What cryptocurrencies are there?
Cryptocurrencies have been growing in popularity for a while now, and many people are wondering what’s the best cryptocurrency to invest in. Several cryptocurrencies exist on the market today – some more popular than others – but which ones are worth investing in?
In this post, we will take a look at 10 of the most popular cryptocurrencies today so you can get familiar with them before you choose one or more to invest in.
1. Bitcoin (BTC)
What is Bitcoin? Bitcoin is without a doubt the most popular cryptocurrency on the market.
It was created back in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto, which is an anonymous name that could be attributed to anyone as no one knows who truly came up with it.
Thing is, though, that even if someone knows who invented it, they don’t know his/her true identity so the mystery remains unsolved.
Bitcoin became extremely popular back in 2013 during its highest price ever – about $1,200 per coin.
It was so much that many people saw the opportunity to become rich overnight by trading it. However, after this peak, things have somewhat slowed down for Bitcoin as recent events show us.
Nonetheless, Bitcoin is now worth over $6k per one coin which once again makes it an attractive investment option that many are looking into at this time.
2. Ethereum (ETH)
Ethereum offers something very different from Bitcoin when it comes to what it does. While BTC offers decentralized peer-to-peer transactions without any interference from third parties, Ethereum focuses on running the programming code of an application or a smart contract for example.
These apps run on top of blockchain technology just like how websites run on top of HTTP servers.
3. Ripple (XRP)
Just like the case with Ethereum, Ripple is not exactly a cryptocurrency as it has no mining or coin distribution at all due to its business-orientated nature. Instead, XRP is tokens created by the company itself – all 100 billion of them.
They work together with financial institutions and other bigger companies to address liquidity problems, allowing for faster bank transactions that don’t depend on the time settlement takes place.
Ripple also stands out due to its fast processing speeds which can handle up to 50 thousand transactions per second compared to Bitcoin’s 7 only.
That’s why many international banks use Ripple for their money transfers – including Santander, American Express, and more than 75 others so far.
4. Marscoin (MRS)
Marscoin is a cryptocurrency created by an anonymous individual who calls themselves Mars One Mission. It’s an organization that wants to establish a human settlement on Mars in the future.
MRS was made for this purpose as it will be used on Mars by astronauts and colonists, marking the first official currency on the Red Planet.
We all know that money is useless when there’s no oxygen around so Marsacoin was created with an end in mind – to be used by people on that planet.
For this purpose, MRS will be implemented with a non-profit organization called Marscoin Foundation which will oversee the currency’s use and make sure it keeps its value stable in order for it not to become too expensive for Martians.
Here’s where to buy marscoin.
Want to Learn More About Popular Cryptocurrencies?
We’ve covered 4 popular cryptocurrencies of today, but it doesn’t stop there. There are hundreds if not thousands more in the digital currency world. Which ones have you heard about? What other currencies do you think should be on this list?
If you’d like more articles on uncommon cryptocurrencies, what is ether and how to buy crypto, please visit our blog!
