Blockchain is giving away a total of $125,000,000 worth of Stellar Tokens (XLM). Cool right? But before you grab your free lumens (about 25 USD) read more about whole action and this cryptocurrency.
Stellar is a platform that connects banks, payments systems, and people. Integrate to move money quickly, reliably, and at almost no cost. Just another cryptocurrency :P
Lumens (XLM) are units of digital currency, like a bitcoins. Lumens are the native asset of the Stellar network. Native means that lumens are built into the network. Asset is how the network refers to an item of value that is stored on the ledger.In 2014 the Stellar network launched with 100 billion stellars, the original name of the network’s native asset. In 2015, with the launch of the upgraded network, the name of the native asset changed from stellar to lumen to distinguish it from 1) the Stellar network itself and 2) Stellar.org, the nonprofit organization that contributes to development of the network.
Wallet
You don’t need to have your own desktop wallet to grab free Lumens, because on Blockchain you will get one. You need desktop wallet only to grab inflation (described in next chapter).
You can choose your favorite wallet on this page. Personally, I have chosen Foxlet Wallet. Foxlet allows you to encrypt your secret key and store it as a file locally on your computer. You can use it on Windows, Linux and Mac. Local wallet is also more secure than online hosted one.
You can download latest release here: https://github.com/stellarchat/desktop-client/releases
Second very good wallet option for Lumens is Keybase. Keybase is app that offer secure groups, files, and chat for everyone but also Stellar Lumens wallet.
Inflation
Unfortunately, since November 2019 inflation has been removed from the Stellar network. This part of the article remains as a curiosity.
The Stellar distributed network has a built-in, fixed, nominal inflation mechanism. New lumens are added to the network at the rate of 1% each year. Each week, the protocol distributes these lumens to any account that gets over .05% of the “votes” from other accounts in the network.
If your address doesn’t meet the minimum required votes, then you can still receive the inflation by joining an inflation pool. The inflation pool is a way the community can gather and vote together to reach the minimum required votes. The inflation is paid to the pool and then divided between the members based on account size. Basically, it means that if you’re a holder then you receive free Lumens every week!
I recommend Lumenaut pool. Please check their FAQ before you join.
How to Claim Free Stellar Lumens
To receive free Stellar to your wallet you’ll need to complete your Blockchain wallet profile (Gold level) to meet compliance requirements. So create wallet and confirm your identity. More restrictive users can say that it’s not worth it, because it’s like selling your identity for 25 USD. However, if you already use cryptocurrency, you probably had contact with the Blockchain and you know that they have been in the market for a very long time and never had security problems. I leave decisions to you. You can find more information about this give away here. Once your identity has been verified and you claim free Stellar, you will receive 25 USD worth of XLM. According to Blockchain, by verifying your identity, you will be automatically entered into additional giveaways (airdrops).
With your Blockchain Wallet, you can exchange it to Bitcoin, Ethereum or Bitcoin Cash. If you installed your own Desktop Wallet you can transfer Lumens there and join the inflation program described above and keep your Lumens for better days when their value increases.
Also Keybase offer free stellar lumens. Check more details here https://keybase.io/airdrop. If you join, then every month you can get some lumens for free!
On Coinbase or CoinGecko you can check actual price.
This is a good chance to start an adventure with crypto currencies.
Good luck!