Stellar (XLM) is ending the year with yet another kind of news headline. Instead of another partnership or network update from the company, the Stellar network is now linked with an actual government project.
On the 17th of December, the Republic of the Marshall Islands started the universal basic income project using the blockchain technology of the Stellar network.
This program offers USDM1 bonds that are guaranteed by U.S. Treasuries to more than 33,000 civic-minded. Payments are delivered digitally through the Lomalo wallet, replacing a system that relied on quarterly cash deliveries across 24 remote atolls.
For Stellar, this is not a pilot or a test. It is a live government system handling real money for real people. At writing, the XLM price is trading around $0.2111. Price action remains subdued, but the fundamentals behind this move are drawing attention.
What you'll learn 👉
Why the Marshall Islands Rollout Matters For XLM
This is the first time a sovereign state has deployed a nationwide UBI system on a public blockchain. That alone puts Stellar in a different category.
The network is no longer just pitching itself as payment infrastructure. It is actively being used to solve a logistical problem governments struggle with.
Instant digital transfers replace slow and costly cash distribution. Transparency improves. Operational overhead drops. These are the exact use cases Stellar has been built around for years.
As Tokenicer pointed out, regulated government adoption around Stellar (XLM) has been building quietly all year. The Marshall Islands decision puts that narrative into concrete form. If the system runs smoothly, it becomes a reference point for other governments exploring similar programs.
🔥We're seeing more regulated govt adoption taking place on $XLM
— 🥖Tokenicer✲⥃⬢ (@Tokenicer) December 17, 2025
Universal basic income (UBI) is becoming a rising topic amidst economic issues.
And it seems Stellar's become the Republic of the Marshall Island's choice for distribution!
Real world utility of Stellar's been on… pic.twitter.com/3Mb47ssdwW
XLM Payments Infrastructure Expands Beyond One Country
Stellar (XLM) positioning is also being reinforced on the infrastructure side. Earlier this week, Mysten Labs revealed a new payment group bringing together Stellar, Solana, Polygon, TON, and Fireblocks.
The idea is simple: make on-chain payments work the same way across different networks, without breaking compliance rules or stablecoin standards.
For Stellar, this is familiar territory. While some chains chase raw speed or experiment at the edges, Stellar has spent years doing the less exciting work – fitting into regulated payment systems.
This move reinforces that role and keeps Stellar positioned as a network governments and institutions can actually use, not just talk about.
The consortium does not guarantee immediate demand for XLM, but it strengthens the network’s relevance in future payment rails.
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Moreover, Stellar stablecoin ecosystem is also expanding. The wallet provider Exodus recently unveiled a fully collateralized USD Stablecoin running on the Stellar blockchain, developed jointly with the firms MoonPay and M0.
The token will fuel the function of Exodus Pay, which provides self-custody spending and rewards from within the app itself.
Stablecoins are the heartbeat for the payment networks. If Stellar (XLM) becomes the go-to settlement chain for stablecoins that are regulated, the demand for transactions may rise regardless of the need for speculation. Approvals for the stablecoins are still necessary, however.
So What Happens to XLM If This Scales?
If government-led UBI programs gain traction and Stellar becomes a repeat choice for distribution, XLM valuation framework changes. Instead of being priced purely as a speculative asset, it starts behaving like infrastructure tied to recurring transaction flows.
That does not mean immediate price explosions. Adoption takes time, and execution risks remain. Technical issues, political shifts, or slow replication could stall momentum. Still, successful expansion beyond the Marshall Islands would likely put upward pressure on the Stellar (XLM) over time.
For now, Stellar is doing what it has always promised to do. It is showing up where boring, regulated, real-world finance actually happens. And if more governments decide that this approach works, the market may eventually start pricing XLM accordingly.
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