Stellar price in focus as Bell upgrade votes approach
Published on 11/03/2026 at 18:54 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWSBell vote puts utility in focus
- Stellar's Bell Protocol 30 includes muxed contract addresses, ML-DSA verification for smart contracts and millisecond ledger timing.
- The scheduled testnet vote was set for November 3, 2026, at 17:00 UTC, followed by a planned mainnet vote on November 23.
- Investing.com displayed XLM at USD 0.16105, with a market capitalization of USD 5.69 billion and a 52-week range of USD 0.13725 to USD 0.31124.
- Recent tokenized-fund growth illustrates network adoption, but it does not automatically create equivalent demand for XLM.
The Stellar price was displayed at USD 0.16105 on the Investing.com Stellar page read for this report. The page also showed a market capitalization of USD 5.69 billion, 24-hour volume of USD 104.90 million, rank 16 and a 52-week range of USD 0.13725 to USD 0.31124. These figures describe the page reading and should not be treated as a synchronized UTC closing price.
Bell reaches a scheduled vote
The immediate network event is Bell, Stellar's proposed Protocol 30 upgrade. According to the Stellar Development Foundation, validators were scheduled to vote on the testnet upgrade on November 3, 2026, at 17:00 UTC, equivalent to 18:00 Berlin time. A separate mainnet vote is scheduled for November 23 at 17:00 UTC. The dates are votes, not proof that the upgrade has already been activated; Bell takes effect only if validators approve it.
The package contains three proposed changes. CAP-84 adds muxed contract addresses, including a new W-prefixed format, so smart contracts can serve multiple customers through one address. CAP-87 adds ML-DSA post-quantum signature verification inside smart contracts. CAP-88 changes ledger timing to millisecond resolution. The Foundation says network-level transaction signatures remain Ed25519, so Bell should not be described as making all Stellar accounts quantum-safe immediately.
Why the upgrade matters for operators
The upgrade has a practical compatibility angle for wallets, exchanges, indexers and other infrastructure. The Foundation's Bell upgrade guide says Protocol 30 changes ledger-header data and adds the new contract-address type. Software that decodes raw ledger data therefore needs updated XDR definitions and relevant SDK support before the applicable vote.
Adoption is not token demand
Institutional use provides a separate part of the investment context. 24/7 Wall St., citing Token Terminal data, reported that Stellar attracted USD 757.5 million in tokenized-fund assets over the 90 days to November 2, compared with USD 670 million for Solana. The same report cautioned that low network fees and limited balance requirements mean fund growth does not automatically translate into comparable XLM demand.
That distinction leaves the Stellar price dependent on both broader crypto-market conditions and whether new network activity requires sustained holdings of XLM. Bell may improve the infrastructure available to financial applications, but the scheduled votes and adoption milestones are not, by themselves, a guaranteed price catalyst.
More developments and background are collected on the Stellar topic page.
