I’ll say it. XLM is indubitably underrated.

A lot of people are posting how X currency is so underrated (and for good reasons), but there is one thing that makes cryptocurrency a currency — you use it. And with XLM? It gets the job done so well, so fast, and so cheap.

But wait is that the only thing?

Apparently not. I think a lot of people lack awareness that Stellar has an in-built DEX. Even before Uniswap, Pancakeswap, Sushiswap were created, Stellar DEX has been in existence since Stellar Network went live in 2015.

Just like other DEXs, you can trade Stellar tokens, wrapped tokens, stablecoins (lots of them) even stocks (yes you heard that right), and tokenized metals on Stellar DEX.

The trading fees? 0.00001 XLM.

How do you access SDEX? Because it is native to Stellar, you need either a Stellar wallet to access it or a front end UI. There are many of them.

For Mobile App:

Lobstr

For web:

• Lumenswap
• Nicetrade
• Stellarterm
• StellarX
• Scopuly

Since the only problem with SDEX atm is Liquidity for some pairs, Stellar will be launching AMM and Liquidity Pools that go hand in hand with SDEX orderbook to bootstrap liquidity. I believe that Stellar DEX will compete with Uniswap, Pancakeswap, Polygon DEX, and Terra to get a share of the total value locked on DeFi.

Earn Yield Right on SDEX

On SDEX, you can earn 5% APY compounding daily for your XLM. Other yield assets include:

• USDC (9% APY)
• BTC (5% APY)
• ETH (5% APY)

To know how, you should check this.

And if you are into NFTs

Stellar also has an NFT platform called LITEMINT that’s gaining momentum and love from artists because minting an NFT only costs 2 XLM. ????

Besides you can choose the currency of what you want to pay the NFT for: XLM, USDC, and other tokens on the network.

The UI is also really sleek and gorgeous.

And to think that this is built on top of Stellar with Simple Smart Contracts!

And that’s just about to get even better

Turing Smart Contracts are now live on Stellar and developers can already start building something more complex like this project building DeFi lending, derivatives, margin and leverage trading on Stellar.

If you are a developer, and you want to build on Stellar using TSS, check it out here.

So when people say that XLM is not great to HODL because it’s so useful, I think it is ironic. The more useful it is, the more valuable it is, isn’t it? And the value of XLM does not only lie on its fast and cheap transfers, because Stellar as a network is similar to Ethereum. You can build on top of it, you can issue any type of assets (metals, stocks, CBDCs, tokenized real estate etc.), and it is your choice as an asset issuer whether to set up restrictions or let it be fully decentralized.

I think that is the beauty of Stellar. While other blockchain projects aim to dismantle or tear down the traditional finance, Stellar aims to bridge traditional finance to decentralize finance. And yes, both can co-exist.

In sum

Stellar Lumens(XLM) isn’t only a medium of transfer. Every asset added locks up XLM, every wallet requires 1 XLM, every asset issued needs XLM, every transaction costs XLM, and so does making trades on SDEX. As more users and institutions use Stellar, that lock up more XLM. And that’s why XLM is so underrated.