10 crypto currency alternatives to Bitcoin March 8, 2018

10 crypto currency alternatives to Bitcoin

Bitcoin might still be considered the flagship crypto currency, upon which many of the other alternative currencies sail in the wake of, but that’s not to say it’s the only viable one. With more than 1,300 different crypto currencies out there now though, knowing which ones to put your money into isn’t easy.

The explosion in price and prominence of Bitcoin has led to the growth of dozens of other crypto currencies. So move over, Bitcoin. The world of virtual currencies is getting very crowded with so-called altcoins, they work on similar technological principles to Bitcoin.

Below we have listed 10 crypto currency alternatives to Bitcoin:

Ethereum

Ethereum is the second most popular platform after Bitcoin in the crypto community and is often touted as Bitcoin’s main rival. But unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum was developed as a “world computer” super network of sorts, for the decentralised development of apps that would do away with third party companies like Google and Apple.

All of the apps developed on Ethereum are on a distributed public platform where miners work to earn Ether to fuel the network.

Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin argued that Bitcoin laid the foundation for blockchain technology but ETH has the potential to be “a more programmable money”.

Dash

Based on Bitcoin, Dash is a cryptocurrency with a strong focus on payments. It aims to offer a portable, affordable, and user-friendly form of money that can be spent either online or in person. Transaction fees are kept to a minimum, and all transactions are secure.

Dash offers two services which are of particular interest for those who use cryptocurrencies—InstantSend and PrivateSend. InstantSend allows users to complete transactions at near-instant speed, as opposed to the potentially hour-long wait that a similar transaction in Bitcoin could take.

PrivateSend allows users to mix their coins with those of other senders into one single transaction with multiple outputs, allowing for greater, although not complete, privacy.

Ripple

Ripple (XRP) is designed to be a global payment system that offers rapid transfer of funds anywhere in the world, on a ‘trust less’ low maintenance system.

The movement of money through the banking system can be complicated, take time and incur fairly substantial fees. Ripple are seeking to disrupt that, by allowing you to send funds to anyone in a matter of seconds for next to nothing.

Using block-chain technology the records of these transactions are encrypted and secured many times over, which makes them almost impossible to be altered after the fact, but also able to be viewed if there is every a dispute.

Litecoin

Like Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin was also created as a fork from Bitcoin. Its main claim to fame is its quicker settlement goal. Litecoin aims to settle transactions in two-and-a-half minutes, compared to 10 minutes for Bitcoin.

Litecoin can also be purchased and sold on mainstream exchanges like Coinbase. With the exception of Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum, buying alt coins usually starts with buying Bitcoin or Ethereum on an exchange like Coinbase and then going to another exchange.

Bitcoin Cash

For a brief moment in August 2017, discord between Bitcoin adopters over BTC’s technical limitations led to what is known as a fork in the blockchain.

The result of that fork was the birth of a whole new token, with new rules and a new blockchain.

A group of frustrated miners ‘forked’ the token by switching to new software, hoping it could grow and scale in a way that Bitcoin could not.

Since its inception, Bitcoin Cash has cemented its position in the top 10 cryptocurrencies, without overcoming bitcoin in terms of use, value and popularity.

ZCash

Zcash is a privacy-based cryptocurrency which launched in October 2016. On the surface, Zcash shares a number of similarities with Bitcoin: Both currencies cap at a maximum of 21 million units, not to mention the strong resemblance between their respective supply models. But whereas Bitcoin records all transactions in a public ledger, Zcash is a cryptocurrency which endeavors to offer true anonymity.

Zcash’s mission statement: To create an open, global economic platform from which no one can be excluded. They believe that decentralization holds the key to security and fairness.

Zcash, has the potential to be truly anonymous. Zcash offers the choice to make a transaction “hidden.” No information about the buyer, seller, or the amount transferred is recorded on the blockchain in this case. The only information about the transfer that is recorded is the time at which it took place. In reality, only approximately ten percent of Zcash transactions are hidden, due to the extra time and computational power required to process them.

Steem

Steem is a blockchain-based social media platform where anyone can earn rewards. Cryptocurrency tipping platforms require users to give something up to reward other for their contributions. With Steem, rewarding others is as simple as voting for a post, such you may on Reddit, or as you would Like a post on Facebook. The blockchain distributes payouts as 50% Steem Power for voting and 50% Steem Dollars.

Rewards are distributed by the blockchain, similar to how miners are paid by Bitcoin, and occur roughly 24 hours after content and votes have been submitted. Steem is a form of esteem, which means to prize or value. Steem is also a homophone for steam, which is frequently associated with power, and a step further, steam powered trains gave influence to English idioms, such as ‘this conversation is picking up steam.’ The associations with prizing, language and empowerment only felt right.

Neo

Neo is positioning itself as the Chinese Ethereum, offering a platform for applications to be built upon that offer block chain as a solution to data issues. Cryptocurrencies are being integrated much more readily in the east, with Korea seeing the most use and the Chinese Government actively partnering with them.

Neo also uses Smart Contracts as a part of it’s service, as like VeChain, Neo tokens generate GAS which is used to far for services on the Neo network.

Monero

Monero is yet another privacy-based cryptocurrency which is completely untraceable. All transactions and accounts are private and cannot be traced to a real-world or online identity. Unlike the previous entries, Monero is not modeled on Bitcoin.

Monero claims to be the only cryptocurrency which offers complete privacy of seller, buyer, and amount in every transaction. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll notice that the entry above, Zcash, makes the same claim. The difference between Monero and Zcash is that where Zcash offers the option to make a transaction private, all Monero transactions are automatically completely private.

VeChain

VeChain is a coin that has seen huge growth recently and has the potential to be one of the largest players in the cryptocurrency world over the next few years.

Already holding partnerships with the likes of the Chinese Government, Price Waterhouse Cooper and DNV GL – Vechain seeks to offer a wide array of block chain services to Fortune 500 companies, everything from disaster recovery for data, through to counterfeit prevention in designer clothes and fine wines.

The currency called VEN which is rebranding to VET at the end of February, will passively generate a secondary currency called Thor, which will be used to pay for services on the Vechain block chain.

Looking for alternatives to Bitcoin and thinking of a crytocurrency course? Contact us for more information on the Bitcoin course we have available and book onto our Bitcoin training.