Temps de lecture : 7 minutes

Stellar / XLM

Creation date :

2009

Whitepaper:

bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

Site :

bitcoin.org/fr

Consensus :

Proof of Work

Block Explorer :

etherscan.io

Code :

github.com/bitcoin

What is Stellar?

Stellar is an open-source, decentralized platform designed to facilitate fast, low-cost money transfers across the globe. At its core, it aims to connect financial institutions, payment systems and individuals to enable seamless transactions between all forms of currency, from traditional currencies to cryptocurrencies.

  • Foundation and mission:Founded in 2014 by Jed McCaleb and Joyce Kim, Stellar positions itself as an alternative to more expensive and less accessible payment systems, seeking to bridge the financial divide by making international money transfers as easy and cost-effective as sending an e-mail.
  • The role of Lumens (XLM): Lumens, or XLM, are Stellar’s native cryptocurrency, serving as a bridge between different currencies and facilitating transactions on the network. Each Stellar account must hold a small quantity of Lumens to avoid spam and ensure smooth operations.

History and foundation

The Stellar adventure began in 2014, with a clear vision: to make global financial transactions as open and accessible as the Internet. This vision was in direct response to the limitations of traditional financial systems, which are often slow, expensive and exclusive.

  • From Ripple to Stellar: Ripple co-founder Jed McCaleb launches Stellar to explore a new approach to decentralized finance. While sharing common roots with Ripple, it stands out for its unique code and missionary focus on greater financial inclusion.
  • Stellar Development Foundation: A non-profit organization, the Stellar Development Foundation, was created to support the development of the network, ensuring that Stellar remains free, open and focused on its mission to improve access to financial services worldwide.

How does Stellar work?

At the heart of Stellar is the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP), a major innovation that enables the network to reach consensus without the need for the costly, energy-intensive mining that characterizes other cryptocurrencies.

  • Fast, cost-effective transactions: Stellar can process up to 1,000 transactions per second, with extremely low fees, making the network ideal for a multitude of financial applications, from micropayments to large-scale money transfers.
  • Anchors: Entities known as anchors act as bridges between traditional currencies and the Stellar network, enabling users to deposit and withdraw funds in different currencies. These anchors play a crucial role in making the Stellar network truly universal and accessible.
  • Decentralized exchange: Stellar integrates decentralized exchange, where users can exchange directly between different forms of currency without the need for an intermediary. This feature paves the way for a new era of decentralized, more efficient and inclusive finance.

Stellar's key components

Stellar stands out for its innovative components, which together facilitate an efficient and accessible global financial infrastructure.

  • Anchors and Trustlines: Anchors act as bridges between fiat currencies and the Stellar network, enabling users to deposit and withdraw funds. To use an anchor, users must establish a trustline, which is essentially a mark of trust in the anchor to issue credits.
  • Decentralized Exchange (DEX): The platform natively integrates a decentralized exchange, allowing users to trade assets without intermediaries. This feature supports not only cryptocurrencies, but also fiat currencies and other asset types, making trading fluid and diversified.
  • Multi-currency payment system: One of Stellar’s most powerful capabilities is its multi-currency payment system, which enables cross-border money transfers with automatic conversion between currencies at the best available rate on the DEX.

Practical applications and use cases

Stellar is used in a variety of financial applications, demonstrating its adaptability and relevance in the real world.

  • Money transfers : Speed, low cost and multi-currency capability make it an ideal solution for international money transfers, reducing the costs and delays associated with traditional methods.
  • Banking Services for the Unbanked: By enabling fast, low-cost transactions, it can offer banking services to those traditionally excluded from the financial system, particularly in underdeveloped regions.
  • Token issuance: Stellar enables companies to create and issue their own tokens, paving the way for applications such as loyalty programs, asset tokenization, and much more.

The latest innovations on Stellar

The Stellar ecosystem continues to evolve, with new features and enhancements that expand its capabilities and applications.

  • Smart Contracts with Soroban: Stellar plans to introduce Soroban, a smart contract platform, which will add advanced programmability capabilities to the network, enabling the creation of complex and secure financial applications.
  • Enhanced Update Protocol: Regular updates to the protocol aim to improve the network’s security, efficiency and scalability, ensuring its competitiveness in the rapidly evolving blockchain ecosystem.
  • Ecosystem Expansion: Stellar strives to expand its ecosystem by establishing partnerships with financial institutions, fintech companies, and other blockchains, to facilitate wider adoption of its technologies.

How do I invest in and analyze the Stellar market?

Investing in Stellar (XLM) means understanding its market and the factors that influence its price. Lumens (XLM), Stellar’s native token, are available on most cryptocurrency exchanges, making them easy to buy and sell.

  • Market analysis: Before investing, it’s crucial to analyze market trends, including historical price movements and trading volumes. Technical analysis tools and indicators can provide valuable insights into potential future price movements.
  • Influencing factors: XLM’s price is influenced by a variety of factors, including Stellar network updates, strategic partnerships, and general cryptocurrency market sentiment.
  • Diversification: As with any cryptocurrency investment, diversification is key. Not putting all your eggs in one basket can help reduce the risks associated with market volatility.

Is Stellar safe?

Security is a top priority for Stellar, which uses the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP) to secure the network. This protocol ensures efficient, decentralized validation of transactions, minimizing the risk of malicious attacks.

  • Transaction integrity: Robust security mechanisms are implemented to guarantee transaction integrity, including encryption and digital signatures.
  • Audit and compliance: The Stellar network is regularly audited by third parties to ensure compliance with best practices and security standards.
  • Risks and measures: Although Stellar is designed to be secure, no system is infallible. Users should also take personal security measures, such as using secure wallets and enabling two-factor authentication.

Challenges to overcome

  • Widespread adoption: Although Stellar has established many strategic partnerships, increasing its adoption by consumers and businesses remains a major challenge.
  • Competition: It operates in a highly competitive blockchain ecosystem, with other platforms offering similar functionality.
  • Regulations: Evolving regulatory frameworks around cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies may affect Stellar’s development and adoption.

Despite these challenges, the platform continues to progress, focusing on innovation and partnerships to strengthen its market position and broaden its use in the financial world.

What does the future hold for Stellar?

It looks promising, with a clear vision focused on expanding its decentralized financial ecosystem and improving accessibility to financial services on a global scale. The ongoing development of innovative technologies such as Soroban for smart contracts and the emphasis on strategic partnerships reinforce its mission to connect the financial world.

  • Technological innovation: Introducing new functionalities and enhancing existing capabilities such as scalability, security and transaction efficiency will remain at the heart of Stellar’s priorities. This includes optimizing its consensus protocol and expanding its smart contract offering to attract a wider range of developers and businesses.
  • Adoption and partnerships: Stellar will continue to seek partnerships with financial institutions, technology companies and non-governmental organizations to facilitate wider adoption of its platform. By facilitating access to affordable and efficient financial services, it aims to play a key role in bridging the global financial divide.
  • Regulatory compliance: Navigating the ever-changing regulatory landscape will be crucial to future expansion. By proactively working with regulators and adhering to legal standards, Stellar aspires to become the platform of choice for secure, compliant financial transactions.
  • Social impact: Beyond the technical aspect, Stellar is guided by a strong social mission, aimed at improving global financial systems to make them more inclusive. This commitment to social impact could become a key differentiator and attraction for users and investors keen to contribute to positive change.

In summary, Stellar is well positioned to continue innovating in the digital payments and financial services space. With its robust technology, community engagement and vision focused on financial inclusion, it is poised to meet future challenges and seize opportunities to shape a more open and connected financial future.

Price converter

Stay up to date with the latest news

Subscribe to our newsletter to get all the latest crypto news delivered straight to your inbox.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

Stellar articles

Other crypto files

Where to buy it?

Exchange

A platform for trading and buying crypto-currencies (crypto-bourse). You can buy via bank transfer, credit card, some others offer

Currency exchange

At a physical bureau de change or automatic teller machine (ATM)

Online Marketplace

On an online marketplace like LocalBitcoins

Physical exchange

Via a classified ads site, then make a physical exchange.

Crypto Trends

What’s important to understand about affiliate links is that this page presents investment-related assets, products or services. Some of the links included in this article are affiliate links, which means that if you make a purchase or register on a site from this article, our partner pays us a commission. This enables us to continue creating original and useful content for you. It’s important to note that there’s no impact on you as a user, and you may even benefit from a bonus by using our links.

It’s crucial to recognize that investing in crypto-currencies involves risk. [Coinaute.com](http://coinaute.com/) takes no responsibility for the quality of the products or services presented on this page and cannot be held liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss arising from the use of any goods or services mentioned in this article. Crypto-asset-related investments are inherently risky, and readers are advised to conduct their own research before taking any action, investing only within the limits of their financial capabilities. It is essential to understand that this article does not constitute investment advice.

It is also advisable to follow the recommendations of the AMF. No high return is guaranteed, and a product with high return potential also entails high risk. It is imperative that risk-taking be consistent with your project, your investment horizon and your ability to withstand a potential loss of capital. We strongly advise against investing if you are not prepared to accept the possibility of losing all or part of your capital.