Now let’s consider Stellar more detailed. Independent peer nodes are gathered into a huge network. All the network accounts are merged into the ledge. Each nod keeps the database copy of the network account balance. For all the data to be actually all the nodes synchronize with each other every 2 or 4 seconds. The synchronization mechanism was called a consensus. The success formula of the XLM system consists in its operation of its blockchain. The platform introduces the lowest fees for the fastest cryptocurrencies transactions.

In 2014 a founding member of the Ripple Company decided to establish the Stellar system. It was a kind of filiation. The Ripple and the Stellar are now the main competitors.

In 2017 the world IT giant IBM Company suggested cooperation to the Stellar. Since that the Stellar turned into the fastest-growing ICO platform.

Stellar can be considered as a common infrastructure for money. A non-commercial organization supports the Stellar platform. It increases the compatibility between currencies and different financial systems. Thus, Stellar’s mission is to help serving unity in the World.

Stellar represents a simple technology. It allows conveying money between people, companies, and financial institutes. This means that separate individuals get access to financial operations. Bank expenses are reduced, and business profit is increased. Anyone can help to improve the financial system in the World. Each of you can be a member of this community. It would be a perfect way to recover the world’s financial mechanisms. Moreover, people can use Stellar in their major financial operations.

Where to buy Stellar Lumens?

Lumens has not yet received such widespread distribution as bitcoin or Ethereum. So it will not be possible to buy it using an online exchanger yet. Yet any popular crypto stocks work with Lumens. This also applies to such financial giants as Binance and OKEx.

Specifically, you can make a deposit account or fundraising on a Stellar blockchain. The Stellar Wallet can be downloaded at the company’s official website. After setting up the user launches a program and chooses an option “create a new account”. After entering the password, it is necessary to create an encrypted key. And finally, you select “show secret key” to see, to copy, or to save it.

Initially, the Stripe Company supported the XLM project by investing $ 3 million. Stripe was interested in developing the program. The XLM token was the only cryptocurrency not preceded by an ICO conducting. Based on this network the smart contrasts can be launched. Exchange transactions are also to be made. Moreover, you can create decentralized applications and conduct ICOs. So, Stellar becomes a competitor not only to Ripple but also to Ethereum.

The acronym STR was used instead of XLM by the Poloniex platform. It is rather easy to deal with Lumens, just choosing the platform where it is sold. The first step is to deposit the required cryptocurrency or traditional money. Secondly, it is necessary to create an order in the buy order book and wait when someone to sell Lumens. XLM has a built-in decentralized exchange stock. It can be used for trading any currencies and assets. About 50% of the Stellar cryptocurrency trading takes place on the Binance exchange. Upbit, Poloniex, Kraken, and many other cryptocurrency stocks are also applied.

The Lumen share capital is about $ 5 billion. It takes the 8th place in the world in this indicator between other cryptocurrencies. One coin cost between $0,26 и $0,44 in 2018. Later it achieved $1. Analysts believe in Stellar’s growth by 2021. Lumen is needed for internal network payments.

As many analytics note, the XLM coins go directly to people. It is aimed at countries with no banks, only with telephones and the Internet. They will be able to easily connect through XLM to a bank. The borders are not a problem anymore. Ripple Labs and their chief, David Schwartz, disputed these findings.

• They want to compete with two things. Firstly is to simplify the code language. Secondly is to have a lower launch cost than Ethereum.
• Uninterrupted operations are achieved.
• The Stellar Wallet can be downloaded on the company’s website.
• Although Lumens cannot be held in your hand, they are very important to the platform. They contribute to the ability to move money around the world in a fast and safe way. As well as an exchange between different currencies is simply carried out.

Where to store XLM – Stellar wallet

A network is a storage place for tokens. To get access to them you need a unique key. Yet, a dedicated client is required to receive and transfer coins. Simple operations can be done using Stellar’s client.

The platform’s website also provides a list of Lumens-enabled cryptocurrency wallets. There are 14 options and you can choose one of three types of client:

• web Stellar wallet with browser access;
• desktop – software for the PC;
• mobile – an application for smartphones and tablets.

For the most protection, it is best to choose applications with cold key storage.

Stellar’s implementation

Cryptocurrency is currently introduced as a legal exchange in only a few countries. The USA, Brazil, and Japan are among them.

The competitiveness of the project specifies its future perspectives. There are positive and negative predictions as well.

Making transfers in any currency cheaply and quickly is a very popular service. Here XLM cryptocurrency is out of the competition. The platform is actively developing. The team is introducing new technologies and working to drop deficiencies. One of the main advantages is the high transaction processing speed. The money is credited to the beneficiary’s account in 5 seconds after the payment is created. Low energy consumption is also an attractive factor. And finally – easy access. Lumens can be used for blockchain transactions in countries with banned virtual assets. Unfortunately, there are also some disadvantages. For example, imperfect security system, low profitability of node maintenance. The annual inflation rate is 1%. Decentralized applications work with limited options.

The XLM decentralized trading platform began operating in 2018. So cryptocurrency is easily exchanged for another digital asset. The Stellar Development Foundation’s list of partners is growing all the time. The Shariyah Review Bureau recognized Stellar protocol is in line with Islamic principles.

Stellar’s achievements are quite serious. But Ripple is still ahead of its fork in the technology race. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dash networks are more widespread.

Stellar’s low popularity can be caused by several factors. First is the weak marketing policy. The second reason is the failure of an official Stellar wallet. Finally, an ill-conceived security system is also an important challenge.

This platform allows exchanging not only cryptocurrency, but also ordinary money and smart contracts. Since 2014, the tokens of the Stellar Lumens platform are called Lumen (before that, altcoins were called Stellar tokens). Due to the fact that the system uses distributed ledger technology, its tokens can be exchanged for goods, services and other cryptocurrencies (Lumen in this case will serve as a kind of bridge between selling one asset and receiving another in return). It is a good idea to use lumens also as a tool for long-term investments, hoping that the coin will only grow in value, not fall.

A brief history of creation.

The platform was founded as an offshoot of Ripple by developers Joyce Kim and Jed McCaleb. Ripple cryptocurrency has been quite successful since 2012, but it is not without flaws, so Kim and McCaleb decided to create Stellar Lumens and eliminate in this platform the weaknesses that do not suit Ripple users. Particularly the fact that Ripple’s code is closed, and only the owner of the system can manage the course and make changes to the platform.

The non-profit firm Stellar Development Foundation was created for development. The company has an official website where anyone can read about its activities. In the beginning, the Stellar Lumens platform worked on the Ripple protocol, but a year later it had its own, the code of which is available to all comers.

The creation of the cryptocurrency dates back to 2014, but only in 2017 the coin became available to users on the Poloniex exchange. From the winter to the spring of 2017, the value of Lumen fell six times. Representatives of the exchange believe that this was a consequence of a hacker attack on the resource. Already by October the value of the currency leveled off, and in December it even exceeded the previously known maximum.

At the beginning of 2018, when there was a collapse of the cryptocurrency market, Lumen did not lose its position, but even on the contrary rose in price, thanks to the competent policy of the developers to enter into contracts with major exchanges and cryptocurrency services.

Features of Stellar Lumens cryptocurrency

Differences and advantages:

• the database is distributed among users;
• open code and reporting available to all;
• the platform allows several thousand transactions every second;
• it takes no more than 5 seconds to confirm each transaction;
• Lumen can be used to exchange and transfer any assets, cryptocurrencies and monetary units;
• the platform operates on the open SCP protocol, which increases its performance;
• transaction cost is low;
• issuance and inflation are strictly fixed;
• the system allows the use of multi-signatures and smart contacts;
• Stellar is compatible with other representatives of the cryptocurrency market;
• high level of protection due to the use of cryptographic encryption;
• clients and plugins can be created on the basis of this platform;
• Lumen can be used for almost any type of cashless payments;
• owners of large amounts of tokens cannot manipulate the exchange rate, as there is a restrictive agreement obliging them not to sell this cryptocurrency for 5 years;
• A quarter of all available tokens are held by non-profit organizations, and another 5% are frozen to keep the system operational.

The computing power of the platform is distributed across multiple interchangeable servers, which allows the system to operate reliably even if some of the servers fail. This feature also allows the system to operate autonomously, eliminating external interference.

Ways to store – Stellar wallet

There are several versions of the official Stellar Wallet for storing digital coins. The desktop version is considered the most reliable. In addition to the official Stellar wallet, for storage are also suitable:

• desktop Stellar wallet – Ledger and Stargazer;
• mobile – Lobstr, Stargazer, Papaya, Centaurus;
• online services – Stellar Wallet, Ledger, Stronghold, LuPoEx, StellarTeam, Lobstr, Papaya, Saza.

But despite all this diversity, most owners of this cryptocurrency still prefer to store it on the desktop version of the official Stellar wallet, due to the high degree of protection of funds.

How to mine Stellar?

Talking about Stellar Lumens there isn’t any possibility to mine and it is not expected. For this system, it was not even conceived by the developers. It is possible to become the owner of tokens only by purchasing them. And this is logical, because any mining will have an impact on the internal economic model and will not allow the system to have a clearly fixed issue and inflation. Therefore, the only way to get this cryptocurrency is to buy it.

Prospects for project development

The developers managed to implement their idea, and they got a faster, cheaper, more reliable, and most importantly, a decentralized variation of Ripple. Therefore, lumens are gaining in popularity and, according to experts, will only grow in value. In addition, the Stellar platform allows you to instantly exchange any assets using lumens without the cost of commissions, which makes it unique among many competitors.

The Stellar Lumens technology itself is still very actively being refined to this day. It is already loved by many large corporations and is actively used by them, which attracts new investments in the development of the project. However, the potential for practical application of the platform is still high and has not yet been fully realized.

The world-renowned giant IBM also plans to use Stellar technology in the near future. After such a statement, there is no reason to doubt the reliability and success of this cryptocurrency. And the interest of investors, including financial investors, to the currency is growing quite rapidly, which also hints subtly that this digital unit will at least stay on the market for a long time, promising its holders a good profit.

Experts say, that now is a good time to invest in this cryptocurrency, while it is still not worth that much.

The main thing is not to panic when the price decreases slightly and patiently wait for a good moment. Although, as a long-term investment tool, these tokens are also quite suitable. The maximum risk of the investor in this case is just a small drop in the rate, which quickly leveled off and maybe even went up. But despite the very bright forecasts for the Stellar Lumens platform, in the long term, it is still worth remembering to monitor the market situation and be ready for any turn of events.

The main function of the XLM tokens is to serve as an extra instrument for exchanging currencies. All the operations are performed through the system interface.

The history of its development

The founders of Stellar are Joyce Kim and Jed McCaleb. It was founded in 2014. The project was a fork of Ripple. The reason for its creation was connected with crypto community indignation. The users didn’t like the principals of Ripple performance. At the time of its creation, the project had closed source code. The greatest part of tokens belonged to the developers. The servers were owned by Ripple Labs. All these principles contradicted decentralized ideas.

In 2013 Ripple team opened its source code. The level of indignation decreased. Yet, a part of the developers insisted on a fork. It was necessary to solve other problems with the platform. So, the result of these actions is the appearance of Stellar.

In the beginning, the project used an old Ripple protocol. Since 2015 it has been working on a separate Stellar protocol. Since that time, the popularity of the project has been increasing.

Key characteristics

If you look carefully at the currency, you may find some important characteristics. These features make the currency attractive for investors:

• The confirmation usually takes 3-5 seconds;
• It supports 1000 transactions per second;
• It can be used for sending or exchanging any currency, active or tokens;
• An open-source code;
• The usage of SCP instead of Proof of Work;
• Simple and clear API;
• Multilevel and smart contracts;
• Decentralized distributed database;
• 100B XLM created;
• The inflation of 1% a year.

The network Stellar doesn’t use intellectual processing. It means that all the tokens are available at the start of the system. The majority belongs to Stellar.org. It spreads the tokens in the following way. 50B XLM is for small companies and clients. 25B XLM is for non-commercial organizations and other enterprises. 20B XLM belongs to BTC and XRP holders. 50B XLM is saved in Stellar.org for operations.

Technical realization and peculiarities

The majority of applications cooperate with Lumens through API Horizon. It provides a simple way of transactions. It gives the chance to check the balance and subscriptions easily. The basis of the cryptocurrency is connected with HTTP. So, you can work with the Horizon through the web-browser. You can use a command line, using your favourite programming language.

XLM support JavaScript and Java to set the connection with Horizon. It also has a range of SDK for different programming languages. Every Horizon server connects to the web line Stellar Core. This software checks and submits every transaction through Stellar Consensus protocol. The network itself has many connected Stellar Cores. They are being run by organizations and users from all over the world. Some of them are available for cooperation, and some are just for network support. The distributed technology makes the network stable and safe.

Stellar Pros and Cons

As a result of changes, XLM has the following advantages:

• Equal rights for all the users of the system;
• Fast transactions (up to 1000 per second);
• An open-source code, maximal decentralization;
• Safety, that is achieved by encoding and using autonomous units;
• Integration support with other projects and financial systems.

As for inconveniences, one can notice that the level of smallest transactions is limited by 0,5 XLM. One must have this sum on his account. Due to the fact, that the price of the token is small, it is not a serious problem for users. It doesn’t scare potential clients from using it.

Stellar Wallet information

The most popular way of keeping XLM is online Stellar wallet. It can be downloaded from GitHub. It is available for different operating systems versions. The list of wallets is in the tab “Lumens” – “Wallets” on the official website. There are different types of wallets available:

• Desktop Stellar wallet: BlockEQ, Foxlet, Ledger.
• Mobile wallets: Clockchain, Lobstr, InterStellar.
• Web Stellar wallet: Astral, Ledger, Saza.

This list is not limited. There are lots of multi-currency wallets available now. They support Stellar Lumen. For example, it can be Exodus. If the user clicks the link “Account Viewer”, he will be transferred into a light online Stellar wallet. If you want to create a new private key, press the button “Generate”. You can get a Secret Key or a Public Key. The first is a private instrument, and the second is a public address for getting tokens.

For further usage and login, the user must use a Secret Key. You can activate it with 1 XLM transfer on a public address. Stellar Account Viewer is a convenient and simple official Stellar wallet. You can get, keep and transfer cryptocurrency there.

Conclusion

The system doesn’t have mining. So, it means that all the crypto tokens already exist. Some of the clients think about it as an advantage, the others consider it to be as a disadvantage.

Lumens is a rather serious project. Now it has even more clients than Ripple Labs. At the same time, the experts are very accurate about its spreading. Ripple has a great number of banks and corporations that support it. It is hard to predict currency behaviour. Certain conclusions can be done when the tendency will have become positive. Another key factor is signing contracts with big world corporations. Though the number of such companies is not big, it is interesting for some investors. Such development is interesting and demanding.

The first name of this cryptocurrency was Stellar or Start, then it was changed to Lumen. It also occurred in 2015. This cryptocurrency has all Ripple advantages, but there are no disadvantages of it. The financing of this cryptocurrency occurs via a Stellar Development Foundation. Now, this foundation is financed by the Stripe organization. This cryptocurrency got positive reviews both before moving to its own platform and after that. Now, this company collaborates with IBM. This fact makes it more credible. In 2018, this company had more successful ICOs than almost all other companies. Only Ethereum was more successful than the Stellar Foundation.

Why did they create their own platform?

There are a lot of reasons why the Stellar Foundation decided not to use the Ripple platform and start creating their own. First, there are many negative reviews of Ripple. Many people thought that this coin is totally centralized and the creators control all financial movements. That creates a dangerous situation when companies can steal money from their clients at any moment. A lot of people think that Ripple is the financial pyramid that will be closed in some time.

This situation was very inconvenient for users. The price of this cryptocurrency started falling. It was a reason why the company decided to open the source of this asset. Still, only a Ripple fork was considered as the best method of solving this problem and this fork was created. Ten months later, the Stellar platform was created.

The Stellar cryptocurrency platform rules

To avoid troubles associated with Ripple, Stellar Development Foundation created these rules:

1. All operations need to be carried out via a non-profit organization. Creators aren’t able to get any income from the Foundation.
2. All software is open. At the moment of launching, it worked using open-source Ripple protocol. Then, their open protocol was created. The foundation took the responsibility for keeping the protocol open all the time.
3. There are no members that have more bonuses than others.
4. The platform publishes different reports about their activity. For example, it is a report about the salary of workers, a report about distributed Lumens, etc. At this moment, you can find the statistics on Lumens on their official site. Also, you can understand how many people came from Facebook, financial reports, and a lot of other reports.
5. Developers first determined how much money was generated at the start (100 billion coins), how much is generated every week (to maintain the manual inflation at 1% a year), and how much money was spent on the needs of the Foundation.
6. Most of the coins have to be distributed completely for free. The only exception is the operation spendings that make up 5% of all Stellar coins. However, the Foundation has to maintain an equal distribution.
7. A quarter of Lumens has to be spent on the needs of non-profit organizations.
8. There is an agreement according to which counteragents with huge amounts of Lumens can’t sell them for 5 years.

To sum up, the creators of Lumen (Stellar) have done everything necessary to avoid competition as part of cryptocurrency operations.

Stellar Development Foundation

The Stellar Development Foundation was created in 2014. The people who consulted this foundation were very famous. Creating the platform isn’t the only activity of this company. Among the services provided by this Foundation are increasing the financial knowledge and creating applications and other services and instruments for cryptocurrency exchanging.

How does Stellar work?

Stellar is based on the open-source protocol (now Stellar XLM is called ‘Lumen’), which is very important for digital currency operations. The structure of transactions is like a Bitcoin or Ethereum blockchain. There are a lot of servers connected to the decentralized network. Each of them keeps information about transactions. Every transaction has to be confirmed by the other servers. This process is called ‘consensus’. It is carried out every 2-4 seconds. In this case, Stellar is the great Ethereum and Bitcoin analog.

Where is Stellar used?

Stellar isn’t such a famous cryptocurrency platform as Bitcoin, Ripple and Ethereum, but it is used for supporting the economics in developing countries. For example, it is used in the South part of Africa to cover spendings on the mobile phone. Also, it is used by microfinance organizations in Nigeria. The advantages of this cryptocurrency in comparison to Ethereum are:

1. Easiness to use
2. Lower price.

That’s why the prospects of Stellar are great. We recommend you invest in this token.

Stellar cryptocurrency’s mission is to create financial products and services that connect people from around the world, including those who currently do not have access to banking services. The Stellar platform provides users with an efficient payment network that allows for any transaction with immediate confirmation and virtually zero fees.

The platform also allows issuing tokens and organizing fundraisers, among other things in the form of ICOs. The Stellar platform also has a decentralized stock exchange (DEX), which supports not only the most popular cryptocurrencies (such as Bitcoin and Litecoin), but also fiduciary currencies (including US dollars and euros).

The name of the platform Stellar comes from the English adjective “stellar,” and the cryptocurrency itself got its name from the basic unit of measurement of light flux – lumens.

Stellar Lumens is an inflationary cryptocurrency (a constant inflation rate of 1% per year), with no limit on the maximum supply of coins. At the launch of the network (July 2014), exactly 100 million XLMs were created, and the total number of lumens now exceeds 104 million, but there are less than 19 million units of this cryptocurrency on the digital market.

History of the development of the cryptocurrency Stellar

The history of Stellar’s platform development began in 2014, when developer Jed Caleb and lawyer Joyce Kim launched a website called “Secret Bitcoin Project,” through which they tested software testers for their platform.

At the time, Jed Caleb was not only a seasoned Internet entrepreneur who created the decentralized file sharing network eDonkey in 2000, but also had extensive experience in the cryptocurrency industry. Since 2010, he founded the infamous cryptocurrency exchange Mt.Gox, which became famous for its subsequent spectacular collapse.

Since 2012, Jed Caleb has co-created the decentralized settlement platform Ripple (XRP). The Stellar platform also began working with startup Stripe, offering the latter online payments. Stripe’s CEO Patrick Collison, along with two of Stellar’s network creators, founded a non-profit organization called the Stellar Foundation, which aims to develop the XLM platform and provide access to financial services in regions of economic exclusion.

Of the initial 100 million XLM units created, 2 million were given to the Stripe startup and 25 million tokens were earmarked for the social mission of economically integrating people without access to banking services.

Standalone Consensus Protocol (SCP) on the Stellar network

The XLM network was launched on July 31, 2014 and was originally based on the source code of the Ripple platform, which was previously developed by Jed Caleb. During the first half of the year, more than 3 million users registered on the Stellar network, and the market capitalization of this cryptocurrency exceeded $15 million.

However, in December 2014, there were numerous technical mishaps related to problems reaching consensus between the nodes of the Lumens network, which even led to an unplanned separation of the blockchain system. The solution to the problem was that Jed Caleb abandoned the consensus algorithm used in the Ripple network and developed an autonomous consensus protocol (SCP). This development involved cryptography professor David Meseris of Stanford University.

The new source code was published in April 2015, and the Stellar network was updated on November 5, 2015. The code update not only fixed the system’s problems, but also improved the network’s performance and security.

Commercial Division of the InterStellar Project

In May 2016, the XLM platform launched its first large-scale collaboration with many companies, including the creation of an international settlement network for the Deloitte Group called Deloitte Digital Bank. In May 2017, a commercial division of the lightyear.io project (InterStellar) was created.

InterStellar includes the decentralized exchange StellarX, where it is possible to trade not only cryptocurrencies, but also fiat currencies and almost all assets in the form of digital tokens.

Characteristics of the cryptocurrency Stellar (XLM)

The Lumens network is capable of processing payments in a fixed currency. The platform also has its own digital currency called Lumens, which is used to pay for transactions on the network.

The XLM network is not based on a consistent Proof of Work algorithm, which means that there are no miners on the network, as, for example, on the bitcoin platform. Nodes in the Lumens network do not earn commissions for transactions, but rather place information about the transactions in the so-called Inflation Pool, which is responsible for cyclical increase of the maximum delivery of XLM.

On the Stellar network, each account must have a minimum base reserve of 0.5 XLM. The fee for network transactions is pre-set, and network users cannot change it. This fee is 100 Stroop (0.00001 XLM) for each transaction made, making XLM one of the cheapest cryptocurrencies in terms of transaction costs. Stroop is the smallest unit of lumens, similar to satoshi (1 Stroop = 0.0000001 XLM).

The transaction confirmation time in the XLM network is, on average, 3 to 5 seconds (similar to the block creation time in the network).

Currently, the Lumens network can handle more than a thousand transactions per second (TPS), which is an impressive result compared to, for example, the bitcoin platform (about 10 TPS).

Stellar’s developers are working all the time on additional payment channels and the implementation of the Lightning Network protocol, which will further increase the scalability of the “star” network.

All transactions in the Lumens network are fully open, and organizations that want to connect their services to this blockchain must implement procedures to verify the personal data of system users (KYC).

Assets in the form of a digital token in the “star network”

One of the unique features of the Lumens network is its practical ability to create markets based on all types of financial instruments. On the Stellar network, you can create any asset in the form of a digital token. This allows you to exchange currencies, securities, commodities or even create tokens used in fundraising through ICOs.

The star system also has Anchor trusts that accept deposits, such as in fiduciary currencies, which are then issued in the form of digital tokens. At the time of payment for a particular asset from Anchor, the corresponding tokens are destroyed. In theory, any organization could integrate its services with the star network using an off-the-shelf server bridge.

It is worth noting, however, that the structure of the Stellar network is only partially decentralized, which ensures its high scalability and extremely fast transactions with virtually zero fees. Nevertheless, this system is certainly not in direct competition with decentralized networks such as the bitcoin blockchain.

What kind of Stellar wallet is suitable for “star” lumens?

Lumens token is supported by many cryptocurrency wallets available for various devices and operating systems.

The main desktop portfolio for XLM is Foxlet Stellar Wallet, available for Windows, MacOS and Linux operating systems. A universal solution is the BlockEQ Wallet, which is available for both computers (without Linux support) and smartphones (Android and iOS). Both wallets are also compatible with all tokens in the Stellar network.

A popular mobile Stellar wallet is Lobstr Wallet, available for Android and Apple systems. A mobile wallet for Android devices is also offered by the decentralized Interstellar Exchange, indirectly owned by the Stellar team.

We also invite XLM users to try our simple and free Stellar web wallet, or choose one of the hardware wallets.

Most Stellar wallets have built-in integration with Stellar’s decentralized exchanges (DEX).

XLM is also supported by the more popular Ledger hardware wallets, the Nano S and Blue (but without support for the Ledger Live desktop app) and Trezor (Model One and Model T).

Star Lumens are listed on 36 cryptocurrency exchanges. The largest turnover (about 30% of total sales) occurs on the Binance exchange, paired with bitcoins (XLM / BTC). A notable share of this cryptocurrency turnover also comes from South Korea (in tandem with the Korean won – XLM / KRW) on the stock exchange Upbit, not available to customers outside the country.

XLM is also available on the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges such as Kraken, OKEx, Bitfinex or Polonix. In mid-July 2018, the Coinbase stock exchange announced plans to introduce XLM on its platform, which increased the price of this cryptocurrency (as it did, for example, with Ethereum Classic or Basic Attention Token).

Why is Stellar so special? This cryptocurrency is more than a traditional or digital currency: it is a part of a unique payment system. Plus, Stellar constantly works to improve its products and services, forging various partnerships and developing cutting edge tech.

The aim of the Stellar project is to make money transactions as easy as sending emails. They are creating a free, simple, and transparent platform that allows everyone to build inexpensive financial apps. However, Stellar XLM isn’t alone in the industry, as there are numerous ventures using the same technology.

So, how can Stellar really compete? And what is important for us — is it a good idea to trade and use Stellar XLM?

In this Stellar XLM review, we’ll give you everything that you should know about the Stellar XLM project and Lumens. Plus, we’ll also analyze the potential of XLM and try to answer the question of whether we should invest in it or not.

What is Stellar XLM?

Launched in 2014, the Stellar project was designed to bridge the gap between the traditional financial and crypto worlds. It was a challenging task, but it seems Stellar has achieved some impressive results. Since 2014, the Stellar coins have taken on a bunch of partnerships with several well-known companies not only in finance but also in tech. The list of partners includes some big corporations such as Stripe, IBM, and Deloitte. Plus, Stellar XLM is cooperating with numerous payment processors throughout the world. No matter where you are — in Asia or Europe, Stellar  XLM can be useful for you.

Stellar’s ambitious plan is to become one of the best digital payment platforms in the world. Therefore, they have built a system that is able to bring together people, banks, and payment applications. The Stellar XLM network allows you to send money to anyone, no matter where they are. One of the advantages of Stellar is that the transactions are fast, easy, and safe. Plus, it is necessary to mention a transaction fee: it is super low. Most transactions cost less than a penny. This fact alone may put traditional payment solutions out of the game.

Some experts state that the Stellar XLM coins were created as a hard fork from the Ripple technology. This theory is quite plausible, as Jed McCaleb who started the Stellar platform also was a founder of Ripple. At the same time, McCaleb has written himself that the two cryptocurrency projects use different codes, and Stellar ISN’T a fork from Ripple. We think that we should believe what he said. Whether it is true or not, let’s move to other aspects of the Stellar XLM project. Anyway, the past won’t tell you anything about the future of Stellar cryptocurrency.

What is XLM?

Even though the Stellar platform was created to handle various currencies and their digital representations, they also issued their own native cryptocurrency called Stellar Lumens or XLM. Actually, if you want to use Stellar, you need to have some Stellar Lumens to become a member of the network. This requirement is expected to prevent the platform from becoming filled with spam and fakes. But why did they create unique crypto for this task? In fact, it is quite an obvious move as Stellar wants to remain free from any specific currency in general. For instance, if Stellar decided to use USD, and required you to have a particular number of dollars then the network would be somewhat connected to the position of USD in the world, or, at a maximum, the services would be limited to the US area. This is a situation that founders wanted to avoid at any cost.

Stellar XLM may look like an ordinary cryptocurrency, but there is a huge difference between XLM and, for example, Bitcoin. In contrast to most cryptocurrencies, Stellar Lumens don’t need to mine blocks of transactions. Since there is no mining in the network, participants don’t receive any awards for validating the blockchain. This technology is in stark contrast to the majority of digital coins, including the most known ones.

Stellar just decided it was better to release 100 billion XLM during the network’s launch. Since then, the number of Stellar increases by 1% annually for about six years.

Then, the team changed its approach. Starting from October 2019, Stellar decided to lower the supply of XLM. They believed this measure was more conducive to their plans. As a result, they decreased the amount of XLM down to 50 billion. Moreover, there are currently no plans to release more Stellar XLM in the future.

There are 20 billion XLM in the market now, plus 30 billion are held by the foundation itself. These funds are used for the development of the XLM system. They also use their ‘savings’ for marketing purposes and when they need to partnership with other ventures.

If we take a close look at Stellar’s features, it’s easy to say that the network is an interesting project with a bright future ahead of it. Stellar combined the advantages of blockchain technology with the capabilities of traditional payment systems.

How can you use Stellar XLM?

You can use Stellar Lumens as other cryptocurrencies. XLM can act as Bitcoin’s alternative but with extra features, as it is much faster and more scalable coins that don’t require mining. Moreover, Stellar XLM can be used for transnational financial operations at ease. You can be anywhere in the world and transfer funds in just 5 seconds.

That’s why Stellar Lumens are perfect for cross-border transactions, including overseas operations. Easy, inexpensive, and quick financial operations from your smartphone, computer, or tablet can be especially helpful if you are far from traditional banks but have access to the Internet.

There is another reason to use Stellar Lumens — the cost of transactions. You won’t have to pay expensive fees from banks or payment companies like Western Union. In other words, if you send or receive funds from someone who lives abroad, you won’t have to pay extra fees for transactions.  When it comes to XLM, you will pay only around 0.00001 XLM, which is less than $.01 right now.

In addition to all these benefits, Stellar also offers an exchange where you can buy or sell other digital coins such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Repocoin. And, of course, you can trade Stellar Lumens here.  Let’s imagine you want to exchange XLM cryptocurrency to USD. You can easily do it on the Stellar platform.

What will happen to Stellar Lumens in the future?

When it comes to the perspectives of Stellar cryptocurrency, it is hard to predict its future. However, Stellar Lumens are widely used for various purposes right now.  XLM is especially useful in the South Pacific region. It is anticipated to be used for 60% of transnational transactions in the retail industry. Nowadays, Stellar and IBM act as banking infrastructure in the most isolated areas of the whole world. Many people from the distant edges of the globe still don’t have access to financial services, and Stellar can significantly improve the situation. Furthermore, you can use Stellar with little or no money.

Are Stellar Lumens safe?

Stellar Lumens are completely secure but similar to other cryptocurrencies there are some risks when you use them. The Stellar platform and XLM have never experienced any serious issues or hacks. However, there was one situation when Lumens were taken from digital Stellar wallet, but we can’t blame Stellar for it. The problem was with a pitfall in the Stellar wallet, not in Lumen’s infrastructure. We are talking about BlackWallet.co, which was attacked by hackers. That time the harmful code was injected into accounts with more than 20 XLM.

Overall, Stellar XLM is worth your attention. This cryptocurrency has received the least amount of negative feedback, which means that it is pretty good. Stellar XLM has a professional team behind it and a wide array of advantages over similar ventures. Especially if we take into account that IBM is already using the digital coins in real-world applications in the South Pacific. We also have simple advice for you.  If you decide that you need to buy Stellar XLM, make sure to use only reliable exchange services!