Even if you don't read the news or watch TV, you will still hear about Bitcoin at least once. It is the most famous and most expensive cryptocurrency at the moment.
However, there are many alternatives on the market that are gradually gaining momentum. The so-called "altcoins" (or altcoins) operate on technological principles similar to bitcoin. We have compiled a list of the ten most famous names in the altcoin market. Who knows, maybe one of these virtual currencies is destined to rise to $ 20,000 apiece and higher, like theirs famous predecessor.
10. Dogecoin
Reddit, one of the most active online communities in the world, opens the rating of the best alternatives to bitcoin in 2018. Its logo and mascot is the face of a Shiba Inu dog that is immediately recognizable by meme lovers.
Dogecoin is currently used primarily as a tip for various services (like comments) on the Reddit site. However, this is not the only purpose of this cryptocurrency.
In 2014, the Dogecoin community raised funds to fund a bobsled team from Jamaica who had the necessary qualifications but did not have the funds to go to the Winter Olympics. In the same year, the community provided financial assistance to racer Josh Wise to participate in NASCAR.
Despite its frivolous logo, Dogecoin is ranked 34th on Coinmarketcap's list of cryptocurrency assets.
9. Dash
It is a payment system that offers an accessible and user-friendly form of money. Transaction fees are kept to a minimum and all transactions are safe (as the developers say, of course).
Dash offers two services that are of particular interest to those using cryptocurrencies - InstantSend and PrivateSend.
- InstantSend allows users to make very fast transactions, something that Bitcoin cannot boast of.
- And PrivateSend allows users to mix their virtual coins with the coins of other senders in a single multi-output transaction, which provides significant (albeit not absolute) privacy.
8. Zcash
It is a very promising cryptocurrency that offers users true anonymity. According to the developers, the mission of Zcash is to create an open global economic platform from which no one can be excluded. They believe that decentralization is the key to security and fairness.
But wait, shouldn't bitcoin be anonymous because it's not linked to your nickname on the web? This is true, but only partially. Usernames are not really used when transferring bitcoins, however, a transaction can still be traced back to a specific person using a public ledger on the blockchain in combination with IP addresses.
On the other hand, the Zcash digital currency can be truly anonymous. It gives users the choice to make a transaction "hidden" or not. In case of consent to anonymity, information about the buyer, seller or the transferred amount is not recorded in the blockchain. The only information that will be recorded is the time of the transaction.In reality, only about ten percent of Zcash transactions are hidden due to the extra time and processing power required to process them.
7. Monero
Another "paranoid cryptocurrency" that is completely impossible to track. All transactions and accounts cannot be traced to real or online identity.
The difference between Monero and Zcash is that Zcash offers the ability to make a transaction private, while Monero automatically makes all transactions private.
6. Neo
This cryptocurrency is also called the Chinese "Ethereum" (Ethereum). These two projects have a lot in common: open source and similar capabilities in terms of decentralized applications and smart contracts.
However, Neo is supported by the Chinese government, unlike Ethereum, which is not supported by any government in the world.
Neo is very different from Ethereum in terms of supported programming languages. Ethereum has its own language, Solidity, and Neo supports a number of popular programming languages, including C # and Java, and will possibly support Go and Python in the future. Obviously this is more attractive to most programmers.
5. Stellar
The Stellar platform was created in 2014 as an open source network capable of seamless payments between financial institutions. That is, you can use the Stellar network to send money in your country's currency to a friend in Australia, and he can receive this payment in the form of Australian dollars.
Stellar has its own cryptocurrency called "lumen". Lumens are used to pay fees when transferring different currencies. Thanks to the lumens, the Stellar network is protected from attacks from malicious external users who can try to “bother” the network by creating a large number of transactions.
4. Litecoin
This digital currency appeared in 2011, two years after the release of Bitcoin. It is very similar to Bitcoin, albeit with some key differences.
The maximum number of Litecoins that can be generated is 84 million, which is four times the maximum number of bitcoins. In addition, Litecoin provides faster transaction processing speeds.
Litecoin is fully compatible with the Bitcoin API, which means it can be easily integrated into applications that already accept Bitcoin.
The Litecoin website provides a list of online merchants that accept payments in this virtual currency. The list currently numbers over 80 retailers and is constantly expanding. Litecoin users can buy art, clothing, gift cards, and much, much more.
3. Ripple
The top 3 most promising virtual currencies of 2018 are opened by a cryptocurrency platform that focuses on providing a smooth, fast and secure way to send money around the world.
Ripple's website says that global internet payments are still in the "disco" era, using an ancient infrastructure that hasn't evolved over time. And the RippleNet platform aims to empower users to speed up transactions. At the same time, funds are tracked in real time.
It takes about four seconds for Ripple to settle a payment. Fantastic speed compared to Bitcoin.
2. Golem
This currency is a "newbie" in the cryptocurrency market, it appeared in 2016. The project presented by Polish developers is a decentralized peer-to-peer (peer-to-peer) network. Anyone can make money by providing the processing power of their processor and allowing users to use Golem as a supercomputer capable of running almost any program.
An example of this is rendering: Golem is capable of doing tasks that would normally take days in a matter of minutes. Likewise, it can do truly massive analytical research and forecast faster than it can now and at a lower cost.
Perhaps one of the areas that can benefit the most from this technology is research and development. Golem can be useful for a variety of tasks, from DNA analysis to the search for alien intelligence. Golem is currently still in its first stage of development and can only be used for rendering purposes. Over time, as more testing and development is carried out, the network will expand to its full potential.
1. Ethereum
In the first place in the top 10 best modern Bitcoin analogues is the second largest name in the world of electronic cash.
Ethereum is an alt-coin founded in 2014 by the Swiss non-profit Ethereum Foundation. The Ethereum Foundation's mission is to bring decentralized tools to the world, build decentralized applications, and therefore help you create a globally accessible, free and reliable Internet.
The smallest unit of Ethereum is called Ether. Unlike Bitcoin, which uses a blockchain only to record transactions, Ethereum is an open platform that allows anyone to create or use decentralized applications using blockchain technology. It is best suited for applications that automate peer-to-peer communication or facilitate group action on the Web.
Simply put, Ethereum as a platform allows developers to build applications without the need to build their own blockchain.
The capitalization of the total amount of ether already exceeds $ 30 billion. At the end of 2017, the ether rate is $ 698.
When choosing the best alternative to Bitcoin, remember: only invest in digital currency the amount that you do not mind losing. And to increase the likelihood of success, use blockchain product portfoliosselected by the specialists of the brokerage company NordFX. We wish you financial success!