Stellar Lumens (XLM) is in high demand among altcoin enthusiasts, with many favoring the Stellar platform for its cheap and fast transactions, as well as its decentralized nature. But before you start working with it, you need to choose the best tool to store your Lumens.
There is a wide variety of Stellar wallets available. Multicurrency wallets are handy if you use several coins at once. But if you hold only Lumens, you can choose a specialized variant for this coin, the reliability of such mono-wallets is usually higher.
In this article, we will consider in detail the online service Stellar Web Wallet, note a few more options for XLM coin storage and give recommendations for choosing the best wallet.
Stellar Online Wallet
We are pleased to introduce you to one of the most convenient online storages for XLM. The wallet is accessible directly from your browser, so there is no need to install additional software.
The secret key for the wallet is held exclusively by the user and it is important to pay extra attention to protecting the key storage location from viruses and Trojans that can steal the key file and the application password.
Registration and wallet menu
Follow the link https://stellar-wallet.org/ and click “Creating a new Stellar wallet”.
In the next step you will get a warning and advice on how to use the wallet, press “continue” to generate the keys:
At this stage also carefully read the recommendations and save the generated keys. The first key is the address of your wallet, the second is a secret key to access this wallet:
Here you click on the “copy keys” button, check the box below and then click on the “close” button.
Your wallet is successfully created, now on the main page, click on “Access to the wallet with a private key” and follow the instructions to log in.
Go in and see that the wallet is not activated yet. You need to deposit at least 1XLM to start using the wallet.
You can top-up your wallet by sending the required amount and specifying the public key of your wallet, which you saved when creating a wallet. It is also available in the main menu of the wallet. You can click the button in the control panel to copy the public key to the clipboard. Also by clicking on the button “Receive” you can get a QR-code of your public key. After the activation of the wallet you will be able to transfer coins.
As you can see there is no difficulty in creating a wallet. The wallet is chosen for its accessibility and ease of management.
Other XLM wallets
Stellar Web Wallet is, by far, not the only wallet for storing Lumen tokens on the Stellar platform. Here is a brief list of the main features of competing projects:
- Ledger with the Ledger Nano hardware key, allows you to forget about any security issues when using Stellar Wallet and other similar applications. You won’t lose access to your funds even if the device falls into the wrong hands, and the encryption algorithms allow you to securely store your private key – it doesn’t leave the device, but at the same time provides absolutely transparent support for transaction signing in many popular cryptocurrency payment systems.
- Stronghold is a web service that maintains high security standards and provides access to your Stellar account and address from anywhere in the world where there is internet. The service offers minimal fees to customers and a detailed API to developers.
- StellarTerm is a desktop client. It supports currency exchange and gateway trust setup with equally high security requirements. StellarTerm provides client access to distributed trading and differs only in design and minor details of the gateway trust algorithm.
- Astral is a web service that supports two-factor authentication and simultaneous work with several Stellar addresses.
- Stellarport is another desktop client for Stellar. Functionally it isn’t inferior to two previous ones (except ICO section), but it supports authentication with Ledger hardware wallets. The intuitive interface of the trading platform can please those who haven’t managed to figure out a similar solution in the Stellar Web Wallet.
- LOBSTR is a cross-platform application, with support for Android and iOS smartphones. Simple and clear enough interface, but functionally limited only to storage and transfer of XLM tokens. Great for those who plan to invest in the main token system, but don’t expect to participate in exchange transactions and use the potential of the gateway system.
- Stargazer is a mobile cross-platform application. Unlike LOBSTR, it works with gateways and provides access to the turnover of various assets. It supports multi-signature procedure for transactions, which opens new perspectives in the use of Stellar tokens.
- SAZA is a desktop client running on Windows and macOS. Full access to gateway functionality and decentralized exchange. Allows you to place your own offers for buying/selling assets and supports simultaneous work with a large number of Stellar addresses.
- Centaurus is a mobile application that knows how to work with gateway assets and, of course, transmit and receive payments in the Stellar system. An interesting feature of the program is the support of cross-currency payments between participants, which doesn’t require a preliminary manual conversion of one asset into another.
- Papaya is a cross-platform Stellar wallet that works even on such exotic operating systems as FirefoxOS or the outdated Windows Mobile. It supports point-to-point trading and access to Federation Server functionality, which means gateways and exchanges that cooperate with Stellar.
- Interstellar is a web client and mobile application for Android that supports hardware wallets to access user accounts. Allows you to participate in the decentralized exchange and establish gateways trust. Also works with all Federation Server networks, in addition, customers are initially available to top-up with cryptocurrencies, thanks to the presence of its own gateway.
How to choose a Stellar wallet
As you can see, with the development of wallets that support Stellar, there is no problem, but there is a problem of choosing the best solution of all existing. It is impossible to recommend any one application as the best and most functional, especially since the competition between them forces developers to make constant improvements and refinements that introduce new features for fast and secure transfer of money in the payment system Stellar.
And yet, if there is no desire to participate in a decentralized exchange or the ICO procedures of in-network projects – it is quite possible to choose a web service or application that provides only storage and transfer of XLM tokens. On the other hand – the gateway system allows finding unusual trading strategies with a variety of assets, and if trading on the exchange is the initial purpose of investment, then the capabilities of the decentralized payment system and trading platform Stellar may be enough to form an investment portfolio and profit from trading on the difference between fiat and cryptocurrency instruments rate.
