Bitcoin has led the world of cryptocurrencies for so long, and so dominant that the terms crypto and Bitcoin are often used interchangeably. However, the truth is that digital currency doesn’t just understand Bitcoin. There are many other crypto currencies that are part of the crypto world. The purpose of this post is to educate our readers about cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin to provide them with a wide range of options to choose from, if they intend to invest in crypto.

So let’s start with the first name on our list, that is:

Litecoin:

Launched in 2011, Litecoin is often referred to as ‘silver to Bitcoin’s gold’. Charlie Lee, an MIT graduate and former Google engineer, is the founder of Litecoin.

Like Bitcoin, Litecoin is an open source decentralized payment network that works without a central authority.

Litecoin is similar to Bitcoin in many ways and often leads people to think, “Why not go for Bitcoin? They are both similar!” Here’s a catch: Litecoin’s block generation is much faster than Bitcoin’s! And this is the main reason that merchants around the world are becoming more open to accepting Litecoin.

Ethereum:

Another decentralized open source software platform. The coin was launched in 2015 and allows you to create and run smart contracts and distributed applications without downtime.

Applications on the Ethereum platform require a specific crypto token: Ether. According to Ethereum’s main developers, the token can be used to trade, secure, and decentralize just about anything.

Ethereum experienced an attack in 2016 in which the coin was split into two parts: Ethereum and Ethereum Classic.

In the race of leading cryptocurrencies, Ethereum is the second most popular and is right behind Bitcoin.

Zcash:

Zcash came out at the end of 2016. The coin defines itself as: “if Bitcoin is like http for money, Zcash is https”.

Zcash promises to bring transparency, security and privacy to transactions. The coin also offers the ‘protected’ transaction option so that users can transfer data in the form of encrypted code.

Pinch:

Dash is originally a secret version of Bitcoin. It is also known as ‘Darkcoin’ due to its secretive nature.

Dash is popular for offering extended anonymity that allows its users to make transactions untraceable.

The coin first appeared on the digital market canvas in 2014. Since then, it has experienced a huge following in a very short period of time.

Wave:

With a market capitalization of over $ 1 billion, Ripple is the last name on our list. The coin was launched in 2012 and offers low-cost, secure and instant payments.

Ripple’s consensus ledger does not require mining, a feature that makes it different from Bitcoin and other mainstream crypto currencies.

The lack of mining reduces computing power which ultimately minimizes latency and speeds up transactions.

Wrap:

Although Bitcoin continues to lead the group for cryptocurrencies, rivals are picking up the pace. Currencies such as Ethereum and Ripple have surpassed Bitcoin in business solutions and its popularity is growing by the day. Following the trend, the other cryptocurrencies are here to stay and will soon give Bitcoin a really hard time maintaining its stature.