In recent weeks, XLM and XRP, both founded by Jed McCaleb, have experienced significant gains as part of a larger upswing in alternative cryptocurrencies. While XLM has led the pack in terms of short-term performance, its long-term market presence has traditionally been overshadowed by that of XRP.
Is XLM’s Surge Driven by Expanding Ecosystem?
Since the beginning of July, XLM and XRP, two cryptocurrencies created to transform international cross-border payments and money transfers, have shown remarkable increases in value. XLM has experienced an impressive rise of more than 100%, while XRP has also surged by almost 50%. Jed McCaleb is a co-founder of both XLM and XRP.
Notably, while the significant growth of these two digital assets has occurred in tandem with the wider emergence of an altcoin season, their remarkable individual performances have far exceeded those of most other altcoins, indicating a uniquely strong upward trend within the specialized realm of payment-centric cryptocurrencies.
According to data, XLM, the digital currency of the Stellar network, has performed much better than most other top 20 alternative cryptocurrencies. It experienced a remarkable increase of 61.3%, hitting a value of $0.47 on July 17 at 7:09 a.m. EST. This significant growth in the cryptocurrency’s value appears to be influenced by the Stellar Development Foundation’s announcement of important new hires to lead initiatives in increasing its market presence. Additionally, reports indicating that Thorwallet now provides full support for XLM may have contributed to its strong performance.
XLM’s recent surge has sparked intense discussion among its supporters on social media about the chance of surpassing its previous peak of $0.8756. This significant milestone is noteworthy as XLM had mainly hovered below the $0.50 level since 2018, experiencing only short periods above this threshold in 2021 and 2024.
XRP Approaches Record High as It Makes a Comeback
XRP, which reached a high of $3.40 in 2018, experienced a similar pattern of sustained downturn, remaining below $1 for a lengthy stretch, except for a brief surge in late 2021 and early 2022. Nevertheless, a significant turnaround occurred in mid-November 2024, with XRP consistently trading above $1 since then. Notably, the cryptocurrency has come within 5% of its record high, as indicated by the data.
In the past week, XRP, now the third-largest cryptocurrency by market value, experienced a significant surge of around 33.9%, earning it the third-highest weekly gain behind XLM and HBAR, which rose by 39.8%.
Although XLM has recently surpassed XRP with impressive short-term growth, a closer examination of the cryptocurrency’s overall performance since its inception in 2015 reveals a persistent pattern: XLM has traditionally trailed behind XRP, reinforcing XRP’s enduring status as the leading player in their overlapping market niche.
At the same time, many alternative cryptocurrencies have experienced a significant increase in value, surpassing Bitcoin’s relatively small 9.4% growth in the last week. This suggests that the long-awaited altcoin season might be gaining momentum. Additionally, Bitcoin’s market dominance has notably decreased, dropping from 63% to 60.98% on July 17, providing further evidence for this developing trend.
Certain analysts believe that this change highlights an increasing interest among investors in alternative digital assets. They note that capital is moving away from BTC and towards smaller, high-risk tokens that have historically performed well during positive market conditions.
