Stellar is a relatively old cryptocurrency that has been rarely talked about in the last year. However, at one time, this project was quite promising and caused quite a stir.
Brief history
The main developer and author of the project Stellar are Jed McCaleb. He was involved in the creation of Ripple and generally stood at the origins of the project, but soon left the team. In 2014, McCaleb decided that the network was too centralized and contradicted the idea of cryptocurrencies in general, so there was no point in developing it.
To preserve the once promising idea, Jed gathered a new team and created a similar project called Stellar. The same protocol was taken as the basis with some refinements, in particular, a great emphasis on decentralization.
During 2014, the developers worked on the technical implementation of the project, at this stage it did not differ much from its ideological inspirer. But already in 2015, the team created its own open-source protocol and transferred Stellar to it.
The project has its own Stellar Development Foundation, which is independent of the developers. This is a non-profit organization that is engaged in the development of the entire platform.
Technology
As mentioned above, Stellar is a decentralized network for simple cryptocurrency transfers with low fees. It was created not only for individuals but also for banks, payment systems, and commercial organizations that plan to connect digital payment gateways.
While traditional international payments are time-consuming and fraught with fees, Stellar can solve this problem.
In addition to transfers, this environment involves the creation of new tokens based on the native blockchain and provides developers with a simplified interface and all the necessary tools. ICOs can also be conducted there: Mobius, SureRemit, and Smartlands projects did that in their time.
Here are a few notable features of the project that are worth to be mentioned:
- Speed of payment processing. The developers managed to achieve something: transactions are processed within 2-5 seconds;
- Low fees. While exchanging one currency for another, the fee is not even 1 cent.
- Multitasking. A platform for P2P exchange, payment gateway, and architecture for new token creation. There’s also an API for those who want to build new solutions into their projects.
The consensus protocol, as mentioned above, originally used an algorithm called Byzantine fault tolerance. It was later replaced by the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP).
Stellar Coin
The Stellar Lumens native coin is used, according to the developers, for two purposes:
- To prevent spam on the platform by charging commissions;
- To provide a convenient tool for exchanging different cryptocurrencies on one platform.
The currency does not have a high market value. After the launch of the project and up until December 2017, the coin fluctuated between $0.01-$0.04. The historical high was reached on January 4, 2018, when the price jumped to $0.89. It then naturally declined following the rest of the market.
But the last 2021 was quite favorable for the rate: the upward trend is clearly seen, which almost reached a new historic high, stopping at $0.73 per coin. After the first rally, the rate of the coin started falling down together with the market.
As of August 02, 2022, XLM is selling at $0.11 and has a market capitalization of $2.9 billion (according to coinmarketcap).
Stellar – passive income
The best option to earn extra income if you have XLM in your custody is liquidity pools.
What do you need to start earning? Let’s say you already have a wallet that holds a certain amount of XLM. You will get acquainted with the options of pools (all information can be obtained by searching “Stellar XLM pools”), and you will evaluate all options and select the best in your opinion.
Next, you follow the instructions to connect your money to the pool of liquidity – usually, it is enough to write your wallet address or make some changes in the interface of your wallet. After all the manipulations, the pool freezes your money in your wallet, and you begin to count your profit from this operation. Everything is ready – the whole process resembles a deposit to the bank, but with some technical peculiarities.
If you are only planning to buy XLM for depositing in the pool and have not yet had time to get your own storage, we suggest you get acquainted with the Stellar web wallet service. This hot wallet is a great option for beginners, it does not require any special knowledge. In just a couple of minutes, you will become the owner of a new XLM wallet.
It’s worth repeating – choose your liquidity pool carefully. The cryptocurrency market is full of hackers and scammers who want to get hold of your funds. Read recommendations and reviews on different resources, familiarize yourself with the website, and read information about the pool owners. The more information you know, the safer place you can choose.
Project development
Project Stellar continues to evolve in 2022. Recently developers announced Wyre Savings API for business, also the project’s public protocol was updated again. We can’t forget about cooperation and integration with Moneygram. Every such step, every partnership is a step toward the development and correspondingly growth of the native coin rate.
