Reader discretion is advised. What you are about to read may change your life to the better or worse...
Given below is the list of different cryptocurrencies that have caught the eye of investors. Hope it catches you, or you catch it, or WHATEVER... You know what, just scroll down. Don't mind me...
Bitcoin
https://cdn.pixabay.com
Bitcoin started the whole cryptocurrency story as it was the first decentralized ledger currency. Being a controversial tool, bitcoin certainly has reasons to be adopted by merchants and reasons to be cautious with it. There are at least eight highly secure bitcoin mobile wallets in the market. Bitcoin was created by mysterious coder Satoshi Nakamoto and it is still not fully understood how this powerful cryptocurrency will affect the financial systems around the world. The market capitalization for bitcoin is more than $6 billion with around 15 million BTC available. Bitcoin was released as an open-source back in 2009 to take P2P transactions to the next level, making them instantaneous and with no need for middlemen. While bitcoin has demonstrated many useful properties as a currency, its price volatility makes it risky to hold and difficult to use for everyday pricing and payments.
SolarCoin
https://www.coingecko.com/
Governed by the SolarCoin Foundation, SolarCoin is a digital currency incentivizing solar electricity. In terms of electricity generated, 1 SLR represents 1 MWh of solar. About 99% of SolarCoins will be distributed to solar electricity generators helping produce 97,500 TWh. Any verified solar electricity producer is entitled to receive SolarCoins for free. The technology behind SolarCoin is similar to bitcoin but with a charitable twist—photovoltaic facility owners receive SolarCoin by generating solar electricity. SolarCoin can be redeemed with participating merchants or exchanged for other currencies at a number of online exchanges. The SolarCoin network is a worldwide group of computer participants which process SolarCoin transactions and write them into the SolarCoin blockchain ledger. The market capitalization is $1.3 billion with 98 billion SLR available.
Ripple
https://upload.wikimedia.org
Ripple is a real-time gross settlement system, currency exchange and remittance network backed by Ripple. The market capitalization for Ripple is close to $290 million with more than 33 billion XRP available. Cryptocurrency is built upon distributed open-source protocol, ledger and native currency called ripples. Ripple was released in 2012 and promises a secure, instant and nearly free global financial transactions of any size with no chargebacks. Ripple supports fiat currency, cryptocurrency, commodity or any other unit.
Litecoin
https://coinsutra.com/
Litecoin is a P2P cryptocurrency and open-source software. Litecoin was derived from bitcoin and is very identical to it bitcoin. LTCs can be created and transferred through an open-source protocol and are not managed by any central authority. The market cap for Litecoin is exceeding $150 million with more than 40 million LTC available. Miners are currently awarded 50 new Litecoins per block, an amount which gets halved roughly every four years. The Litecoin network is scheduled to produce 84 million Litecoins, which are four times as many currency units as bitcoin.
Ethereum
https://startminingbitcoin.com/
Ethereum is a cryptocurrency platform as well as programming framework that allows a network of users to administer their own smart contracts with no intervention from central authorities. A blockchain-based virtual machine securely records and incentivizes the validation of transactions made with ETH. Smart contracts by users are paid in ETH. Initially described by Vitalik Buterin in late 2013, Ethereum was then formally discovered by Gavin Wood in early 2014 and launched in July 2015. Ethereum is one of the next-generation platforms. The market cap for Ethereum is almost $65 million with more than 75 million ETH available.
NeuCoin
http://designcareof.co/
NeuCoin, the newest contender to enter the cryptocurrency ring, is soon to arrive. NeuCoin isn’t just looking to enter the space, its goal is to come in guns blazing with a specific target in its crosshairs: bitcoin. Derived from Sunny King’s Peercoin (which ironically was derived from Satoshi Nakamoto’s bitcoin), NeuCoin is an up-and-coming, P2P-powered, decentralized cryptocurrency. It plans to take bitcoin head-on by improving the technique it inherited from Peercoin—proof-of-stake. This method of mining is fundamentally different than bitcoin’s proof-of-work, and through its unique design structure, also NeuCoin’s trump card. As the grandchild of bitcoin, NeuCoin improves on its PoS and PoW predecessors by creating a smoother user/customer experience and focusing on tangible utility by allowing easy purchases such as microtransactions. With increased mining reward rates, decreased minimum stake times, and a dynamic stake modifier & duplicate stake detector/punisher, users of NeuCoin should find it a convenient and pleasant experience. The market capitalization is $31 million with almost 3.5 billion NEU available.
Capricoin
http://vizionary.ru/
Capricoin is designed to be a globally distributed math-based currency. The developers of Capricoin created 200 million Capricoins at its inception. Over the next 24 years, there will be up to an additional 8 million coins produced through a staking rewards system. Of the 200 million coins produced, the total held by the Capricoin development team is 0.5%. The Capricoin Development Team holds 1,000,052 Capricoins in total and others hold 199,010,361. The market capitalization of Capricoin is almost $26 million.
CLAMS
http://i.imgur.com/
The CLAM Network is a P2P network of computers running the CLAMS software. To become a part of the CLAM network, one needs to run the CLAM software on their computer. The purpose of this network is to independently and collaboratively verify the transfer and creation of CLAMs. Similar to bitcoin, the original technology on top of which CLAM was created, this network follows a rigorous protocol to ensure that consensus and verification are maintained. The software that runs the CLAM network is free and open-source. The CLAM network is maintained and validated by the community who uses it with no intervention from central bank or authorities. There is no sign-up or user system in the CLAM network. Users employ cryptography to create keys which control CLAMs at randomly generated addresses. A proof-of-stake algorithm is used for distribution. The market capitalization of CLAMs is $17 million with almost 15 million CLAMs available.
Dash (former Darkcoin)
https://www.seoclerks.com/
Dash is a privacy-centric digital currency based on the bitcoin software. It allows total anonymity during transactions, similar to cash transactions. With bitcoin, transactions are published to the blockchain and traceable. Dash’s anonymization technology makes it impossible to trace them. This is important because the blockchain is accessible to anyone with an internet connection—a significant drawback for those who don’t wish their transaction history and balances to be publicly available. Dash is reaching anonymity through a mixing protocol utilizing an innovative decentralized network of servers called “masternodes,” avoiding the need for a trusted third party that could compromise the integrity of the system. The market capitalization of Dash is almost $15 million with 6 million Dash available.
Dogecoin
https://i.pinimg.com/
Dogecoin was introduced on December 8, 2013, as a joke currency. However, it quickly developed its own online community and now reached a market capitalization of around $14 million with more than 102 billion DOGE available at the moment. The currency has gained traction as an Internet tipping system, in which social media users grant Dogecoin tips to other users for providing interesting or noteworthy content.
LEOcoin
http://www.leocoin.org/
LEOcoin is a brand new digital currency that allows individuals to make fast and secure transactions through a decentralized P2P network. Any and all transactions are completely anonymous and without the need for bank or transfer fees. Using both proof-of-work and proof-of-stake validation methods places LEOcoin among the most secure currencies. Every identity and every transaction is turned into a series of letters and numbers that make no sense unless you know how to turn it back to its original state. Cryptocurrency is truly focused on anonymity and security and powered by blockchain technology. The main target audience for LEOcoins is entrepreneurs. The market capitalization of LEO coins is almost $11 million with more than 68 million LEO available.
Peercoin
http://cointrader.org/
Peercoin is a P2P cryptocurrency utilizing both proof-of-stake and proof-of-work systems. Peercoin was introduced by Scott Nadal and Sunny King (also created Primecoin) in their paper in August 2012. Inspired by bitcoin, Peercoin shares much of the source code and technical implementation of the ancestor. Peercoin is one of the largest mineable cryptocurrency by market capitalization exceeding $9 million and more than 22 million PPCs available at the moment. However, Peercoin does not have a hard limit on the number of possible coins mined. Peercoin is generated as interest at 1% per year. Peercoin can be traded for fiat currencies and other cryptocurrencies through an online exchange. Peercoin transactions are irreversible with a risk of chargebacks.
BitShares
https://cointelegraph.com/
BitShares is a counterparty-trust free platform for financial smart contracts which operates over the Internet and offers a set of financial instruments that includes CFDs. These contracts are derivative instruments, and as such they fall under the wider definition of financial instruments. Digital financial instrument tools such as Market Pegged Assets (MPA) or “SmartCoins” which represent a derivative with fiat currency, gold, or even other cryptocurrencies as the underlying asset are currently available on BitShares. These SmartCoins derive their value from contracts based on the performance of the BitShares base token (BTS). The market cap for BitShares is more than $9 million with over 2.5 billion BTS available.
Nxt
https://cointelegraph.com/
Nxt was launched in the end of 2013 as an open-source cryptocurrency and payment network. It uses proof-of-stake to reach consensus for transactions. Cryptocurrency is not minable. Nxt is a flexible platform for building applications and financial services, and has an integrated Asset Exchange, messaging system and marketplace. New currencies can be created within the system. Nxt’s market capitalization is more than $6.5 million with almost a billion NXTs available. At the core of the currency is blockchain, but Nxt was written in Java from the ground up. It was the first currency to rely purely on proof-of-stake consensus. Moreover, there is no centralized service to access APIs; peers of the network can be directly accessed via API calls.
Namecoin
http://i.imgur.com/
Namecoin is a decentralized open-source information registration and transfer system based on the bitcoin cryptocurrency, which uses the same proof-of-work algorithm. It is limited to 21 million coins. Cryptocurrency stores data within its own blockchain transaction database. Namecoin is aimed for the censorship-resistant top level domain .bit, which is independent of ICANN, the main governing body for domain names. Namecoin is the most well-known example of distributing control and privacy in DNS. Namecoins can protect free-speech rights online by making the web more resistant to censorship, access websites using the .bit domain, store identity information such as email, GPG key, BTC address, TLS fingerprints, Bitmessage address, etc. and file signatures, voting, bonds/stocks,/shares, web of trust, escrow and notary services (to be implemented). The market capitalization for Namecoin is more than $6 million with more than 13 million NMCs available.
Bytecoin
https://bytecoin.org/
Launched in 2012, Bytecoin is the private untraceable cryptocurrency. It is the first enterprise-ready solution. Bytecoin network exists on the Internet and works almost as fast as the Internet itself. Cryptocurrency protects user’s money with the most secure and modern cryptographic algorithms that is promised by the company to be impossible to hack. The Bytecoin system ensures that it is totally impossible to get information about users financial operations and wallet balance. The market capitalization for Bytecoin is almost $5 million with around 178 billion BCNs available.
Monero
https://bitzco.net/
Monero is a secure, private, untraceable currency. It is open-source and freely available to everyone. Monero utilizes a distributed P2P consensus network to make every transaction cryptographically secure. Each account has a 25-word mnemonic seed displayed at the moment of creation, which can back up the account. Monero uses a cryptographically sound system that allows sending and receiving funds without transactions being publically visible on the blockchain. This ensures privacy for purchases, receipts and other transfers. By taking advantage of ring signatures, a special property of certain types of cryptography, Monero enables untraceable transactions. The market cap for Monero is around $4.5 million with more than 10 million XMR available.
RubyCoin
http://cryptomining-blog.com/
As company calls it, it is “a precious gem for the digital age.” RubyCoin is a P2P digital cryptocurrency, which anyone can create through simply having some in a digital wallet. RubyCoin’s network is secure, energy-efficient and pays interest to every user. The network consensus maintains a secure and decentralized online ledger. The supply of RubyCoins is limited to 60 million. The market capitalization for RubyCoin currently is around $4.4 million with almost 22.5 billion RBY available.
NuShares
https://www.coingecko.com/
NuShares are units held by individuals who wish to help support and maintain the Nu network. NuShares are intended to be a source of network equity for developers, entrepreneurs and speculators. NuShareholders can receive network revenues in the form of Peercoin dividends paid out by a custodian. Nu is controlled by shareholders who own NuShares and mint blocks with them using proof-of-stake. Nu permits holders of NuShares to manage the quantity of NuBits without dependence on any off blockchain mechanisms. Additional NuBits can be created when shareholders vote to do so and will be placed in the custody of a recipient chosen by shareholders. There can be as many custodians as the shareholders elect to have. Custodians may adopt a pseudonym, which restricts third parties from gaining control of the network by leveling threats against custodians. The market capitalization for NuShares is exceeding $4 million with more than 820 million NSRs available. As stated on the website, the supply of NuShares will increase at a rate of 2% a year. The supply increases as proof-of-stake minting rewards are given to active individual minters. The current reward per block is 40 NuShares.
GridCoin
http://burp.renderfarming.net/
GridCoin is a decentralized, open-source, math-based cryptocurrency. It is a new peer-to-peer cryptocurrency that uses distributed computing to benefit humanity by advancing the progress of medicine, biology, etc. GridCoin performs transactions without the need of a central issuing authority. It is the first blockchain protocol that delivered a working algorithm that equally rewards and cryptographically proves to solve BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing) hosted work, which can be virtually any kind of distributed computing process (ASIC/GPU/CPU/Sensor/Etc). Gridcoin provides benefits to humanity through contributions to scientific research. It is the only cryptocurrency that rewards individuals for BOINC contributions without the need for a central authority to distribute rewards. The market capitalization for GridCoin is around $3.8 million with more than 370 million GRC available. Gridcoin-Research utilizes proof-of-stake as its primary distributed consensus mechanism. When a researcher registers for individual BOINC projects, a cross-project ID (CPID) is generated by BOINC and used by proof-of-BOINC to securely track BOINC contributions made by GRC Researchers. Proof-of-stake (POS) and proof-of-BOINC (POB) are tied together by distributed proof-of-research (DPOR).
EmerCoin
http://s3.amazonaws.com/
EmerCoin was established as cryptocurrency of emergence to support and sponsor H+ and related future-oriented hi-tech projects (bio-science, robotics, autonomous intelligent electric vehicles, air drones and submersibles). EmerCoin works with proof-of-stake + proof-of-work mining. EmerCoin combines those two algorithms to process transactions on its blockchain, with an emphasis on proof-of-stake. The market capitalization for EmerCoin is more than $2 million with more than 36 million EMC available. EmerCoin was designed to avoid speculative interest and oriented on real transactions, for savings and accumulation of funds in order not to “promote a “pump-and-dump” style speculative bubble,” as stated on the website.
BlackCoin
https://cryptocoinsmarket.com/
Called the “currency of the future,” BlackCoin uses a proof-of-stake algorithm to add speed, security and energy efficiency over most digital currencies. It’s free from central authorities and banks to give power to people. BlackCoin is a P2P digital currency with a distributed, decentralized public ledger; that unlike ones held at traditional banks, are viewable and easily audited by the people. The ability to manage transactions and issue additional BlackCoin is handled by the network of users utilizing BlackCoin. Because the BlackCoin network is run by the people, holders of BlackCoin receive a 1% yearly interest through a process called staking. BlackCoin is open-source and the software that makes it function is completely available for public scrutiny. No one owns BlackCoin, it is not a single entity; anyone can be a part of it. There are 75 million minted coins and the market capitalization of Blackcoin is close to $2 million.
Source: https://letstalkpayments.com/22-cryptocurrencies-with-the-highest-market-capitalization/
P.S. Cheeta, I have mentioned the source, RIGHT ABOVE this line, so you DON'T have to shove it in my face the fact that I WASN'T the one who wrote this article and you can LEAVE ME IN PEACE...