Stellar is an open-source, distributed payments infrastructure. It uses a decentralized protocol that enables you to send money to anyone in the world, for free, instantly, and in any currency.
What is Stellar Lumen (XLM)?
Stellar is a leapfrog technology that connects people, payment systems, and banks with a focus on the developing world. It lets you facilitate multi-currency and asset transactions quickly, reliably, and for a fraction of a penny by using a crypto-asset called Lumens (XLM) as a bridge.
Check out the official Stellar site to learn more about Stellar, and learn how to buy Lumens (XLM) with this guide!
This step-by-step guide was created to help you learn how to buy Lumens and avoid the large transaction fees that some exchanges charge.
We’ll start off by setting up all of the accounts we will need to start buying Lumens:
Prerequisite: Create a Coinbase account.
Coinbase is recommended as it supports many countries and is all FDIC-insured.
- Use the link above and we’ll both receive an extra $10 worth of Bitcoin if you fund your account with $100 or more.
- Go through the guided steps to setup your account.
Prerequisite: Create a Binance.US account.
Binance will be used later to buy Lumen (XLM).
- Use the link above and go through the guided steps to setup your account (no verification of identity required).
How to Buy Lumen + Avoid Fees
Follow these steps to begin buying Lumen.
Purchase Coins from Coinbase
- From within Coinbase, purchase desired amount of Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH). You will need Bitcoin or Ethereum to exchange for Lumen!
Pro-tip: If you connect your bank account, your purchase fee will be the lowest.
Go to GDAX.com
COMMON QUESTION: “Why do I go through GDAX; can’t I just transfer straight from Coinbase to Binance?”
ANSWER: If you transfer funds straight from Coinbase to Binance, you will pay a large fee for the transfer. When you use GDAX to transfer funds to Binance, the transfer is free. The extra step is worth it!
- Transfer your purchased coins to GDAX. Under BTC (or ETH), go to “Deposit†-> “Coinbase Account†and type in the amount of Bitcoins (or Ethereum) you’d like to transfer over (this will be the amount of BTC/ETH you’ll use to buy Lumen).
Go to Binance
- Go to Binance -> “Funds†-> “Depositsâ€
- Find BTC or ETH (whichever you bought), and copy the BTC/ETH deposit address
Go back to GDAX
- Under BTC/ETH, go to “Withdraw†-> “BTC/ETH Addressâ€
- Paste the address you had copied from Binance into the field
- Type in the amount of BTC/ETH you would like to transfer to your Binance account
Go Back to Binance
- Go to “Exchange†-> “Basic†or “Advanced†(just depends on your preference).
- On the right-hand column, click XLM/BTC or XLM/ETH
- BUY YOUR Lumen! (Remember, you’re trading BTC or ETH for Lumen)
- Type in the price of BTC/ETH you would like to purchase Lumen at. Binance makes it easy by giving you options (25%, 50%, 75%, 100%) of the amount you’d like to buy.
Optional Step – Check Your Transaction on a Block Explorer
*Contributed by SingleGhost on Reddit
You Can use a block explorer to check the status of your currency transactions
- Go to a block explorer
- For BTC: https://blockchain.info/
- For ETH: https://etherscan.io/
- Alternatively, Google “bitcoin block explorer” or “ethereum block explorer” to find alternatives if these two are down
- Search your Binance deposit address in the block explorer
- Locate the incoming transaction from Coinbase
- Wait for the transaction to be confirmed by the network
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