Top 20 Cryptocurrencies you need to know about

In a paper titled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” Satoshi Nakamoto who developed bitcoin and devised the first blockchain database described it as “purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash” to send money directly without going through a financial institution. Jan Lanksy, a Czech researcher described cryptocurrency as the currency of the future.

Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency in 2008 since then several cryptocurrencies have been created. These include:

1. Bitcoin was originally designed by Satoshi Nakamoto as a digital replacement for cash. Bitcoin used peer-to-peer technology to facilitate instant payments. Investment in Bitcoin is considered risky because there is no guarantee of minimum profitability or break-even. As American business tycoon Warren Buffett once said Bitcoin is a “mirage, a soap bubble.” This is one of the reasons why Buffett and several other investors do not endorse the hype around this cryptocurrency.
2. Ethereum is a technology that lets you send cryptocurrency to anyone for a small fee. Ethereum is the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency. No government or company has control over Ethereum. Bitcoin and Ether – together constitute nearly 80 per cent of the total crypto market cap. Today Bitcoin is hovering around an all-time high of $40,000 while Ether priced ₹1.6 lakh is still within the reach of many would-be investors.
3. Ripple is the world’s third-biggest cryptocurrency. Ripple is not just another form of currency, but a new payment protocol to streamline cross-border payments around the world. Co-founded by Chris Larsen and Jed McCaleb Ripple allows financial institutions to transfer money with negligible fees and wait-time. Ripple was specially designed for the banking industry. Ripple has the potential to replace SWIFT –the number one network for secure, standardized, and reliable global payments. Ripple is today being used by a growing network of more than 300 providers spanning 40 countries across 6 continents.
4. Litecoin is an internet currency that enables instant payments all over the world. Bitcoin and Litecoin are like gold and silver in the cryptocurrency space. Though they seem to have a lot in common there are many differences between the two. For instance, Bitcoin can never exceed 21 million coins, while Litecoin can accommodate up to 84 million coins.
5. Cardano (ADA) is a cryptocurrency co-founded by Charles Hoskinson, one of the five initial founding members of Ethereum. Hoskinson left Ethereum after disagreeing with the direction it was taking and helped to create Cardano. The team behind Cardano conducted extensive research to identify and eliminate the flaws in Ethereum. This is why Cardano is often called “Ethereum killer”.
6. Namecoin (NMC) is a cryptocurrency that originally forked from bitcoin software in April 2011. Namecoin is the second oldest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin. It uses the same proof-of-work algorithm. Namecoin is almost identical and based on the same code as Bitcoin. It builds a naming system that is decentralised, secure and has human-readable names. Namecoin – was one of the first to implement merged mining and a decentralized DNS. The Namecoin is restricted to 21 million coins.
7. Peercoin, Peer-to-Peer Coin or PPCoin was the fourth oldest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, Namecoin and Litecoin. It was launched on August 19th 2012 by Scott Nadal and Sunny King who also created Primecoin. Peercoin is a hybrid cryptocurrency that makes it extremely hard to steal.
8. Polkadot was created by Gavin Wood, one of the core founders of the Ethereum who left the due to the difference of opinions and went on to launch Polkadot. Polkadot is a unique proof-of-stake cryptocurrency. Polkadot is a network protocol that unites a network of heterogeneous blockchains.
9. Dash is a blockchain-based cryptocurrency that was created in 2014. Dash formerly called Xcoin or Darkcoin was forked out of Bitcoin and was developed to offer faster and more anonymous transactions than Bitcoin could deliver. It sought to address some of Bitcoin’s weaknesses. One of the basic drawbacks of Bitcoin is that it could take minutes or even hours for funds transferred to be reflected in the recipient’s account. Dash, however, takes seconds to confirm a transaction.  
10. Monero was the fourteenth-largest cryptocurrency by overall market value. An open-source cryptocurrency launched in April 2014 Monero gained popularity as a secure, private, and untraceable currency. It offers complete privacy by using a special feature called “ring signatures.” Unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum transactions which can be verified and traced by anyone in the world, Monero allows the users to hide their identity, address as well as the amount transacted. The result is complete anonymity and the fact that you can send or receive any amount knowing that others cannot track your activity.  
11. Verge initially called DogeCoinDark came into existence in 2014 as an open-source, decentralized cryptocurrency that claims to offer completely anonymous transactions by obfuscating the location and IP address of the transacting participants. Verge ranked 94 in the list of cryptocurrencies by market cap in December 2020.
12. Zcash has implemented a cryptographic tool called Zero-Knowledge Proof and grants participants an option to shield transactions. It allows participants to transact without disclosing their real name or addresses and also obfuscates the transaction amount. Zcash ranked at number 42 in the list of cryptocurrencies with a market cap of $654 million as of December 24, 2020.
13. Bitcoin Cash – is one of the earliest and most successful hard forks of the original Bitcoin. Bitcoin Cash makes allows people to securely store savings and send money abroad— without any middlemen monitoring the flow of funds. It is one of the most secure and widely used digital currencies on the planet.
14. Binance Coin (BNB) is a cryptocurrency that can be used to trade and pay fees on the Binance cryptocurrency exchange. Binance Exchange is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world as of January 2018, facilitating more than 1.4 million transactions per second. Users of Binance Coin receive a discount in transaction fees on the Binance Exchange as an incentive.
15. Tether (USDT) founded by Brock Pierce, Reeve Collins, and Craig Sellars in 2014 is one of the most traded cryptocurrency today. It was also called “stablecoin” or “real coin” because it was originally designed to be worth $1.00, maintaining $1.00 in reserves for each tether issued. The basic idea behind Tether was to create a digital asset whose value does not fluctuate relative to a fiat currency.  However, the coin experienced the most significant price decrease in October 2018, because of lack of transparency, as well as accusations of insolvency against Tether’s partner firm, Bitfinex.
16. Stellar (XLM) is an open blockchain that can be used by anyone. Stellar’s native currency is Lumens (XLM). The network requires users to hold Lumens to be able to transact on the network. Stellar was founded by Jed McCaleb, a founding member of Ripple Labs and developer of the Ripple protocol. He eventually left Ripple and went on to co-found the Stellar Development Foundation. Stellar Lumens had a market capitalization of $6.1 billion and are valued at $0.27 as of January 2021.
17. Potcoin is an ultra-secure digital cryptocurrency for the 250 billion dollars global cannabis industry. It allows consumers to buy and sell cannabis products anonymously. Potcoin was conceived to facilitate transactions within the legal cannabis industry. PotWallet.com is a feature-packed web wallet and trading platform that allows you to send, receive and store your PotCoins on your iPhone or Android device.
18. Chainlink is a blockchain technology created by a fintech company called SmartContract Chainlink Limited SEZC. The purpose behind Chainlink is to provide a platform to bridge the gap between blockchain technology-based smart contracts and real-world applications. Chainlink was developed by Sergey Nazarov and Steve Ellis in September 2017.
19. Terracoin (TRC) was one of the early forks of Bitcoin launched in 2012 to make it easier to replace fiat currencies that can be adopted the world over. The term Terra “a possible world currency” was proposed by Bernard Lietaer a Belgian economist and expert on monetary systems in 2001. The currency was meant to be based on a basket of the 9 to 12 commodities that wouldn’t suffer from inflation. Terra is Inflation-resistant by definition.
20. Feathercoin (FTC or ₣) open-source cryptocurrency software inspired by Litecoin claims to be 10 times faster than Bitcoin. The Feathercoin network is programmed to generate 336 million coins, 16 times more than the Bitcoin and 4 times more than Litecoin. Feathercoin is a highly upgraded and customised piece of software compared to the Bitcoin and Litecoin protocols. Feathercoin is based on NeoScrypt and has many unique features not seen in a number of crypto coins.