Stellar (payment network)

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Stellar.org
Original author(s)Jed McCaleb, Joyce Kim
Developer(s)Stellar Development Foundation
Initial releaseJuly 31, 2014; 9 years ago (2014-07-31)
Repository
Written inC++, Go, Java, JavaScript, Python, Ruby
Operating systemCross-platform
TypeBlockchain
LicenseApache License 2.0
Websitestellar.org

Stellar is an open source, decentralized protocol for digital currency to fiat money transfers which allows cross-border transactions between any pair of currencies.[1] The Stellar protocol is supported by a 501(c)3 nonprofit, the Stellar Development Foundation.[2][3][4]

History

In 2014, Jed McCaleb, founder of Mt. Gox and co-founder of Ripple, launched the network system Stellar with former lawyer Joyce Kim. Before the official launch, McCaleb formed a website called "Secret Bitcoin Project" seeking alpha testers.[5] The nonprofit Stellar Development Foundation was created in collaboration with Stripe CEO Patrick Collison and the project officially launched that July. Stellar received $3 million in seed funding from Stripe.[6][7] Stellar was released as a decentralized payment network and protocol with a native currency, stellar. At its launch, the network had 100 billion stellars. 25 percent of those would be given to other non-profits working toward financial inclusion.[8][9] Stripe received 2 percent or 2 billion of the initial stellars in return for its seed investment.[10] The cryptocurrency, originally known as stellar, was later called Lumens or XLM.[11] In August 2014, Mercado Bitcoin, the first Brazilian bitcoin exchange, announced it would be using the Stellar network.[12] By January 2015, Stellar had approximately 3 million registered user accounts on its platform and its market cap was almost $15 million.[13]

The Stellar Development Foundation released an upgraded protocol with a new consensus algorithm in April 2015 which went live in November 2015.[14] The new algorithm used SCP, a cryptocurrency protocol created by Stanford professor David Mazières.[15]

Lightyear.io, a for-profit entity of Stellar, launched in May 2017 as the commercial arm of the company.[16] In September 2017, Stellar announced a benefits program, part of its Stellar Partnership Grant Program, which would award partners up to $2 million worth of Lumens for project development. In September 2018, Lightyear Corporation acquired Chain, Inc and the combined company was named Interstellar.[17]

Real-world applications

In 2015, it was announced that Stellar was releasing an integration into Vumi, the open-sourced messaging platform of the Praekelt Foundation.[18] Vumi uses cellphone talk time as currency using the Stellar protocol.[19] Stellar partnered with cloud-based banking software company Oradian in April 2015 to integrate Stellar into Oradian's banking platform to add microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Nigeria.[20][21]

Deloitte announced its integration with Stellar in 2016 to build a cross-border payments application, Deloitte Digital Bank.[22] In December 2016, it was announced that Stellar's payment network had expanded to include Coins.ph, a mobile payments startup in the Philippines, ICICI Bank in India, African mobile payments firm Flutterwave, and French remittances company Tempo Money Transfer.[23]

In October 2017, Stellar partnered with IBM and KlickEx to facilitate cross-border transactions in the South Pacific region. The cross-border payment system developed by IBM includes partnerships with banks in the area.[24][25]

In December 2017, TechCrunch announced Stellar's partnership with SureRemit, a Nigerian-based non-cash remittances platform.[26]

Overview

Stellar is an open-source protocol for exchanging money or tokens using the Stellar Consensus Protocol. The platform's source code is hosted on GitHub.

Servers run a software implementation of the protocol, and use the Internet to connect to and communicate with other Stellar servers. Each server stores a ledger of all the accounts in the network. 3 nodes are operated by the Stellar Development Foundation, in conjunction with 21 other organizations, providing for a total of 66 validator nodes[27]. Transactions among accounts occur not through mining but rather through a consensus process among accounts in quorum slice.[28] The current network fee is 100 stroops, equivalent to 0.00001 XLM or 1/10,000th of a cent[29].

References

  1. ^ Ben Dickson (January 30, 2018). "Can blockchain democratize education? This startup seems to think so". The Next Web. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  2. ^ Jillian D’onfro (31 July 2014). "PayPal's Cofounder Is Supporting A New Non-Profit That Will Tackle The Vision PayPal 'Never Accomplished'". Business Insider. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  3. ^ Kim-Mai Cutler (31 July 2014). "Stripe Backs Non-Profit Decentralized Payment Network Stellar, From Mt. Gox's Original Creator". TechCrunch. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  4. ^ JP Mangalindan (31 July 2014). "New Bitcoin challenger launches". Fortune. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  5. ^ "Mt. Gox, Ripple Founder Unveils Stellar, a New Digital Currency Project".
  6. ^ "New Bitcoin challenger launches".
  7. ^ Michael del Castillo (5 August 2014). "Stripe takes on bitcoin with rival digital currency Stellar". The Irish Times. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  8. ^ "Payment processor Stripe helps launch a new currency, the Stellar".
  9. ^ "PayPal's Cofounder Is Supporting A New Non-Profit That Will Tackle The Vision PayPal 'Never Accomplished'".
  10. ^ "Stripe Backs Non-Profit Decentralized Payment Network Stellar, From Mt. Gox's Original Creator".
  11. ^ "2 Game-Changing New Cryptocurrencies With Serious Backing".
  12. ^ "New Digital Currency Aims to Unite Every Money System on Earth".
  13. ^ "Stellar rewrote the rules of cryptocurrencies. Now, users in Asia are leading its growth".
  14. ^ Cade Metz (8 April 2015). "An Algorithm to Make Online Currency as Trustworthy as Cash". WIRED. Condé Nast. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  15. ^ Tom Simonite (April 15, 2015). "A New Competitor for Bitcoin Aims to Be Faster and Safer".
  16. ^ Jeff John Roberts (May 11, 2017). "Stripe-Backed Stellar Places a New Bet on Blockchain in the Developing World". Fortune. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  17. ^ "Blockchain Startup Chain Merges With Stellar to Accelerate Use". Bloomberg.com.
  18. ^ Biz Carson (5 February 2015). "Stellar, South African nonprofit to bring digital savings to young girls". GigaOm. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  19. ^ Tom Simonite (20 February 2015). "Bitcoin-Inspired Digital Currency to Power Mobile Savings App". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  20. ^ Karen Webster (2 March 2015). "Stellar and Solving the Unexpected Tragedy of the Financial System". PYMENTS.com. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  21. ^ Paul Vigna (28 February 2015). "Stellar Takes a Step Into the Microfinance World". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  22. ^ Diana Asatryan (May 3, 2016). "Deloitte Taps Blockchain Startups to Build New Core Banking System". Bank Innovation. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  23. ^ FORTUNE. "Stripe-Backed Stellar Kicks Off Worldwide Money Transfers". Fortune. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
  24. ^ "Stellar jumps 20% after Stripe says it may add support for the digital coin".
  25. ^ "IBM and Stellar Are Launching Blockchain Banking Across Multiple Countries".
  26. ^ Jake, Bright. "Africa's SureRemit joins the tokenized race to win the global remittance market". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on December 12, 2017. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  27. ^ "Stellarbeat.io - Stellar network visibility". stellarbeat.io. Retrieved 2020-05-23.
  28. ^ Tom Simonite (8 April 2015). "A New Competitor for Bitcoin Aims to Be Faster and Safer". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  29. ^ contributors, Stellar org and. "Transaction Fees, Minimum Balances, and Surge Pricing | Stellar Developers". www.stellar.org. Retrieved 2020-05-23. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)

External links

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