XLM Surges Ahead of Protocol 28 Vote as US Bank and MoneyGram Fuel Hopes for $0.20
XLM has experienced a significant surge in price over the past 24 hours, climbing nearly 6% to trade around $0.193 on September 15. This move comes ahead of the Protocol 28 mainnet upgrade vote scheduled for September 16 at 17:00 UTC. The update includes several key changes, including CAP-83, which allows validators to begin voting before receiving a complete transaction set.
The Stellar Development Foundation has been working with US Bank and MoneyGram on various projects, including the development of a stablecoin-backed Visa card that uses the Stellar network. This card was launched in Colombia on September 10 and allows eligible customers to hold a stable-dollar balance and spend it at merchants that accept Visa.
The recent price surge has also been influenced by institutional activity on the Stellar network, with US Bank completing its first pilot transaction using USBDC, its proprietary dollar-backed stablecoin. The transaction moved money between the bank's entities in North America and Europe over the Stellar network while remaining connected to US Bank's finance, risk, compliance, and operations systems.