Stellar’s native token, XLM, recently experienced a notable 11.5% increase in value within a week. The value surge is rather anomalous considering the downtrend observed with Bitcoin and the majority of altcoins during the same period. Relatedly, Stellar Org teased a cryptic announcement on social media, hinting at a significant event planned for September 12. Speculation is rife amid hints of “something cool dropping” and impending “change”.
The price boost follows XLM’s successful test of the $0.113 support level, its lowest in about two months. The announcement, while nebulous, served to pique interest in the currency. The company further raised expectations on September 7 when it hinted at a potential partnership. As before, no specifics were given, but terms like “real world” and “brand” have been used, suggesting perhaps a rebranding and shift towards tangible assets like bonds, stocks, and real estate.
Interestingly, one of the Commissioners of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Caroline Pham, emphasized the importance of such tangible assets and the opportunities offered by tokenization in modernizing financial markets. This was in response to court decisions regarding cryptocurrency classifications that she felt would lead to regulatory transparency.
However, the speculations surrounding Elon Musk’s possible integration of XLM into social network X (formerly Twitter) are baseless, despite rumors suggesting otherwise. The rumors originated after X received a currency transmitter license from regulators late August but missed the fact that XLM’s current market capitalization of $3.4 billion makes it less than a top 20 contender.
In a separate development, the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), seeing value beyond rumors and speculation, recently became a minority investor in payment provider MoneyGram International. According to SDF CEO and Executive Director Denelle Dixon, the investment aimed at expanding MoneyGram’s digital business and exploring blockchain technology, highlighting the ability for users to connect seamlessly with MoneyGram’s retail network through a single integration.
Unfounded speculation aside, Stellar appears to be positioning itself to compete in the $37.8 billion decentralized application (dApps) market, the current leader of which is Ethereum, boasting a 56.6% market share. Several potential benefits are in place, including near-instant, low-cost transactions and KYC procedures through MoneyGram’s user-friendly interface.
Despite the positive sentiments, any anticipation of further gains of 12% or more to beat $0.14 (last seen in August) remains speculative until concrete evidence related to this payment network’s potential surfaces.
Source: Cointelegraph
