Stellar’s XLM token emerged as the top performer among major cryptocurrencies on Saturday, jumping 6% to $0.3880 and securing the highest 24-hour percentage gain among the top 20 digital assets by market cap.
The rally follows PayPal’s announcement from June 11 that it plans to bring its U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD), to the Stellar blockchain. The rollout, however, is pending regulatory approval from the New York State Department of Financial Services. If approved, it would mark PYUSD’s expansion beyond its current presence on Ethereum and Solana.
PayPal highlighted Stellar’s strengths as a blockchain optimized for low-cost, rapid transactions and practical real-world use cases. By adding Stellar support, PayPal aims to broaden the accessibility of PYUSD for payments, cross-border remittances, and financial services such as working capital and small business loans, areas in which Stellar already has strong traction.
The company’s press release emphasized Stellar’s existing infrastructure, which includes global on- and off-ramps, local payment integrations, and digital wallets that could help deliver PYUSD to users in more than 170 countries. PayPal also noted potential advantages for liquidity and settlement through PayFi—a developing digital finance mechanism designed to provide businesses with real-time access to capital in PYUSD on Stellar.
May Zabaneh, PayPal’s Vice President for Digital Currencies, described the partnership as an important step toward expanding blockchain’s role in cross-border payments. Denelle Dixon, CEO of the Stellar Development Foundation, added that the collaboration could boost stablecoin adoption in emerging markets and among small businesses globally.
PYUSD is issued by Paxos Trust Company and fully backed by cash and cash-equivalent reserves, maintaining a fixed redemption value of $1.00 per token.
Earlier this year, Stellar shared a short video featuring Ian Burrill, Senior Director at PayPal, who leads the firm’s crypto engineering team. Burrill highlighted Stellar’s speed and low transaction costs, explaining that the integration would extend PYUSD’s reach to over 180 countries. He noted that enabling merchants to use PYUSD on Stellar allows for real-time transactions, improving capital efficiency for businesses.
Technical Analysis
- Between July 11 at 17:00 UTC and July 12 at 16:00 UTC, XLM experienced strong price action, trading within a $0.071 range—a swing reflecting about 20.59% volatility. The session ranged from a low of $0.345 to a high of $0.416, per CoinDesk Research.
- A significant surge occurred around 01:00 UTC on July 12, when XLM jumped from $0.354 to $0.393 on heavy trading volume of 551.38 million tokens—well above the daily average of 234.19 million—establishing solid technical support at the $0.354 level.
- The rally carried XLM to a session peak of $0.416 by 11:00 UTC, before encountering resistance in the $0.400 to $0.403 range, where institutional profit-taking appeared to slow further gains.
- In the final trading hour from 15:47 UTC to 16:46 UTC, XLM climbed 3.89% from $0.37 to $0.39, maintaining bullish momentum into the close.
- The most notable spike happened between 16:03 and 16:08 UTC, when XLM rose from $0.374 to $0.385 on volumes of 13.16 million and 17.14 million tokens—far exceeding the hourly average of 3.2 million.
- By the session’s close, XLM consolidated around $0.385–$0.387, forming a support zone as traders turned their focus to resistance levels between $0.39 and $0.40 highlighted in broader technical analysis.
