Stellar is a decentralized protocol enabling cross-currency transactions with built-in exchange and gateway system. The Stellar Development Foundation is distributing 95% of 100 billion stellars for free to bootstrap adoption, with 50% going to account signups, 25% to nonprofits focused on financial inclusion, and 20% to Bitcoin and Ripple holders.
Stellar is a decentralized protocol that allows users to send and receive money across any currency pair, with transactions settling in seconds via consensus rather than mining. The network uses gateways (trusted entities) for fiat on/off ramps and includes a built-in distributed exchange for currency conversion. The Stellar Development Foundation, led by Jed McCaleb and David Mazières with backing from Stripe and advisors including Sam Altman and Naval Ravikant, is distributing 95 billion stellars free to users: 50% to account signups, 25% through nonprofits for financial inclusion, and 20% to Bitcoin and Ripple holders. The remaining 5% funds the nonprofit's operations. The network is live for testing with plans to onboard currency exchanges as gateways.
