Even if you do not read the news and do not watch TV, you still hear at least once about bitcoin. This is the most famous and most expensive cryptocurrency at the moment.
However, many alternatives have appeared on the market that are gradually gaining momentum. The so-called "alt-coins" (or altcoins) work on technological principles similar to bitcoin. We have compiled a list of the ten most famous names on the alt-coin market. Who knows, maybe one of these virtual currencies is destined to rise to $ 20,000 apiece and higher, as their famous predecessor.
10. Dogecoin
Opens the ranking of the best alternatives to bitcoin in 2018, the cryptocurrency Reddit, one of the most active online communities in the world. Her logo and mascot is the face of a dog of the Shiba Inu breed, which meme lovers will immediately recognize.
Currently, Dogecoin is mainly used as a “tip” for various services (for example, comments) on the Reddit website. However, this is not the only purpose of this cryptocurrency.
In 2014, the Dogecoin community raised funds to finance the Jamaican bobsledding team, which had the necessary qualifications but had no 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 takes 34th place in the list of cryptocurrency assets Coinmarketcap.
9. Dash
This is a payment system that offers an affordable and user-friendly form of money. Transaction fees are minimized, and all transactions are safe (assured by the developers, of course).
Dash offers two services that are of particular interest to those who use cryptocurrencies - InstantSend and PrivateSend.
- InstantSend allows users to make very fast transactions, which Bitcoin cannot boast of.
- And PrivateSend allows users to mix their virtual coins with coins of other senders in one transaction with several outputs, which provides significant (although not absolute) confidentiality.
8. Zcash
This 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 justice.
But wait, shouldn't Bitcoin be anonymous because it is not connected to your nickname on the Web? This is true, but only in part. Usernames are not really used when transferring bitcoins, but the transaction can still be traced to a specific person using the public ledger in 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 the 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 transaction time. In fact, only about ten percent of Zcash transactions are hidden due to the extra time and processing power needed to process them.
7. Monero
Another “cryptocurrency for paranoid” that is completely impossible to track. All transactions and accounts cannot be attributed to real or online identities.
The difference between Monero and Zcash is that Zcash offers the ability to make a transaction confidential, and with Monero all transactions automatically become confidential.
6. Neo
This cryptocurrency is also called the Chinese "Ethereum" (Ethereum). These two projects have much 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 in the future it will probably support Go and Python. Obviously, this is more attractive to most programmers.
5. Stellar
The Stellar platform was created in 2014 as an open source network capable of making “seamless” payments between financial institutions. That is, you can use the Stellar network to send money in the currency of your country to a friend in Australia, and he will be able to receive this payment in the form of Australian dollars.
Stellar has its own cryptocurrency called lumen. Lumens are used to pay fees when transferring various currencies. Thanks to the lumens, the Stellar network is protected from attacks by malicious external users, who may try to "kill" 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 lightcoins that can be generated is 84 million units, which is four times the maximum number of bitcoins. In addition, Litecoin provides faster transaction processing speed.
Litecoin is fully compatible with the Bitcoin API, that is, this cryptocurrency is easily integrated into applications that already accept bitcoins.
The Litecoin website provides a list of online merchants who accept payments in this virtual currency. The list currently has 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 opens with a cryptocurrency platform that focuses on providing an unhindered, fast and secure way to send money around the world.
The Ripple website says that global Internet payments are still in the “disco” era, using an ancient infrastructure that has not evolved over time. And the RippleNet platform aims to give users the opportunity to accelerate transactions. At the same time, funds are tracked in real time.
Settlement of payment at Ripple takes about four seconds. Fantastic speed compared to Bitcoin speed.
2. Golem
This currency is a "beginner" 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 that can run almost any program.
An example of this is rendering: Golem is capable of completing tasks that usually take days to complete within minutes. Similarly, he can conduct truly massive analytical research and make forecasts faster than you can now, and at a lower price.
Perhaps one of the areas that can benefit most from this technology is research. Golem can be useful for many tasks, ranging from DNA analysis to the search for an alien mind. Golem is still in its early stages of development, and can only be used for rendering purposes. Over time, as more testing and development is done, the network will expand to its full potential.
1. Ethereum
In first place in the top 10 best modern analogues of bitcoin is the second largest name in the world of electronic cash.
Ethereum is an alt-coin founded in 2014 by the Swiss non-profit organization Ethereum Foundation. The mission of the Ethereum Foundation is to bring decentralized tools to the world, create decentralized applications and, therefore, provide all possible assistance in creating a worldwide accessible, free and reliable Internet.
The minimum unit of Ethereum is called ether. Unlike Bitcoin, which uses a block diagram only for recording 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 interaction or facilitate group action on the Web.
Simply put, Ethereum as a platform allows developers to create applications without the need to form their own blockchain.
The capitalization of the total amount of ether already exceeds $ 30 billion. At the end of 2017, the airtime rate is $ 698.
When choosing the best alternative to Bitcoin, remember: invest in digital currency only the amount that you are not sorry to lose. And to increase the likelihood of success, use the blockchain product portfolios selected by the experts of the NordFX brokerage company. We wish you financial success!
