Check out our new platform 🚀 https://thecapital.io/When investing in the crypto market, the more exciting opportunities actually come from altcoins, with plenty of gains to be made for traders who spot the next rising star. With a blast-off rocket ship logo and a name that invokes a sci-fi future, Stellar is an altcoin that wants us to know that it’s going places. But is Stellar (XLM) a good investment? No need for an astrologer… we’ll tell you everything you need to know.What is Stellar (XLM)?The Stellar blockchain network is an open-source distributed payment infrastructure that facilitates transactions between banks, payment services, and individuals. The project was launched in 2014 by Jed McCaleb, the founder of Mt. Gox and co-founder of Ripple, in partnership with former lawyer Joyce Kim.Jed McCaleb, the founder of Mt. Gox and co-founder of Ripple, StellarIn practice, Stellar works similarly to an online payment platform such as PayPal, but its distributed ecosystem and native cryptocurrency make cross-asset, cross-border transactions easier, faster, and more cost-effective.At the time of writing, Stellar’s price is $0.102602 (up 0.46% in the last 24 hours) with a 24-hour trading volume of $691,733,206. Stellar is ranked 16th in terms of global market cap, coming in at $2,156,921,785 (via CoinMarketCap). Its circulating supply is 21,022,140,434 XLM coins.How does Stellar’s blockchain work?Transactions on the Stellar network are added to a shared, distributed public ledger, which is a database that anyone in the world can access. Stellar uses its own unique method to reach consensus on transactions quickly and accurately.Stellar has 4 key aspects when it comes to adding transactions to the ledger, or blockchain:Freedom of participation: Anyone can join the consensus process, and no one has all or a majority of the decision-making power.Low latency: Fast and cheap transactions are confirmed within a few seconds.Freedom of trust: Nodes (those participating in the consensus system) choose their own set of trusted nodes and can revoke trust from bad actors at any time.Security: Even if nodes fail or bad actors join the network, consensus can still be reached, and the network will come to the right conclusion.Curious to learn more about Stellar? We recommend checking out StormGain’s Telegram channel to discuss the benefits of Stellar, share trading strategies and read tips and tricks from experienced crypto traders.Where is the value of Stellar derived from?Stellar is useful and valuable because it is a global exchange network capable of hosting thousands of exchanges between currencies and tokens per second. Exchanging between cryptocurrencies and/or fiat currencies can be a lengthy and expensive process. Stellar makes it swift and cheap.5 interesting facts you might not know about StellarStellar cryptocurrency is actually called Lumens. When Stellar was first launched in 2014, it used crypto tokens with the same name as the network. But, since this caused some confusion, the Stellar network currency (trading ticker XLM) was renamed Lumens in 2015.Stellar is backed by IBM and Deloitte. The computing giant and finance company joined forces with Stellar to push the blockchain network’s revolutionary payment system and introduce it to more real-world applications. If you’ve ever used IBM’s World Wire payments, you’ve used Stellar.International Transfers are free. Stellar’s main selling point is that it allows for financial instruments and fiat currency to be transferred and exchanged for free, instantly and in any country.XLM is compliant with regulations. As a crypto org that aims to become a mainstream payment platform partnered with influential financial institutions around the world, Stellar cooperates with regulators to make sure that XML is compliant with ICO regulations.Stellar is a not-for-profit organisation. Stellar isn’t in it for the money or beholden to shareholders. The stated aim of the Stellar Development Foundation is to change the financial system for the better, especially for many around the world who suffer under costly and clunky banking systems. The Stellar corporation does have a for-profit wing, however, that goes by the name Interstellar.Stellar is closer than you thinkStellar is fast becoming one of the top crypto assets in 2020, and as a result, you can now find it traded on many crypto exchanges. Each exchange operates under different trading conditions as far as fees, features and transfers work. For example, at StormGain, you can trade, hodl or exchange Stellar like other cryptocurrencies.Whether you choose to trade, Stellar is proving to be one of the most interesting crypto tokens on the market and certainly deserves consideration for your next investment.https://twitter.com/thecapital_iohttps://medium.com/media/3b6b127891c5c8711ad105e61d6cc81f/hrefWhat you need to know about Stellar, the altcoin that’s out of this world was originally published in The Capital on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.