How to Buy Stellar | Buy XLM in 4 Steps (December 2023)

Stellar Lumens is a distributed payment infrastructure that features an open-source code. The platform entered the market with the goal of facilitating a more streamlined approach to international money transfers such as remittance payments. Today, the Stellar ecosystem is known for its affordable, fast, and reliable transfer capabilities. Specifically, the platform facilitates frictionless cross-border transactions.

To learn more, visit our Investing in Stellar Lumens guide.

How to Buy Stellar (XLM) in 4 Steps

The whole process can take as little as 10 minutes, and all you'll need is a smartphone or computer, photo identification, and a means of payment.

1. Compare Crypto Exchanges – We list the top cryptocurrency exchanges that offer the ability to buy Stellar (XLM) cryptocurrency.
2. Create an account – Verify your email address and identity.
3. Make a deposit – Debit Card, Credit Card, Wire Transfer, or Bitcoin.
4. Buy Stellar – Use your funds to Buy XLM.

We list the top 7 cryptocurrency exchanges that offer the ability to buy Stellar Lumens (XLM) cryptocurrency with a credit card or debit card.

1. Uphold

A top exchange in the United States & UK, Uphold is an experienced and extremely innovative trading platform that should be able to meet your needs for trading across a number of cryptocurrencies, including Stellar Lumens (XLM). Beyond the ease of use and innovative features within the trading platform, what stands out about Uphold is the credibility it has gained in the industry.

Uphold offers both a desktop and mobile app trading experience that is extremely intuitive. The trading view is completely customizable with the assets that you trade the most and is very easy to navigate while providing a modern feel on both desktop and mobile. It is a very popular and suitable choice, particularly for new traders.

Besides being visibly appealing, the Uphold trading platform allows you to place your trades with great ease. Just a couple of clicks, and you can make trades directly from your deposit method without even having to wait for funds to clear to your account. This one-step ordering is another innovation from a company that prides itself on the usability of its platform. Uphold also provides the ability to execute limit orders.

German & Netherlands residents are prohibited.

For the full lowdown, see our Uphold review or visit Uphold to get started now.

Uphold Disclaimer: Terms Apply. Cryptoassets are highly volatile. Your capital is at risk. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment, and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong..

2. Kraken

Founded in 2011, Kraken is one of the most trusted names in the cryptocurrency industry, with over 9,000,000 users and over $207 billion in quarterly trading volume.

From humble beginnings, Kraken now offers over 200 digital assets, including Stellar Lumens (XLM). For more sophisticated investors, Kraken also offers futures and margin trading.

Kraken has continued to evolve its platform, and its commitment to the industry by being one of the first exchanges to offer buying opportunities on new tokens.

Kraken offers trading access to over 190 countries, including Australia, Canada, Europe, and is our most recommended exchange for USA residents. (Excluding New York & Washington state)

Read our Kraken Review or visit Kraken.

3. KuCoin

KuCoin is a well-known name in the industry, and one of the most competitive when it comes to fees and trading costs. The exchange has grown exponentially from its early days of offering only crypto to crypto trading.  It now offers a varied range of services, including a P2P exchange capability, and purchasing with credit or debit cards.

KuCoin currently offers Stellar Lumens (XLM) cryptocurrency trading as well as over 300 other popular tokens.  It is often the first to offer buying opportunities for new tokens.

USA residents are prohibited.

Read our KuCoin Review or visit KuCoin.

4. Binance

Binance is one of the largest and most well-known cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. The benefits of purchasing Stellar Lumens (XLM) here are both lower fees than competing exchanges and increased liquidity, enabling you to buy and sell quickly to take advantage of market-moving news.

This exchange is best for investors residing in Australia, Singapore & internationally. Canadian, UK & USA residents are prohibited.

Read our Binance Review or visit Binance.

Use Discount Code: EE59L0QP for 10% cashback off all trading fees.

5. Paybis

Paybis is designed for simplicity and is an extremely trustworthy starting point for buying Stellar (XLM) and other cryptocurrencies.  This exchange has been operating since 2014 and has assisted numerous traders in beginning their crypto trading journey, offering the convenience of purchasing with just a credit or debit card.  Unlike other exchanges where you buy tokens from other users, with Paybis, you purchase directly from the exchange, making the process much simpler and smoother.

Paybis is a truly global company offering services to residents from 180+ countries, including Canada, Europe, UK, & USA.

The fees you will encounter here are good value and competitive with others in the sector, depending on the payment method you use.

FinCEN Department of the Treasury, United States of America Money Service Business Registration: 31000224635628.

Read our Paybis Review or visit Paybis.

6. HTX

Established in 2013, HTX has since become one of the world’s largest digital asset exchanges, with an accumulated trading volume of US $1 trillion. Having once accounted for half of the world’s digital asset transactions, HTX now serves more than 5 million users in over 130 countries around the globe. It should be noted that HTX currently does not accept USA or Canadian residents.

HTX is one of the top exchanges that currently offer Stellar Lumens (XLM) trading opportunities.

Read our HTX Review or visit HTX.

7. WazirX

Launched in 2018, WazirX is India’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange with over 6,o00,000 users, and is expanding rapidly. It is one of the most reputable exchanges to currently offer Stellar Lumens (XLM) trading opportunities and currently accepts clients from all over the world. This exchange is part of the Binance Group, which ensures a high standard of quality.

USA residents are prohibited.

Read our WazirX review or visit WazirX.

What are Stellar Lumens (XLM)?

Stellar is an open-source, blockchain-based, network.  Oversight of the Stellar network is performed by a non-profit organization, known as Stellar.org.

The Stellar network is powered by its native token, ‘XLM’ – commonly referred to as ‘Lumens’.

What does it do?

Through its structuring, Stellar is able to facilitate cheap, and quick, transfers of value.  Much of the development surrounding Stellar is targeted towards the remittance industry and cross-border transactions.  One of the benefits afforded through the use of the Stellar network is integrated asset conversions.  This means that the network supports a plethora of currencies, and can seamlessly convert between them.

How does it Work?

Stellar makes use of a proof-of-stake protocol.  This means that transaction validations occur through XLM holders ‘staking’ their tokens.  This simply entails the holder to store their asset in a supported digital wallet.  This process is significantly more energy efficient than proof-of-work models and is growing in popularity.

Compared to most networks, Stellar makes use of its native token in a unique manner.  While XLM tokens can be used to complete transactions, their original purpose was to provide ‘friction’ to the network.  This friction is achieved by introducing modest transaction fees (payable in XLM), and minimum wallet holdings.  The purpose of this is to reduce/eliminate spam from being introduced into the network, clogging data blocks.

Projected Developments?

There are various developments and upgrades expected to be seen on the Stellar network in the coming years.  The following are a few of the largest on the horizon.

• Increase robustness and stability
• Establish Stellar on a world stage
• Develop and improve use cases
• Cross-border transactions
• Securitize assets

Underlying Ideology?

While comparisons will always exist between Ripple and Stellar, it is clear that the guiding factors for development differ between each.  Stellar, in particular, was built with financial inclusion in mind.  By bringing new efficiency to cross-border transactions, a new subset of humans can now gain access to new financial opportunities.  Underlining the idea of financial inclusion is the fact that the SDF is run as a non-profit organization.

Acceptance and Controversies?

For projects of its kind, Stellar has managed to establish higher levels of acceptance than most. The following are but a few of the companies that have partnered with, and utilize Stellar in some shape or form.

• IBM
• Securrency
• Franklin Templeton
• Wirex

Beyond working relationships with these companies, Stellar is one of the most commonly supported assets on cryptocurrency exchanges and is readily accessible for many.

For the most part, Stellar has avoided any real controversy.  There are those, however, that do not agree with the sway that the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) holds over the network – due to the SDF controlling 30M of the 50M XLM in existence.

Aside from this, many view Stellar in the same vein as Ripple.  Much of this stems from the fact that the founder of Stellar, Jed McCaleb, was also a co-founder of Ripple.  Due to variances in network structuring and actions by the SDF, Stellar has managed to avoid much of the same criticisms of Ripple, as most do not view it as likely to be a security.

Regulation?

To date, no official statements have been made by regulators on the status of XLM.

Outside of commentary by regulators, an independent group known as the ‘Crypto Ratings Council (CRC)’, has provided its input.  Based on its assessment of the Stellar network, utilizing assessment tools similar in nature to those that would be used by regulators, the CRC has given it a score of 3.75 out of 5.  This indicates that the project does indeed share various traits with that of a security.  For comparison's sake, the CRC gave similar scores to rival projects, like Tezos (3.75/5) and Ripple (4/5).

As with any investment or asset, always practice caution with assets surrounded by unknowns.  While there are various arguments pointing towards Stellar not being a security, there is always the chance that regulators such as the SEC will have a differing perspective.

Who Made It?

Stellar was first launched in 2015 by Jed McCaleb.  This endeavor was not the first foray into blockchain by McCaleb, however, as he is also the co-founder of Ripple and the infamous Mt. Gox exchange.