart contracts: Technologies like Chainlink’s Confidential Compute could unlock new use cases for decentralized finance (DeFi), healthcare, and enterprise data management.
- Market volatility: Recent articles highlight how traders are positioning themselves amid choppy market conditions. Staying informed and cautious can help you navigate price swings.
- Developer tools and ecosystem growth: Keep an eye on updates from Stellar, Chainlink, and other projects that make blockchain easier and more efficient to build on.
TL;DR: Stellar is strengthening its network reliability and joining forces with other blockchain payment leaders, while Chainlink introduces privacy-enhancing smart contract tech. Ripple’s XRP gains momentum with new ETF filings, signaling growing mainstream interest. Prices show mixed moves but optimism remains high as builders keep innovating and partnerships expand. This is a great time to learn, build, and watch the blockchain space evolve.
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