Identified

Definition, expanded

What it means to be identified

Identification can rest on many kinds of evidence — appearance, behavior, recorded characteristics, or supporting information supplied by a trusted source. In the broadest sense, it is the process of acknowledging or discovering the true nature of something, so that it can be told apart from everything else with confidence.

On a public ledger, that same idea takes a concrete form. An account, an asset, or an issuer becomes "identified" the moment its attributes are recorded and recognized by the network — not by assumption, but by an explicit, mutual acknowledgment between parties.

Trustlines

How identification becomes trust

A trustline is that mutual acknowledgment made explicit. It is the mechanism by which one account states, on the ledger itself, that it recognizes a specific asset issued by a specific, identified party — and agrees to hold it.

Trustlines exist to verify that the parties in a transaction are known to one another and have agreed to the exchange taking place. That agreement is what helps prevent fraudulent activity: an asset can't quietly appear in an account that never chose to recognize its issuer, and a transaction can't complete between parties who haven't identified each other on the ledger.

Stellar Network

Assets, issuers, and XLM

Stellar is a public blockchain built for moving value quickly and cheaply between accounts, currencies, and institutions. Its native asset, lumens (XLM), pays the network's small transaction fees and funds the minimum reserve every account must hold.

Beyond XLM, anyone can issue a custom asset on Stellar — a stablecoin, a loyalty point, a tokenized share of something real. Because those assets are only as good as the issuer's identity behind them, a holder must first extend a trustline to that issuer before the asset can appear in their account. Identification and trust aren't separate steps here — one enables the other.

Getting started

Buying XLM

1. Acquire XLM through a reputable exchange or on-ramp that supports Stellar, using a bank transfer, card, or another asset you already hold.
2. Withdraw the XLM to a Stellar wallet you control — most wallets require a small minimum balance to activate the account on the ledger.
3. From there, extend trustlines to any additional assets you want to hold, and trade directly on Stellar's decentralized exchange.