Flare Network’s FLR token jumped 14% on May 15, leading a group of altcoins that outperformed Bitcoin, which remained stuck below its 200-day moving average. The rally came after Flare activated the FAssets v1.3 upgrade on its mainnet, a change that lets XRP holders mint the DeFi-ready FXRP token in a single transaction using native destination tags on the XRP Ledger.
The upgrade is significant because it removes a lot of friction. Previously, minting FXRP involved multiple steps that limited how many people bothered to try. Now users can do it directly from major centralized exchanges like Binance and Kraken, treating it as a simple withdrawal. That seems to have made a difference right away. FLR gained 14% on the announcement, and the broader market took notice.
Hyperliquid and Unibase also move higher
Hyperliquid’s HYPE token led all 24-hour gains with a 16% increase. The catalyst was Bitwise’s launch of a spot Hyperliquid exchange-traded fund and Coinbase’s new role as the protocol’s official USDC treasury deployer. Unibase’s UB token added 11%, continuing a run that started after its ERC-8183 Agent Service Market launched on May 7. Total cumulative crypto futures volume rose 14% to $220 billion over 24 hours, so there’s clearly some activity out there.
Bitcoin, though, had a rough session. It stayed below its 200-day simple moving average near $82,228, trading around $80,592. A brief push above $82,000 happened after the Senate Banking Committee approved the Clarity Act with a 15-9 vote on Thursday, but that didn’t last. Macro pressure from hotter-than-expected inflation data and a $2.6 billion options expiry reversed those gains by Friday. So Bitcoin is kind of stuck for now, while altcoins are finding their own reasons to move.
Flare’s broader tokenomics overhaul
As crypto.news reported, Flare has been working on a bigger structural change under proposal FIP.16. That plan cuts annual FLR inflation by 40% to 3% and introduces protocol-level MEV capture, which is supposed to link network usage directly to token value. It’s a shift that could make FLR less dependent on what Bitcoin does, at least in theory. That structural shift might be part of why traders are paying attention.
Looking back, similar upgrades in the past, like in April 2025, also sparked catalyst-driven rallies. Historically, those moves that lower friction for XRP capital entering the Flare ecosystem have preceded sustained volume growth in the days after launch. Whether that pattern holds this time remains to be seen, but the initial reaction suggests the market sees this as a real step forward.
