Stellar is a blockchain project founded in 2014 by Ripple co-founder Jed McCaleb and venture capital investor Joyce Kim. At the beginning, Stellar shared a lot of its code with the XRP ledger, but the project has since taken on unique characteristics of its own. However, the XRP and Stellar blockchains are still often compared since they both offer fast and cheap transactions and share some common history. You can read more on this topic in our in-depth article on Stellar (XLM).
Key features of the Stellar blockchain:
Created in 2014
Provides fast and cheap transactions
XLM can be used as a bridge currency for international payments
Users can create custom tokens on the Stellar blockchain
The native asset of the Stellar blockchain is called lumens, and is commonly described with the ticker XLM. While XLM can be used for peer-to-peer transactions just like any other cryptocurrency, it also performs a role in the Stellar blockchain as a defense mechanism against spam transactions โ a small fee of XLM is necessary to complete each transaction.
XLM is also designed to be used as a bridge currency to facilitate cross-border transfers between different currencies. For example, Alice can send EUR to Bob, and Bob receives USD on the other end of the transaction. Due to the networkโs speed, fluctuations in the XLM price have a very limited impact on the transaction.
However, XLM is not the only asset that can be transferred through the Stellar blockchain โ users can create custom tokens that can be transacted quickly and efficiently. For this reason, some ICOs and STOs have selected Stellar as their platform of choice.
The Stellar protocol also has a built-in decentralized exchange functionality where users can create buy and sell orders through the protocol itself โ this feature can be accessed through interfaces such as StellarX.
One of the key players in the Stellar ecosystem is the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), which funds the development of the open-source Stellar protocol and maintains the Stellar codebase.
The foundation is a non-profit organization which also supports the Stellar ecosystem by promoting the usage of the Stellar protocol through airdrops, grants and other mechanisms. The SDF has also launched a community fund which allows members of the Stellar community to have a say in which projects working on Stellar receive funding from the foundation.