When you send a payment on most blockchains, it either goes through immediately or it doesn't. Stellar introduces a more flexible mechanism called a claimable balance — a pending payment locked on the ledger that a recipient can accept on their own terms.
How It Works
A claimable balance splits a payment into two simple steps. The sender locks funds on the Stellar ledger and specifies who can claim them. The recipient then claims the balance whenever they're ready — on their own time, using their own wallet. Once claimed, the funds move to the recipient's account and the holding entry is removed from the ledger.
Why Is This Useful?
The most common use case is sending a token to someone who hasn't set up a trustline yet. On Stellar, you need a trustline before you can receive any non-native asset. Claimable balances solve this — the funds wait safely on the ledger while the recipient gets their wallet ready. It's also useful for conditional payments. Senders can set time-based rules — for example, funds that can only be claimed after a certain date, or only within a specific time window.
A Few Things to Keep in Mind
Each claimable balance uses a small amount of XLM as a reserve while it's active. This is released once the balance is claimed.
If a balance is never claimed, it stays on the ledger forever. Always include yourself as a backup claimant so you can recover the funds if needed.
Before claiming, the recipient must have an active trustline for that asset — otherwise the claim will fail.
How to Claim a Balance
Open a Stellar wallet like Rabet, Freighter, Lobstr or more.
Check for pending balances linked to your account.
Set up a trustline for the asset if needed.
Claim — most wallets handle the rest automatically.