Bitcoin
Bitcoin is the first of its kind. It was created in 2009 by an unknown person or group named Satoshi Nakamoto, who published a paper that described how to make Bitcoin work. The system runs on blockchain technology, which is a decentralized peer-to-peer network that keeps track of all Bitcoin transactions without any central authority. All transactions are verified by thousands of computers across the globe running on the Bitcoin network at all times. This makes it incredibly secure and very difficult for fraudsters to manipulate or steal money from your account as there are no middlemen involved in any transaction that take place within this ecosystem.
Ethereum
Ethereum is the second most popular blockchain project after Bitcoin. Ether (ETH) is used to pay for transaction fees and computational services on the Ethereum network. Like Bitcoin, it also operates under a proof-of-work consensus mechanism.
An important difference between Ethereum and Bitcoin is that Ethereum supports smart contracts, which can store information about money or property in code that cannot be changed or deleted. It also has its own programming language called Solidity (similar to Javascript).
Ethereum uses a different algorithm than Bitcoin for mining new coins: proof of work vs proof of stake. This means that miners compete with each other by using their computers to solve complex mathematical problems until one miner finds an answer and wins the right to claim a reward block of coins which they then get paid out in ethers based on how many they were able to mine during this competition period (usually every 14 seconds).
Litecoin
Litecoin is a cryptocurrency created by Charlie Lee in 2011. It’s one of the oldest cryptocurrencies and has been around since before Bitcoin fever hit the world. Litecoin is also one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies based on market capitalization.
Litecoin is a fork of Bitcoin, meaning its code was copied from another cryptocurrency (in this case, Bitcoin). However, it has some key differences that have allowed it to gain popularity over time:
Dash
Dash is a digital currency that has some similarities to Bitcoin, but it is much faster. Dash has a block time of 2.5 minutes, which is four times faster than Bitcoin. Additionally, Dash has a supply of 18 million coins, which is four times less than Bitcoin.
In addition to being an alternative payment method for goods and services on the Internet, another use case for cryptocurrency like Dash is as a way to protect your wealth from inflation or government seizure. As noted above, there are over 2 billion people in the world who do not have access to traditional bank accounts and therefore cannot hold any appreciable amount of money in their hands at one time without risking physical theft or confiscation by authorities. Cryptocurrencies like Dash offer these individuals an alternative way of storing value without having it confiscated by governments or banks when necessary political events occur (e.g., hyperinflation).
Monero
Monero is a cryptocurrency that was created in 2014 as a fork of Bytecoin. It was originally called BitMonero, but after the name was changed, it’s now known simply as Monero. As far as privacy coins go, this one is definitely among the best—it uses ring signatures and stealth addresses to hide transactions from view. These features make transactions untraceable and unlinkable so that no one can see how many coins you have or who sent them to you.
It’s not quite as popular as some other cryptocurrencies on this list (it currently ranks number 11), but it certainly deserves your attention nonetheless!
