The Stellar network is a blockchain-based distributed ledger network that connects banks, payments systems and people to facilitate low-cost, cross-asset transfers of value, including payments. Stellar is an open source, decentralized protocol for digital currency to fiat money transfers which makes possible to create, send, and trade digital representations of all forms of money: dollars, pesos, bitcoin, pretty much anything. It’s designed so all the world’s financial systems can cooperate on a single network. Stellar supports a distributed exchange model, which permits a user to send payment in a particular currency like EUR, though they might be holding USD credit. The network automatically performs the forex conversion at the best available rates. The receiver can withdraw the EUR equivalent through the partner institute like a bank. The project has a stated goal of processing up to 60 percent of all cross-border payments in the region, which includes countries like Fiji, Tonga, and Australia.

Original author – Jed McCaleb
Programming language of implementation – C, C++
Initial release – 31 July 2014
Development status – Active
Website – stellar.org