Blockchain Bridges Gaps Where Traditional Finance Fails, Says Stellar Development Foundation

During Devcon week in Bangkok, I had the opportunity to sit down with Anke Liu, Ecosystem Growth Lead, and Anna Whitson-Diaz, Senior Partnerships Manager for Aid, both from the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF). Amid the mass focus on infrastructure, our conversation centered on the tangible, real-world impact of blockchain technology—a refreshing shift that highlighted the builder energy driving meaningful change.

How does it feel being in Thailand, and what mission are you bringing to Devcon?

Anke: There are so many interesting collaborators, developers, and teams here, all trying to work on the next big thing—or rather, the next better thing. What excites me the most is the collaborative mindset this community brings. It’s not about pushing a single solution as the "best one" for everyone, but instead asking, “How can we collectively solve these problems?” That open-mindedness makes such a difference.

At SDF, we see this collaborative spirit as essential because we work with a wide range of startups and teams. Our mission is about creating equitable access to the global financial system, and that looks different for different contexts and communities.

Anna: My main focus is leading SDF’s aid and humanitarian portfolio, where I work with organizations—aid agencies and international organizations—that provide cash-based assistance and other forms of humanitarian aid.

What’s been particularly meaningful for me is engaging directly with people from the refugee community, especially at the Funding the Commons. Now, more than ever, it’s essential that these communities are the ones shaping the solutions themselves.

I don’t even like the term “beneficiaries.” It feels disconnected. We need to engage the communities as active partners in designing solutions. The conversations here have given me plenty of takeaways on how the Stellar network can better serve not just refugee populations but also smaller, localized organizations closer to the ground.

Looking ahead, I want to focus on supporting small and medium-sized organizations. While we’ve partnered with large players like UNHCR, IRC, and GIZ—who have the resources and scope—there’s a shift in the international community toward funding organizations closer to the ground. This localization agenda supports smaller groups that are deeply embedded in their communities.

Seeing the innovation from startups here makes me optimistic about how we can better serve these local groups. It’s a tough space, but it’s where we can make a real difference by adapting to the growing focus on localization and direct impact.

Let’s talk about the potential of blockchain for those purposes…

Anna: In the financial inclusion space, which is closely related to but slightly separate from humanitarian work, the challenges are massive. About one-third of the world doesn’t have a bank account, which means they’re excluded from the traditional financial system. This limits their ability to save, invest, or take out even small loans. For those of us living in countries where access to banking is taken for granted, it can be eye-opening to realize how widespread this exclusion is.

Blockchain offers a way for people to immediately connect to a global system that doesn’t rely on formal banking relationships. It’s decentralized, allowing individuals to access financial tools without intermediaries.

For example, Decaf, a wallet provider on the Stellar network, has connected women and rural communities in Colombia to the financial system. This has helped create circular economies and encouraged reinvestment in local communities. Even in areas without ATMs or banks, access to basic technology like a smartphone and the Internet can provide financial opportunities.

Anke: Exactly! Blockchain makes it possible to transfer value—whether money or information—without needing to trust an intermediary like a bank. Instead, you trust the system itself. This has opened doors for small developer teams or even solo developers, allowing them to set up reliable services and scale quickly.

We work with teams from the ground up, helping them grow on the Stellar network. Many of these startups are based in regions like Africa and Latin America, where they deeply understand and meet the needs of their communities.

For instance, HoneyCoin in Kenya has integrated with M-Pesa, the local mobile money network. This allows anyone, including myself, when I visited Kenya, to use the wallet to pay vendors or individuals seamlessly. Local users can also top up their wallets, save in a stable currency, and even access DeFi protocols using Stellar smart contracts. This unlocks opportunities for saving and investing that many had never experienced before.

Another example is ClickPesa Debt Fund, which provides lending opportunities for small Tanzanian businesses in need of capital powered by a financial protocol on Stellar. Even without formal credit, people can access funding to grow their business, which drives economic opportunities in their area.

Anna: We really care about "blockchain for the real world." This means addressing the fact that most people still need to convert cryptocurrency into fiat currency. Our strength lies in our network of off-ramps, which make that process easy and accessible.

One of our key partnerships is with MoneyGram International. This allows people to cash out their crypto at any MoneyGram location worldwide. A great example is our collaboration with UNHCR in Ukraine. They’ve used this system to disburse over $5 million in aid, which recipients can cash out at MoneyGram locations—even across borders. This system offers a practical solution for displaced people or those in conflict zones, enabling them to safely transport their money and always have access to local fiat currency.

Another innovation is adapting traditional money management methods to blockchain. Bousol, a wallet in Haiti, addresses liquidity challenges by keeping digital currency within the ecosystem. They’ve adapted the concept of a rotating savings account—a traditional system where individuals contribute monthly and take turns accessing a lump sum.

By bringing this on-chain, Bousol allows participants to borrow from others in case of emergencies, ensuring they stay current in the savings pool. This merges traditional practices with blockchain technology, addressing the needs of unbanked or underbanked populations.

What’s exciting is how these solutions combine traditional and new systems. They adapt to local contexts while making financial tools more accessible, bridging the gap between traditional and modern finance.

Why does Stellar work so well for the financial inclusion use case?

Anke: At the core of Stellar’s success is its dual structure: the Stellar network, an open-source blockchain designed for payments, decentralized finance (DeFi), and financial services, and the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), a nonprofit supporting the network. The SDF is focused on creating equitable access to the global financial system, prioritizing transparency and accessibility for everyone.

Through initiatives like the Stellar Community Fund and targeted grants, the SDF and the wider community foster projects that turn financial innovation into real-world impact. These projects—ranging from wallets and DeFi protocols to infrastructure for on and off-ramping—are key to advancing both financial inclusion and humanitarian efforts. The collaborative, mission-driven Stellar ecosystem makes it easier for teams to scale solutions that directly benefit underserved communities.

When it comes to the blockchain itself, one of the standout advantages of Stellar is its incredibly low transaction costs—around one ten-thousandth of a US cent per transaction. This cost efficiency is especially important for financial inclusion, where small, frequent transactions are common. High fees are a barrier for many users, but with the low-cost Stellar structure, those barriers are largely removed, making it possible to send funds affordably, even for low-value transactions.

This is particularly critical for humanitarian organizations, which often handle bulk payments—think $100, $500, or $700 disbursements spread across hundreds or thousands of recipients. On other blockchains, these bulk transactions wouldn’t be financially viable due to high fees. But with the Stellar cost structure, organizations can create scalable, practical solutions to address real-world challenges, whether in emergency relief or long-term financial inclusion initiatives.

Can you share more about some of your major collaborations?

Anna: One of SDF’sflagship projects is with UNHCR. They partnered with us to develop an open-source software platform for bulk cash disbursements called the Stellar Disbursement Platform. This platform was designed to enable rapid, low-cost, and transparent cash transfers and was born when conflict broke out in Ukraine.

UNHCR needed a way to move funds into Ukraine quickly, minimizing transaction costs. The Stellar Disbursement Platform allows for bulk disbursements at almost no cost—around 10,000 transactions per cent. Since its launch, it’s helped deliver nearly $5 million to more than 2,500 families in Ukraine and is now expanding to other geographies.

Recipients access their funds via a link sent by SMS or email. They can then receive digital currency into wallets like Vibrant, Decaf, or Beans. Off-ramps such as MoneyGram or local options, depending on the country, allow people to cash out in the most convenient way for their location.

In regions with limited smartphone or internet access, or where fiat systems are strained, we’ve also worked on localized solutions. For instance, in Syria, we’ve partnered with GIZ on a payroll program for hospital workers. Before using the Stellar network, payroll distribution took months, and workers had to visit cash-out points up to nine times. Now, payments are made directly and efficiently, reducing delays and improving safety.

Anke: And in Lebanon, one of our partners faced transaction costs of up to 40% to get money into the country. With Stellar, the fees are negligible. Currently, MoneyGram offers a subsidy for aid recipients, so they pay no fees to cash out. For other transactions, like remittances, the fee is around 2%, a significant improvement over traditional systems.

When working with builders, what are the most common errors they make or obstacles they face?

Anke: The biggest challenge is understanding the market and figuring out how to distribute your product effectively. Today, tools like Repl.it or even AI make it easier to quickly create a product. You can build an MVP in no time, but the real challenge is proving there’s a market for it. That’s why, with our Stellar Community Fund Build Award, we ask projects to demonstrate their market value.

This means doing things like user research, running beta interviews, gathering early users, or getting validation from other companies in the ecosystem. Once you can prove the need, we provide funding to help the team move forward. Then, the focus shifts to finding product-market fit—testing marketing strategies, iterating, and pivoting as needed.

Anna: Especially when solving for financial inclusion, understanding the real need is crucial. It's important to have intellectual humility—acknowledging that you don’t know all the answers. Instead of assuming what people need, work directly with the community you’re trying to serve. Understand the problem from their perspective, not from your assumptions.

Anke: You can’t be building in a vacuum. The best products are the ones that constantly check in with users. When adding new features, they seek feedback before moving forward. Projects that try to create the “perfect product” in isolation tend to fail. You need to stay flexible and be ready to pivot.

This is something we stress in our Kickstart Bootcamp. We help founders shift their mindset. Many hesitate to share their ideas early, saying, “It’s not ready yet.” My response is always, “No one cares if it’s perfect right now.” It’s not about protecting your idea—it’s about executing it well. Ideas are easy to come by; it’s the execution that counts.

Because a product is never going to be fully ready, right?

Anke: Absolutely. It might not be perfect, but get it out there, try it, pivot, and ship again. Most teams go through at least one pivot—it's normal. Your first idea isn’t usually your best. The most successful builders are those who persevere, stay open to feedback, and are willing to adapt when necessary. The key right now is figuring out how to stand out with distribution. That’s where a lot of builders can really make a difference.

The ClickPesa Debt Fund is my favorite example of this. They’ve been part of the Stellar community for around seven years and have gone through multiple pivots, faced roadblocks along the way, and kept pushing forward. At one point, they hit a regulatory wall with one of their initiatives. Instead of giving up, they adapted, found a new direction, and kept building.

Now, with Stellar smart contracts, they’ve connected with protocols like Blend and tools like Mercury as an indexer. These pieces helped them launch a debt fund where users can deploy capital and earn yield. They’re currently focused on microfinance institutions (MFIs) that support women-owned small and medium-sized businesses.

What’s exciting is how it combines doing good with creating financial opportunities—you can earn money while supporting businesses that need it. This is the future we’re building with the Stellar DeFi narrative.

Is there something you’d like to see more of in the Web3 space?

Anna: Definitely more projects focused on social good! Even within the Stellar ecosystem, we’ve seen that it’s possible to be both profitable and mission-driven. Many of our partners manage to do both, which is inspiring.

In the humanitarian space, there are still major challenges—like internet connectivity, lack of cell phones, and absence of ID. These are tough problems, and we need to partner with others—whether in Web3 or not—to solve them.

It would be great to see the community push these barriers further. But the hope is that we’ll eventually find ways to reach those hardest to help.

Anke: I completely agree. Another area I’m passionate about is governance and human coordination. Coordination is a challenge not just in Web3, but in the world at large. While there have been experiments, none have scaled enough to address broader societal issues.

I’d like to see more focus on collaboration in governance. Can we put egos aside and build systems that work at scale? And can we design systems that are easier for the general public to engage with, helping us all coordinate better? If we get this right, it could help us work more effectively as a global community.

So, is there an interesting governance initiative you’re excited about?

Anke: There are a few, but one I’m really excited about is reputation-based governance and flexible delegation models. At the Stellar Community Fund, we’re implementing decentralized decision-making processes supported by Neural Quorum Governance, which combines reputation-based voting power attribution with opt-in delegation.

What I find most exciting is the potential for governance models that can scale beyond Web3. I’m also inspired by research into governing the commons, like Elinor Ostrom’s work. There’s a gap between the technical work happening in Web3 and the real-world research on governance. If we could bring those together, we could build something really impactful.

Anna: Blockchain foundations have a role to play in this space. They can help de-risk projects that governments, NGOs, or large organizations might hesitate to take on. These groups are cautious about experimenting with blockchain, especially crypto, because of their accountability to donors and taxpayers.

Blockchain foundations can test new ideas, prove their usefulness, and scale them without putting donor money at risk. We also help smooth the process by addressing regulatory and legal barriers, which vary by country.

Our role includes funding pilots that may fail, learning from those failures, and making it easier for organizations to adopt these solutions.

Anke: Exactly. Blockchain foundations are in a good position to take on risk by supporting novel ideas and informing policy. Ideally, we’d see more collaboration between foundations to create a more unified approach. Unfortunately, many foundations treat each other as competitors.

Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of SDF, has been actively engaging with policymakers in Congress and other government forums. But we need more foundations working together to advocate for sensible regulations and show how this technology can be used responsibly.