There are thousands of cryptocurrencies, most with very little value and unclear potential. Many advisors recommend investors stick to Bitcoin and Ethereum — if any — and pass on the smaller cryptos.
The list ranks cryptocurrencies based
on dollar volume.
- Bitcoin
- Ethereum
- Ripple
- Tether
- Cardano
- Stellar
- Binance Coin
- Uniswap
- Polkadot
- USD Coin
Bitcoin (BTC)
As the
first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC) is also the most popular and highly valued,
despite high volatility over the course of its history. Bitcoin was initially
created to be used as a digital payment system, Bitcoin’s price has skyrocketed
as it’s become a household name. Five years ago, you could buy a Bitcoin for
about $500. As of June 2021, a single Bitcoin’s price was over $32,000. That’s
growth of about 6,300%. but experts say it is still too volatile to be used for
Digital Payment System.
Ethereum (ETH)
Both a
cryptocurrency and a blockchain platform, Ether (ETH) is the cryptocurrency of
the Ethereum network, and is a favorite
of program developers because of its potential applications, like so-called
smart contracts that automatically execute when conditions are met, It’s a
open-source blockchain upon which developers can build apps and other
cryptocurrencies. It’s also the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap,
behind Bitcoin. Ether’s value has risen sharply since its creation in 2013, to
nearly $3,000 for one token as of late May, but still lags well behind
Bitcoin’s value of nearly $40,000 per coin.
Ripple (XRP)
XRP is
the cryptocurrency of the Ripple digital payment network. Built for digital
payments, XRP touts itself as a faster and more efficient way to power global
payments. Ripple and XRP also allow for third-party development on other uses
for XRP.
Tether (USDT)
Unlike
some other forms of cryptocurrency, Tether is a stablecoin, meaning it’s backed
by fiat currencies like U.S. dollars and the Euro and hypothetically keeps a
value equal to one of those denominations. In theory, this means Tether’s value
is supposed to be more consistent than other cryptocurrencies, Amid high
volatility with other cryptocurrencies, Tether’s value hovers around $1 on
account of its tie to the U.S. dollar
Cardano (ADA)
Cardano (ADA)
uses a technology called Ouroboros, a peer-reviewed blockchain protocol. It
describes itself as a more secure and scalable way to maintain
decentralization. As its uses Proof of Stake Validation.
This method expedites transaction time and decreases
energy usage and environmental impact by removing the competitive,
problem-solving aspect of transaction verification present in platforms like
Bitcoin. Cardano also works like Ethereum to enable smart contracts and
decentralized applications, which are powered by ADA, its native coin.
Stellar(XLM)
Stellar’s native cryptocurrency is the Lumen (XLM).
Stellar is designed as an “open network for storing and moving money” that
allows people to create, send, and trade digital money. It’s designed to sell
and trade all digital monies, not just Stellar’s own associated cryptocurrency,
the Lumen — although you’ll need to own some Lumen to make transactions
Stellar uses a federated byzantine agreement (FBA)
algorithm instead of a traditional mining network to validate transactions.
Since the transfer of lumens doesn’t require approval from traditional
cryptocurrency miners, the Stellar network enables quicker transactions than
some other blockchain-based systems.
Binance
Coin (BNB)
The Binance Coin is a form of cryptocurrency that
you can use to trade and pay fees on Binance,
one of the largest crypto exchanges in
the world.
Since its launch in 2017, Binance Coin has expanded
past merely facilitating trades on Binance’s exchange platform. Now, it can be
used for trading, payment processing or even booking travel arrangements. It
can also be traded or exchanged for other forms of cryptocurrency, such as
Ethereum or Bitcoin.
Uniswap (UNI)
Uniswap
(UNI) is a decentralized crypto exchange that operates on Ethereum’s
blockchain. Its developers promise to get rid of unnecessary intermediaries,
which it says gives users more control. Uniswap was estimated to be the largest
decentralized exchange and the fourth-largest cryptocurrency exchange overall
by daily trading volume.
Uniswap
was created on November 2, 2018 by Hayden Adams, a former mechanical engineer
at Siemens. It uses liquidity pools rather than serving as market maker, also
in contrast to centralized exchanges, with an aim to create more efficient
markets, Individuals and bots—termed
"liquidity providers"—provide liquidity to the exchange by adding a
pair of tokens to a smart contract which can be bought and sold by other users.
In return, liquidity providers are given a percentage of the trading fees
earned for that trading pair.
Polkadot (DOT)
Cryptocurrencies may use any number of blockchains;
Polkadot (and its namesake crypto) aims to integrate them by creating a
cryptocurrency network that connects the various blockchains so they can work
together. This integration may change how cryptocurrencies are managed and has
spurred impressive growth since Polkadot’s launch in 2020.
Gavin
Wood, Thiel Fellow Robert Habermeier and Peter Czaban are the co-founders of
Polkadot. The technology surrounding Polkadot is set to help support the
decentralization of the web, a concept pioneered by Dr. Wood and coined ‘Web
3.0’. The subsequent innovations that followed Polkadot were Substrate.
USD Coin (USDC)
USD
Coin (USDC) describes itself as “the world’s digital dollar.” Created by a
global financial firm called Circle, USDC is the result of work that has been
invested in by Goldman Sachs, Baidu, and IDG Capital, among others. USD Coin is
tied to the U.S. Dollar, which makes its price much more stable than other
cryptocurrencies. That stability lends itself more toward digital payments,
while other cryptocurrencies have more potential to increase in value as investments.
it’s
backed by U.S. dollars and aims for a 1 USD to 1 USDC ratio. USDC is powered by
Ethereum, and you can use USD Coin to complete global transactions.
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