XLM, the protocol token of Stellar Network, contributes in a significant way for the operation of the Stellar Network.  Per the protocol design, about one billion lumens were created the sooner Stellar went live.  Almost every major cryptocurrency exchange makes Lumens available.

The market price of XLM is currently trending at $0.044641. The price has gone up by 0.34% over the past 24 hours. 

Denelle Dixon, on December 20, 2019, tweeted about the Mandate – Stellar Development Foundation, wherein the document provided a detailed outline of the long-term goals for both the Stellar Development Foundation and Stellar Network Protocol.  The report detailed the allocation of 3 billion for use throughout 2020.

Hold XLM to Transact on Stellar Network

Anyone willing to hold money or move money through Stellar should hold Lumens.  The Stellar Protocol requires that every account should set aside a “small increment of Stellar” for every kind of asset type it holds.  Further, an account holder should have reserve Lumens for the open offer versus assets.  However, the total holdback for a typical account is low, just a few XLM. There is a small fee in Lumens, and it is to get paid in just Lumens.  The median fee noted on the network is at 0.00001 XLM, which is about a millionth in the USD. 

The Stellar network requires the transaction to be in Lumens to prevent Ledger Spam.  Stellar wants to move money like an mail, and since spam moves like a mail, Stellar wants to avoid the associated complications.

XLM Liquidity in Cross-Currency Payments

Lumens will always serve a significant use case in the Stellar Network; however, when the price of the Lumens gets denominated in the fiat currency, it will be too volatile, and it can lose significant value.  Therefore, those who are buying and selling XLM should be clear about the consequences of buying and holding cryptocurrencies.

As previously stated, we can expect to see a lot of developments in the Stellar Network in the organization, ecosystem, and the product and technology fronts. The network is getting stronger in terms of decentralization.

Several key organizations have been encouraged to set up validators in a way to sustain themselves as a network independent of the SDF.  These Tier 1 validators are mature enough, permitting the network to turn off the nodes keeping the network going. With the latest protocol releases, the network is now fairer and usable.