How to buy Stellar Lumens (XLM) with Luno

We’ve received a number of questions relating to Stellar Lumens (XLM), and although we don’t offer Stellar on our Exchange right now, and hold no affiliation to the company, we appreciate the interest garnered by investors and customers alike.

What is Stellar XLM?

Stellar is a network of decentralised servers in many locations that power a distributed ledger. The ledger records money as credit, and once someone’s made a deposit, credit is issued to their online account in the form of Lumen or XLM. This account can be understood as a virtual wallet, in exchange for a deposit. Issued credit can then be sent and received between people on the network. They describe their payment path as follows:

“Stellar has a distributed Exchange, so you can send EUR credits to a friend using your USD credit balance.”

Their network will automatically convert it at the lowest exchange rate. From there, your friend will receive EUR credit that can be withdrawn using an anchor supporting EUR.

Stellar was co-founded by American programmer and entrepreneur, Jed McCaleb, who also founded Ripple sometime before. Although both companies were founded by the same person, they have significant differences. Simply put, Stellar.org operates as a non-stock non-profit organisation, with a mission to connect people to low-cost financial services to fight poverty and maximise individual potential. Ripple focuses more on a top-down approach, working with large and established banks.

What can you do with Stellar?

Lumens serve as a cryptocurrency that can be exchanged for goods and services, similar to Bitcoin. In addition to this, applications can be built on Stellar, categorising it as a platform coin, too. It’s also possible to create your own tokens on top of the Stellar network. Tokens can be used as an intermediate currency when exchanging local currencies, such as EUR to USD.

How to buy Stellar Lumens with Bitcoin

Below is a simple step-by-step guide to buying Stellar Lumens in Luno-supported countries.

Step one: Get a Luno Account

Sign up for a Luno Account and verify your identity.

Step two: Deposit money into your Luno Wallet and buy Bitcoin

Log into your Luno Account and navigate to Wallets. Click on your local currency wallet and on ‘fund account’. After you’ve added money to your Luno Wallet, you’ll be able to buy Bitcoin.

Step three: Find a Bitcoin-to-XLM Exchange

CoinMarketCap has an extensive list of Exchanges that allow you to buy and sell XLM. Look for the XLM/BTC currency pair ranked by 24h volume.

Another popular solution is an “instant exchange” like ShapeShift or Changelly. Both require you to send Bitcoin (from Luno), and it will convert it to XLM.

? Note that we can’t make any recommendations for third-party platforms. You’ll need to do your homework and decide on an Exchange that works best for you.

Step four: Send your BTC and buy XLM

Depending on the platform you’re using, you’ll be provided with a Bitcoin address. You can send the Bitcoin from Luno to your preferred Exchange that supports XLM.

Once the funds arrive, simply follow the platform’s instructions on how to purchase XLM.

In closing

We have and will continue to keep a close eye on the progress, use cases and adoption of Stellar and other cryptocurrencies. Find out why doesn’t Luno support more cryptocurrencies.