TL;DR

XLM leads the top 20 crypto assets with a 26% daily surge and a 70% weekly gain amid strong volume. Protocol 23 upgrade vote set for August 14, expected to improve network speed and efficiency. Franklin Templeton tokenizes $446M on Stellar; DeFi TVL jumps 21%, boosting investor confidence.

XLM Price Leads Market with 25% Daily Gain

Stellar (XLM) surged 25% in the last 24 hours, reaching a price of over $0.4. The move brought it to the critical resistance level once again after the initial quarter of 2025. XLM now stands at a 70% increase over the past seven days, making it the top-performing asset among the 20 largest cryptocurrencies.

Consequently, the 24-hour trading volume crossed $2.2 billion, showing strong interest from market participants. The surge coincides with a broader market rally led by Bitcoin, alongside key developments within the Stellar ecosystem.

Protocol 23 Upgrade Drives Investor Interest

Purchasing interest towards XLM has spiked as users wait in anticipation of the next Protocol 23 update. The proposal will be voted on on the Stellar mainnet on August 14, 2025. It proposes modifications to the execution of transactions and state management upon the Soroban, which is a smart contract platform of Stellar.

The upgrade is designed to improve network speed and performance. It comes after steady growth across the Stellar ecosystem and growing use in real-world applications.

In addition, technical analysis shows XLM has broken above a long-standing downtrend line that had been in place since 2021. This triggered an impulsive rally and signaled accumulation by buyers. According to analyst Javon Marks, XLM is targeting $0.681 as the next resistance level. If it is breached, the price could advance toward $1.2918.

The altcoin is currently trading above the upper Bollinger Band, indicating strong upward momentum. The 20-day simple moving average at $0.2599 was surpassed during the breakout.

The Money Flow Index sits at 90.12, reflecting overbought conditions and increased volatility. A short-term pause or pullback remains possible if buying pressure slows.

Source: TradingView

Institutional Activity and On-Chain Growth

Meanwhile, institutional participation keeps growing with Franklin Templeton lately tokenizing 446 million U.S. Treasuries on the Stellar blockchain. This step highlights the increasing trust in Stellar by asset tokenization.

DeFiLlama reports that Stellar’s Total Value Locked (TVL) in decentralized finance rose 22% in the past 24 hours, reaching $120.25 million. The increase adds to the bullish sentiment and supports the current market momentum.