What are the main cryptocurrencies?
Bitcoin has not just been a trendsetter, ushering in a wave of cryptocurrencies constructed on decentralized peer-to-peer community, its been the de facto standard for cryptocurrencies? . The monies inspired by Bitcoin are jointly called altcoins and have tried to present themselves as modified or improved versions of Bitcoin. While some of these currencies are easier to mine than Bitcoin is, there are tradeoffs, including greater risk caused by lesser liquidity, acceptance and value retention. Since Bitcoin costs are soaring new highs, we look at six cryptocurrencies, picked from over 700 (in no particular order) that could be worth your while.
2) Litecoin (LTC)
Litecoin, launched in the year 2011, was one of the first cryptocurrencies following bitcoin and was often known as silver to Bitcoins gold. It was created by Charlie Lee, a MIT graduate and former Google engineer. Litecoin is based on an open source global payment system that is not controlled by any central authority and uses “scrypt” as a proof of work, which is decoded with the help of CPUs of consumer grade. Although Litecoin is like Bitcoin in many ways, it has a faster block generation rate and hence provides a faster transaction confirmation. Other than developers, there are a growing number of merchants who accept Litecoin.
3) Ethereum (ETH)
Launched in 2015, Ethereum is a decentralized software platform that enables Smart Contracts and Distributed Applications (? Apps) to be assembled and operate with no downtime, fraud, control or interference from a third party. During 2014, Ethereum had established a pre-sale for ether which had received an overwhelming reaction. The applications on Ethereum are run on its own platform-specific cryptographic token, ether. Ether is like a car for moving around on the Ethereum platform, and is hunted by mostly developers seeking to develop and run programs inside Ethereum. According to Ethereum, it can be used to codify, decentralize, trade and secure just about anything. Following the assault on the DAO in 2016, Ethereum was split into Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC). If Bitcoin is like http for money, Zcash is https,” is how Zcash defines itself. Zcash provides privacy and selective transparency of transactions. Therefore, like https, Zcash claims to provide additional privacy or security where all transactions are recorded and published on a blockchain, but details like the sender, recipient, and amount remain private. Zcash provides its users the option of shielded trades, which allow for content to be encrypted using advanced cryptographic technique or zero-knowledge proof structure known as a zk-SNARK developed by its team.
4) Dash
Dash (initially called Darkcoin) is a more secretive version of Bitcoin. Dash offers more anonymity as it functions on a decentralized mastercode system which makes trades almost untraceably. Launched in January 2014, Dash experienced an increasing fan following in a short span of time. This cryptocurrency was created and developed by Evan Duffield and can be mined using a CPU or GPU. The rebranding didn’t alter any of its technological features like Darksend, InstantX. (Related reading, see: Top Alternative Investments for Retirement)
5) Ripple (XRP)
Ripple is a real-time international settlement network that provides instant, certain and low-cost international payments. Ripple enables banks to repay cross-border payments in real time, with end-to-end transparency, and at reduced prices. Launched in 2012, Ripple money has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion. Ripples consensus ledger — its method of conformation — doesnt require mining, a feature that deviates from bitcoin and altcoins. Since Ripples structure doesn’t require mining, it reduces the use of computing power, and reduces network latency. Ripple considers that distributing value is a powerful way to incentivize certain behaviours and thus currently plans to distribute XRP primarily through business development deals, incentives to liquidity providers who offer tighter spreads for payments, and selling XRP to institutional buyers interested in investing in XRP.
6) Monero (XMR)
Monero is a secure, private and untraceable currency. This open source cryptocurrency was launched in April 2014 and shortly spiked great interest among the cryptography community and enthusiasts. The evolution of this cryptocurrency is completely donation-based and community-driven. Monero has been established with a strong focus on decentralization and scalability, and enables complete privacy with a special technique called ring signatures. With this technique, there appears a group of cryptographic signatures including at least one real participant but since they all seem legitimate, the actual one cannot be isolated.
The Bottom Line
Bitcoin continues to lead the pack of cryptocurrencies, concerning market capitalization, user base and popularity. Nevertheless, virtual currencies like Ethereum and Ripple which are being used more for business solutions are getting to be popular, while some altcoins are being endorsed for advanced or superior features vis-vis Bitcoins. Going by the current trend, cryptocurrencies are here to stay but how many of them will emerge leaders amid the growing competition within the space is only going to be revealed with time.
