The Stellar project was founded in 2014. The source code of the Ripple cryptocurrency is taken as a basis. In Stellar networks, they have XLM coins. Also, users can create their coins based on the blockchain of this cryptocurrency. Initially, 100 billion XLM coins were created. Originally, this cryptocurrency was inflationary, the amount of which increased by 1% annually. Then, the developers dropped the idea of an inflationary increase in the total number of coins in circulation. The fee for any transfer between free blockchain nodes is fixed at 0.00001 XLM. The transaction between free blockchain nodes takes a maximum of 5 seconds. The number of processed transactions exceeds 1000 per second.

Confirmation of transactions between Stellar nodes is performed with the help of a decentralized ledger. The Proof of Work algorithm is replaced by the SCP algorithm. Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP) defines groups of Stellar nodes that vote for including new transactions into blocks. Any user can download and install software to run the Stellar node. Each full Stellar node stores a copy of the entire ledger. Every 2-5 seconds there is a poll of network status. In order not to overload the network with zero balance addresses, each active account must have at least 20 XLM. During the network state poll, the free public nodes that will confirm the transaction are determined. Between free public nodes, a transaction is transferred until the last XLM node writes to the blockchain. The commission for a transaction is distributed between the XLM nodes that participated in its confirmation. The new poll is synchronized and the network gets a new state. This system prevents blockchain forks.

An important advantage of Stellar, because of which the system is used by banks and other financial institutions, is its currency exchange. The system of such exchange is based on "anchors", each of which is a public node that locks some amount of fiat money. To become one of the "anchors", a public node must have at least 35 XLM on its balance. The exchange of different fiat currencies between XLM nodes takes place through XLM coins, which is much faster, more convenient, and cheaper than the exchange between bank accounts.

The cryptocurrency code is written in the C++ language, which is widespread and popular among developers. The developers recognize that the Stellar virtual machine is designed to perform simple smart contracts and its capabilities are lower than those of the Ethereum virtual machine. Stellar also allows you to issue your coins and ICO. Stellar has 4 types of free public nodes: Watcher, Basic Validator, Full Validator, and Archiver. XLM node Watcher is the lightest, and it only transfers transactions over the network. The XLM node Basic Validator has the right to make changes to the decentralized ledger. Stellar node Full Validator has Basic Validator rights, also, it keeps a full copy of the decentralized ledger. Stellar node Archiver is intended only for archiving copies of the decentralized ledger.

The Stellar project receives regular updates for free public nodes and software wallets. Since 85 billion out of 100 billion XLM have never been in circulation, the project managers decided to destroy 55 billion XLM. Also, the Stellar cryptocurrency has ceased to be inflationary, and the total number of coins in circulation does not increase. The developers got a powerful API allowing them to create applications based on Stellar. The well-known stablecoin USDC has moved to Stellar blockchain.