The Stellar Lumen blockchain has grown rapidly to be among the most robust platform in the crypto sphere with ever-increasing user cases. Stellar offers <a href="https://www.stellar.org/how-it-works/powered-by-stellar/#Tempo">business solution</a>s that enable both NGOs and government companies to manage their micropayments for a reduced transaction cost, significantly reduce the value of remittances, offer loans through mobile platforms and expand their business reach through mobile branches.

Steller is, in fact, the only cryptocurrency startup that has proven itself to scale and offer quick, safe, and efficient transactions that Bitcoin had always intended to during its unveiling. The platform can handle up to 1000 transactions per second involving 3-4 seconds of conformation and at a lower transaction fee. Compared to Bitcoin's<a href="https://hackernoon.com/the-blockchain-scalability-problem-the-race-for-visa-like-transaction-speed-5cce48f9d44"> 4.6 transactions per second</a>, Steller is indeed top of the league when it comes to scalability and usability, which is the primary intent of cryptocurrencies.

The platform has only been around for less than five years (launched in 2014) but has made strategic partnerships, and case uses with established organizations all over the planet. Its codebase constitutes of an integrated decentralized trading system making it more superior to Ethereum for DEX trading and ideal for simple tokens that don't complete turning complete smart contracts. Stellar Foundation is a non-stock, non-profit organization whose business model is based on a premise to connect people by offering low-cost financial service aimed at fighting poverty as well as maximizing one's potential. In this piece, we will delve into Stellar's user cases as well as the platform's benefits.
<h2>XLM Overview</h2>
<a href="https://www.stellar.org/how-it-works/use-cases/">Stellar</a> is a network of decentralized servers anchored in many locations that power a distributed ledger which records every transaction in the system for people and companies alike. The servers employ consensus to communicate with one another after every 2-5 seconds to verify transactions and sync the ledger.

Stellar was launched back in July 2014 following a disagreement between Jed McCaleb, the co-founder of Ripple Stellar's closest competitor) and the rest of Ripple board members. Jed left Ripple and partnered with Kim Joyce, an investor, to develop a brand-new project that came to be known as Stellar.

The Stellar platform is powered by<a href="https://www.stellar.org/lumens/"> Lumens (XLM)</a> which constitute a special part of the Stellar Network by acting as an anti-spam tool. For an account to remain active on the Stellar Network and conduct a transaction, it must have a minimum XLM balance. A DoS attack is thus impossible, enhancing the security.
<h2>XLM User Cases</h2>
Stellar has diversified user cases thanks to its relatively straightforward, free integration. Below are some ways in which Stellar has found value in several firms.
<h3>1.    Used as a Decentralized Exchange</h3>
Stellar, through its subsidiary<a href="https://stellarterm.com/"> StellarTerm</a>, can be used as a robust and functional decentralized exchange allowing users to send, receive, and trade assets on the Stellar network efficiently with StellarTerm. Cryptocurrency traders can trade on the exchange via LOBSTR, which is one of the leading Stellar wallets on iOS and Android rated highly by the Stellar community. With more and more people embracing the cryptocurrency wave coming in as crypto traders, there is a substantial need for efficient and secure cryptocurrency exchange; this presents itself as a significant potential use case for Stellar.
<h3>2.    Facilitate Micropayments and Remittances (Partnership with Deloitte)</h3>
Deloitte partnered with Stellar to facilitate affordable and rapid payments systems through the<a href="https://www.stellar.org/blog/deloitte-launch/"> Deloitte Digital Bank</a>. Deloitte is one of the world's robust financial and technology consulting firms providing consultancy services to over 6,000 private and middle-market companies. Stellar's usability in this partnership is to provide Deloitte with a blockchain technology that will enhance fast and secure cross-border payments and instant peer-to-peer transactions requiring users to verify the amount using their driving license or ID. The Deloitte Digital Bank reduces transaction cost, and each sale is resolved in 5 seconds.

Also, Stellar has partnered with<a href="https://tempo.eu.com/en"> Tempo Money Transfer</a> to facilitate remittances with competitive prices and a higher margin. The partnership between Stellar and Nigeria's Parkway-a licensed mobile money operator-is expected to enhance mobile money transfer. Parkway employs the Stellar network to connect Nigeria's major telcos allowing customers of different MM services to send money to one another.
<h3>3.    As a <a href="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/crypto/ceo-of-the-coincorner-firmly-states-walmarts-stablecoin-wont-be-the-rival-for-bitcoin/">Stablecoin</a> (Partnership with IBM)</h3>
In March this year, IBM<a href="https://fortune.com/2018/07/17/ibm-stablecoin-cryptocurrency-stellar/"> announced</a> that it was launching World Wire, a global payment system that connects banks via the Stellar digital-asset network following the partnership with Stellar Foundation. World Wire runs on "Crypto Dollar" Stablecoin- A cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar, based on the Stellar network. IBM has openly embraced the blockchain technology already creating partnerships with Bitcoin and Stellar to explore whether a cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar may be a better option for making payments than other digital currencies which tend to be volatile. Currently, IBM is using Stellar Lumens as a prototype in this project. IBM is expected to test its "crypto dollar" which runs on the Stellar blockchain network. With a stablecoin, the ridiculously high cost of making cross border payments is expected to reduce.

Additionally, the use of a stablecoin as a proxy for the fiat currency would reduce the risk of getting a costly exchange rate when converting the money back into fiat currency. IBM is currently working with the Stronghold USD stablecoin that will be based on the Stellar's protocol. IBM partnership with Stellar Foundation validated the technology behind Stellar Lumen deeming the platform as worthy for their development.
<h3>4.    Accelerating Exchange-Based Technology (Partnership with Stripe)</h3>
Stellar Lumens' technology has been used as the basis of exchange-based technology. Stellar Foundation has partnered with<a href="https://www.lumenauts.com/blog/stellar-stripe-relationship"> Stripe</a>-a payment system, to incorporate XLD into its payment system that supports over 100,000 businesses including Warby Parker and OpenTable. Stripe initially supported Bitcoin payment but then dropped it due to scalability issues. Stellar Lumen has since replaced Bitcoin on the platform attributed to its immense benefits including low transaction costs as well as fast transactions.
<h2>Bottom Line</h2>
Stellar has diversified its usability securing high profile partnerships across many different sectors. The foundation's mission is to connect people through low-cost financial services, and with such collaboration with high-end institutions to lower transaction cost, it will indeed realize this mission. Thanks to Stellar's efficient consensus mechanism, more partnerships are expected to be achieved in the coming years.

Stellar Lumens (XLM) -User Cases

Am Wayne, a Blockchain enthusiast and expert in crypto trading. Currently, I cover trendy issues on digital currencies.

Stellar Lumens (XLM) -User Cases

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