Stellar Lumens exceeds the Litecoin

The first days of 2018 marked a burgeoning start to the year for cryptocurrency, as total market value pushed new historical highs and many currencies experienced huge upward trends. Of these, Stellar Lumens (XLM) appears as the biggest winner.

Since December 31st, Stellar Lumens has already increased by 300%, from a price of US $ 0.31 to US $ 0.88. XLM has moved to the sixth cryptocurrency with a total market capitalization of 15.7 billion US dollars. Stellar is now worth more than NEM and LTC, valued at $ 15.2 billion and $ 13.3 billion respectively.

A little less than a month ago, Stellar Lumens was struggling to maintain its position in the top 20 cryptocurrencies. To reach the top 5, Stellar will have to grow 60% to overtake Cardano (ADA), currently valued at $ 26.8 billion

Stellar Lumens provides a decentralized alternative to Ripple (XRP). Like Ripple, XLM offers a number of features to significantly reduce transaction costs and simplify cross-border payments. Unlike Ripple, which is marketed to banks, XLM targets the adoption by citizens around the world as a gateway for remittances, as well as a higher currency for micro-transactions for merchants and individuals.

Much of XLM's value can be attributed to their partnerships with industry leaders, such as IBM and Deloitte. Deloitte, one of the "Big 4" accounting firms, has announced a 40% cost reduction since the adoption of Stellar Lumens for internal transactions. IBM uses XLM to fuel its blockchain initiatives. Currently, the company is creating a cross-border payment system, which seeks to act as a global solution for the bank on blockchain.

Beyond that, there are rumors that Stellar will be part of the upcoming exchange, FairX, which is expected to compete with the exchange giant, Coinbase. FairX is developed by IBM employees and in conjunction with IBM's existing blockchain infrastructure.

It is not explicitly confirmed that Stellar will be incorporated on FairX, but if so, it goes without saying that XLM has the potential to increase even more than has already been seen.