XRP vs Stellar
New to ISO 20022, the bank-messaging standard? Start with the plain-English guide. SWIFT postponed its November 2026 wave with no new date; see the deadline tracker.
RippleNet, Ripple's payment network, appears on ISO's RMG member list while Stellar does not, although it is often described as a member; XRP is built around bank-facing cross-border payments, XLM around remittances and stablecoin issuance
How XRP and Stellar differ
The two networks share a founder and reach for different customers. Jed McCaleb helped build the XRP Ledger, which first launched in June 2012, and in 2014 introduced Stellar with Joyce Kim. The XRP Ledger validates a set of transactions when at least 80% of the validators on a server's Unique Node List agree, and xrpl.org puts settlement at about 3 to 5 seconds. Stellar lets each node choose its own quorum slices, and its documentation says the ledger updates every 5 to 7 seconds. Neither throughput figure is a live measurement: XRP's 1,500 TPS is a 2017 load test, and Stellar's 5,000 TPS is a 2025 goal from the Stellar Development Foundation. Minimum fees are 0.00001 XRP, which is burned, and 0.00001 XLM.
ISO 20022 standing: XRP vs XLM
RippleNet, Ripple's payment network, appears on ISO's Registration Management Group member list as archived in March 2026. Stellar and the Stellar Development Foundation do not, even though Stellar is often described as a member. The XRP token itself is not certified, and its profile could not verify how RippleNet flows map to individual ISO 20022 messages. Stellar's SEP-31 covers payments between anchors and SEP-9 covers KYC fields, and neither is an ISO 20022 message format. The site scores ISO integration 8 for XRP and 4 for XLM.
What to watch on each side
For XRP the open questions are whether payments relationships turn into sustained on-chain volume, since the ones its profile names are years old (SBI Remit's live corridor began in July 2021, and MoneyGram ended its Ripple partnership in March 2021), and how RLUSD adoption develops. For Stellar the profile points to Soroban, live since March 19, 2024 but still early, and to whether PayPal's PYUSD, live on Stellar since September 2025, and Franklin Templeton's tokenized fund keep growing there. The spec sheet lists MoneyGram as a Stellar partner. These are the items each profile lists to track, not forecasts.
Where XRP vs XLM differ
| Metric | XRP | XLM | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| TPS | 1,500 (benchmark) | 5,000 (target) | XLM lists 3.3x the throughput of XRP (not like for like: XRP is benchmark, XLM is target) |
| Finality | 3-5 seconds | 5-7 seconds | XRP finalizes about 1.5x sooner (range midpoints) |
| Transaction fee | 0.00001 XRP minimum (burned) | 0.00001 XLM minimum (100 stroops) | |
| Launch year | 2012 | 2014 | XRP is 2 years older |
| Market cap | $82.74B | $6.29B | XRP is 13x the size of XLM |
Key partners in common on our spec sheet: MoneyGram (XRP: "MoneyGram (former)", XLM: "MoneyGram").
Specs are curated by hand and can lag real-world changes; market cap is live.
Scorecard: XRP vs XLM
Hand-set 0-10 scores, not benchmarks. How they work
| Dimension | XRP | XLM | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speed | 6 | 5 | XRP +1 |
| Adoption | 9 | 7 | XRP +2 |
| Developer activity | 8 | 7 | XRP +1 |
| Regulation | 6 | 7 | XLM +1 |
| Market strength | 9 | 7 | XRP +2 |
| ISO 20022 integration | 8 | 4 | XRP +4 |
30-day move, indexed to 100
Over the last 30 days XRP moved -7.7% and XLM moved -6.4%, so XLM finished 1.3 percentage points ahead of XRP. That is a 30-day snapshot, not a trend.
Deep Dive Verdict
The AI verdict for XRP vs XLM is not published yet.
Not financial advice. Scores are hand-set and the verdict is AI-generated. Do your own research.
Questions about XRP vs XLM
Did XRP and Stellar come from the same people?
They share one person. Jed McCaleb was one of the three engineers who built the XRP Ledger, and he later co-founded the Stellar Development Foundation with Joyce Kim. Ripple is the company most associated with XRP, though the ledger and the company are technically separate. The Stellar Development Foundation describes itself as a nonprofit whose mission is equitable access to the global financial system.
What does each network charge per transaction?
The minimum for a standard XRP transaction is 10 drops, or 0.00001 XRP, and the fee is burned rather than paid to validators, though it can rise when the network is busy. Stellar's network minimum is 100 stroops per operation, which is also 0.00001 XLM. The two figures match in native units, but the coins trade at different prices, so the profiles do not support a dollar comparison.
Which network has a stablecoin tied to it?
Both, in different ways. Ripple issues RLUSD, a US-dollar stablecoin that Ripple says has approval from the New York Department of Financial Services and the Dubai Financial Services Authority. On Stellar the stablecoins come from others: the Stellar Development Foundation announced on September 18, 2025 that PayPal's PYUSD was live, and Societe Generale-FORGE announced its EUR stablecoin EURCV on Stellar in February 2025.
Can I convert or swap XRP to XLM?
Yes, through an exchange or a crypto-to-crypto swap service that lists both coins. Before you swap, compare the fees and the exchange rate, send each coin on the right network to the right address, and check the platform works in your region. Same steps for XLM to XRP. This site does not run swaps or recommend any platform; this is general information, not a recommendation.