Is Stellar Lumens (XLM) underrated by crypto investors?
Despite powering some of the most practical blockchain applications in cross-border payments and financial inclusion, Stellar often receives less attention than larger competitors
Compared to XRP, HBAR, and even Ethereum, Stellar seems like an outlier to some traders who may see XLM as a shorthand for Ripple. A closer look at Stellar’s payment advantages suggests it may be deserving of closer interest
Launched by Jed McCaleb, one of the co-founders of Ripple, Stellar was designed with a clear mission to make money more accessible and efficient for unbanked populations around the world.
Stellar’s network is optimized for low-cost, near-instant cross-border payments, a use case that remains one of the strongest for blockchain adoption by institutional finance.
The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) has consistently focused on building real-world partnerships with payment providers, fintech firms, and institutions to integrate Stellar technology into global finance.
Unlike many speculative projects, Stellar has built a practical reputation in payments, serving as a bridge between traditional finance and web3.
In recent months, Stellar has formed and expanded its partnership with PayPal to host the payment application’s PYUSD stablecoin.
Institutional firms have also taken note of Stellar’s capabilities with Greyscale filing for an XLM ETF, which could be due to approval before the end of 2025. In Europe, 21Shares’ Stellar ETP is being actively traded.
Since both Stellar and XRP share a focus on payments, they are often easily compared despite their stark differences.
XRP has become known for targeting large-scale institutional and banking clients, positioning itself as a bridge currency for cross-border settlements in finance.
Stellar Lumens focuses on financial inclusion and smaller-scale markets, building infrastructure that allows individuals and small businesses to transact easily across borders with a subtle shift to tokenization.
As part of Stellar’s recent roadmap, the firm announced new DeFi TVL goals and plans to implement tokenization utilities with institutional partners.
From a technical perspective, both Stellar and XRP offer:
By integrating with companies like MoneyGram, Circle (USDC), PayPal, and Franklin Templeton, Stellar has shown its ability to service both emerging economies and traditional institutions.
DTCC, a financial market infrastructure company, has worked with XLM in the past and aims to utilize Stellar for its upcoming tokenization goals. This dual focus of Stellar gives them a broad base of adoption potential that often gets overlooked in comparison to Ripple’s more high-profile banking partnerships.
One of Stellar’s advantages lies in its cost-effectiveness and industry connectivity. For remittance users and fintech applications, transaction fees can make or break usability.
Stellar’s transactions are among the cheapest in the industry, making it a perfect solution for microtransactions, peer-to-peer transfers, and payments in emerging markets.
Stellar has built a strong infrastructure for on/off ramps through its integration with MoneyGram. Users in participating countries can convert USDC on Stellar directly into local fiat currencies seamlessly and for very low costs. Stellar’s partnership with Western Union achieved a similar outcome.
Stellar also supports the tokenization of financial assets, including treasuries, with Franklin Templeton taking advantage of the XLM network to tokenize $490M worth of assets.
Despite XLM’s strengths, Stellar often flies under the radar. Multiple factors could be contributing to this such as:
For long-term investors on the lookout for crypto firms with clear utilities and enterprise adoption outside of Ripple, Hedera, XDC Network, and the likes, Stellar may offer a compelling case.
Its expanding role in stablecoins (USDC, EURC, and PayPal’s PYUSD), coupled with its proven payment infrastructure, suggests XLM is greatly undervalued relative to its real-world use cases.
Looking forward, the demand for blockchain-based payments is only set to grow. Whether through remittances, tokenized assets, or stablecoins, Stellar has proven it can deliver solutions that are cost-efficient and widely accessible.
In that sense, XLM may indeed be one of the most underrated yet highly adoptable tokens in the market today despite all that the network has been delivering.
The post Is Stellar Lumens (XLM) Underrated? first appeared on AllinCrypto.
Also read: DOGE Stuck at $0.063, ETH Holds Support, and BlockDAG’s Presale Rockets to $404M! Is It the Fastest Growing Crypto of 2025?
