The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) destroyed 55 billion XLM as part of a plan to change its development strategy.
"The SDF can do more efficiently the work for which it was created using fewer XLMs. In recent years, we have noticed that eruptions are having a declining impact, especially in the enormous size of the plan that was originally planned. So we decided that a smaller, more socially oriented program would have a comparable level of impact," the publication says.
Currently, there are just over 50 billion XLMs in existence, compared to 105 billion before the last operation, of which 20 billion are in circulation.
Most of the remaining XLMs will be used to develop blockchain, expand cryptocurrency applications and support new partnerships. 8 billion XLM is allocated to the Stellar Corporate Fund, which will directly invest or acquire firms "with potential in the ecosystem context. 12 billion XLM will be used to create "an active program for direct development and protection of Stellar's interests". By the end of the year, SDF plans to double its staff of about 60 people. 2 billion XLM will help develop the ecosystem, and 1 billion will be distributed as grants.
At the same time, the SDF has abandoned several cryptocurrency programs, destroying 50 billion out of the 68 billion XLMs intended for this purpose. 4 billion XLM Stellar still expects to be distributed through a variety of applications that are closely linked to the market.
Against this backdrop, the price of XLM has risen by 20%. At the current rate of exchange, the value of the destroyed cryptocurrency is about $4.5 billion.