In Bitcoin, there is much discussion about alt-coins, as if many of these are actually legitimate. Many alt-coins are pre-mined, causing them to lose much of their legitimacy. If a coin has been pre-mined, it should automatically be crossed off your digital currency investment list.
Further, many quite simply don’t have the adoption rate to offer any sort of liquidity or security. Still, amateur alt-coins are part of the space, and there are more all the time. They’re also a point of contention for many critics of crypto-currency generally, who point towards how easy it is to create a crypto-currency these days. Of course, it wasn’t so easy until Bitcoin demonstrated the model.
From the years 2013-2015, the three largest cryptocurrencies have remained steady: they are, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin, respectively.
Bitcoin is well-publicized, but other options not so much.
A major switch happened in 2014 as Ripple overtook Litecoin for second largest alt-coin in the market. As of December 2015, Ripple stands at a market cap of $211,089,007. Litecoin’s is $151,006, 662. Bitcoin’s is $6,596, 631,791.
Below these top three spots, there is a lot of turnover. The steady options over the past two years have been Dogecoin, Bitshares, Stellar and Maidsafe coin below the top three alt-coins.
2. Ethereum
The most publicized of the Bitcoin 2.0 technologies, Ethereum has had an appreciable price increase YTD perhaps thanks to questions surrounding the block size limit in Bitcoin and rendering it the second largest alternative digital currency. The currency raised nearly $20 million in order to ensure the project would get off the ground, and many people believe that Ethereum can achieve what Bitcoin cannot. 3 . Ripple Ripple is different than Litecoin and Bitcoin. For one, its pre-mined, meaning its not a very good option for an investor, not to […]
