Stellar (XLM) is a Layer 1 blockchain built specifically for payments and moving money cheaply across borders, especially to and from traditional finance. It started in 2014 (an offshoot of the same roots as Ripple/XRP) and focuses on connecting banks, fintechs and stablecoins so people can send value between currencies quickly and for tiny fees. Its native token, XLM (Lumens), is used to pay fees and can act as a bridge between different currencies on the network. In 2024 it added smart contracts (a platform called 'Soroban'), extending it beyond simple payments while keeping its payments-first identity.
Where it stands today: Stellar has become real infrastructure for regulated digital dollars and tokenized assets. It hosts major stablecoins (Circle's USDC and EURC, plus a MoneyGram dollar token), and MoneyGram's crypto-to-cash service runs on Stellar across 170+ countries, letting people turn stablecoins into local cash. Franklin Templeton runs a tokenized money-market fund on it, and in 2026 the DTCC (a giant of traditional financial settlement) announced plans to use Stellar for tokenizing stocks and Treasury bonds, naming XLM as a settlement token. It also gained US regulatory clarity as a 'digital commodity'. So today it's a payments-and-tokenization network with unusually concrete real-world integrations — its challenge is turning that plumbing role into demand for the XLM token itself.