Formatted so it's readable on mobile: > Why does the Stellar network need a native asset? > The Stellar network offers all of the innovative features of a sha

Formatted so it's readable on mobile: > Why does the Stellar network need a native asset? > The Stellar network offers all of the innovative features of a shared public ledger on a distributed database—often referred to as blockchain technology. The Stellar network’s built-in currency, the lumen, serves two purposes: > First, lumens play a small anti-spam role. > Each transaction has a minor fee—0.00001 lumens—associated with it. This fee prevents users with malicious intentions from flooding the network (otherwise known as a DoS attack). Lumens work as a security token, mitigating DoS attacks that attempt to generate large numbers of transactions or consume large amounts of space in the ledger. > Similarly, the Stellar network requires all accounts to hold a minimum balance of 20 lumens. This requirement ensures that accounts are authentic, which helps the network maintain a seamless flow of transactions. > Second, lumens may facilitate multi-currency transactions. > Lumens sometimes facilitate trades between pairs of currencies between which there is not a large direct market, acting as a bridge. This function is possible when there is a liquid market between the lumen and each currency involved. > You may choose to purchase lumens as a supporter of the Stellar.org mission.