Stellar unveils open-source global payment service
Stellar launched the Stellar Disbursement Platform (SDP) — an open-source global payment service.
In its Aug. 16 announcement, Stellar explained that SDP can help with tasks ranging “from paying gig workers anywhere in the world to delivering digital aid’.” The tweet promises that the tool allows anyone to pay with cryptocurrency globally and that the solution is specialized in bulk disbursement.
Stellar explains that SDP aims to enable faster, cheaper, and more transparent digital payment. The move follows its testing in December to provide aid disbursement in Ukraine.
Now the tool has been released as open-source software and reportedly allows quickly sending funds to thousands of recipients in seconds and monitoring fund delivery in real-time.
SDP also allows sending recurring payments such as power suppliers, contractors, or payroll. Lastly, Stellar claims that its network of fiat on-ramp and off-ramp partners means converting digital currency into cash is possible in over 180 countries.
The announcement follows Aug. 15’s report that the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) — the organization behind the Lumens (XLM) blockchain — is acquiring a minority stake in major remittances platform MoneyGram. While the financial specifics were not disclosed, the announcement clearly stated that SDF would have its seat on MoneyGram’s board of directors.
While the launch of SDP could initially appear to put Stellar in a competitive conflict of interest with MoneyGram, it may continue the two company’s lengthy collaboration.
The firms have been collaborating for a long time, so it may very well be that MoneyGram plays a role in the over 300,000 off-ramp points promised on SDP’s website. Still, no information is publicly available on whether MoneyGram plays any role in SDP’s infrastructure.
