Stellar Network had a great year in 2022 even as the price of its XLM token slumped. Lumens, its token, crashed by more than 74% as it underperformed other popular coins like Bitcoin and Ripple. This performance is a reflection of the divergence that happens between fundamentals and crypto token prices.
Stellar user growth rose
Despite a challenging year for the crypto industry, Stellar Network had a great year. According to its annual report, the number of assets in its ecosystem rose by 73% to over 155k. Total accounts using XLM jumped by 17% to 7.3 million. This growth was good considering that the crypto sector imploded during the year.
Further, the number of operations processed in 2022 jumped by more than 92% to 3.6 billion. Total payments rose by 176% to over $345 million. This is a reflection that the network is doing well even as many corporate leaders became wary of the crypto industry.
Stellar had other achievements during the year. One of the biggest of them was the launch of Soroban, a new smart contract standard that will make it possible for people to build applications in its network. Soroban, which is an Ethereum rival, will provide XLM with more utility.
Further, Stellar partnered with MoneyGram to provide a global on/off-ramp service for digital wallets. Through the partnership, it is now possible for users to withdraw their USDC sablecoin in any of MoneyGram’s location internationally.
Another major milestone for Stellar was th launch of Anchors and protocol upgrades. They increased th number of anchors to 60 while Protocol 19 introduced new transaction preconditions.
XLM struggled in 2022
Despite the strong performance of Stellar’s network, XLM price tumbled by more than 74% in 2022. This decline happened as investors reacted to a mountain of challenges. Some of the challenges the industry faced were the collapse of FTX and Terra.
XLM also faced the challenge of low volumes and rising interest rates. Its performance in 2023 will depend on how the crypto sector trades. It will also react to the verdict of the ongoing SEC vs Ripple case in the US.
If Ripple loses, we could see many exchanges drop Stellar as well since the two are similar assets. Further, its performance will depend on the decisions of the Federal Reserve and other central banks.
