Stellar Flips Bitcoin Cash in Market Rankings

Stellar (XLM) has climbed to become one of the top-ranked cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, surpassing Bitcoin Cash (BCH). The surge comes as investors drive up demand for XLM, sending its value higher. In the last 24 hours alone, Stellar's price rose over 13%, building on a weeklong rally.

The move has taken Stellar two spots above Bitcoin Cash in crypto market rankings, according to CoinMarketCap data. Stellar now ranks as the 16th largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $7.55 billion, while Near Protocol (NEAR) holds the 17th spot at $6.66 billion and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) ranks 18th at $6.61 billion.

The price increase for Stellar began from a low point on September 16 when it was trading at $0.172. This coincided with a broader market rebound and the launch of the Adapter (Protocol 28) upgrade on Mainnet, which brought improvements such as faster consensus, atomic upgrades for contracts, and safer data migration.

Bitcoin Cash (BCH), meanwhile, saw its rally pause in the last 24 hours after a strong surge earlier this week. BCH had been rising from a low of $213 on September 16 to a high of $365 on September 23 before bulls retreated. The listing of Bitcoin Cash futures by CME Group is expected to enable larger and micro-sized contracts, potentially boosting demand.