Stellar Lumens is a distributed payment infrastructure that features an open-source code. The platform entered the market with the goal to facilitate a more streamlined approach to international money transfers such as remittance payments. Today, the Stellar ecosystem is known for its affordable, fast, and reliable transfer capabilities. Specifically, the platform facilitates frictionless cross-border transactions. To learn more visit our Investing in Stellar Lumens guide.
We list the top 8 cryptocurrency exchanges that offer the ability to buy Stellar Lumens (XLM) cryptocurrency with a credit card or debit card.
A top exchange in the United States & UK, Uphold is an experienced and extremely innovative trading platform that should be able to meet your needs for trading across a number of cryptocurrencies including Stellar Lumens (XLM). Beyond the ease of use and innovative features within the trading platform, what stands out about Uphold is the credibility it has gained in the industry.
Uphold offers both a desktop and mobile app trading experience that is extremely intuitive. The trading view is completely customizable with the assets that you trade the most, and is very easy to navigate while providing a modern feel on both desktop and mobile. It is a very popular and suitable choice, particularly for new traders.
Besides being visibly appealing, the Uphold trading platform allows you to place your trades with great ease. Just a couple of clicks and you can make trades directly from your deposit method without even having to wait for funds to clear to your account. This one-step ordering is another innovation from a company which prides itself on the usability of its platform. Uphold also provides the ability to execute limit orders.
Germany & Netherland residents are prohibited.
For the full lowdown, see our Uphold review or visit Uphold to get started now.
Uphold Disclaimer: Assets available on Uphold are subject to region. All investments and trading are risky and may result in the loss of capital. Cryptoassets are largely unregulated and are therefore not subject to protection.
Binance is one of the largest and most well-known cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. The benefits of purchasing Stellar Lumens (XLM) here are both lower fees than competing exchanges, and increased liquidity enabling you to buy and sell quickly to take advantage of market moving news.
This exchange is best for investors residing in Australia, Canada, Singapore, UK & internationally. USA residents are prohibited from purchasing most tokens.
Read our Binance Review or visit Binance.
Use Discount Code: EE59L0QP for 10% cashback off all trading fees.
Established in 2013, Gate.io has grown in to a reputable trading platform. While it is not the most popular exchange, it provides users with an easy to use interface for beginners while maintaining robust and advanced charts for various skill levels – including technical traders. The exchange boasts a large number of altcoins including Stellar Lumens (XLM), and is often the first exchange to add new tokens. Notably, Gate.io maintains a strong stance against any type of market manipulation.
This exchange currently accepts USA residents excluding New York and Washington State.
Read our Gate.io Review or visit Gate.io
Coinbase is a publicly traded crypto exchange listed on the NASDAQ. It is one of the most widely used exchanges in the United States and accepts clients from 100+ countries including Australia, Canada, Singapore, and the UK.
Over 460 billion dollars in volume has been traded by over 70 million users at Coinbase. Security is a paramount feature with 98% of customer funds being stored in secure offline storage. The platform is simple to use and is available on desktop, Android, and iOS, offering trading opportunities in over 140 cryptocurrencies including Stellar Lumens (XLM).
This exchange currently accepts USA residents excluding Hawaii.
Read our Coinbase Review or visit Coinbase.
KuCoin is a well-known name in the industry, and one of the most competitive when it comes to fees and trading costs. The exchange has grown exponentially from its early days of offering only crypto to crypto trading. It now offers a varied range of services including a P2P exchange capability, and purchasing with credit or debit cards.
KuCoin currently offers Stellar Lumens (XLM) cryptocurrency trading as well as over 300 other popular tokens. It is often the first to offer buying opportunities for new tokens.
This exchange currently accepts USA residents.
Read our KuCoin Review or visit KuCoin.
BitYard was launched in 2019, and is a cryptocurrency exchange which supports the trading of over 100 cryptocurrencies – including Stellar Lumens (XLM). Based in Singapore, BitYard offers services to traders in more than 150 countries including Australia, Canada, Singapore and the United States.
The exchange is regulated and licensed in multiple jurisdictions including ACRA (Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority) in Singapore, and the MSB (Money Services Business) in the United States (a license issued by FinCEN.)
The fees at BitYard are very competitive and in line with other exchanges in the digital assets industry.
This exchange currently accepts USA residents.
Read our BitYard Review or visit BitYard.
Established in 2013, Huobi Global has since become one of the world’s largest digital asset exchanges, with an accumulated trading volume of US $1 trillion. Having once accounted for half of the world’s digital asset transactions, Huobi now serves more than 5 million users in over 130 countries around the globe. It should be noted that Huobi Global currently does not accept USA or Canadian residents.
Huobi Global is one of the top exchanges that currently offers Stellar Lumens (XLM) trading opportunities.
Read our Huobi Global Review or visit Huobi Global.
WazirX (INDIA Only)
WazirX is India’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange with over 400,000 users and they are expanding rapidly. They are one of the most reputable exchanges that currently offers Stellar Lumens (XLM) trading opportunities and they currently accept clients from all over the world. This exchange is part of the Binance Group, which ensures a high standard of quality.
USA residents are prohibited.
Read our WazirX review or visit WazirX
What are Stellar Lumens (XLM)?
Stellar is an open-source, blockchain based, network. Oversight of the Stellar network is performed by a non-profit organization, known as Stellar.org.
The Stellar network is powered by its native token, ‘XLM’ – commonly referred to as ‘Lumens’.
What does it do?
Through its structuring, Stellar is able to facilitate cheap, and quick, transfers of value. Much of the development surrounding Stellar is targeted towards the remittance industry, and cross border transactions. One of the benefits afforded through use of the Stellar network is integrated asset conversions. This means that the network supports a plethora of currencies, and can seamlessly convert between them.
How does it Work?
Stellar makes use of a proof-of-stake protocol. This means that transaction validations occur through XLM holders ‘staking’ their tokens. This simply entails the holder to store their asset in a supported digital wallet. This process is significantly more energy efficient than proof-of-work models, and is growing in popularity.
Compared to most networks, Stellar makes use of its native token in a unique manner. While XLM tokens can be used to complete transactions, their original purpose was to provide ‘friction’ to the network. This friction is achieved by introducing modest transaction fees (payable in XLM), and minimum wallet holdings. The purpose of this is to reduce/eliminate spam from being introduced into the network, clogging data blocks.
Projected Developments?
There are various developments and upgrades expected to be seen on the Stellar network in the coming years. The following are a few of the largest on the horizon.
- Increase robustness and stability
- Establish Stellar on a world stage
- Develop and improve use cases
- Cross-border transactions
- Securitize assets
Underlying Ideology?
While comparisons will always exists between Ripple and Stellar, it is clear that the guiding factors for development differ between each. Stellar, in particular, was built with financial inclusion in mind. By bringing new efficiency to cross-border transactions, a new subset of humans can now gain access to new financial opportunities. Underlining the idea of financial inclusion, is the fact that the SDF is run as a non-profit organization.
Acceptance and Controversies?
For projects of its kind, Stellar has managed to establish higher levels of acceptance than most. The following are but a few of the companies that have partnered with, and utilize Stellar in some shape or form.
Beyond working relationships with these companies, Stellar is one of the most commonly supported assets on cryptocurrency exchanges, and is readily accessible for many.
For the most part, Stellar has avoided any real controversy. There are those, however, that do not agree with the sway that the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) holds over the network – due to the SDF controlling 30M of the 50M XLM in existence.
Aside from this, many view Stellar in the same vein as Ripple. Much of this stems from the fact that the founder of Stellar, Jed McCaleb, was also a cofounder of Ripple. Due to variances in network structuring, and actions by the SDF, Stellar has managed to avoid much of the same criticisms of Ripple, as most do not view it as likely to be a security.
Regulation?
To date, no official statements have been made by regulators on the status of XLM.
Outside of commentary by regulators, an independent group known as the ‘Crypto Ratings Council (CRC)’, has provided its input. Based on its assessment of the Stellar network, utilizing assessment tools similar in nature to those that would be used by regulators, the CRC has given it a score of 3.75 out of 5. This indicates that the project does indeed share various traits with that of a security. For comparisons sake, the CRC gave similar scores to rival projects, like Tezos (3.75/5) and Ripple (4/5).
As with any investment or asset, always practice caution with assets surrounded by unknowns. While there are various arguments pointing towards Stellar not being a security, there is always the chance that regulators such as the SEC will have a differing perspective.
Who Made It?
Stellar was first launched in 2015 by Jed McCaleb. This endeavour was not the first foray into blockchain by McCaleb, however, as he is also the co-founder of Ripple, and the infamous Mt. Gox exchange.
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