Quicknode

August 30, 2023 — 5 min read

Stellar is now live on the Quicknode platform!

Quicknode is delighted to announce support for Stellar – a revolutionary network known for its speed, affordability, and energy efficiency. Let's dive deep into what Stellar offers and how blockchain developers can leverage its vast capabilities.

Quicknode’s Stellar infrastructure is now available to everyone on the platform. Get started with Stellar instantly!

Quicknode & Stellar: A Partnership for the Future

By introducing Stellar on Quicknode, we aim to further our commitment to providing developers with diverse, efficient, and powerful blockchain solutions. As Stellar paves the way for a unified global monetary system, Quicknode is proud to be part of this transformative journey.

For developers sharing Stellar's vision of an interconnected and cooperative digital ecosystem, now's the time to get started building the future. With Quicknode's robust infrastructure supporting Stellar, the possibilities are limitless.

Introducing Stellar

Stellar is a layer-1 open-source, decentralized, peer-to-peer blockchain platform that serves as a foundation for developers to craft applications, issue assets, and bridge to existing financial infrastructures. Unlike many blockchain networks, Stellar’s vision is to interconnect applications built on its platform, encouraging a more cooperative digital ecosystem.

Launched in 2014, Stellar (symbolized as XLM) stands out as a purpose-built network for global payments. Employing blockchain technology, it empowers users to execute cryptocurrency transfers swiftly with minimal transaction fees. Its native cryptocurrency, Stellar Lumens (XLM), facilitates these processes, ensuring the network remains agile.

Key Features of Stellar

• Global Interoperability: Stellar is designed for innovators, developers, and creators. Whether you're building applications, issuing assets, or establishing anchors, the network is equipped to handle and integrate various financial systems seamlessly.

• Stellar Consensus Protocol: Unlike conventional blockchains that might rely on energy-intensive proof-of-work systems, Stellar operates on the Stellar Consensus Protocol. This unique algorithm maintains the network's ledger, broadcasting all balances and operations to the entire network every five seconds. Nodes, computers that run Stellar's specific software, validate these transactions, ensuring accuracy and security.

• Low Transaction Costs: Among its many advantages, Stellar boasts very low costs associated with global transactions, making it an attractive option for developers and businesses alike.

• Accessibility and Inclusion: Acquiring or accessing XLM is hassle-free. All one needs is an internet connection and software such as a supporting wallet or access to a cryptocurrency exchange.

• Decentralization at its Best: Stellar's decentralized nature ensures that no single authority can control the network or the XLM cryptocurrency. The community oversees, authorizes, and records every transaction, promoting transparency and trust.

How Stellar Operates

In essence, Stellar is a comprehensive system for tracking ownership. It employs an immutable ledger, a modus operandi accountants have used for eons, but with a twist: Stellar operates without a central authority.

Thanks to the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP) and its Proof-of-Agreement (PoA) mechanism, the Stellar ledger gets verified and updated every five seconds. This ensures that Stellar remains configurable, swift, and incredibly energy-efficient.

The Stellar Mechanism

At its core, Stellar is a system to track ownership. With its decentralized essence, Stellar uses the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP) to maintain synchronization through Proof-of-Agreement (PoA). Unlike traditional centralized systems, Stellar is verified across hundreds of nodes globally, ensuring the data's accuracy and authenticity.

Horizon then bridges this core system to developers. It offers a potent API, ensuring developers don’t get bogged down in SCP specifics but can efficiently build on Stellar.

Horizon API: The Bridge to Stellar

Horizon is Stellar's gateway for developers. It's a RESTful API designed to interact seamlessly with the Stellar network. Horizon acts as the bridge connecting apps to the Stellar network. It simplifies complex tasks for projects like wallets, decentralized exchanges, and asset issuers. Whether it’s submitting transactions, checking account balances, or streaming transaction events, Horizon is the go-to API for Stellar interactions.

Building on Stellar

Stellar is not just a network for end-users. It's an open playground for builders and institutions. Its open-source nature ensures that anyone can issue an asset on it. Be it financial institutions creating digital tokens or developers crafting applications, Stellar's inherent design simplifies the integration and usage process. With a plethora of robust SDKs and detailed documentation, developers can embark on their Stellar journey with ease.

The Stellar Development Foundation, a U.S.-based non-profit, champions the ongoing evolution of Stellar. Its commitment lies in promoting Stellar as a neutral, equitable, and public network.

Why Quicknode?

Quicknode makes blockchain infrastructure easy, freeing developers to focus on the dApps (decentralized applications) they’re building instead of everything that goes into running blockchain infrastructure, such as DevOps/NodeOps, uptime, scaling, security, tooling, etc...

By eliminating the headache of node maintenance & synchronization, and providing a comprehensive, end-to-end platform, we save developers valuable time getting a high-quality dApp to-market faster, and help businesses scale and execute their Web3 strategies.

Quicknode is an indispensable tool in a Web3 developer’s arsenal that was created by developers for developers, battle-tested by industry-leading projects.

Today, the Quicknode network processes over 200 Billion requests per month across 35+ networks, in 14+ regions worldwide.‌‌

Visit Quicknode.com or check our guides section for more information.

To learn more about Stellar and its capabilities, visit the following resources:

• Quicknode Stellar Documentation

• Stellar Documentation

• Stellar Discord community