In a month when most major cryptocurrencies have struggled, Stellar's native token XLM has managed to become one of the most talked-about assets in the market — driven largely by a single institutional announcement that few investors anticipated.
On May 27, 2026, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, the central clearinghouse that oversees more than $114 trillion in U.S. financial assets and processes roughly $2.5 quadrillion in annual securities transactions, said its tokenized-securities platform will connect to the Stellar network in the first half of 2027. That makes Stellar the first public blockchain included in DTCC's multi-chain tokenization strategy for stocks, ETFs, and U.S. Treasuries.
XLM responded immediately, rallying roughly 40% in a single 24-hour period at the start of June and clearing a multi-month descending channel that had constrained prices since late 2024. The token is trading around $0.2168 as of June 22, above both its 50-day moving average at $0.2151 and its 200-day moving average at $0.2127 — widely watched technical thresholds. Stellar's market capitalization has risen above $9.6 billion.
The rally was not just a short squeeze. CoinGecko data showed that XLM spot volume surged 34% to roughly $2.3 billion on the day of the initial announcement, while open interest in XLM perpetual futures rose 10.9% to approximately $361 million, indicating that fresh long positioning — not just short covering — drove the move.
More recently, Stellar ranked among the top networks for real-world-asset inflows: an estimated $1.4 billion in net RWA deposits arrived on the Stellar network over a 90-day period, trailing only XRPL and Ethereum, according to network data tracked by CoinMarketCap.
The partnership is built on an SEC No-Action Letter issued in December 2025 that authorized DTCC to tokenize real-world assets it custodies. DTCC has targeted July 2026 for production testing, with wider rollout following in October 2026 and broader availability by the first half of 2027.
Stellar's opponents argue that institutional-grade tokenization is still theoretical enough that the current price rally may be running ahead of delivery. Regulators have not yet provided final clarity on how tokenized equities will interact with existing securities settlement frameworks. And competing networks — including XRPL, which is also positioned for DTCC integration, and public-layer-one platforms like Solana — could dilute Stellar's advantage if they receive comparable approvals.
For now, the market has chosen to see the DTCC partnership as a validation of Stellar's technology rather than another speculative bet on an unproven use case. Analysts say that a monthly close above $0.2200 would confirm bullish momentum heading into the third quarter of 2026.
Image source: v3b.fal.media