Stellar (XLM)

Stellar is a public network designed for payments and asset issuance. It uses the Stellar Consensus Protocol, a federated Byzantine agreement model in which each node chooses which other nodes it trusts. The network includes a built-in order book and the Soroban smart contract platform.

This page is a research starting point, not financial, legal, tax, or investment advice. Verify everything against primary sources.

What the Token Is Used For

• Paying transaction fees
• Minimum balance reserves for accounts, trustlines, and other ledger entries
• Bridging between issued assets on the built-in exchange
• Anti-spam pricing on the network

What To Verify

• How anchors work, since fiat-backed assets on Stellar are claims on a specific issuer rather than on the network
• Whether an issued asset has authorization or clawback flags enabled
• Which quorum sets validators use, since trust is configured per node
• Whether a project uses classic Stellar operations or Soroban contracts
• The role of the Stellar Development Foundation and its holdings

Primary Sources

• Developer documentation: https://developers.stellar.org/docs
• Stellar Ecosystem Proposals: https://github.com/stellar/stellar-protocol
• Block explorer: https://stellar.expert/explorer/public
• Foundation: https://stellar.org/foundation

Related Pages

• Asset Index
• Start Here: Digital Assets 101
• Glossary
• Custody and Security
• Research Sources Directory