Did you know that, as of December 2021, there were over 8,000 digital currencies in existence?
If you’re like me, you’re probably aware of the more popular digital currencies, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. But what about all the rest?
Bitcoin is the oldest digital currency, and one of the most popular. It’s also the de-facto digital currency for the majority of investors, and as such, it’s now the number-one coin globally by market cap.
The next cryptocurrency on the list is Ethereum. Ethereum may appear to be a relatively new coin in the market, but it’s done well thanks to its ability to create intelligent, or smart, contracts.
XRP
XRP is a cryptocurrency built for payments. It is the native digital asset on the XRP Ledger, an open-source, decentralized blockchain technology that can complete transactions in seconds.
Stellar offers investors low-cost transactions on cross-border transactions. According to stellar.org, the cryptocurrency makes it possible to create, send, and trade digital representations of all forms of currency — dollars, pesos, Bitcoin, pretty much anything.
According to Wikipedia, Cardano is a public blockchain platform. It is open-source and decentralized, with consensus achieved using proof of stake. In addition, it can facilitate peer-to-peer transactions with its internal cryptocurrency, Ada.
Dogecoin was created in 2013 by Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, who decided to create a payment system as a “joke” and make fun of the wild speculation rampant in cryptocurrencies at the time. It was a way to poke fun at other cryptocurrencies that had plans to seemingly take over the world.
According to the Polkadot website, the currency is built to connect private and consortium chains, public and permissionless networks, oracles and technologies that are yet to be created.
Neo
It’s a blockchain-based platform that supports its own cryptocurrency and enables the development of digital assets and smart contracts.
The Celsius Network is a regulated, SEC-compliant lending platform that allows users to receive interest on cryptocurrency deposits or even take out crypto loans. Celsius hopes to attract investors by offering high yields on deposits.
Nano was launched in 2015, under the name RaiBlocks, through a public faucet, which allowed users to claim small amounts of XRB after completing a captcha challenge. Anyone with access to a computer or phone could solve captchas and be rewarded with RaiBlocks.