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Cryptocurrency
| Name | Description | Pros | Cons | Where to buy | Similar to | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin (BTC) | Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency and a digital payment system | • Most widely accepted cryptocurrency in the world | • Slow transaction time • Not as decentralized as people think due to the fact that majority of miners are Chinese |
Coinbase | Litecoin | Currency |
| Ethereum (ETH) | Ethereum is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third party interference. | • Programmable money • Smart contracts • Ability to issue your own tokens • Huge community - Ethereum Enterprise Alliance consists of companies like Microsoft, Intel, and more |
• Higher inflation than bitcoin • Scalability is still a challenge-entire blockchain can be clogged if faced with a large number of concurrent transactions |
Coinbase | Waves | Platform |
| Ripple (XRP) | Ripple is a real-time gross settlement system (RTGS), currency exchange and remittance network operated by Ripple. | • Math-based currency • Free from DoS attacks • Its settlement infrastructure is used by the banks |
• Founders of Ripple control ~60% of XRP | Bittrex, Poloniex | Stellar | Payment Network |
| Litecoin (LTC) | Litecoin is a peer-to-peer Internet currency that enables instant, near-zero cost payments to anyone in the world. | • Faster transaction time than bitcoin. • Also can handle more transactions than bitcoin. • Segwit-ready |
• Weak marketing | Coinbase | Bitcoin | Currency |
| Ethereum Classic (ETC) | Ethereum Classic is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third party interference. | • Continuation of the original Ethereum blockchain - the classic version preserving untampered history | • Community of developers vehemently against Ethereum | Bittrex, Poloniex | Ethereum | Currency |
| Dash (DASH) | Dash (formerly known as Darkcoin and XCoin) is an open source peer-to-peer cryptocurrency that offers instant transactions (InstantSend), private transactions (PrivateSend) and token fungibility. | • Instantaneous transaction time about 1.2 seconds • Private transaction possible with privatesend • Low transaction fee |
• Core team is secretive about their roadmaps • Decentralized governance is immature - few masternode owners make the decision |
Bittrex, Poloniex | Stellar, NEM, Ripple | Payment Network |
| NEM (XEM) | NEM has a stated goal of a wide distribution model and has introduced new features to blockchain technology such as its proof-of-importance (POI) algorithm, multisignature accounts, encrypted messaging, and an Eigentrust++ reputation system. | • Unique proof-of-importance (POI) algorithm • Variety of usecases - can send payments and messages securely globally and is recognized by some Japanese banks • Incredibly scalable - 3000 transactions/sec/ • Low transaction fee - 0.01% fee |
• No private transactions • No mining available • Unclear roadmap • Lack of enterprise features • No substantial development updates recently |
Bittrex, Poloniex | Stellar, Dash, Ripple | Payment Network, Platform |
| Iota (MIOTA) | Iota is a cryptocurrency that aims to establish itself as the fuel for efficient machine-to-machine (M2M) transactions | • No transaction cost •Scalability due to "Tangle" which forces every new transaction to verify two previous transactions • Offline transaction |
• All the tokens are premined •Lack of marketing talent in the team. |
Bitfinex | Ethereum | Platform |
| Monero (XMR) | Monero (XMR) is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency that is not based on Bitcoin's code. | • Untraceable payments & Unlinkable transactions • Second most used cryptocurrency in the dark web. • Cryptonote-based |
• Untraceability makes it challenging to go mainstream | Bittrex, Poloniex | Bytecoin, Zcash | Currency |
| EOS (EOS) | EOS.IO is software that introduces a blockchain architecture designed to enable vertical and horizontal scaling of decentralized applications (the “EOS.IO Software”). The software provides accounts, authentication, databases, asynchronous communication and the scheduling of applications across multiple CPU cores and/or clusters. | • Allows developers to develop on the blockchain without the hassle of dealing with account recovery, permissions, etc • Much more scalable - millions of transactions/sec • No need to spend tokens to rent the computing power on EOS • Experienced founder behind the team who contributed to Bitshares and Steem |
• No mining available • Founder is known for abandoning projects • DPoS can result in centralization |
Kraken | Iota, Ethereum | Platform |
| Bitshares (BTS) | BitShares offers a stack of financial services including exchange and banking on a blockchain. | • Allows for trading on its decentralized exchange • Extremely fast transaction time - handles tens of thousands/sec • Allows for creation of smartcoins and user-issued assets akin to Waves' custom tokens |
• Declining developer interest. Main developer left to work for Steem | Poloniex | Waves, Lykke | Decentralized Exchange |
| Stratis (STRAT) | Stratis offers full service capabilities for the development, deployment and management of blockchain applications and solutions utilizing C# on the .Net framework. | • Block chain as a service. (Private & public blockchains for corps) • Segwit-ready. • Master nodes provide extra services like making the network transactions more private, enabling instant transactions, etc. • Smart contracts using C# |
• No actual corporate customers as of May 30th 2017 • Smart contracts available only on sidechains |
Bittrex, Poloniex | Lisk | Platform |
| Zcash (ZEC) | Zcash is the first open, permissionless cryptocurrency that can fully protect the privacy of transactions using zero-knowledge cryptography. | • Untraceable payments & Unlinkable transactions | • 20% of block reward goes to the developers. | Bittrex, Poloniex | Bytecoin, Monero | Currency |
| Bitconnect (BCC) | BitConnect is an open source all in one bitcoin and crypto community platform designed to provide multiple investment opportunities with cryptocurrency education where it is entirely possible to find the independence we all desire, in a community of like-minded, freedom loving individuals who, like you, are seeking the possibility of income stability in a very unstable world. | • Allows crypto investors to lend bitconnect coin and make passive income | • Has a chance of being a massive Ponzi Scheme - volatility bot that trades on your behalf never loses money, which is nearly impossible • No whitepaper |
Livecoin | N/A | Lending Network |
| Waves (WAVES) | Crypto-platform for asset/custom token issuance, transfer and trading on blockchain | • Allows for trading on its decentralized exchange • Straightforward custom token creation process • Fast transactions and future-proof scaling. • Friendly community |
• Many fake coins created as a result of easy creation process | Bittrex | Bitshares, Lykke | Decentralized Exchange |
| Steem (STEEM) | Steem is a blockchain-based social media platform where anyone can earn rewards. | • Content creators on steemit.com get rewarded when their posts get upvoted | • Vulnerable to voting manipulation via sybil attack | Bittrex, Poloniex | AMP Synereo | Currency |
| Antshares (ANS/NEO) | As China's first ever original and open source public chain project, Antshares serves as a smart assets platform. Smart assets are the combination of smart contract of blockchain and digital assets. Antshares allows for a smarter way for assets registration, issuance, and circulation. | • Ethereum for China • Quantum-proof • More parallelizable virtual machine • More programming language support than ethereum •Partnership with Microsoft |
• People online are reporting issues with its online wallet not syncing | Bittrex | Ethereum | Platform |
| Gnosis (GNO) | Based on Ethereum — The next generation blockchain network. Speculate on anything with an easy-to-use prediction market. | • Can create a customizable prediction market app | • No known Gnosis-powered apps | Bittrex, Poloniex | Augur | Platform |
| Golem (GNT) | Golem is a global, open sourced, decentralized supercomputer that anyone can access. It's made up of the combined power of user's machines, from personal laptops to entire datacenters. | • You get rewarded for renting out computing power | • No Mining available | Bittrex, Poloniex | Siacoin | Computing Network |
| Bytecoin (BCN) | Bytecoin allows safe and secure transactions around the globe and offers the convenience of instant fee-free money transactions. | • Free instant international payments. • Unntraceable payment • Cryptonote-based |
• 80%+ were premined prior to public release | Bittrex, Poloniex | Monero, Zcash | Payment Network |
| Siacoin (SC) | Sia is a decentralized network of datacenters that, taken together, comprise the world's fastest, cheapest, and most secure cloud storage platform. | • You get rewarded for renting out your computer storage • Files are split across the network & encrypted so no need to worry about privacy |
• Low adoption | Bittrex, Poloniex | Golem, Storj | Storage Network |
| Dogecoin (DOGE) | Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency featuring a likeness of the Shiba Inu dog from the "Doge" Internet meme as its logo. | • Easy to send payments online | • Coin is not taken seriously. • No unique technical feature |
Bittrex, Poloniex | Steem | Currency |
| Stellar Lumens (XLM) | Stellar is a platform that connects banks, payments systems, and people. | • Instant payment (2-5 seconds) • Customizable payment infrastructure |
• No mining available. 90% of Lumens are owned by the founders | Bittrex, Poloniex | Ripple | Payment Network |
More Resources
- kennethreitz/awesome-coins (GitHub Repo)