Dominic Basulto, an analyst at US-based consulting giant The Motley Fool, pointed to the altcoin project that has been “under the radar” for a while. While pointing out that Stellar (XLM) may experience a 10-fold increase, the analyst talked about his expectations and the latest developments for Stellar. Here are the details…
Can Stellar, the recently silent altcoin, do 10x?
Stellar is among the Top 30 cryptos with a market cap of $2 billion. In the past, it was a coin that investors talked about as a game-changing crypto payment network. But it never regained the shine it had a few years ago. In 2022, Stellar has dropped 72 percent over the year and is currently trading below $0.10. Still, there is a scenario where Stellar returns 10x in 2023 and eventually reaches $1. This is something he has never done in his eight years of existence. The all-time high for Stellar is $0.94, so it should come a long way next year.
In its heyday, Stellar routinely listed high-profile payment partners from IBM to Moneygram International. Stellar offered an open-source, decentralized payment network that worked with any currency, was lightning fast, and was incredibly cheap. A few years ago, this type of payment network was truly innovative and helped establish Stellar’s reputation as a fast, reliable cross-border payment option.
That’s why Stellar’s recent partnership with UNHCR, the UN agency working with refugees, is exciting, according to the analyst. Stellar will primarily work with Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian occupation. Refugees need access to cash and need it in the currency of their new country. Stellar is a natural fit for the project – the Stellar Aid Assist solution can convert any charitable contribution into the right native currency format using stablecoins. This is the kind of project that could once again highlight the power and reach of Stellar’s Blockchain to solve real-world problems.
New use cases for Stellar Blockchain
Through the Stellar Community Fund, Stellar continues to support innovative projects from the wider Stellar ecosystem. The Fund has supported 415 projects since its establishment. This year, Stellar announced 21 new winners of the grant program. As a result, Stellar is investing approximately $1 million in these early-stage projects. This is important because Stellar really needs to expand the use cases for Blockchain.
Aside from the Stellar payment network, most casual investors probably wouldn’t be able to name any project other than Stellar. To re-engage investors, Stellar needs to come up with new use cases. With that in mind, the project that stood out for the analyst and won the 2022 Stellar community fund was one that sought to help fight global climate change. According to the expert, if Stellar can get ahead of blockchain-based climate change solutions, this could open up huge new market opportunities.
What will the XRP court bring for the altcoin?
Throughout Stellar’s entire existence, XRP has always emerged as a major competitor, as we’ve reported on cryptokoin.com. XRP has a payment network known as Ripple, which essentially does what the Stellar payment network does, facilitating cross-border payment flows. The main difference is that Stellar is public and is aimed at small individuals while Ripple is for banks and financial institutions. Currently, XRP has a market cap of $17.4 billion while Stellar has a market cap of $2 billion.
While XRP is currently significantly larger than Stellar, it is in a contentious litigation process with the SEC. The growing consensus is that we may have a final decision on this SEC case by the end of the year. According to the analyst, ending this case in both directions may actually be in Stellar’s favor. If XRP loses its lawsuit with the SEC, many crypto investors may eventually give up on XRP and look for new ways to invest their money. This could get them to Stellar. On the other hand, if XRP wins the lawsuit, Stellar could also take a short-term rally as investors conclude that Stellar won’t have to worry about a similar SEC lawsuit.
How realistic is $1 for Stellar?
On the face of it, a $1 price target appears to be within Stellar’s grasp. If you look at a long-term price chart for Stellar, you’ll see that two major highs dominate. One came in January 2018, when Stellar hit an all-time high of $0.94. The other came in May 2021 when Stellar hit as high as $0.79. On both occasions, however, Stellar suffered a setback. According to the analyst, if all goes according to plan, there is definitely a way to go to $1 for Stellar. There is talk that Stellar may be involved in the rollout of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), and if that happens, it will be huge for Stellar’s long-term prospects as well.
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