Stellar Development Foundation Invests $5 Million in Wyre

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) announced a $5 million USD Enterprise Fund investment in Wyre, a leading blockchain payments company.

The investment will introduce a wide variety of payment APIs to fintech applications on the Stellar network, integrating with existing anchors and enabling Stellar USDC on/off ramps in existing fiat pairs (USD, GBP, CAD, AUS, and EUR).

With more than $5 billion in transfers executed since 2013, Wyre has a portfolio of advanced services offered to individual, business, and enterprise clients including fiat-to-crypto on ramps, payouts, compliance, crypto wallet infrastructure, foreign exchange, and savings accounts.  Adding Wyre to the Stellar ecosystem, will create key payment infrastructure and enable relationships connecting international financial systems.

"Growing the network of Stellar anchors — stablecoin issuers and on/off ramps — is fundamental to how Stellar connects global financial systems with blockchain technology. Bringing Wyre's industry-leading payment APIs to the Stellar ecosystem will empower businesses, especially anchors, to expand existing payment corridors and develop new ones," said Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of SDF, who will also now serve on Wyre's board in a seat designated for SDF. "Simplifying expansion and development on Stellar moves us closer to our goal of creating equitable access to the global financial system."

One of the most immediate ways Wyre will support the ecosystem is through USDC, one of the world's leading digital dollar stablecoins, slated to go live on the Stellar network in Q1. Wyre will provide a compliant and reliable way for ecosystem apps to onboard Stellar USDC without requiring developers to create any additional integrations or UI builds. In addition, Wyre's savings product and compliant on/off ramps will incentivize deposits and lending of Stellar assets by making it easy for ecosystem apps to accept funds and allow users to earn interest.

"We're focused on making money transfers easy, cost effective, and truly borderless, so working with the Stellar Development Foundation is a perfect fit. This investment means we can continue our growth into international markets while providing developers an easy way to integrate with the Stellar ecosystem," said Ioannis Giannaros, Wyre CEO. "Building the world's most robust, innovative, and inclusive financial system is a shared objective."

This is the first investment made from SDF's Enterprise Fund in the 2021 fiscal year, bringing the fund's total investments to $14.265M since its launch in FY20.

"The Enterprise Fund was created to support mission-driven businesses that mirror the goals of Stellar — like enabling cross-border payments and global access to financial services — while providing practical value to the Stellar ecosystem," said Jason Chlipala, Chief Operating Officer of SDF. "Our backing of Wyre is the first of several investments we intend to make this year that will drive towards our goals for the Enterprise Fund."

Wyre, founded in 2013, is a licensed money transmitter with store of value facilities and fiat in/out capabilities. Allowing developers to build compliant financial applications in under ten lines of code, Wyre processed $5B in transactions since 2013 and has grown payment processing by 262% since last year.

Stellar Development Foundation and Wyre executives are available for interview. 

About Wyre

Wyre is a regulated payment institution that connects fiat rails to blockchain ecosystems. Founded in 2013, Wyre has traded $5 billion in cryptocurrency assets. Operating an intricate global payment infrastructure that includes relationships with regulated counterparties, Wyre has procured not only same-day settlements but deep liquidity at best pricing and execution. Wyre is also one of the few US-licensed money transmitters in the crypto space and is proactively compliant with regulations. Today, more than 500 applications spread across the world trust Wyre with their global fiat to crypto operations. For more information, please visit www.sendwyre.com.

About Stellar

Stellar is a decentralized, fast, scalable, and uniquely sustainable network for financial products and services. It is both a cross-currency transaction system and a platform for digital asset issuance, designed to connect the world's financial infrastructure. Dozens of financial institutions worldwide issue assets and settle payments on the Stellar network, which has grown to over 4.8 million accounts.

About Stellar Development Foundation

The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) is a non-profit organization that supports the development and growth of Stellar, an open-source network that connects the world's financial infrastructure. Founded in 2014, the Foundation helps maintain Stellar's codebase, supports the technical and business communities building on the network, and serves as a voice to regulators and institutions. The Foundation seeks to create equitable access to the global financial system, using the Stellar network to unlock the world's economic potential through blockchain technology.

SOURCE The Stellar Development Foundation