The Stellar network is an open-source protocol for decentralized payments. It connects diverse financial systems and enables money to move quickly, reliably, and cheaply.
Stellar’s goal is to be a common financial platform where people of all income levels can access and send money, that connects with different currencies and banking systems across the globe.
For example, if someone wants to send $1000 to someone in Europe. The transaction can be done with negligible fees and almost instantly, even though the money being sent is in dollars and the receiver is using euros.
Stellar works like a combination of Western Union and M-Pesa. But unlike those networks, it is a decentralized global financial network that lets you build your own low-cost financial services – community-owned banks, remittances services, savings accounts, or even form insurance on its blockchain.
Who are the Founders of Stellar (XLM)?
Stellar and its associated currency, XLM, were started in 2014 by Jed McCaleb and Joyce Kim when the two saw that there was a problem with global payments. They both started Stellar after leaving Ripple Labs over disagreements about their future direction.
McCaleb, who started MtGox originally before moving on to launch Ripple and then building Stellar, believes that decentralization will be key for the adoption of this groundbreaking idea around financial transactions.
While Ripple promotes that the world’s banks and financial organizations are already using their protocol and network, McCaleb sees this as a problem. By instituting central entities and third parties, the currency is not truly decentralized. With Stellar, systems are decentralized. This means any organization or company that wants to use Stellar’s network must also be decentralized if they want to connect to it.
No one can hold power over the network and decide which transactions take place or who receives credit for completing them. Stellar is truly “federated,” meaning that each node running its software connects to several other nodes on the Internet at large.
McCaleb currently serves as the CTO of Stellar and the co-founder of the Stellar Development Foundation along with Joyce Kim. A position he has held since leaving Ripple labs in 2013.
What is Stellar (XLM) used for?
Stellar’s native digital currency, the lumen is used by those who wish to send and receive payments across borders quickly, reliably with reduced cost. The network connects people to low-cost financial services to fight poverty and develop individual potential.
XLM can benefit millions of people in developing countries who are trapped in a cycle of poverty because they can’t access reliable financial services. The Stellar network connects these people with affordable banking services so that they can save money, get loans, or build credit – all things necessary for surviving and thriving.
In fact, if there was an easy way to send money across international borders, many people living in poverty would have better access to financial services. For example, almost 2 billion people around the world don’t have bank accounts, and those that do often incur high transfer fees when sending money overseas.
The Stellar protocol was also designed to be user-friendly and accessible for developers.
What Is the Unique Point of Stellar (XLM)?
The objectives of Stellar are aligned to be one of the primary actors in the payment processing sector by combining offers with an open-source and decentralized platform. Stellar is designed to allow fast, reliable, and inexpensive transactions between people – individuals as well as institutions.
The goal is a distribution mechanism that scales well and does not charge high fees. It also allows for quick transactions across borders, meaning it can greatly improve the rate at which money transfers from one country to another.
Stellar is also unique for people to send money from one currency into another without having to actually exchange currencies or go through a third party like a bank or a Securities Exchange unit.
How many Stellar (XLM) is in circulation?
When Stellar debuted in 2015, 100 billion XLM coins were released. However, the total quantity of XML tokens is now 50 billion, with a circulating supply of 20.7 billion.
The reduction in the supply of XLM tokens was a bold move taken by the Stellar Foundation to burn over half the total 100 billion XLM tokens. Stating that “SDF can be leaner and do the work it was created to do using fewer lumens.”
“Those 55.5 billion lumens weren’t going to increase the adoption of Stellar.” They said.
Is the Stellar (XLM) Network secured?
The Stellar network is secure using the Stellar Consensus Protocol rather than proof-of-work or proof-of-stake mechanisms common among many other cryptocurrencies.
The Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP) is the blockchain implementation of the concept of Federated Byzantine Agreement, or FBA. SCP is a protocol that works through federated nodes. This standalone blockchain maintains consistent liveness and availability while supporting high throughput, low latency payment network.
The SCP is known to having four main attributes: “Leaderless, decentralized, low latency, and flexible trust.”
How do I buy Stellar (XLM)?
To purchase Stellar (XLM) tokens, just follow these simple steps:
* Open an account with any crypto trading platform that offers XLM.
* Transfer your fiat currency to the trading platform account.
* Wait for your deposit to be confirmed and Buy XLM through the trading platform account.
