It’s been eleven years since bitcoin started and we have all heard very different things about it. It had its worse and better moments, it dropped and rose suddenly and significantly, but even after all these years and perturbations, it accounts for 66% of total market capitalization. You can use it for everything that comes to your mind – an online casino like Bitcasino.io, Wikipedia, KFC or Microsoft – but, maybe to your surprise, it’s not your only choice. Bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency in the world and for many people, it’s not even the best – it’s considered as unstable and too volatile, and it has already crashed several times. Of course, it’s the most accepted and recognizable cryptocurrency, but there are many so-called altcoins for you to choose from if you don’t want to decide on bitcoin.
Bitcoin may not be doomed yet, but more and more traders are looking for alternatives. What are some of the most popular ones?
1. ETH (Ethereum)
It goes second after bitcoin. It’s a decentralized software platform that has far more features than bitcoin. It allows you to build and run DApps (decentralized applications) without the risk of any third party’s interference. It also enables you to create and manage protocols for digital contracts (Smart Contracts).
2. XRP (Ripple)
It’s very often chosen as the best alternative for domestic and international payments. Many people who don’t trust banks (or don’t want to use their services for different reasons) use XRP for secure and cheap global transactions. It’s also notable because of its environmentally-friendly nature – it doesn’t require as much energy to obtain coins as mining does.
3. LTC (Litecoin)
It’s very often called a silver to bitcoin’s gold, as it was one of the first cryptocurrencies to follow in bitcoin’s steps (in 2011). Created by an MIT graduate and a former Google engineer, Charlie Lee, LTC is very similar to bitcoin in its software. However, it has a faster block generation rate so the transactions can be confirmed quicker.
4. USDT (USD Tether)
It belongs to the new type of cryptocurrencies called stable coins. The idea is that the value of this coin is linked to that of the United States Dollar, so it shouldn’t be as volatile as other coins. It’s quite a new concept, but it already states a great part of the cryptocurrency market.
5. LIBRA (Libra)
This is one of the most talked about cryptocurrencies right now, which may be surprising considering it hasn’t even launched yet. However, it’s being developed by the social media giant Facebook itself so the interest is justified. It will certainly draw a lot of attention once it’s out, and given Facebook’s global reach and number of users, it may impress the markets with its volume of exchange.
6. XMR (Monero)
Monero is one of the safest cryptocurrencies in the market being 100% private and untraceable. It’s also being developed solely thanks to donations and community involvement. It uses ring signatures technique which allows real participants to stay hidden among groups of cryptographic signatures. However, it doesn’t only make it safe for regular people, but it also enables criminal work.
7. EOS (Eos)
It was developed by one of the cryptocurrencies pioneers, Dan Larimer, in 2018. It works like ethereum, which means that it allows users to build decentralized applications within the platform. It doesn’t require mining mechanisms to obtain coins. Instead, it enables block producers to create blocks which are later rewarded with EOS tokens. It aims for being the most decentralized and democratic cryptocurrency network in the world.
8. BNC (Binance Coin)
It was founded in 2017 by the Binance cryptocurrency exchange market. This coin allows its users to trade it with dozens of other cryptocurrencies within the Binance platform. It facilitates transactions and fees, and can be used as the means of payment, as it’s being recognized by more and more companies.
9. BCH (Bitcoin Cash)
It’s not only one of the earliest hard forks (a result of an argument or a debate between miners and developers who can’t reach an agreement) of bitcoin, but it’s also one of the most successful ones. BCH came to life in 2017 due to the fight over the scalability of bitcoin. Bitcoin has a limit on the blocks size while BCH increased it from 1MB to 8MB.
10. BSV (Bitcoin SV)
Bitcoin Satoshi Vision is a hard fork of Bitcoin Cash developed as a result of a debate about mining and developing factions. It aims for security, increased stability, scalability and faster transaction processing times.
The range of choices is so wide and versatile that it’s hard to tell which cryptocurrency is the best. Bitcoin doesn’t seem dead nor doomed yet, it still remains the very much dominant leader in the market and it probably won’t change in the near future, but other coins are certainly growing in strength and popularity. So if you consider joining the market in any role, you need to do thorough research before making any decisions.
