Altcoin – alternative to Bitcoin

by | Feb 16, 2018 | General | 0 comments

Alternative coins refer to any other cryptocurrency that isn’t Bitcoin. Based on price growth and market cap, An analysis of the top performing altcoins from 2017 points to where altcoins will be headed in 2018.

 

  • Ethereum

 

    1. Seeing a massive 36 018% return in 2017, Ethereum is the altcoin to watch in 2018. In 2017, the coin overtook Bitcoin, which grew 9,162% compared to Bitcoin’s 1,000%. Ethereum is a well-known contender to Bitcoin, not only for its leading growth over the last year, but also for its functionality built on a blockchain with several applications and for being a remarkable investment tool.

 

  • Ripple

 

    1. Ripple has a total market cap of more than $79bn, and its price appeals to many, with one token costing as little as $2.05 at the time of writing, compared to $2,574.19 for Bitcoin Cash. Ripple has made remarkable progress in 2017, having the highest growth compared to all coins on this list – growing an unbelievable 36,018% last year. And in December, Ripple overtook Ethereum for the number two spot by market cap.

 

  • Litecoin

 

    1. Launched in 2011 by a former Google engineer, Litecoin has been referred to as the silver to bitcoin’s gold, with a market cap of $13,161,359,753 and a total circulation of more than 54-million tokens. Popular for drastically reducing the time needed to confirm new transactions while insuring more inclusive use of the coin, this alternative to Bitcoin has a growing following of loyal supporters around the globe.

 

  • Bitcoin Cash

 

    1. Having only been on the market since August 2017, and created as a result of a hard fork, Bitcoin Cash has earned the fourth spot on this list of coins to watch in 2018 – with an impressive total market cap of about $43bn. Each coin costs around $2,574.19 and investors are looking forward to seeing this newer coin outperform some of the bigger altcoins on the market.

 

  • NEM

 

    Having earned the nickname as ‘China’s Ethereum’, NEM is the currency popular for its POI (proof-of-importance) rather than a proof-of-work system. NEM grew 29,842% in 2017, three times the amount than Ethereum did, with a market cap of more than $12.5bn.