What is Stellar?

Stellar is a decentralized payments network designed to offer fast, secure and cost-effective cross-border transactions.

Stellar is a decentralized payments network designed to offer fast, secure and cost-effective cross-border transactions. Established in 2014, Stellar facilitates near-instant global payments and currency exchanges.

The platform connects individuals, banks and payment systems to transfer currencies reliably and almost instantaneously at a fraction of traditional costs. It has positioned itself as a robust cross-border remittance tool, enabling the transfer of all forms of money and value, whether a fiat currency like the US dollar or euro or a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin (BTC).

Stellar is a decentralized, open-source blockchain run by independent validators. The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) is a nonprofit, non-stock organization founded by Jed McCaleb. It maintains the Stellar protocol’s codebase, supports technical and business communities within the ecosystem, and engages with regulators and institutions on policy matters. 

The SDF’s operations are funded by a reserve of digital assets, known as lumens (XLM), which were allocated at the protocol’s inception. The use of these holdings is governed by specific mandates.

On Oct. 15, 2020, the SDF announced that Stellar will be an official USD Coin (USDC) blockchain. USDC is a stablecoin issued by Circle.

This led to the October 2021 collaboration between the SDF and MoneyGram, a global financial technology company, transforming settlement flows by facilitating near-instant settlement in USDC. This partnership allowed users of digital wallets connected to the Stellar network to access MoneyGram’s global retail platform, creating a bridge between digital assets and local currencies.

In September 2023, EURC, Circle’s euro-backed digital currency, became available on the Stellar Network, enabling real-time, global payments.

The network enabled full-featured smart contracts in 2024. It aims to transform international payments and remittances, making them safer, faster and more affordable, as well as to connect real-world assets to decentralized finance to support products offering the full range of everyday financial services.