Stellar Lumens (XLM) and Ripple’s XRP, both established digital assets launched by former Ripple co-founder Jed McCaleb, have become increasingly prominent in providing distributed ledger technology (DLT) solutions for cross-border payments and the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs). Since regulatory frameworks have evolved, institutional interest has grown, leading to major advances for both networks.
RWA expansion and ecosystem comparison
Currently, Stellar has demonstrated remarkable growth in tokenized real-world assets. Official figures indicate that assets on its network have climbed to $3.5 billion in 2026, reflecting a 350% increase since early 2025. This progress has given Stellar a significant position in the rapidly expanding RWA sector.
In comparison, the tokenized asset volume on the XRP Ledger stands at approximately $2.5 billion. However, XRP has achieved exceptional growth in tokenized US Treasuries, with the value of these instruments rising from around $50 million to $418.5 million, marking an increase close to 800% within a single year.
| Metric | Stellar (XLM) | XRP Ledger |
|---|---|---|
| Total RWA tokenized assets (2026) | $3.5 billion | $2.5 billion |
| Growth in US Treasuries (yearly) | N/A | +800% |
| Largest single product | BENJI Fund ($605 million) | NASDAQ-listed XRP treasury fund ($500 million) |
Stellar’s network is utilized by multiple institutional players launching large-scale products. One of the most notable contributors is Franklin Templeton’s BENJI fund, which held about $605 million on Stellar by October 2026. Additionally, Spiko has added roughly $1.7 billion to Stellar’s tokenized money-market assets, further driving network utility.
Stellar’s technical framework is designed for versatility, allowing for swift settlement times of five to seven seconds and features such as atomic multi-currency routing, protocol-native clawback, freeze, and authorization. These features cater to the operational needs of financial institutions, making Stellar a flexible platform for a variety of use cases.
When institutions purchase tokenized treasury funds through Stellar, investments generally go into the underlying securities, with minimal direct impact on the XLM token price due to low transaction fees. The network collects these fees in XLM, but the low cost results in only modest effect on the asset’s demand.
In contrast, Ripple, the US fintech company behind XRP, has gained more traction in the traditional finance sector, specifically through nine exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that together account for $1.56 billion in net assets. This exposure is believed to be attracting new investor segments to digital assets.
Mini dictionary: Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) — A regulated investment fund traded on stock exchanges, designed to track the price of underlying assets such as cryptocurrencies, stocks, or bonds. In the crypto space, ETFs provide institutional and retail investors direct exposure to digital assets without requiring them to hold the tokens directly.
Institutional impact and RWA outlook
The total ETF-driven assets investing in or through XRP are now roughly equal to Stellar’s RWA product base. This week, Evernorth’s introduction of the first XRP-only treasury fund on NASDAQ contributed close to $500 million in value—an amount roughly equivalent to three days of XLM spot trading volume.
Unlike many RWA-focused funds, these investment vehicles provide direct exposure to XRP tokens rather than just the tokenized version of conventional securities. The flows into these ETFs have a more immediate relationship with XRP price fluctuations.
Stellar’s transaction fees are described as modest compared to traditional networks, allowing corporate users to process cross-border payments and tokenize assets efficiently while incurring minimal cost fluctuations for its XLM coin.
Meanwhile, XLM’s model collects fees from stablecoin-centered tokenized funds and from supporting an expanding ecosystem of digital assets. The rapid acceleration of RWA volume on Stellar has been mostly driven by major institutional partnerships and a few leading tokenization projects.
In the cross-border payments field, XRP retains a larger share of the market, but if Stellar aims to overtake it by market capitalization, the network would need to add $80 billion to move beyond its current $6 to $7 billion range. Analysts view this as a substantial but not impossible leap, considering stellar’s current growth trajectory.
