What shipped
Big news from the world of blockchain and crypto this week, especially for those interested in Ripple, Stellar, Hedera, Flare Network, and XDC Network. Stellar has officially announced it will join Chainlink Scale. This means Stellar will start using Chainlink’s advanced tools like Data Feeds, Data Streams, and the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP). These tools help bring reliable, real-world data onto blockchains, which is crucial for building better decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.
Meanwhile, a new project called Etherfuse is aiming to bring 100 sovereign currencies onchain. This essentially means they want to represent real-world national currencies digitally on blockchain networks, making them easier to use in decentralized applications.
Stellar also released a Protocol 24 Upgrade Guide to help developers understand the latest improvements to its network. On the Chainlink side, the company shared their Q3 2025 Quarterly Review and celebrated winning the Swift Hackathon Business Challenge, which highlights their growing influence in the blockchain space.
Why it matters
So, why do these updates matter, especially if you’re newer to crypto? First, reliable data is the backbone of many blockchain applications. Chainlink’s tools allow blockchains like Stellar to access trustworthy real-world information, such as prices, weather, or sports scores, in a decentralized way. This is essential for making smart contracts—self-executing agreements coded on the blockchain—work correctly and fairly.
By joining Chainlink Scale, Stellar is positioning itself as a strong platform for the next generation of DeFi apps. DeFi apps aim to recreate traditional financial services like lending, borrowing, and trading without banks, using blockchain technology. Adopting Chainlink’s data tools can make these apps more secure and efficient.
Etherfuse’s work to bring sovereign currencies onchain could be a game-changer for global finance. Imagine being able to send digital versions of your national currency anywhere in the world instantly, without relying on traditional banks or intermediaries. This could increase financial inclusion and reduce costs for cross-border payments.
Lastly, Chainlink’s recent achievements and recognitions further prove that decentralized oracle networks—systems that supply external data to blockchains—are becoming vital infrastructure. This helps blockchain projects grow beyond simple token exchanges to more complex, real-world uses.
Builders’ corner
If you’re a developer or someone curious about building on these platforms, here are some concrete steps and opportunities:
- Explore Stellar’s Protocol 24 Upgrade: The upgrade includes improvements to how transactions are processed and how developers can create more reliable smart contracts. Check out the official upgrade guide for details.
- Use Chainlink’s Data Feeds and CCIP: These tools let you pull trusted data from outside the blockchain and even send data or tokens across different blockchains. This can expand the possibilities of your decentralized app.
- Follow Etherfuse’s progress: If you’re interested in stablecoins or digital representations of real-world money, keep an eye on Etherfuse’s efforts to bring sovereign currencies onchain. This could open up new markets and applications.
- Join developer communities: Ripple, Stellar, and Hedera all have active developer forums and resources where you can learn, ask questions, and collaborate on projects.
Quick prices
Here’s a snapshot of some key crypto prices as of November 2, 2025, 13:01 ET:
- Bitcoin (BTC): $110,169 (slight decline of about 1.9% over 24 hours)
- Ethereum (ETH): $3,857.56 (down roughly 18% in 24 hours)
- Ripple (XRP): $2.50 (small drop of 0.3%)
- Stellar (XLM): $0.30 (down about 1%)
- Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR): $0.19 (down 3.6%)
- Flare Networks (FLR): $0.0157 (down 1.6%)
- XDC Network (XDC): $0.058 (down 2.8%)
While some prices have dipped recently, it’s important to remember that the crypto market is known for its ups and downs. What’s encouraging is the ongoing development and adoption happening behind the scenes, which often leads to long-term growth.
What to watch
Looking ahead, here are some key things to keep an eye on:
- Stellar’s integration with Chainlink Scale: Watch how this partnership improves DeFi apps on Stellar and whether it attracts more developers and users.
- Etherfuse’s progress in bringing sovereign currencies onchain: This could signal a new wave of digital fiat currencies and reshape global payments.
- Chainlink’s continued innovations and partnerships: Their wins in hackathons and new products like DataLink show they’re expanding the role of oracles in blockchain.
- Infrastructure resilience: Recent events like the AWS outage remind us why crypto projects are pushing for more decentralized and reliable infrastructure.
- Market reactions: Pay attention to how prices respond to these developments and whether new use cases drive wider adoption.
For newcomers, it’s a great time to learn about the technology behind these updates and consider how they might fit into your long-term investment or participation plans.
TL;DR: Stellar is partnering with Chainlink to bring better data and interoperability to DeFi apps, while Etherfuse is working to put 100 national currencies on blockchain. These moves improve the reliability and usefulness of blockchain networks like Stellar, Ripple, Hedera, Flare, and XDC. Despite some recent price dips, strong technological progress and partnerships suggest exciting growth ahead for decentralized finance and digital currencies.
Add comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.