![](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2018/11/07/09/bitcoin-wallet-blockchain-stellar-airdrop-cryptocurrency.jpg)
The world's most famous bitcoin portfolio is giving away $ 125 million worth of Stellar cryptocurrency as part of an important initiative to encourage its use as a traditional form of payment.
Blockchain, which takes its name from the technology behind bitcoin, will offer $ 25 of stellar lumens (XLM) for free to its 30 million users starting this week, making it the biggest homage to cryptocurrency in history.
The reason for the distribution of stellar stars rather than other popular cryptocurrencies like bitcoin or ethereum, Blockchain explained in a blog post, is because its network is well suited for large-scale use.
1/8 Satoshi Nakamoto creates the first bitcoin block in 2009
On January 3, 2009 the bitcoin genesis block appeared. It was less than a year after the pseudonym creator Satoshi Nakamoto described the cryptocurrency in a document titled "Bitcoin: a peer-to-peer electronic payment system"
Reuters
2/8 Bitcoin is used as currency for the first time
On May 22, 2010 the first bitcoin transaction took place in the real world. Lazlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins – the equivalent of $ 90 million at today's prices
Lazlo Hanyecz
3/8 Silk Road opens to business
Bitcoin soon gained notoriety for its use on the obscure web. The Silk Road market, established in 2011, was the first of hundreds of sites to offer illegal drugs and services in exchange for bitcoins
4/8 The first bitcoin ATM will appear
On October 29, 2013 the first bitcoin ATM was installed in a coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada. The machine allowed people to exchange bitcoins in cash
REUTERS / Dimitris Michalakis
5/8 The fall of MtGox
The world's largest bitcoin exchange, MtGox, filed for bankruptcy in February 2014 after losing nearly 750,000 of its bitcoin customers. At the time, it was about 7% of all bitcoins and the market inevitably crashed
Getty Images
6/8 The real Satoshi Nakamoto would get up, please
In 2015, Australian police broke into Craig Wright's home after the businessman claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto. Then terminate the complaint
Getty Images
7/8 The great division of Bitcoin
On 1 August 2017, an unsolvable dispute within the bitcoin community saw the division of the network. The fork of bitcoin's underlying blockchain technology has generated a new cryptocurrency: Bitcoin money
REUTERS
8/8 Bitcoin price sky rockets
Towards the end of 2017, the price of bitcoin rose to almost $ 20,000. This represented an increase of 1,300% compared to its price at the beginning of the year
Reuters
1/8 Satoshi Nakamoto creates the first bitcoin block in 2009
On January 3, 2009 the bitcoin genesis block appeared. It was less than a year after the pseudonym creator Satoshi Nakamoto described the cryptocurrency in a document titled "Bitcoin: a peer-to-peer electronic payment system"
Reuters
2/8 Bitcoin is used as currency for the first time
On May 22, 2010 the first bitcoin transaction took place in the real world. Lazlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins – the equivalent of $ 90 million at today's prices
Lazlo Hanyecz
3/8 Silk Road opens to business
Bitcoin soon gained notoriety for its use on the obscure web. The Silk Road market, established in 2011, was the first of hundreds of sites to offer illegal drugs and services in exchange for bitcoins
4/8 The first bitcoin ATM will appear
On October 29, 2013 the first bitcoin ATM was installed in a coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada. The machine allowed people to exchange bitcoins in cash
REUTERS / Dimitris Michalakis
5/8 The fall of MtGox
The world's largest bitcoin exchange, MtGox, filed for bankruptcy in February 2014 after losing nearly 750,000 of its bitcoin customers. At the time, it was about 7% of all bitcoins and the market inevitably crashed
Getty Images
6/8 The real Satoshi Nakamoto would get up, please
In 2015, Australian police broke into Craig Wright's home after the businessman claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto. Then terminate the complaint
Getty Images
7/8 The great division of Bitcoin
On 1 August 2017, an unsolvable dispute within the bitcoin community saw the division of the network. The fork of bitcoin's underlying blockchain technology has generated a new cryptocurrency: Bitcoin money
REUTERS
8/8 Bitcoin price sky rockets
Towards the end of 2017, the price of bitcoin rose to almost $ 20,000. This represented an increase of 1,300% compared to its price at the beginning of the year
Reuters
"[Stellar’s] token, XLM, enables fast, low-cost transactions all over the world, even when millions of people use it at the same time, "wrote Peter Smith of Blockchain.
"We're excited to add a whole new way for users to get their first encryption … Growing the Blockchain community, we can help more people own and control their financial future."
As part of the giveaway, or 'airdrop', Blockchain is collaborating with organizations to help build the crypto community, including Code.org and the emerging technology initiative of the Stanford school.
It is hoped that these partnerships will help drive user adoption by increasing the availability and usability of Stellar in developing and developed countries.
"By working with Blockchain to increase the availability and active use of lumens on the network, taking advantage of their nearly 30 million portfolios, we will increase the usefulness of the network by many orders of magnitude," said Jed McCaleb, co – founder of Stellar Development Foundation.
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Stellar's price largely mirrored that of bitcoin, having experienced massive growth at the end of 2017 before seeing significant losses in 2018. In recent months, its price has been relatively stable and is currently trading around $ 0.26 (£ 0.20). ), however the current Stellar transaction volume is less than 2% bitcoin.
Speaking at the Web Summit conference in Lisbon on November 6, Peter Smith of Blockchain explained his vision to spread the awareness and use of cryptocurrency.
"We are doing this because we want you to really understand the crypt," he told the audience. "And the only way to really understand it is to use it."