Stellar was created by Jed McCaleb.

XLM

Stellar was created with the aim to change the way currencies and assets were transferred globally and has been described as everything from a payment rail to an exchange. 

 

The Stellar platform incentivizes a distributed network of computers to run a software that enables anyone to send money and assets in ways that have traditionally been the domain of payment providers.

 

Stellar differs from Ripple in attempts to position itself as a kind of decentralized exchange, with a built-in order book that keeps track of the ownership of Stellar Lumens assets. These assets can then be traded on its platform between users using its XLM cryptocurrency.

The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), a non-profit organization supporting Stellar’s growth and development, was tasked with distributing Stellar’s initial 100 billion Stellar Lumen XLM supply over a period of 10 years. 

 

The XLM issued at launch was set to be distributed to users who signed up for a Direct Sign-up Program, to Bitcoin and Ripple holders, to Stellar Partners (such as SatoshiPay and Abra) and to the SDF itself for its operational budget.

 

However, the SDF came across some roadblocks with the distribution and only managed to distribute 7.375 billion XLM. As a response, the SDF team made changes to its supply curve and burned over 50 billion XLM, reducing the total supply to just above 50 billion XLM. 

Stellar copied much of its code from the XRP ledger meaning the two assets share a common code base and design scheme. Stellar has since made several technical changes to differentiate itself from its counterpart. 

 

Central to powering its network is Stellar Core, a software used to maintain its ledger and to validate its transactions. Nodes running the software can be set up to serve as watchers, who can submit transactions, Archivers, who store the activity of the network, and validators, who validate transactions and vote on network upgrades through the Stellar Consensus Protocol.