TL;DR:
- Stellar reached a record 217.4 TPS over a 100-block window, surpassing its previous peak of roughly 211 TPS set less than two weeks earlier.
- Protocol 28 and Soroban optimizations helped lift throughput, while Stellar’s $3.38 billion RWA ecosystem added institutional transaction demand.
- Tokenized funds, stablecoin transfers and private-credit activity are increasing network usage, with Stellar still operating well below its theoretical 3,351 TPS ceiling despite record performance.
Stellar has set a transaction-speed record as institutional real-world asset activity expands across the network. CoinMarketCap data showed XLM near $0.2297, while Stellar reached 217.4 transactions per second over a 100-block window on September 26. The new peak overtook a roughly 211 TPS record set less than two weeks earlier, showing another step up in sustained throughput. The achievement arrived as Protocol 28 and Soroban improvements increased performance while institutional asset flows placed heavier demands on the network.
Stellar RWA Activity Pushes Network Throughput Higher
Protocol 28, also known as Adapter, was a technical driver behind the latest record. Activated in mid-September, it introduced an accelerated consensus mechanism that lets validators begin voting before every transaction in a batch has been fully delivered. The change reduces delays during periods of heavy demand and helps Stellar process more activity without altering its core settlement model. The upgrade follows the network’s recent Protocol 28 performance gains, which had already pushed throughput above 216 TPS.
Institutional real-world assets are adding another layer of demand. Stellar ranked fourth among blockchains by RWA value with about $3.38 billion across 72 active projects, producing an average of roughly $47 million per project. That unusually high average points to a network increasingly shaped by large institutional positions rather than thousands of smaller tokenized assets. The trend builds on Stellar’s expanding RWA ecosystem, where tokenized funds and institutional infrastructure have grown rapidly during 2026.
The largest position is the Spiko Amundi Overnight Swap Fund with about $1.16 billion, followed by Ondo’s USDY near $536 million and Franklin Templeton’s BENJI around $431 million. Issuance, redemption and yield-accrual activity across those products contributes to the transaction load. Institutional tokenization is therefore becoming a practical source of network usage, not simply a headline valuation metric. That pattern also appears in Stellar’s stablecoin and payments growth and the planned migration of $1 billion in private credit.
Stablecoins add further throughput. Stellar hosts about $437.73 million in stablecoins but processes roughly $9.44 billion in monthly transfer volume, indicating high turnover relative to circulating value. The combination of tokenized funds, stablecoin transfers and optimized consensus helps explain why real-time throughput now regularly runs between 120 and 180 TPS. The 217.4 TPS record remains below Stellar’s theoretical ceiling of 3,351 TPS, leaving substantial capacity available if institutional and payment activity continues growing.
