10. Litecoin
Litecoin rightly belongs in the list of the top 10 most important cryptocurrencies next to Bitcoin. It was one of the first cryptocurrencies to follow in Bitcoin’s footsteps. The currency is based on an open-source global payment network, which is not managed by, for example, a central bank.
It instead uses computing power from the users’ processors to verify transactions. In use, it is very similar to Bitcoin, but it generates blocks faster, making transactions faster.
9. Monero
Monero (XMR) is a so-called open-source cryptocurrency. This means that users can continue to develop it freely. The coin is secure, private, and untraceable. Since its launch in April 2014, the cryptocurrency quickly made a name for itself. Monero is all about decentralization and scalability. Privacy is paramount by working with so-called ‘ring signatures.
Although Monero is considered one of the top ten cryptocurrencies, it does suffer from an image problem. It is often associated with criminal operations around the world. Not very strange, because this crypto is untraceable, unlike Bitcoin, where an open database is kept of all transactions.
8. Binance Coin
You may know Binance as an exchange, but the exchange also has its own important currency: Binance Coin. You use this coin as a way to pay on the exchange, and as a way to get discounts on transactions. Today, Binance is one of the most widely used exchanges. With the popularity of the exchange, the popularity of the Binance Coin is also increasing.
Binance Coin was originally an ERC-20 token that worked on the Ethereum blockchain. Now it has its own blockchain. On March 14, 2022, the market value of Binance Coin was worth $61 billion.
7. Dogecoin
A bit intended as a joke, but it has spiraled out of control into a serious coin: the Dogecoin. This coin uses a Shiba Inu dog as an avatar and is used by large companies such as Dallas Mavericks. Kronos and SpaceX by Elon Musk. It was created in 2013 by Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer as a ‘meme’.
The developers wanted to use it to respond to the ridiculous speculation in the crypto market. After Elon Musk spoke about it on Saturday Night Live, its popularity quickly increased.
6. Stellar
Stellar (XLM) is an open blockchain network, with the aim of connecting financial organizations on a network, in order to handle large transactions. With Stellar, transactions can be done between, for example, banks and investment companies. That is something that takes a lot of time and effort with traditional coins. Jed McCaleb, the developer of Stellar, wanted to eliminate the pain points and set up the Stellar Development Foundation to do so.
McCaleb has a long background in cryptography. It was one of the founders of Ripple Labs and one of the developers of the Ripple protocol. With Stellar, he now has a valuable alternative project in his hands.
5. Bitcoin Cash
Bitcoin Cash is derived from Bitcoin and is considered one of the most successful forks of the original Bitcoin. Due to the decentralized nature of this currency, a consensus has to be reached in transactions. It is, therefore, safe to trade with it.
The coin is still evolving and likely will be for some time to come: forks of Bitcoin are always good for arguments and disagreements between developers and miners. There is always a chance that Bitcoin Cash itself will be forked again.
4. Polka Dot
Polkadot (DOT) is a cryptocurrency that should ensure a connection between blockchains. You can use this to make transactions between networks that do not connect to each other by default. The protocol is designed in such a way that multiple types of data or assets can be traded with it. This is in contrast to many other coins, with which mainly tokens are traded. It is mainly used for staking and governance.
3. Cardano
Cardano was conceived by engineers, mathematicians, and cryptography experts. The project was started by Charles Hoskinson, one of the founders of Ethereum. After a disagreement about where Ethereum was headed, Hoskinson decided to work on his own cryptocurrency.
It is seen as an ‘Ethereum killer’ because the blockchain would have more possibilities than is the case with Ethereum. A big promise, but the coin has never really taken off.
2. Tether
Tether is one of the most popular stablecoins. The purpose of Tether is to link market value to a currency, in order to absorb fluctuations in value. When developing the coin, the developers took a good look at the shortcomings of Bitcoin: the value of that coin fluctuates enormously. With Tether this is (in principle) not the case: the price is pegged to the US dollar.
10 Interesting Facts About Bitcoin That Will Surprise You
Tether allows users to make quick and easy transfers between cryptocurrency and traditional money. This makes it an attractive payment method for many users. Tether is currently the largest stablecoin, but there are now many new variants on the market with a better image than Tether.
1. Ethereum
After Bitcoin, Ethereum is the most important cryptocurrency in the world. It is seen as the alternative to Bitcoin. Ethereum is best known for working with so-called smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps). These can be used to prevent fraud, for example. The idea behind Ethereum is that anyone in the world can access financial products. As a result, it is also popular in countries where access to financial products is not so obvious.
After Ethereum was attacked in 2016, the coin was split into Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC). To put the size of the market cap in perspective, the total value of Ethereum is roughly half the value of Bitcoin.
