Cryptocurrencies are booming more than ever, popularity and trading volumes are rising and more and more new alternative currencies are being created all the time.

That's why I have decided to start a new series on my Steemit Blog : introducing Altcoins that are either new or have gained a lot of popularity recently!

The past 2 weeks have been incredible for the crypto world - many different currencies were reaching all-time highs and increasing several hundred percent over just a few days.

One of these coins was Stellar Lumens, with a total increase of approx. 500% in the last 7 days only.

Overview

Network: Stellar

Currency: Stellar Lumens (XLM)

Market cap: $ 290,000,000 (Top 9)

Current price: around $0,030

Founded: 2014

Mission Statement: Stellar is a platform that connects banks, payments systems, and people. Integrate to move money quickly, reliably, and at almost no cost.

Although Stellar was created in 2014 and is not an entirely new currency, it has gained massive popularity in the last few weeks.

Stellar even became the cryptocurrency with the 9th largest market cap (just one spot above Steem, #10!)
Stellar is a platform that describes itself as "The Future of Banking" - their aim is to provide almost-instant, secure transactions with low fees.

“Stellar.org is one of a new breed of tech non-profits whose ambition is for technology to help solve some of the world’s most intractable problems such as global poverty and climate change.”

-The Wall Street Journal about Stellar

Stellar and Ripple

There are many similarities between Stellar and Ripple, and price fluctuations often seem similar for these 2 currencies.
Why? Stellar was created by the same developers of the Ripple cryptocurrency.
When Stellar first launched in 2014, it was even based on Ripple's protocol.
But in late 2015, the Stellar Development Foundation then updated the protocol with a new consensus Algorithm, with an independent new code.

Lumens Giveaway

Stellar decided to give away 95% of its lumen tokens when the network was established.

95% of the lumens created when the Stellar network began will be given away to the world. 5% remains with Stellar.org for operational costs. Stellar.org designed the giveaway program to ensure that lumens are given away to diverse groups: - 50% to individuals who want lumens - 25% for nonprofits to reach underserved populations - 20% to bitcoin holders

Why? On their website, Stellar explains that they have come to this conclusion to expand the reach of the network and to achieve a more "inclusive" digital economy by giving away some of the tokens for free.
The last giveaway round took place on march 28, 2017 where tokens with an approx. value of $16 million were given away for free to bitcoin holders.

Conclusion

Stellar is a cryptocurrency that aims to connect banks with people, and offer its users a near-instant, secure payment gateway.
It is similar to Ripple in both their mission and their price developments, it's created by the same developers but is now an independent currency.
Stellar has experienced a price increase of over 500% in the last 7 days and has achieved the 9th largest market cap in the world.

Do you own, hold or trade Stellar Lumens? What are your experiences / thoughts?

Images: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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