Cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto for short, is a digital currency that can be used to buy goods and services. It’s become a popular form of investment because the value of digital coins, such as bitcoin, have only continued to rise since their creation. Nevertheless, if you want to see a substantial profit from bitcoin, you’ll have to be patient.
That’s why it’s smart to spread your investments out across a number of alternative coins. It’s hard to say which newly developed coins are on the rise to success. However, we can explore some of the crypto currencies alternatives to Bitcoin that have a notable following, history of profitability and a bright future ahead of them. Here are eight of the most popular crypto alternatives.
Ethereum (ETH)
Ethereum is arguably the most popular and stable crypto currency behind Bitcoin. This blockchain project was created by a Russian-Canadian programmer known as Vitalki Buterin, as well as a British computer scientist, Gavin Wood.
If you want to know how to buy Ethereum, be sure to check out this article. Many crypto investors even think that Ethereum will one day surpass the value of Bitcoin, making it an attractive opportunity for newbies that were late to the party.
Binance (BNB)
BNB is a cryptocurrency issued by Binance, the crypto exchange platform; the coin was primarily based on the Ethereum network, but it has now become its own native currency. It’s one of the most active cryptos in the world because it can be used to receive a discount on transaction fees on the Binance platform, making it a popular choice amongst traders.
However, it can also be exchanged for other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. Some crypto traders are unimpressed by the Binance coin because it’s a centralized token that’s controlled by a for-profit company. Not only this, but the token seems to have little utility out of the sphere of the trading platform.
Cardano (ADA)
Cardano, which is also known as ADA, is a blockchain platform created by a group of mathematicians, engineers, and experts in cryptography after extensive months of research. The coin was also co-founded by one of the founding members of Ethereum, which instantly gave the crypto a lot of notoriety.
It’s a digital currency that has been dubbed as the “Ethereum killer” because many believe that it will one day replace it as the world’s financial operating system. It’s the coin with the third-largest market capitalization and one ADA roughly trades for $2.50.
Stellar (XLM)
Stellar has marketed itself as a blockchain for institutional transactions, although it can still be used by anyone outside of the enterprise world. It’s an open network that hopes to connect financial institutions with large transactions.
Typically, a large transaction between banks, investment firms, or enterprises in general, can often take days or even weeks to materialize. Stellar hopes to remove unnecessary fees and intermediaries by providing instant transactions with minimal fees. The token was founded by Jed McCaleb, a developer of the Ripple protocol, and has a market cap of $565 million.
Litecoin (LTC)
Litecoin is one of the oldest cryptocurrencies that launched just after Bitcoin in 2011. If Bitcoin is often referred to as digital gold, then Litecoin is the equivalent of digital silver. It was created by Charlie Lee, a former engineer for Coinbase and Google.
Litecoin is designed as a faster version of Bitcoin and new blocks of the token are created every 2.5 minutes, around four times quicker than Bitcoin. It also has quite a large supply with around $84 million tokens mined and a market cap of $4 billion, making it the 16th largest crypto in the world
Ripple (XRP)
Ripple is also an important cryptocurrency because it also acts as a digital payment network for an array of financial transactions. It was created in 2012 with the help of Chris Larsen and Jed McCaleb (the founder of Stellar).
Ripple transactions use considerably less energy than Bitcoin and can cost very little in terms of transaction fees. Based on its market capitalisation, of over $52 billion, it’s one of the world’s largest crypto currencies and one XRP is currently worth around $1.13.
Polkadot (DOT)
Polkadot is a token created by Gavin Wood, another core and founding member of the Ethereum blockchain project. The DOT token positions itself as being able to interact and function with other blockchain projects reciprocally. In short, the coin was created to connect permissioned and permission-less blockchains, allowing them to work under the same umbrella.
Wood was another founding member that had issues with the future trajectory of Ethereum, so he decided to create his own take on the perfect crypto coin. Polkadot has a market cap of around $35 billion and the price of one DOT stands roughly around the $35 mark.
Monero (XMR)
Monero, also known as XMR, was a coin launched in April of 2014 that prides itself on being private and untraceable above all other qualities. This cryptocurrency was created on pure collaboration and donations from the crypto community.
It uses a feature called “ring signatures” in order to enhance its notions of privacy and foster a completely decentralized yet scalable currency. Although many worry about the criminal use of this coin, it’s also a major contender for helping dissidents of oppressive regimes worldwide.
When you talk about investments and money, it’s likely that you’ll come across the term ‘diversification’. A diverse portfolio is the best way to reduce risk, as all of your money won’t be riding on the success of a single coin. This is why it’s important to learn more about alternative cryptocurrencies and increase your ability to turn a profit.
Bitcoin will always remain one of the strongest and most stable cryptocurrencies. However, it’s more of a long-term investment that will slowly appreciate in value over the years. If you’re going to get serious about trading crypto, you’ll need to take other coins into consideration as well.
