Find out everything you need to know about the top cryptocurrencies within this article. The number of available cryptocurrencies is growing by the day. How do you know which are the most important?
Bitcoin was the original cryptocurrency, designed as a way to transfer money without a financial institution. Now the crypto market is expanding at a rapid pace and new currencies are popping up all the time. It can be difficult to keep track! Since then, the cryptocurrency space has boomed. There are now loads of different currencies available and the number is growing by the day. It can be difficult to keep track.
This article clearly details what the top 25 cryptocurrencies are, along with providing some interesting facts on the history and function of each, so you know which ones might be worth checking out.
Content Summary
Bitcoin
Ethereum
XRP
Tether
Bitcoin Cash
Litecoin
EOS
Binance Coin
Bitcoin SV
Stellar
TRON
Cardano
UNUS SED LEO
Monero
Chainlink
Tezos
NEO
Huobi Token
IOTA
Cosmos
Dash
Maker
Ethereum Classic
USD Coin
Ontology
Bitcoin
The original cryptocurrency, designed to transfer money without going through a financial institution
- Bitcoin’s founder, Satoshi Nakamoto, remains elusive. Nobody knows whether it is a single person or a group of people
- Bitcoin is the most valuable crypto token in the world
Ethereum
Both a cryptocurrency and a decentralized software platform that lets you code smart contracts
- Only 18 million Ether can be mined per year
- Huge companies support Ethereum’s development, including Microsoft, Intel, and Deloitte
XRP
Instant and cheap cross-border payments for financial institutions, used by the Ripple network
- XRP cannot be mined and all 100 billion XRP already exist
- It can handle the same number of transactions as Visa, and at a lower cost
Tether
A stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, though it cannot be 1-to-1 exchanged for the dollar as it’s also backed by loans
- Just over 100 addresses own 70% of Tether’s circulating supply
- Controversial due to their inability to provide audits showing their reserves
Bitcoin Cash
A hard fork from Bitcoin in 2017 to increase the size of the blockchain
- The fork occurred because miners wanted the network to run faster through larger blocks, thus making it more useful as a payment method rather than as a store of value
- Roger Ver was a well-known Bitcoin evangelist who supported the fork and used his website Bitcoin.com to push Bitcoin Cash
Litecoin
Offers instant payments and is based on the Bitcoin protocol
- Created by Charlie Lee, a former Google employee
- It has four times the supply of Bitcoin and is also four times faster
EOS
A highly scalable blockchain for the development of decentralized applications
- $4 billion was raised in the Initial Coin Offering, despite not a line of code existing
- The platform is free for everyone, with no cost to developers for app creation
Binance Coin
Used to trade and pay fees on the Binance exchange
- Holders of the coin get a discount on Binance trading fees
- Coins are burned every quarter to maintain a total circulation of 100 million
Bitcoin SV
A hard fork from Bitcoin Cash with the aim of improving the blockchain
- SV stands for Satoshi’s Vision, so-called for claiming to maintain the Bitcoin founder’s original vision
- The block size is huge at 2GB
Stellar
A network used for cross border transactions between fiat and crypto
- Originally based on the Ripple protocol and was founded by the same person
- The network can process 1,000 operations per second
TRON
Entertainment network for content creators and consumers, with the aim to create a decentralized internet
- The TRON network uses its own cryptocurrency called Tronix
- It is backed by wealthy and established Chinese investors, including the founder of Alibaba
Cardano
Fast digital cash and a decentralized computing platform
- One of the first blockchains to be built on the Haskell programming language
- Uses a consensus algorithm called Ouroboros to validate transactions with low energy costs
UNUS SED LEO
Used to pay fees and trade on the Bitfinex exchange
- Those who hold it will have reduced fees on Bitfinex
- One of the most successful exchange tokens; rose from $0.11 in 2017 to $40 in 2019
Monero
Privacy-focused project where your funds and transactions aren’t viewable
- Uses an obfuscated public ledger, which provides the privacy
- When launched, the developers did not keep any funds for themselves
Chainlink
Functions as a blockchain oracle, used to connect blockchains with external data
- Chainlink is the first cryptocurrency to bridge blockchain smart contracts to the outside
- Works closely with database company Oracle
Tezos
Smart contracts where participants can alter the outcome
- Was under development for four years, before launching in 2018
- Raised $232 million in an uncapped Initial Coin Offering in two weeks
NEO
Manage smart assets with smart contracts
- Named after the ancient Greek prefix to mean ‘new’
- China’s first digital coin and a competitor to Ethereum
Huobi Token
Used to pay fees and trade on the Huobi exchange
- Huobi is one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges
- Based on Ethereum and has a limited total supply of 500 million
IOTA
A distributed ledger designed for Internet of Things devices
- Uses a platform called Tangle, rather than traditional blockchain
- Claims to have no transaction cost or scalability problems
Cosmos
Independent blockchains grouped together around a central blockchain
- The end goal is to create a network of blockchains that communicate with one another
- Tendermint Core and Inter-Blockchain Communications together form Cosmos
Dash
A currency that focuses on speed and privacy, operating on a self-funded model
- Formerly called Xcoin, then DarkCoin, before finally settling on Dash
- Dash is a portmanteau of Digital Cash
Maker
A smart contract platform, powered by Ethereum
- The system exists to create another Ethereum token called Dai
- Dai is a stablecoin, backed by loans
Ethereum Classic
A spin-off from Ethereum using the original blockchain, which hard forked following an exploited loophole
- 3.6 million Ether was stolen on the original Ethereum blockchain, which then saw the creation of Classic
- Claims to exist to preserve the principle that “code is law”
USD Coin
A stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, powered by Ethereum and created by the CENTRE consortium
- Eligible customers can get an APY on their holdings
- Publishes monthly reports to confirm the accuracy of the US dollar reserves
Ontology
A high-performance public blockchain, created by a Chinese company as a way for businesses to embed blockchain technology without revamping their systems
- Didn’t issue an Initial Coin Offering, but instead airdropped tokens
- Will eventually be composed of two different cryptocurrencies
