- Stellar recorded surging on-chain network activity, hitting a peak throughput of 163.9 transactions per second (TPS) on October 23 while maintaining low fees and 99.99% uptime.
- Total transaction volume on Stellar surged 71% quarter-over-quarter to reach $33.2 billion in Q3 2025, fueled by massive gains in stablecoins and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization.
- Technical updates, including the Protocol 28 (“Adapter”) release and Chainlink price feed integrations, paved the way for the milestone as developers prepare to vote on Protocol 30 (“Bell”).
Stellar Surges Past Network Milestones with Peak Throughput
The Stellar blockchain has demonstrated a rapid acceleration in network throughput and operational demand, reaching a real-time peak of 163.9 transactions per second (tx/s) on October 23, according to metrics tracked by Chainspect. This high-water mark mirrors an earlier surge on October 11, when the network processed 12 million transactions at a pace of 139 TPS. Throughout these elevated volume spikes, the cost of transfers on the ledger remained consistently low, underscoring the protocol’s sustained efficiency during high-congestion periods.
The recent jump in network capacity follows a succession of targeted architectural upgrades implemented by the developer community. In September, the deployment of the Protocol 28 upgrade, known as “Adapter,” comprehensively overhauled throughput mechanisms to process broader transactional flow. Following that implementation, the network achieved an interim record of 217.4 TPS across a 100-block window on September 26. The network’s technical capabilities were expanded further on October 14 with the official integration of Chainlink price data feeds, reinforcing Stellar’s infrastructure ahead of an upcoming governance vote on the Protocol 30 (“Bell”) upgrade scheduled for the coming days.
Institutional Inflows Fuel Stablecoin and RWA Expansion
Explosive Growth in Capital Volumes
Behind the surge in transaction metrics lies a substantial inflow of capital directed toward the stablecoin ecosystem and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs). Stellar’s network performance report for Q3 2025 shows that total financial transaction volume climbed to $33.2 billion, representing a 71% increase quarter-over-quarter. Stablecoin settlement activity served as the core engine of this expansion, jumping 121% over the prior quarter and 314% year-over-year to hit $25.1 billion. The newly introduced USDT0 asset contributed significantly to this upward trajectory, generating $200 million in turnover within just 10 weeks of its rollout.
Institutional Adoption and Real-World Assets
In addition to stablecoin transfers, the presence of tokenized traditional financial instruments on the ledger experienced rapid growth, with total RWA-class assets on Stellar reaching $4.1 billion. A defining milestone within this vertical was the execution of the platform’s first institutional repo transaction featuring automated rollover, collateralized by U.S. Treasuries via USDM1 tokens. This growth aligns with an expanding ecosystem footprint, as Stellar secured the second position among all Layer-1 (L1) blockchains globally by active developer counts, supported by nearly 4,000 developers building platform infrastructure.
Why This Matters
Sustained transaction spikes paired with stable fees signal that Stellar is transitioning into a mature infrastructure layer for mainstream and institutional finance. Despite scaling beyond 11 million user accounts and processing historic volumes, the network has maintained an uptime track record of 99.99%. This uninterrupted reliability demonstrates that recent enhancements—such as Protocol 28 and the forthcoming Protocol 30 (“Bell”) vote—are successfully keeping latency and overhead minimal. For institutional market participants seeking regulated pathways for liquidity, tokenized debt, and stablecoin clearing, Stellar is proving capable of acting as a resilient, low-cost financial payment highway without encountering the fee volatility or outages that often affect competing smart-contract platforms.
Frequently Asked Questions
What caused the recent throughput peaks on the Stellar network?
The transaction peaks, which reached 163.9 TPS on October 23 and 139 TPS on October 11, were made possible by the Protocol 28 (“Adapter”) upgrade in September. This release re-architected Stellar’s core throughput mechanisms, while an influx of institutional stablecoin trades and RWA transactions drove the volume.
How fast is the stablecoin and RWA market growing on Stellar?
In Q3 2025, stablecoin transfer volume increased by 121% quarter-over-quarter to $25.1 billion, representing a 314% year-over-year surge. Meanwhile, total tokenized real-world assets on the network reached $4.1 billion, highlighted by the execution of a Treasury-backed institutional repo transaction using USDM1 tokens.
What is the next planned update for the Stellar blockchain?
Following the integration of Chainlink data feeds on October 14, network participants and developers are preparing to vote on the upcoming Protocol 30 upgrade, designated as “Bell,” in the coming days.
