BTC, ETH and altcoins have traded in the red for most of May. So what’s behind XCN’s nearly month-long 100%+ rally?
May has been an incredibly challenging month for the crypto market as most tokens have suffered huge losses as the bear market was confirmed, but not every project has returned to pre-bull market lows.
Chain (XCN), a protocol designed to help companies launch their own blockchain network or connect to other, more established networks, has managed to grow more than 120% since May 19.
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after hitting a low of $0.0712 on May 11, XCN reversed course and hit an all-time high of $0.176 on May 31.
XCN/USDT 4 hour chart. Source: Trade View
Three reasons for XCN’s strong performance are multiple listings on exchanges, a launch on the BNB network, and several notable partnerships including a long-term partnership with the Stellar Foundation.
Listings on stock exchanges increase the volume
In March 2022, Chain introduced a new smart contract for its token and renamed it from CHN to XCN. After the rebranding, the XCN listing on KuCoin and subsequent listings on Huobi, Gate.io, Bitrue, and Hotbit saw an increase in trading volume.
Several supporting exchanges also launched perpetual contracts for the XCN token, including Gate.io, Huobi, Bybit, and Poloniex, which helped raise awareness of the project and initially saw trading volumes skyrocket.
XCN is also part of a cross-chain integration with BNB Chain, enabling low-cost token transfers and trading on PancakeSwap, where holders can earn revenue by providing liquidity to the exchange.
After integrating with BNB Chain, XCN’s price surged from $0.0712 on May 11 to $0.14 the following week.
See Also: BNB Network Releases Year-End Technical Roadmap for Ecosystem Growth
Notable partnerships
Chain has had several notable partnerships and funding rounds since 2014, including an initial fundraiser of over $40 million from Khosla Ventures, Pantera Capital, Capital One, Citigroup, Fiserv, Nasdaq, Orange and Visa.
In 2018, the project was acquired and became part of the Stellar Foundation’s commercial arm, known as Interstellar. Chain was re-acquired in 2020 as part of a ledger-as-a-service platform called Sequence.
Perhaps recent developments in the Stellar protocol, including its partnership with MoneyGram to create a stablecoin-based money transfer platform, could have a positive impact on XCN’s price due to their close ties.
In April 2022, Chain also announced a strategic partnership with Alameda Research, which formed a cryptocurrency private equity and quantitative trading firm as Chain’s primary market maker. While none of these partnerships appear to be significant enough to explain XCN’s current gains, it is worth noting that altcoins’ price action has diverged from the broader crypto market for almost a full month.
