Stellar Development Foundation has unveiled Project Thruput, a breakthrough execution model designed to address a key scalability challenge for blockchain networks. According to crypto researcher SMQKE, Stellar’s new system recently completed a major benchmark test, handling 7.02 million payments per second on eight machines, marking a significant leap forward for the network.
The challenge of blockchain scalability
Traditional blockchain networks process transactions in a single global order. When multiple transactions seek to update the same data, they are forced into a queue, limiting the system’s ability to expand, regardless of the hardware available. Adding more machines does not increase transaction capacity under these models, creating a fundamental ceiling for network throughput.
Project Thruput introduces a model where transactions can be executed without a strict global order, even if they contend for similar data. This advancement makes it possible for capacity to increase simply by scaling hardware, allowing transaction throughput to rise linearly as more machines are added to the network.
Early performance benchmarks show execution capacity rising from 1.18 million payments per second on a single machine to 7.02 million on eight machines, representing nearly a sixfold increase.
Mini dictionary: Stellar Development Foundation is the non-profit behind the Stellar network, focusing on creating equitable access to the global financial system through decentralized technologies.
| Number of Machines | Payments per Second |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1.18 million |
| 8 | 7.02 million |
Preparing for institutional and AI-driven growth
With interest in blockchain solutions from institutions increasing, networks capable of handling millions of transactions per second have the potential to reshape how value and data are exchanged globally. Project Thruput differentiates itself by not only targeting higher transaction volumes but by anticipating the integration of AI-driven agents. Stellar has stated its ambition to build a network ready to serve up to 10 billion people as well as billions of AI agents transacting on their behalf.
Project Thruput is designed with future scalability in mind and aims to enable both human users and AI agents to interact seamlessly with the network.
This upgrade positions Stellar among a small group of networks focused on institutional applications and future-facing technologies, signaling a shift in how scalability is approached across the blockchain sector.
Recent milestones and regulatory developments
The introduction of Project Thruput follows a period of notable momentum for the Stellar network. In May 2026, the DTCC, a central post-trade settlement provider in the United States, announced it would connect its tokenized securities platform with Stellar, with an official launch scheduled for the first half of 2027. This partnership is regarded as a major institutional milestone for Stellar’s ecosystem.
Additionally, in March 2026, both the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) jointly designated Stellar’s native token, XLM, as a digital commodity. This clarification removed previous regulatory uncertainty and has been cited as a key factor in increasing institutional participation in the network.
Mini dictionary: The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) is a major US-based post-trade services provider, responsible for clearing and settlement of securities transactions.
Next steps for Project Thruput
Project Thruput was released as a technology preview on FutureNet, Stellar’s dedicated test environment. The Stellar Development Foundation has published benchmarks and made the reference code publicly available. The focus now shifts to broader testing under real-world conditions and evaluation by external developers to validate and potentially enhance performance before full integration into the main network.
