Stellar (XLM) Reports $2B RWAs, Protocol Upgrades in Q1 2026
Stellar (XLM)s Q1 2026 report reveals significant milestones as the network scales for institutional-grade adoption. The platform surpassed $2 billion in tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) and recorded $5.5 billion in payment volume, a 72% year-over-year increase. Notably, developer participation surged by 86%, signaling growing interest in building on the blockchain. Privacy took center stage this quarter with the launch of ‘X-Ray,’ Stellars zero-knowledge (ZK) primitive layer. This feature empowers developers to build privacy-preserving applications without sacrificing transparency on the base layer. Early use cases include Stellar Private Payments, Boundless, and Arcane, alongside a compliant token standard being developed with OpenZeppelin. For institutions navigating regulatory scrutiny, ZK privacy could be a game-changer. On the payments side, Stellar introduced the x402 specification and SDK, cementing its focus on agentic—or programmable—payments. Within a week of Stripe and Tempo announcing support for agentic payments, Stellar rolled out a full multiparty payment (MPP) SDK. The first hackathon tied to this initiative attracted 591 participants and 288 project submissions, making it the largest in Stellars history. These developments aim to streamline programmable payment workflows, appealing to fintech players and enterprises alike. Security was also upgraded with Protocol 26, branded ‘Yardstick.’ This update includes CAP77 Quorum Freeze, a consensus mechanism