What are the payments functionalities of Stellar (XLM)?

Native Resource Fee (Strong): Right to submit transactions and pay Stellar protocol network fees in XLM.

What are the value distribution functionalities of Stellar (XLM)?

Burn Entitlement (Algorithmic or Guaranteed): Right to benefit pro-rata from protocol-enforced supply reduction through the accumulation of transaction fees in an inaccessible, non-circulating fee pool, which mechanically increases each holder’s relative share of the circulating supply without requiring discretionary distribution.

Stellar (XLM)

System: Stellar — Money and Payments

Stellar is a public blockchain network for payment settlement and the issuance of tokenised assets, with built-in asset conversion and the Soroban smart contract platform. Founded in 2014, it operates using Stellar Core and the Stellar Consensus Protocol alongside Soroban. The system boundary includes the Stellar ledger, validators, the native XLM asset, the protocol-level DEX and liquidity pools, and the Stellar Development Foundation, while excluding third-party anchors, wallets, and exchanges.

Market Data

Price	$0.160300
Market Cap	$5.34B
Fully Diluted Valuation	$8.02B
30d Change	-2.98%
365d Change	-41.45%

Token Functionalities

Payments

Native Resource Fee (Strong)
Right to submit transactions and pay Stellar protocol network fees in XLM.

Value Distribution

Burn Entitlement (Algorithmic or Guaranteed)
Right to benefit pro-rata from protocol-enforced supply reduction through the accumulation of transaction fees in an inaccessible, non-circulating fee pool, which mechanically increases each holder’s relative share of the circulating supply without requiring discretionary distribution.

System Attributes

Operating Model

Stellar is best classified as an on-chain protocol, coordinating a distributed set of validators to deliver payment settlement and core protocol operations without reliance on a central service operator. The Stellar Consensus Protocol enables an open, distributed validator set, and the network does not depend on explicit on-chain incentive payments to node operators.

Value Creation

Value is created on-chain through protocol-level execution of settlement and financial primitives, including asset issuance and trustlines, path payments routed via the built-in DEX and liquidity pools, and Soroban smart contract execution. Path payments explicitly traverse the Stellar DEX and liquidity pools, and application logic executes directly on the Soroban mainnet, demonstrating that the service is produced at the protocol level.

Value Capture

Value capture and routing in Stellar is on-chain. Protocol fees are paid in XLM and routed into a locked fee pool rather than being distributed to validators or other participants, and Soroban fees follow the same locked-pool design.

Governance

Governance in Stellar combines participant-based and off-chain entity governance. Protocol upgrades and key network parameters are controlled through validator participation, where authority depends on operating a validator rather than holding XLM. In parallel, the Stellar Development Foundation acts as an identifiable off-chain entity that coordinates protocol development and broader ecosystem direction.