When you think of cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin is the first name that comes up. But, there are many more coins apart from the Bitcoin. The Bitcoin may have been the first of the cryptos to make its debut in 2009; since the Bitcoin, other cryptos have made their presence felt. These coins have grown as Bitcoin spinoffs and followers, each unique in its own way and garnering much attention. The main idea behind cryptos was to have a payment system free from government control and it also give opportunity to investors looking for new avenues to invest money and earn profit effortlessly. Here are some of the leading cryptos besides the Bitcoin:
- Ethereum (ETH) ranks second only to the Bitcoin in terms of market cap. It is decentralized platform enabling smart contracts. It facilitates creation of dApps which can run without fraud and downtime. This idea behind this coin was to build a decentralized set of financial products which everyone could access easily. In 2021, Ethereum switched to Proof-of-Stake algorithm from Proof-of-Work to run with lesser energy and better transaction speeds.
- Litecoin (LTC) was created in 2011 by Charlie Lee, following closely on the heels of the Bitcoin. It is an open-source payment system not under the control of any government or central authority. It uses “Scrypt” as its Proof-of-Work protocol and this can be decoded using consumer-grade CPUs. Compared to BTC, it offers faster block generation and quicker transactions.
- Cardano (ADA) is a Proof-of-Stake crypto created by mathematicians, engineers, and cryptography experts. The blockchain has been built using peer-reviewed research and extensive experimentation. It is popularly called the “Ethereum killer” since the blockchain is hugely potent. Till November 2021, Cardano was 6th in terms of market cap.
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is one of the best-known altcoins because it happens to be the most successful of Bitcoin hard forks. Forks happen because of arguments between miners and developers and any changes to code needs a general consensus. If factions fail to agree, the coin can be spilt as happened with the Bitcoin. BCH was created in 2017 and increased block size from 1 MB-8MB, accelerating transactions.
- Polkadot (DOT) is a unique crypto following Proof-of-Stake algorithm and aiming at providing interoperability amongst blockchains. It can connect permission-less and permissioned blockchains and lets multiple systems work together.
- Stellar (XLM) is open-source network for providing enterprise solutions through connecting financial institutions engaged in large transactions. The big transfers between investment companies and banks typically take days to go through and cost much money. Stellar facilitates cross-border transfers amongst currencies.
- Dogecoin (DOGE) is a meme coin causing much stir in 2021 when its value skyrocketed. Created by Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus, this coin recorded an all-time high in 2021. It is the 10th largest in terms of market cap.
- Binance Coin (BNB) is utility crypto running as payment method for trading fees on Binance exchange. Ranking 3rd in terms of market cap, this coin lets you trade at discounts. The exchange had been founded by Zhao and remains one of the biggest in terms of trade volumes. Speaking of trading volume, according to estimates, still algorithmic trading bots like bitcoin buyer account for 70-80 percent of the overall crypto trading volume. Hence if you want to trade on bitcoin buyer, visit bitcoin buyer coincierge.de and make a better profit out of crypto trading.
- Tether (USDT) is a stable coin that is pegged to the USD for reducing volatility. Stable coins like Tether aim to smooth market fluctuations to appeal to the more cautious investors.
- SHIB is another meme coin inspired by the Dogecoin and this has also become much popular in the recent months, even surpassing Dogecoin in market cap.
