Benzinga | Jan 7, 2021 03:48AM EST

Cryptocurrency Stellar Has Surged 180% Over A Week Here's Why

XRP, the cryptocurrency managed by Ripple, rallied early Thursday but the spike was overshadowed by another payments-focused cryptocurrency Stellar (XLM).

What Happened: XRP was trading at $0.3 per unit, up 30.43% in a 24-hour period, as of press time, while XLM rose 52.98% to $0.35 in the same period.

XLM gains have exceeded 180% in a seven-day period, according to CoinMarketCap data.

As a comparison, Bitcoin (BTC) has risen 27.74% in a seven-day period leading up to press time.

Why It Matters: XRP has been under pressure of late after the United States Securities and Exchange Commission sued Ripple, the company closely linked with the token.

Denis Vinokourov, head of London-based brokerage Bequant attributed XLM's rise partly to the fact that it is a modified fork of XRP, reported CoinDesk.

The expert also attributed the gains in XLM to the fact that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency recently allowed U.S. banks to use public blockchains and dollar-backed stable coins for settlement purposes.

An earlier announcement by Stellar that it was helping Ukraine develop a central bank digital currency is also turning out to be a "perfect storm" for XLM, CF Benchmark's CEO Sui Chung told CoinDesk.