Chapter 1: Basic Concepts
Account
Just like a bank account, you hold your money in an Account in Stellar. An account is identified by a public key. An example for a public key is ‘GCFXHS4GXL6BVUCXBWXGTITROWLVYXQKQLF4YH5O5JT3YZXCYPAFBJZB’. If you know an account’s public key, you can send money to that account. You can also view the account’s transactions on the public blockchain.
The Stellar Blockchain
In traditional banking your account transactions are private, only visible to the account holder. Blockchain platforms like Stellar and Bitcoin are public. The transactions are recorded on the public blockchain and can be viewed by anyone along with the account balance.
Balance and Fees
Just like banks, Stellar requires a minimum balance. Your account needs to maintain a minimum balance of 1 XLM(lumen). The network charges a base transaction fee of 0.00001 XLM. This base fee is also represented as 100 stroops. Please note: The minimum balance and the transaction fee can be higher based on some advanced operations.