Stellar is a decentralized, open source distributed ledger platform used in transferring values. The stellar community stellar.org oversees the payment network of the platform whose cryptocurrency is known as Lumen (XLM). Jeb Mc Caleb founded the Stellar payment platform in 2014, essentially a fork from Ripple that was later coded from scratch.
Main Features
The Stellar platform controls a network of global servers that interact one with another, process and update payments between nodes. These servers communicate, making transactions up to date with synchronization based on an agreed protocol. The platform can be used to make cryptocurrency to fiat transfers. Like Ripple, it is gaining traction among payment processors such as IBM.
Although Stellar can be used for cross asset transfers, there are limitations to its versatility regarding integrating with different platforms like Ethereum does. The non-profit organization, Stellar.org plans to make affordable payment available for all. The essence of the low cost financial services is to fight poverty and empower people to attain their ideals.
Recently, a cloud based banking software company, Oradian is linking up some micro finance institutions in Nigeria through Stellar. It is becoming active in international payments.
With companies such as IBM and Keybase supporting Stellar, it has been able to handle payments without the need for cryptographic addresses. Featuring one of the most interoperable systems in the decentralized ledger technology space, attraction stellar has among payment platforms is its ability to make digital currency-fiat exchanges. Lumen low fees of 0.00001 lumens conveys cheap transaction fees on a high speed network, the dream of anyone sending funds internationally.
How it is different from bitcoin.
Unlike Bitcoin that needs an exchange or other medium to convert to fiat, Stellar is directly convertible to fiat and has found a strong niche in across border global fund transfers. Until the recent implementation of SegWit, Bitcoin transaction was getting slow and costly, and not very useful for micro payments. Stellar has increased efficiency for payment even for very small amounts.
Where to get Lumen
The Stellar currency, Lumen can be acquired in exchanges such as Binance, but the process is that you need to buy Bitcoin first. Bitcoin is the most universally acceptable cryptocurrency. With Bitcoin, you can acquire Lumen in an exchange like Bittrex. Alternatively, use Changelly to convert your bitcoins to Lumen.
Where to Store Lumen
As with any digital currency, Lumen can be stored in wallets such as the Lumen Mobile Wallet, the Lumen Desktop Wallet and the Lumen Online Wallet. Online wallets are least safe because they are connected to the internet and may be hacked.