While there are many cryptocurrencies available today for use and for investment, there are a few that fall into a class of their own, based on market cap, increases in value in recent years, mass-market acceptance, and other factors.
Of course, you can consider this list to be a bit subjective, everyone has their own view of the importance of a specific cryptocurrency and that is just fine. We have done our work and these five are what we consider to be the most relevant ones at this point in time.
Bitcoin as the largest and most popular digital currency came within $500 of the $50,000 mark on Feb. 14th and accounts for $915 billion of crypto\'s $1.5 trillion valuations.
Bitcoin continues to gain attention for its growing levels of adoption. For instance, Tesla Motors recently bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin to hold on its balance sheet and plans to accept Bitcoin as payment in countries where it\'s allowed by law. Tesla also said it will start accepting payments in bitcoin in exchange for its products “subject to applicable laws and initially on a limited basis.” That would make Tesla the first major automaker to do so. The $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin will give Tesla liquidity in the cryptocurrency once it starts accepting it for payments.
Also, in February, Mastercard announced that it would begin supporting select digital currencies, including Bitcoin. No more than 21 million Bitcoin tokens can be mined, which makes it a perceived hedge against the ever-rising U.S. monetary supply. As the true value of the U.S. dollar declines, it\'s believed that Bitcoin will appreciate.
Over the trailing three months, Bitcoin has nearly tripled (197%), which is a 187-percentage-point outperformance of the benchmark S&P 500. Believe it or not, this 197% gain pales in comparison to the returns a handful of other popular cryptocurrencies delivered over the past three months.
Ethereum is, probably, the next most significant cryptocurrency from a technological advancement perspective. Just to clarify some language use - the coins are Ether, and the platform is Ethereum, but for simplicity\'s sake let’s stick with the common, colloquial wording, and refer to both as Ethereum.
This cryptocurrency was created to facilitate the creation, execution, and implementation of smart contracts - a feature that makes Ethereum especially attractive to blockchain-related-project software developers and to firms using Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) to raise capital. Smart contracts are computer protocols that facilitate, verify, or enforce the negotiation and performance of some sort of agreement. For instance, a smart contract could be used to represent a legal contract emulating the logic of contractual clauses or a financial contract specifying responsibilities of the counterparts and automated flows of value.
Yes, we have to include it if we want to be honest in our reporting. This cryptocurrency has exploded in the last few months, mostly thanks to Elon Musk. Retail investors on Reddit\'s SatoshiStreetBets chatroom have continued to pump up Dogecoin. In February, it had a return of 2,330% and had become the 12th-largest digital token by market cap ($7.5 billion).
Litecoin launched in 2011 and it was among the first cryptocurrencies to follow in the footsteps of Bitcoin and has often been referred to as “silver to Bitcoin’s gold.”
Created by Charlie Lee, an MIT graduate, and former Google engineer, Litecoin is based on an open-source global payment network that is not controlled by any central authority and uses "scrypt" as a proof of work, which can be decoded with the help of CPUs of consumer-grade.
It is interesting to note that despite being like Bitcoin in many ways, Litecoin has a faster block generation rate and hence offers a faster transaction confirmation time. Other than developers, there are a growing number of merchants who accept Litecoin. As of January 2021, Litecoin had a market cap of $10.1 billion and a per token value of $153.88, making it the sixth-largest cryptocurrency in the world.
First thing’s first- Ripple the company and Ripple’s XRP digital token are essentially two different entities. The company has made a concerted effort to expose this.
Based in Switzerland, the financial services company that created XRP tokens to assist with its cross-border payments services has found itself at the center of the token’s popularity storm. Considered the third most popular cryptocurrency due to its application within the financial sector, rather than grassroots popularity, Ripple’s XRP is issued by the company, so there is no need to mine the currency.
Yes, you have read this correctly, there is no mining involved when it comes to XRP. Ripple and their cryptocurrency have provided real-time, end-to-end solutions regarding international payments for banks and financial institutions worldwide.
This cryptocurrency is becoming more and more popular, especially in the financial sector, and is definitely the one to watch.
These five are just the tip of the iceberg that is the cryptocurrency, we are seeing new ones on the market all the time, and their values differ a lot. You can use one or more as per your business requirements and in different industry sectors. One must keep a close eye on this and EthAnalytics.io is here to help.