How the Stellar Network is Changing the Global Payment Industry

01 Jan How the Stellar Network is Changing the Global Payment Industry

Stellar was established in 2014 and is a distributed cryptocurrency network; it is an open-source network designed mainly for cross-asset value transfers, cross-border payments, and low-cost payments. Stellar was founded by Joyce Kim and Jed McCaleb; it is a fork of Ripple protocol, which was also co-founded by McCaleb.

Key Features

• Stellar was designed to enable currency transfers and international payments in a hassle-free and swift manner. With the Stellar network, thousands of transactions are carried out every second, and confirmation is a matter of 3 seconds.
• Stellar is a modified fork of Ripple, which means Stellar uses the same protocol as Ripple, enabled with a few distinct changes. One of the major reasons why the Stellar fork was created is to develop a more open-handed payment network than Ripple.
• Ripple is a company that serves financial institutions and banks. It is a marketing and PR driven company that has raised huge money while Stellar is a non-profit foundation that has raised a small amount of money and its aim is a “free for all” payment network.
• Both Stellar and Ripple solve issues of international payments by allowing their client’s money to be converted into digital currencies so that they can be sent as assets to the other party. 
• Currently, there are 20 billion Lumens in circulation, while the remaining supplies are under the control of Stellar foundation.

Storing and Sending Lumens

• If you want to send and receive XLM, you need a wallet. A Stellar Lumens wallet lets you access your funds and complete transactions with a combination of both public and private keys. A few factors you should consider before choosing a wallet are how much you want to invest and your experience in dealing with cryptocurrencies.
• A number of third parties have developed wallets – apps that help you interact with the Stellar network and use lumens:
• Hardware Wallets: This wallet type stores private keys on a device not connected to the Internet.
• The Ledger Nano S stores your private key offline and connects with many web and desktop apps. Trezor is an alternative hardware wallet that helps you interact with the Stellar network. A Hardware wallet makes cyber-attacks impossible. Hardware wallets are quite expensive if you are a casual investor, but it is the best combination of usability and security and is usually regarded as the best choice for long-term investors.
• Downloadable Stellar Wallets like Keybase, Solar wallet, and Lobstr store your private key on an app on your mobile or desktop device. 
• Coinbase is an exchange and custodial web wallet for Lumens where you can see your account balance, compose transactions and sign transactions. Web wallets are a perfect choice for beginners, as they do not require any software installation. Web wallets require only an internet browser, and the private keys are stored in an online server that is controlled by a third party. If you use an unauthorized wallet, you are exposed to hacking and attacks.

The Power of Stellar

The ability to issue and redeem assets is one of Stellar’s most powerful features. It means that all asset types can take advantage of Stellar’s global reach, near-instant transaction times, and ultra-low costs.

Stellar allows you to trade tokens peer-to-peer and easily transform currency as you send it.

Every token on Stellar is exchangeable with any other token on the network, and the Stellar protocol itself connects buyers and sellers. Users can submit their bids or asks to the public network via a single, simple operation, and every few seconds, compatible trades will automatically resolve. Like any payments system, Stellar allows one user to send currency to another. User A can send User B dollar tokens or lumens or whatever. But Stellar also allows a user to send one currency and have the recipient receive another. Essentially, you can send and exchange money in a single atomic transaction. You can get more details of the Stellar price forecast by market experts.

Stellar Anchors

Anchors are entities that people trust to hold their deposits and issue credits into the Stellar network for those deposits. All money transactions in the Stellar network (except lumens) occur in the form of a credit issued by anchors, so anchors act as a bridge between existing currencies and the Stellar network. Anchors connect the Stellar network to traditional banking rails so that all the world’s currencies can interoperate on a single, seamless platform. By providing access to local on/off ramps, they empower the apps and services built on Stellar to provide borderless access to financial infrastructure. 

Which exchanges support XLM?

Few Exchanges that support XLM –

• Coinbase
• Kraken
• Binance
• Bittrex
• Bitfinex
• Upbit
• Coincheck
• Huobi
• NovaDAX
• GMO Coin

Final Thoughts

Stellar has no owner; if anything, it’s owned by the public. The software runs across a decentralized, open network and handles millions of transactions each day. Like Bitcoin and Ethereum, Stellar relies on blockchain to keep the network in sync, but the end-user experience is more like cash—Stellar is much faster, cheaper, and more energy-efficient than typical blockchain-based systems. If you want to know more about the Stellar lumens (XLM), then you must stay tuned with us to get the latest XLM news, live price , and Stellar Lumens Prediction by crypto experts.