Stellar (XLM) Overtakes Chainlink (LINK), Binance Coin (BNB) to Regain Top-10 Market Cap Ranking

Blockchain protocol Stellar (XLM) is back in the top-10 listing of cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. The payments-focused project has seen a raft of adoption from several establishments as well as numerous protocol upgrades likely driving the renewed enthusiasm in its XLM token.

XLM Back to Being a Top-10 Cryptocurrency

According to data from crypto market aggregator Coingecko, XLM is now the ninth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. This news marks Stellar’s reentry into the top-10 market rankings following a 30 percent price gain for its XLM token.

Indeed, 2021 has started on a positive note for XLM’s price action with the “coin” gaining over 75 percent in the last seven-day trading period. Stellar’s market cap is now north of $6.2 billion with a significant lead over Chainlink (LINK) and Binance Coin (BNB), the two closes projects to Stellar in terms of market size.

This 2021 upward price action is in keeping with the massive gains posted by XLM in 2020 as well. Coingecko data shows that XLM recorded a 500 percent price increase between Jan.1 and Dec. 31, 2020.

Part of this massive growth is likely due to Stellar quietly advancing its presence in the blockchain payments scene while Ripple, one of its major competitors continues to struggle with regulatory pushback. Ripple is currently the subject of a lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for securities violations in the sale of XRP tokens.

As previously reported by BTCManager, Stellar is also enjoying significant adoption from both public and private partners. Earlier in January, the government of Ukraine tapped Stellar for the development of its planned central bank digital currency (CBDC). The news sparked a massive rally in the XLM token price at the time.

Back in Dec. 2020, 266-year German bank, Bankhaus von der Heydt, announced plans to issue a euro-backed stablecoin on the Stellar blockchain. The news marked another testament to Stellar’s growing appeal in the blockchain-based payments arena.

Stellar also has plans to incorporate the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin on its blockchain according to an announcement issued back in Oct. 2020. In June, the decentralized ledger technology (DLT) payment infrastructure also rolled out its protocol 13 upgrade.

Protocol 13 is designed to offer an enhanced network fee architecture and the introduction of new payment features. The protocol upgrade also features an end to token inflation on the platform.

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