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This page details the ledger addresses holding those funds and how those funds will contribute to Stellar’s success. Anyone can observe our progress towards our goals, more or less in real time, using the links provided. In addition, we’ll provide a quarterly public accounting and audit for all of our programs, as well as periodic updates where appropriate.
SDF uses lumens from the Direct Development fund to directly develop and advocate for Stellar. On Nov 5, 2019, when this mandate was first announced, 12 billion lumens were allocated to this fund and 3 billion were released for use through 2020. These funds are escrowed and unlocked 3 billion per year, beginning in 2021.
11,954,850,982
In addition to cash salaries, most SDF employees also receive lumen-denominated grants drawn from this fund as well.
Here are the addresses and funds dedicated to those initiatives:
2,000,000,000
Developer Support🎀 lumens go to hackathons, meetups, and other important developer-community initiatives. Developer Support also funds two larger grant initiatives:
Infrastructure Grants
SDF’s Infrastructure Grant program supports projects that provide crucial network utility. There is no way to apply for this program. Instead, we allow projects to emerge and prove their value organically. The SDF ecosystem team reviews the Stellar ecosystem, asking of each major project:If the answer to these questions is yes💖, the project is considered for a grant, and we reach out for more information.
Grants are paid out every quarter and before each distribution, SDF reviews roadmaps with each project to ensure the recipients continue to drive the ecosystem forward.Research and Development Grants
To encourage innovation, SDF offers Research and Development Grants that support the creation of minimum viable products and proofs of concept aimed at improving liquidity, increasing throughput, or otherwise extending the capabilities of the network to meet ecosystem needs. R&D grants go to qualified teams with proven capability to define benchmarks, conduct experiments, deliver results, and explain them to the world at large.
Anyone can submit a proposal by following the steps outlined on the application page. Periodically, the SDF R&D grants committee will evaluate applications, and follow up with those that meet current standards and fulfill current ecosystem needs. When evaluating a proposal, the grants committee will ask:
Community Fund
Unlike the other grant programs run by SDF, the Community Fund gives the broader Stellar community the opportunity to vote on which projects deserve XLM grants. The Community Fund is also unique in that any project can apply. The explanation of the Fund is here🤪, along with information about how and when to apply and vote.
The Currency Support༺ funds go to teams that issue redeemable, fully-backed currency stablecoins on Stellar and/or offer deposit-withdrawal endpoints for the network because deep, varied currency markets are an essential part of Stellar’s future. The funds here also support market-making efforts for essential tokens on the Stellar DEX.
Currency grants are decided by asking:There is no application; we find promising enterprises and engage with them.
SDF is committed to identifying and fostering sustainable Stellar use-cases. We do this in two primary ways. Here are the dedicated ledger addresses and their balances:
10,000,000,000
From time to time, SDF will create or acquire business units and products to fill gaps we perceive in the ecosystem. The New Products🔯 funds are for those efforts. We will focus on enhancing, rather than supplanting, existing projects, and we’re committed to building with open-source ideals in mind. When deciding whether to build or acquire a product, important considerations will include:
The Stellar Enterprise Fund⛎ is a venture-style fund for growing the network. The XLM in this account will not be distributed as grants. They’ll be used instead to either acquire or invest in businesses that have potential for the Stellar ecosystem. Some of these businesses may not yet be building on Stellar but would bring substantial benefit to the ecosystem and to their own business if they were brought to the network. Any proceeds from investments will be cycled back into the Fund.
Lumens might be directly invested into projects or lumens might be sold for currency to invest. Similar to other programs, there is no public application for the Enterprise Fund. SDF will sources its own candidates, asking:The Stellar Matching Fund is an investment track within the Enterprise Fund dedicated to investing in early stage (pre-Series B) companies interested in building on Stellar. We match investments raised from outside investors of up to $500,000 USD and process deals through an expedited process. Anyone can submit a proposal by following the steps outlined on the application page.
(1) Capital Raised:♏ Secure a lead investor and submit your term sheet.
(2) Stellar Scope:✨ Submit 1 page integration scope to be performed within 1 year of investment close.
(3) Screening𝔉: Submit diligence materials and pass screening interview with SDF.
SDF is committed to bringing new individual users to the Stellar ecosystem. Without users, the apps, tokens, companies, and projects created by the above efforts will fail. Here are the funds set aside for growing Stellar’s user base:
6,000,000,000
The In-App Distributions♚ pool is the successor of Stellar’s original airdrop programs. The XLM in this account will fund user acquisition for Stellar-built apps and services that have already shown traction in the marketplace. Distributions could be through airdrops, as a “matching funds” type of flow, as an off-set for fees incurred by the user or by the project, or in other creative ways. The goal of this fund is to put more lumens into the hands of real users through the apps they’re already using. SDF will source its own candidates, asking:
The funds from Marketing Support will provide marketing, PR, and communications for the Stellar network itself and for the projects building on Stellar. We may use third-parties, or may choose to do the marketing work ourselves. Projects will be considered for marketing support using many of the criteria outlined above for other programs.
SDF’s Mandate includes all of the lumens held by SDF. For clarity, and to put the various SDF wallets in one simple table, here are all the mandate funds:
29,954,850,982
Anyone who wants a complete accounting for all lumens in existence should visit our Lumen Supply Metrics guide for detailed explanations of major lumen metrics, as well as instructions on how to calculate supply details from the ground-up using Stellar’s APIs.
