XRP and Stellar: The Uneven Showdown in the Cross-Border Payment Market

In the crypto world, many investors often compare XRP and Stellar as "twin siblings" – both originate from a blockchain platform and aim towards the international payment market, serving banks, money transfer companies, and financial institutions. However, when considering the three important factors of capital – legal compliance – and growth momentum, XRP is outperforming Stellar. Below is a detailed analysis.

1. Deeper Liquidity – The Great Advantage of XRP Financial institutions possess enormous capital, and they only choose networks with a "door" wide enough for quick transactions without causing significant price fluctuations. Market capitalization of XRP: approximately 194 billion USD, daily trading volume over 12 billion USD. Market capitalization of Stellar: only 14 billion USD, with a trading volume of about 1 billion USD/day. This distance brings XRP 3 major benefits: Investors can easily buy/sell large quantities without worrying about significant "slippage". It assures organizations that there are always enough trading partners. Supports the creation of complex financial products such as derivatives, securitization... thanks to the good hedging capabilities of market makers. Conclusion: Liquidity creates liquidity. As the XRP ecosystem continues to expand, this advantage will further increase, attracting more institutional capital.
2. Outstanding Legal Compliance Toolkit A payment network only exists if it strictly meets the requirements of regulatory authorities. XRPL (XRP Ledger) built-in: Trust-line Authorization: trust verification between wallets. Account Freeze: freeze suspicious accounts. Deep Freeze: completely lock wallets at the protocol level. Thanks to this, banks can meet KYC/AML standards ( for anti-money laundering ) directly within the system, without the need for external solutions. On the contrary, Stellar can also apply similar rules, but it relies heavily on on/off-ramp providers to operate its own compliance servers. This makes the process more complicated and involves many third parties. This is clearly demonstrated through the cooperation deals: Ripple & HSBC (2025): launched a tokenized securities custody service, directly leveraging the compliance toolkit of XRPL.Circle (June 2025): issued USDC stablecoin on XRPL, instantly increasing liquidity for USD on-chain transactions. Meanwhile, Stellar continues to partner with major names like MoneyGram, but the scale and liquidity potential cannot be compared.
3. Clearer Growth Drivers XRP is possessing a positive news "pipeline" that Stellar does not have: 95% chance that the XRP spot ETF will be approved in the US before the end of 2025 – opening the door for retirement and institutional capital to flow in through fund products. The real asset value (RWA) tokenized on XRPL: has exceeded 179 million USD, up 52% in just 30 days, with trial projects ranging from US Treasury bonds to corporate bonds. Meanwhile, Stellar, despite holding a total RWA value greater than (451 million USD), has seen almost no growth in the past 30 days, indicating a lack of new momentum to attract capital. Conclusion When combining the three factors of liquidity - compliance - growth momentum, XRP clearly possesses a distinct advantage: Liquidity many times higher than Stellar. Legal compliance tools friendly to banks and large institutions. A boost from ETFs and strategic partners is coming. While Stellar continues to focus on the remittance and consumer payment sectors, XRP has stepped into the institutional arena with billion-dollar contracts. If the goal is to find projects with the potential to lead the blockchain payment market in the near future, XRP is a more promising choice.