Stellar (XLM) Tokenomics, Unlock Schedule and Vesting Chart

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Stellar (XLM) Token Unlock & Vesting Schedule

As of October 18, 2026, 37.44 billion XLM have been released. The schedule is ongoing, with no final release date. Over the next 12 months it releases 987.74 million XLM (all estimated) from Historical protocol inflation, worth about $174.93 million at today's price (2.81% of the market cap). Today's release is an estimated 2.84 million XLM from Historical protocol inflation.

The chart shows gross modeled releases of every allocation: vesting unlocks, new issuance and reserve distributions, each allocation counted once. These have different meanings; a scheduled release is not evidence that tokens entered circulation or were sold. Review the coverage, sources and assumptions below.

Each color segment in the chart corresponds to a specific allocation group described in the Allocations section below. Underlying assumptions and data models used to reconstruct this schedule are explained in detail under Assumptions, while broader utility insights and token use cases are covered in Tokenomics & Utility.

Tokenomics & Utility

What XLM does

XLM pays Stellar transaction fees and helps meet account balance requirements. Fees limit unwanted network traffic, while a minimum balance limits the number of accounts and other records kept on the ledger. Smart contract transactions can also have fees based on the computing and storage resources they use. Network fees collect in a pool rather than going to validators as rewards. (developers.stellar.org)

A standard Stellar account requires two base reserves. Additional entries, such as trustlines or open exchange offers, can raise its required balance. An application can sponsor these reserves for another account, allowing a service to handle that part of setup for its users. (developers.stellar.org)

Stellar created 100 billion lumens at launch. The network later added XLM through an annual inflation rule, which ended by validator vote in October 2019. In November 2019, SDF made a large portion of its holdings permanently inaccessible. The resulting supply was about 50 billion XLM. SDF continues to manage a portion of the supply for development and ecosystem programs; that portion is distinct from XLM already circulating among other holders. (developers.stellar.org)

Upcoming XLM Releases

Period	Allocation	Type	Amount	Value
Oct 18 – 31, 2026	Historical protocol inflation	Issuance, estimated	39.7M	$7M
Nov 2026	Historical protocol inflation	Issuance, estimated	85.1M	$15.1M
Dec 2026	Historical protocol inflation	Issuance, estimated	88M	$15.6M
Jan 2027	Historical protocol inflation	Issuance, estimated	88M	$15.6M
Feb 2027	Historical protocol inflation	Issuance, estimated	79.5M	$14.1M
Mar 2027	Historical protocol inflation	Issuance, estimated	88M	$15.6M
Total, next 12 months			987.7M	$174.9M

1–6 of 12 releases

of 2 pages

Values at $0.177 per XLM (October 18, 2026), today's price, not a forecast. Releases continue after September 2027. Estimated amounts are modeled from the schedule's rules rather than dated by a source; see the Assumptions below. Releases without dates are listed under Allocations.

Assumptions

Stellar created 100 billion XLM at launch and about 5.44 billion through inflation before validators ended that mechanism in October 2019; the official supply figures also record subsequent burns. The chart can show that original mint, an estimated history of inflation, Bitcoin- and XRP-holder claim openings, and SDF's dated Direct Development escrow unlocks without counting those uses of existing XLM as new supply. Original giveaway budgets and later foundation grants, investments and user-acquisition programs overlap, and most of their actual payment amounts and dates remain unresolved. Those undated uses are listed but are not presented as scheduled releases.

Original direct sign-up and world giveaway: The sources give the amount but no release dates.
Original partnership program: The sources give the amount but no release dates.
Original SDF operating allocation: The sources give the amount but no release dates.
Stripe loan repayment: The sources give the amount but no release dates.
Keybase Space Drop: The original schedule was changed and the new timing is not yet published.
Blockchain wallet user airdrop: Releases depend on recipients claiming tokens or on grants being awarded.
Stellar Build Challenge: Releases depend on recipients claiming tokens or on grants being awarded.
2019 mandate: Direct Development: Releases depend on future governance or treasury decisions.
2019 mandate: Direct Development: Timing not yet established.
2019 mandate: Ecosystem Support: Releases depend on future governance or treasury decisions.
Developer Support, including infrastructure and community grants: Releases depend on recipients claiming tokens or on grants being awarded.
Currency Support: Releases depend on future governance or treasury decisions.
2019 mandate: Use-Case Investment: Releases depend on future governance or treasury decisions.
New Products: Releases depend on future governance or treasury decisions.
Stellar Enterprise Fund: Releases depend on future governance or treasury decisions.
2019 mandate: User Acquisition: Releases depend on future governance or treasury decisions.
Marketing Support: Releases depend on future governance or treasury decisions.
In-App Distributions: Releases depend on recipients claiming tokens or on grants being awarded.
Stellar Community Fund 2.0 Seed Fund: Releases depend on recipients claiming tokens or on grants being awarded.
Stellar Community Fund 2.0 Lab Fund: Releases depend on recipients claiming tokens or on grants being awarded.
2015 network-upgrade reserve claims: Releases depend on recipients claiming tokens or on grants being awarded.

Sources (15)

Current Supply 50.00B

Unlocked Supply 37.44B

Unlock Progress — No maximum supply

Genesis Date July 2014

Fully Unlocked Ongoing

Allocations 24

Marketcap Rank (#) 21

Price ($) 0.178 -10.05% (7d)

24h Volume ($) 8.8M -29.73% (7d)

Marketcap ($) 6.2B

Fully Diluted Value ($) N/A

Circulating Supply N/A

Perpetuals: 5 markets on Binance, OKX, Hyperliquid and Lighter · $59.2M open interest

Spot

Perp


XLM/USDT	8.7M	427K/544K
XLM/USD	5.1M	259K/882K
XLM/USD	2.6M	729K/920K
XLM/USDT	2.1M	191K/238K
XLM/USDT	1.7M	176K/184K
XLM/USDT	1.3M	507K/454K
XLM/USDT	1.1M	4K/2.2K
XLM/USDT	1M	273K/301K
XLM/USDC	1M	104K/144K
XLM/EUR	641K	307K/339K
XLM/USDT	571K	451K/446K
XLM/USDT	269K	375K/462K
XLM/TRY	219K	32K/40K
XLM/JPY	145K	18K/22K
XLM/EUR	69K	12K/24K
XLM/USDC	60K	420K/445K
XLM/USDC	52K	133K/135K
XLM/USDC	49K	57K/63K
XLM/USDC	32K	8.6K/13K
XLM/EUR	30K	46K/46K
XLM/EUR	22K	3.3K/5.8K
XLM/GBP	16K	21K/14K
XLM/U	10K	12K/12K
XLM/BTC	10K	110K/147K

Allocations

Original network supply TBD

100,000,000,000 tokens · 8 parts

Parts of this allocation with their own release dates are charted as their own allocations; the chart shows the rest here.

Not yet scheduled: 68,000,000,000 tokens of its parts have no release date yet. The chart shows them as TBD from today, not as unlocked.

Cliff: July 2014 — 100.00% of allocation · 100,000,000,000 tokens

Sources: Lumens supply dashboard APIIntroducing Stellar

Historical protocol inflation

5,443,902,087.347 tokens

Observed release: 5,443,902,087.347 tokens

Estimated from the last observation onward: about 2,838,322 per day (86,391,434 per month), the rate between the observations of July 2014 and October 2019.

Sources: Understanding Lumens, the Native Currency of the NetworkLumens supply dashboard APICAP-0026: Disable Inflation Mechanism

Last Updated: 2026-09-30 08:13:33 UTC

Description

#21

Stellar is a blockchain network that enables fast and low-cost cross-border payments and digital asset exchanges. It uses its native cryptocurrency, XLM or Lumens, as a bridge currency and to pay for transaction fees.

Sector:	Payments
Blockchain:	Other L1

2014