Stellar (XLM)

🚨 What pushes crypto token prices up?

It was no surprise why SEC took a position that crypto tokens are indeed securities of the underlying project.

When a project does well, price goes up, and founders benefit. Sheit they even called it an ICO.

The major exchanges didn't mind this, as they could easily provide "stock exchange" like platforms that allowed people to analyse, chart and speculate on tokens.

BUT, what most lack to understand is the fundamental difference between a stock and a token.

A stock represents a stake in a revenue generating company. The price goes up either via its valuation (market cap) or based on its dividend yield (and risk). Generally calculated as an EPS.

There is an "opportunity" multiplier that pushes a price of a stock much higher than it's worth, SpaceX being a classic example. This is fine, it is the market pricing in a future (higher) value.

Now, ask yourself, what is the driver of crypto prices? Is it the project? Is it Stellar announces DTCC? Ripple announcing partnership with MasterCard. The answer is yes and no. That is the new class of animal that most people really don't get. I will explain.

Crypto is two very distinct parts:

1. The blockchain or distributed ledger technology
2. A token which for our example we will focus on the native token

Now most native tokens are used to pay for network fees, but lots of others have really utility, either store of value, bridge asset, tracking ships, etc.

BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY IS INDEPEDNENT OF TOKEN PRICE, read that 40 times.

In most cases, institutions incorporate the blockchain into the solution, and that is the value, not necessarily the native token.

This is largely the reason why price doesn't go up (anymore) on positive news, cos it's NOT A SECURITY.

How did we get here?

Well, exchanges like Binance and Coinbase have provided tools and familiarity that has attracted many stock investors, who learn after losses, that a token is not a security.

So, now what?

Ok, apart from speculation and market manipulation, the only thing that,will drive a tokens price upward is 100% demand, and the best form of demand is utility, not some bearded clam telling you to "never sell".

Utility means "we collectively accept digital liquidity in order to solve our problems".

So next time you feel the urge to ask "why didn't price of XRP go up", that's your answer.

🧵 Stellar + MoneyGram 🤝

500,000 locations worldwide.

Stablecoins are often described as digital cash.

But what happens when digital dollars can be converted into physical cash almost anywhere in the world?

That is exactly what @StellarOrg and @MoneyGram are building.

👇

Through MoneyGram’s integration with Stellar, traditional cash infrastructure and blockchain-based finance begin to merge.

For millions of people, access to financial services still starts with banknotes, not bank accounts.

With MoneyGram Access on Stellar, users can walk into a MoneyGram location, deposit cash and receive $USDC or $MGUSD in their wallet within minutes.

The process also works in reverse.

Someone can send stablecoins anywhere in the world, and the recipient can collect local currency in cash from a nearby MoneyGram location.

No bank account required.

No exposure to crypto volatility.

Just digital dollars moving across Stellar and cash available almost immediately.

@MoneyGram operates more than 500,000 retail locations worldwide.

For perspective, that is more locations than Walmart, 7-Eleven, McDonald’s and Subway combined.

And Stellar transactions settle in seconds for a fraction of a cent.

For years, crypto promised to bank the unbanked.

Stellar may be taking a different approach.

Instead of replacing cash, it is connecting cash to the digital economy.

Stablecoins.

Remittances.

Tokenized assets.

Machine payments.

And now one of the largest physical cash networks on the planet.

@StellarOrg is quietly assembling the rails for people today and, perhaps one day, autonomous machines.

Franklin Templeton cut transfer agency costs from $75,000 down to $1.13 for 50k transactions using Stellar's blockchain. Real world assets are moving fast on-chain. $XRP and @Ripple have been pushing this same narrative for years — the infrastructure was always there. https://t.co/aGUXgJdRc3