You’re not supposed to know the best time to start investing in cryptocurrency. You have to make that decision, and you’re expected to watch your investments like a hawk for the first couple of weeks. Because there’s no exact science to handling a cryptocurrency not everyone wants to jump right into it. That’s okay. If we always jumped head first into every project, we’d end up with far more bruises and bumps than we would successfully dives.
What you should be doing before you invest in a cryptocurrency is doing your homework. The first step to knowing if a cryptocurrency will work out for you is learning about the various wallets on the market. There’s plenty available, but they all do something a little bit different. In this article, we’re going to cover the various options you can choose from for Stellar (XLM). But we’re also going to run down some of the things that makes Stellar standout from other cryptocurrencies, too.
The service operates as an alternative to PayPal. The Stellar network allows you to send and receive standard funds, such as if you were to place USD on the network and you wanted to send those funds to your sister in the United Kingdom. You place your USD on the network and send them to your sister. She receives them in the form of EUR. The network runs through the trade exchange to find the cheapest exchange rate, chooses this option, and automatically deducts those funds from your total and sends the remainder to your sister. A great service if you’re interested in something other than PayPal.
You can also choose to invest Stellar’s blockchain system directly, much any other cryptocurrency. When you invest with in this digital product you receive the currency’s token, Lumens. The system stands out from other digital currencies due to its quick transfer time. When you make a transfer, you can expect the result to reach the particular party within two to five seconds. This applies to you as well. When you make a transaction on the Stellar network you can expect those Lumens to arrive to your account within that time frame. This stands out from much larger networks, such as Bitcoin, which can take a great deal of time processing. Also, the transaction costs hover around a penny for each one you process.
What makes Stellar different? They’re interested in keeping their currency transfer service at the forefront of their program. They want to give everyone with compute access the ability to transfer currency to loved ones from any location in the world. On their website, they have plenty of developer tools for any company or large business interested in using their Stellar network on their system. They break down how a developer can go about integrating it into their system and get it online. The team behind Stellar want to push their product to the common people and make transferring currency simple.
So, now you know a little bit more about Stellar, their network, and how their cryptocurrency works. Still interested in getting involved with it? We’re going to breakdown a variety of different wallets you can choose from to hold your Lumens. You should download your wallet and get your profile online first prior to purchasing any Lumens. You do not want to leave these tokens on the cryptocurrency exchange website. Unlike other cryptocurrencies, Stellar does not have an official wallet designed by their developers. Keep in mind many of these wallets must have at least 20 XLM. Stellar requires this to prevent hackers from attempting to send malicious content to their blockchain to make it harder for authentic transactions to take place.
Stellarport
The Stellarport wallet connects you to the Stellar network in real time from their application. It serves as a third party network. This means you can directly observe the rise and fall of the network, watch over your investments, and make transfers from this application. Many who use this application will find it easier than connecting directly to the Stellar blockchain network because this program does all the heavy lifting for you. If you’re consistently on the go you can download this application to your smartphone. Additionally, you’re in charge of all your account keys and none of them get recorded or saved to the program. For those who have investments in Bitcoin or Ethereum you can make transactions using those from this application.
Unfortunately, you can only use one fiat currency on this network: Chinese Yuan (CNY). As a result, those who have other fiat currencies will have to acquire their Lumens from a cryptocurrency exchange website to place then place on their wallet.
StellarTerm
This wallet operates from a website application and connects you to the Stellar blockchain. Some wallets that directly connect to you will come with a transfer fee, however, the company behind this wallet is a non-profit. They do not require any additional fees from you when you preform a transaction through their application. For anyone who prefers having a wallet on their desktop, you can download this application directly to your computer. This gives you more authority over your wallet, but weighs more responsibility on your shoulders to ensure your information stays safe. The developers behind the wallet do not provide a tutorial to their system, making it difficult for newcomers to jump in.
You cannot upload fiat currencies directly to this account and must rely on an exchange website.
Stellar Account Viewer
This basic program was created by Stellar for anyone wanting to view their Lumens transactions from the Stellar blockchain. It’s a lightweight wallet so there’s not too much going on with thios program. This lightweight wallet is excellent to simply view your account, but you may not want to rely on it long term. This wallet syncs with a Ledger Nano S. If you use this hardware wallet this may work as a suitable connection to the Stellar blockchain to access your funds and then store them on your Ledger. Assuming you’re a newcomer to cryptocurrency, you may not want to use this for your first wallet.
Ledger Nano S
This wallet works a little differently than the previous ones. The Ledger Nano S is a physical device you have to keep track of. This device saves all of your account’s private keys and keeps track of them. You treat it much like a flash drive. When you want to access your account, you plug the Ledger into your computer and go into your wallet. You can access the Ledger’s wallet from the company’s website, or use the Stellar Account Viewer to observe your funds.
The Ledger Nano S does come with a price tag: 79.00 €. Because you have to pay for this, you better plan to stay with interested in cryptocurrencies.
You can purchase this device from the Ledger website and have it shipped to you.
Did none of these wallets interest you? Check out the Stellar website and you can view the other wallets they have available on their system. Make sure you do your research about each one and check out what makes them different. Each one comes with their own set of features.