Almost ten years after splitting from RipplesJed McCaleb's Stellar project draws a more sharper boundary between itself and its XRP route past.
Stellar's 2025 release Roadmap Shows more than a few minor updates. It refers to a greater change in ambition, positioning XLM Not only as a complementary Stablecoin rail, but also as a competitive blockchain infrastructure that puts developers first.
The Roadmap introduces a wide range of upgrade sets. They are deploying a new interface, Lab 3.0, to deploy smart contracts for easier viewing. Tools such as contract co-pilots and AI-powered Stella assistants are designed to make life easier for developers.
At the same time, the main performance goals are set – with 5,000 transactions per second, 2.5 seconds block time, and an expanded validator set, with the aim of all signal intents scaling well beyond Stellar's current use case.
XLM vs XRP
McCaleb has always focused on how it works in the real world rather than speculation. He often compares Stellar's design with regulatory issues and centralisation concerns. XRP. The distinction became clear last November when he called XLM one of the “most underrated” crypto assets.
When Gensler left the SEC, the XRP bounced back, rising almost 170%. However, the XLM was better, rising by over 460%, hitting a level that was not seen since 2021.
This new roadmap is about to build on its momentum. Cargo ship wallets are now mobile, business-oriented single-click payments have been introduced via SDP host mode, and single-use wallets have been developed to simplify on-chain payments.
New token standards including NFTs and security tokens, as well as full backend upgrades, will push Stellar to a wider range of fintech and Web3 relevance.
Whether the market ultimately recognizes Stellar as a legitimate platform or just a money transfer tool depends on how much of this roadmap becomes a reality.
