A Surge in On-Chain Activity: Total Value Locked Hits an All-Time High.
The first major record is a clear indicator of ecosystem health: Stellar’s Total Value Locked (TVL) soared to an all-time high of $152.11 million.
Data from the analytics platform DeFiLlama reveals a dramatic surge in capital flowing into the network. Stellar’s TVL grew from $84 million in July to over $150 million by August, marking an impressive 80% increase in just one month. This growth signals rising confidence and participation within Stellar’s Decentralized Finance (DeFi) sector.
Key drivers behind this surge include:
Blend: A modular liquidity protocol that empowers users to create flexible and customized lending markets.
Stellar DEX and Aquarius Stellar: Emerging decentralized exchanges on the network that are successfully attracting fresh capital.
While Stellar’s TVL is still modest compared to DeFi giants with billions locked, the rapid rate of growth is undeniable. It reflects a burgeoning interest in its DeFi offerings, prompting one XLM investor to comment, “Stellar TVL is skyrocketing. If you’re involved in Stellar DeFi before it hits $1 billion in TVL, you’re a legend.”
2. Expanding Reach: XLM Accounts Reach a New Peak
The second record highlights Stellar’s success in user acquisition. The total number of XLM accounts climbed to a new peak of over 9.69 million.
According to data from the block explorer Stellar Expert, the network has demonstrated remarkable and continuous expansion. Despite market volatility since its early days in 2016, Stellar’s user base continues to grow. Further data from the analytics platform Artemis shows that between 5,000 and 6,000 new addresses are being created daily, consistently feeding this growth.
A recent report from BeInCrypto also noted the strong correlation between XLM and XRP, whose investor bases significantly overlap. The boom that XRP experienced in 2025 has likely contributed to attracting new users to the Stellar network as well.
This milestone is fundamental to Stellar’s core mission of financial inclusion. It shows the platform is making tangible progress toward democratizing finance, with millions of users leveraging the network to transfer money, store value, or engage with DeFi. However, this rapid expansion also presents a scalability challenge, pushing the network to ensure it can handle increased transaction volume without congestion.
3. A Note of Caution: XLM Supply on Exchanges Hits Record Levels
Not all records bring good news. The third, and more concerning, record is the amount of XLM held on exchanges, which reached an all-time high of over 1.03 billion XLM available for sale.
Binance’s Proof of Reserves report, which publicly discloses its XLM wallet address (“GBAI…GPA”), provides clear evidence. Stellar Expert data confirms that the balance of this single address spiked dramatically between 2024 and 2025, peaking at 1,033,411,975 XLM in the July–August period.
This development has not gone unnoticed. Crypto analyst Steph Is Crypto commented on X, “XLM supply on exchanges at all-time high — 1.03 billion ready to sell. Should we be worried?”
This record acts as a clear warning sign for investors. A large and readily available supply of a cryptocurrency on exchanges increases the potential for significant sell-offs, creating downward pressure on its price, especially during periods of market turbulence or negative sentiment.
The Road Ahead: Can Protocol 23 Steer the Ship?
In this complex environment of both bullish and bearish signals, the upcoming Protocol 23 upgrade becomes critically important. According to an official announcement on X, the upgrade has a clear timeline, with a testnet reset scheduled for August 14 and a mainnet upgrade vote set for September 3.
This pivotal upgrade is expected to deliver substantial performance improvements, lower transaction costs, and expand the overall capabilities of the Stellar blockchain. A successful implementation of Protocol 23 could be the catalyst needed to bolster investor confidence, support the growing TVL and user base, and potentially counteract the bearish pressure from the high exchange supply. All eyes in the Stellar community are now on this crucial next step.
