News

SpaceX Announces That Starlink Now Has Over 1 Million Users

It seems that Elon Musk’s internet service is proving extremely popular.

Published

3 years ago

December 21, 2022

Nour Nasir

Starlink

SpaceX has just revealed via a Tweet that its satellite internet service, Starlink, now has over 1 million active users. Despite the recent controversy surrounding CEO Elon Musk’s recent Twitter antics, it seems that the public still sees enormous value in the entrepreneur’s tech offerings.

Starlink now has more than 1,000,000 active subscribers – thank you to all customers and members of the Starlink team who contributed to this milestone ❤️💫🌎 https://t.co/5suNxFvtEH pic.twitter.com/E1ojYarcEA

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) December 19, 2022

Although the subscriber figures sound impressive for a relatively young company, Starlink still has a few teething problems. According to a September report by speed test gurus Ookla, the satellite internet company’s download speeds have continued to drop since mid-2021, with figures ranging from 9% to 54% being measured at various intervals.

Ookla believes that the dropouts and general sluggishness are probably due to Starlink’s infrastructure straining under the weight of its growing user base, which along with a fair use policy introduced in November 2022, means that the company is almost certainly throttling internet speeds. Starlink’s service went from 400,000 active users in May to the 1 million+ figure we’re hearing about today, so existing users may need to spend more to get speeds back to what they’ve been used to so far.

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Back in August, SpaceX announced that it was entering into a partnership with T-Mobile that would allow the mobile phone giant’s customers to connect directly to Starlink satellites, potentially adding even more users to the platform — though testing will continue well into 2023.

Future plans for SpaceX include the addition of their second-generation satellites, which may ease some of the strain when they launch at the end of the year. However, astronomers will no doubt be less than thrilled at this news, as Musk’s company currently has over 3,000 craft in orbit, a figure which will eventually reach 42,000 once future plans are approved.

News

Stake Powers Instant Payouts With Checkout.com Pay To Card

The new feature lets investors in the UAE, KSA, and UK receive real estate returns in minutes — cutting withdrawal times to under 10 minutes.

Published

2 days ago

June 19, 2025

Nour Nasir

stake powers instant payouts with checkout.com pay to card

Stake, a leading digital real estate investment platform, has unveiled Pay to Card, a next-generation withdrawal feature built on Checkout.com’s global payment infrastructure. The integration enables investors to have dividends and returns credited directly to their bank cards — often within minutes — dramatically reducing the traditional multi-day payout process.

After a successful pilot in May involving over 200 users, some investors reported receiving their funds in under 10 minutes. Ricardo Brizido, CPTO and Co-Founder of Stake, emphasized the importance of speed and reliability: “With Pay to Card, we’re eliminating unnecessary delays and putting returns in our investors’ hands almost instantly. This feature was built to directly solve one of the most common pain points in real estate investing, and it’s already driving strong results”.

The feature launch coincides with rapid growth in real-time finance across the Middle East. Checkout.com’s “State of Digital Commerce in MENA 2025” report highlights a 388% year-on-year surge in Account Funding Transactions (AFTs) in the UAE, reflecting strong demand for immediate payout solutions. The same study recorded a 176% increase in total processing volume from 2023 to 2024 and noted that daily online transactions have jumped 320% since 2020.

Since its 2021 debut, Stake has facilitated over AED 1 billion in property transactions, advancing its mission to democratize real estate investment in high-growth markets. By integrating Pay to Card, Stake reinforces its commitment to customer-centric innovation and operational transparency.

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Remo Giovanni Abbondandolo, General Manager for MENA at Checkout.com, praised the collaboration: “Stake has always led with customer-first financial experiences. Together, we’re meeting the expectations of a region that is no longer just digital-first, but real-time-first. Pay to Card exemplifies how modern payment infrastructure can directly solve investor pain points”.

Pay to Card is now available to all Stake users in the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom. By slashing withdrawal times from days to minutes, Stake and Checkout.com are setting a new standard for seamless, on-demand real estate investing.