30+ Cryptocurrencies in Four Words or Less

The word “crypto” in the cryptocurrency is referred to as complicated cryptography which allows for a particular digital token to be generated or stored, and to transact securely, also typically and anonymously. Other than this important “crypto” feature of the currencies, it is a common commitment to the decentralization. The cryptocurrencies are typically developed as a code by teams, which has built-in mechanisms for its issuance which is often, maybe not always through a process called “mining” and few other controls.

Litecoin

Litecoin is based on the open source global payment network which is not controlled by any of the central authority and it uses “scrypt” as the proof of work, which can be decoded with the help of the CPUs of the consumer grade. Although Litecoin is similar to Bitcoin in many ways, it has faster block generation rate and therefore offers a faster transaction confirmation. Other than the developers, there are many growing numbers of merchants who accept the Litecoin. As of today, Litecoin had a market cap of around $2.63 billion and per token value of about $43.

Ethereum

The applications of the Ethereum run on its own platform-specific cryptographic token called Ether. Ether acts as a vehicle for moving around the Ethereum platform, and it is sought by the mostly developers who are looking to develop and run the applications inside Ethereum, or now by the investors who are looking to make purchases of other digital currencies using the ether.

Zcash

Zcash offers the users a choice of shielded transactions, which allows the content to be encrypted by using an advanced cryptographic technique called as zero-knowledge proof construction which is termed as a zk-SNARK. As of now, Zcash has a market cap of around $291.25 million and a value per token of about $50.

Dash

The Dash cryptocurrency was created and developed by Evan Duffield. It can be mined using the CPU or the GPU. In March 2015, the “Darkcoin” was re-branded to Dash, which stands for the digital cash and it operates under the ticker called DASH. The re-branding has not changed the functionality of its technological features which includes DarkSend and InstantX. As of now, Dash has a market cap of around $640.76 million and per token value of about $74.

Ripple

Ripple believes in “distributing value is the powerful way to incentivize few behaviors” and thus the current plans to distribute XRP primarily through the business development deals or the incentives to liquidity providers who offer the tight spreads for payments, and selling the XRP to the institutional buyers who are interested in investing in XRP. So far, the ripple has seen success with this model and it remains one of the most enticing digital currencies among the traditional financial institutions who are looking for ways to revolutionize the cross-border payments. As of now, ripple has a market cap of around $12.69 billion and per token value of about $0.308.

Check out the following infographic developed at MrBTC.org on the topic, “33 Cryptocurrencies described in four words or less.”