Curve Finance launches on Stellar in first native deployment outside EVM ecosystem

Curve Finance has launched on Stellar mainnet, its first native deployment outside the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) ecosystem.

The release brings Curve's StableSwap to Stellar, allowing users to create pools without permission, find existing pools, swap assets, and provide liquidity, Curve Finance and the Stellar Development Foundation said Thursday.

Curve's StableSwap exchange lets users trade assets with closely linked prices, such as stablecoins pegged to the same currency, wrapped bitcoin tokens and synthetic versions of cryptocurrencies.

The Stellar deployment comes as Curve looks beyond EVM networks, a move founder Michael Egorov said was partly driven by institutional demand.

"At Curve, we started exploring possibilities of launching beyond EVM chains if there is demand. Stellar looks like a good fit: it's closer to the familiar EVM world than many other chains. And at the same time, the demand for Curve is there, and it comes from institutions. Excited to see where this integration goes!" Egorov said in a statement.

Curve on Stellar

Curve's pools on Stellar could also be used by lending and other financial apps to sell collateral during liquidations or let users exit positions. However, liquidity would need to grow, and the apps would need to integrate the pools, Curve said.

Asset issuers could also use the pools to build markets for supported assets on Stellar. Stellar supports stablecoins and tokenized assets, including Franklin Templeton's tokenized money market fund. MoneyGram also uses the network for money transfers.

"Stablecoins and tokenized assets only deliver real value when people can move between them efficiently, and Curve’s arrival gives developers on the Stellar network's proven infrastructure to build those markets," Denelle Dixon, CEO and executive director of the Stellar Development Foundation, said in a statement.

Curve said it also plans to bring its FXSwap exchange to Stellar once its audit is complete, but did not give an estimated timeline. While StableSwap is designed for assets whose prices stay close to each other, FXSwap supports assets whose prices change relative to one another.

"This covers both volatile pairs like crypto assets, and lower-volatility foreign exchange and real-world asset pairs," according to Curve.

Curve, which launched in 2020, has over time expanded from crypto trading into lending and its crvUSD stablecoin. It currently has around $1.27 billion in total value locked, according to DeFiLlama.

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