Many viable cryptocurrency projects to choose from, catering to different niches, appear promising. Choosing the right cryptocurrency might be a difficult task in hand. Stellar, an open-source, decentralized protocol for transferring digital currency to fiat currency, is also one of the top DeFi projects. Stellar enables fast, low-cost international transactions, and it's become an integral part of the global financial blockchain infrastructure.

Stellar operates on a network of decentralized servers, where transactions occur in a public ledger. One of the distinctive features of Stellar is its consensus protocol—the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP)—which differs from the proof-of-work system utilized by Bitcoin and Ethereum. SCP offers a more energy-efficient mechanism for securing transactions and achieving consensus across the network.

Stellar's native cryptocurrency is Lumens (XLM), which serves several functions within the Stellar network. It's used to pay transaction fees and can act as an intermediary for multi-currency transactions. For example, the network has no direct market between the two currencies. In that case, Lumens can facilitate the trade and makes XLM a critical part of Stellar's mission to create a seamless and accessible global financial network.

Another significant aspect of Stellar is its smart contract functionality, although it differs from Ethereum's more complex contract capability. Stellar's smart contracts express as compositions of transactions that are connected and executed in a specific order. Although more straightforward, these smart contracts have the advantage of being more predictable and easier to understand.

Stellar also supports the creation of custom tokens, enabling businesses and other organizations to launch their cryptocurrencies on the Stellar network. These tokens can represent any form of value and be transacted on the Stellar network, increasing the versatility and potential applications of the platform.

Stellar aims to be not just a platform for token transactions but also a system for connecting banks, payment systems, and individuals swiftly and reliably. Its vision is to open the world's financial infrastructure to everyone, regardless of geographic boundaries.