Stellar was co-founded by Jed McCaleb — also co-founder of Ripple and Mt. Gox — and Joyce Kim in 2014, after McCaleb left Ripple. The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) is a US non-profit. McCaleb departed in late 2024. The SDF has strong institutional relationships including partnerships with IBM, Franklin Templeton, and MoneyGram.
Stellar is a fast, low-fee payment blockchain built for financial institutions. Transactions settle in 3-5 seconds for fractions of a cent. ISO 20022 compliance makes Stellar compatible with the direction of traditional banking infrastructure. Franklin Templeton's BENJI fund — the first US registered money market fund on a public blockchain — is on Stellar. Over $2 billion in RWA flows through the network. A MiCAR-compliant euro stablecoin (EURAU) launched on Stellar in April 2026.
XLM has a total supply of approximately 50 billion tokens, with approximately 32 billion in circulation. The SDF holds a significant reserve of XLM for ecosystem development. XLM peaked at $0.94 in January 2018 and currently trades around $0.16 — approximately 83% below its all-time high.
Stellar competes primarily with XRP for institutional payment network market share. Stellar's RWA ecosystem is growing — it ranked second in tokenised treasury holdings with approximately $470 million as of early 2026.
Despite growing RWA volume and institutional partnerships, XLM's price has lagged significantly. The SDF's large XLM holdings represent a governance and supply pressure concern. McCaleb's departure after a decade raises questions about continuity.
Franklin Templeton expands BENJI significantly on Stellar, EURAU drives European institutional adoption, or ISO 20022 compatibility becomes decisive as banks upgrade payment infrastructure.
XRP continues to outpace Stellar commercially, SDF XLM holdings create ongoing sell pressure, or Canton and Ethereum absorb the RWA tokenisation market.
We would become more positive if: RWA tokenisation volume exceeds $5 billion, the SDF implements transparent reserve management, or major CBDC projects choose Stellar. We would become more cautious if: the price-to-adoption disconnect continues to worsen, or key institutional partners migrate to other chains.
Stellar has genuine institutional credentials and a real RWA ecosystem. The ISO 20022 compatibility and Franklin Templeton deployment are meaningful differentiators. However, the persistent gap between network adoption and token price performance is a real concern. A patient long-term play on institutional blockchain adoption.