@StellarOrg is marking its 11th anniversary today, a milestone that arrives at what may be the network's most consequential moment since launch. From its origins as a cross-border payments rail to its current role in institutional asset tokenization, Stellar's trajectory over the past decade has been steady, if sometimes understated.
From Payments Rail to Institutional Infrastructure
Stellar has operated via the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP) since November 2015, building its reputation on fast settlement, low fees, and a design deliberately oriented toward real financial activity rather than speculative trading. The network has now processed 22.5 billion total operations, maintained 99.99% uptime, and kept average fees at around one hundredth of a penny. Unique addresses have reached 10.6 million.
In 2025, payment volume reached $55.6 billion, up 52% year over year. By Q1 2026, quarterly stablecoin payment volume had hit a record $5.5 billion, while onchain real-world assets (RWAs) crossed $2 billion. That momentum has only accelerated heading into the anniversary. Stellar's tokenized RWA market surged to nearly $4 billion, quadrupling in 2026 due to rising institutional adoption and tokenization.
Franklin Templeton and WisdomTree are among the institutions already using the network, with billions in assets managed on Stellar's tokenization infrastructure. Franklin Templeton's BENJI fund alone holds $654 million on the network. More recently, U.S. Bank piloted its proprietary stablecoin USBDC for cross-border payments using the Stellar blockchain, marking a major institutional test.
What the Next Chapter Looks Like
On May 27, the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and the Stellar Development Foundation announced plans to enable tokenization of DTC-custodied assets on the Stellar network, with availability targeted for the first half of 2027. That agreement is widely seen as the most significant institutional endorsement the network has received to date.
In June, MoneyGram launched MGUSD, its dollar stablecoin, on Stellar, allowing users to hold dollar-denominated balances and move funds through MoneyGram's global payments network. Agentic payments are also advancing: both x402 and MPP, the two leading agentic payment protocols, are now live on Stellar mainnet.
The Stellar Development Foundation's stated ambition for 2026 is for the network to be the platform where real economic activity lives, moves, and compounds, targeting $1 billion in growth for network asset value. Eleven years in, the infrastructure to support that goal is increasingly in place.
Sources:
Stellar Development Foundation: Q1 2026 Execution at Network Scale
KuCoin News: Stellar Network Sees $4 Billion in RWA Growth by Early September 2026
247 Wall St: XRP vs Stellar, Which Wins the Cross-Border Payments Race