CryptoAmid the arduous crypto rout, the XCN token of the Chain Protocol has surged 120.7% over the last month

The previous month has been a tough month for cryptocurrencies. The market has been dragging through the mud as inflation, increased regulation, and the LUNA crash caused fear, uncertainty, and doubt amongst investors. Most cryptocurrencies have barely managed to stay afloat, and some have fallen well below half of their November 2021 all-time highs. But amid the arduous crypto rout, one particular token has leapfrogged to new highs while the rest of the altcoins struggle to even establish a footing. The XCN token of the Chain Protocol has surged 120.7% over the last month.

What is the Chain Protocol?

The Chain Protocol is a blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) provider built on the Ethereum blockchain. It is designed to “manage issuance, ownership, and control of digital assets.” The Chain protocol helps financial organizations set up their services and processes from the ground up. This is of great use to financial organizations that need a private blockchain to manage assets and transactions.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that since hitting a low of US$0.0712 on May 11, XCN has reversed course to hit a record-high at US$0.176 on May 31. The three reasons for the strong showing from XCN are multiple exchange listings, launching on BNB Chain, and several notable partnerships, including a long-standing collaboration with the Stellar Foundation.

Exchange listings pump up the volume

In March 2022, Chain deployed a new smart contract for its token and rebranded from CHN to XCN. Following the rebrand, XCN listed on KuCoin and subsequent listings on Huobi, Gate.io, Bitrue, and Hotbit were accompanied by sharp upticks in trading volume.

Several of the supporting exchanges have also launched perpetual contracts for the XCN token, including Gate.io, Huobi, Bybit, and Poloniex, which has helped generate increased awareness for the project and initially led to a spike in trading volume.

XCN is also part of a cross-chain integration with BNB Chain, which enables inexpensive token transfers and trading on PancakeSwap, where holders can earn yield for providing liquidity to the exchange. Following the integration with BNB Chain, the price of XCN rallied from US$0.0712 on May 11 to US$0.14 over the next week.

The Partnerships

Since 2014, Chain has had several notable partnerships and funding rounds, including initial fundraising of over US$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 commercial arm of the Stellar Foundation known as Interstellar. The chain was reacquired in 2020 as part of a ledger-as-a-service platform called Sequence.

It’s possible the recent developments with the Stellar protocol, including its partnership with MoneyGram to create a stablecoin-based platform for money transfers, could have positive effects on the price of XCN due to their close ties.

In April 2022, Chain also announced a strategic partnership with Alameda Research, which established the private equity and quantitative cryptocurrency trading firm as Chain’s primary market maker. While none of these partnerships appears significant enough to explain XCN’s current gains, it is notable that the altcoin’s price action has diverged from the wider crypto market for nearly an entire month.