Cryptocurrency has exploded in popularity over the past few years. While some coins, like Bitcoin, have been around for quite a while now, it wasn’t until the price started skyrocketing that people started paying attention.
Nowadays, there are hundreds of coins and tokens on the market. Some were designed as a joke, while others are made for real-world projects that can change how we live. There has never been a better time to invest in one of these coins than right now.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin is the big daddy of cryptos and also the one you’ve probably heard about the most. Bitcoin has been around for several years but has only recently found its way into the mainstream. Considering one of the goals of crypto is to become a common currency, Bitcoin is the closest to this.
There is also a finite amount of it, meaning once it has all been mined, there is no more of it, which means the price will go up even further. Bitcoin is very expensive, but you can buy fractions, meaning if you were only going to invest in one coin, Bitcoin should be it.
Ethereum
The main contender to the Bitcoin throne is Ethereum. ETH differs from Bitcoin in two significant ways. It is far cheaper, and the Ethereum blockchain wasn’t designed for currency but for users to create, publish and monetize apps.
There is no limit to how much ETH can be created, hence the lower price, as there is far more of it than Bitcoin, but the ETH blockchain has far more real-world applications, meaning it is an excellent long-term investment.
ADA
ADA, or Cardano, has quickly emerged as the third biggest crypto on the market right now. It aims to be a third-generation and more advanced blockchain, which focuses on collecting and spreading data quicker than Bitcoin and ETH.
ADA is also far cheaper than ETH and Bitcoin; there is no need to buy fractions as you can easily buy whole ADA coins with the smallest budgets. There are very few coins that exploded as quickly as ADA, and with such a low price, now is the best time to invest.
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Binance Coin
Binance is one of the biggest crypto trading platforms, and Binance Coin is a crypto that was first created to pay for fees and whatnot on the Binance website. But, it has now evolved into a coin one can use to book travel, pay for entertainment and work done, and many more applications.
Binance regularly “burns” portions of the 200 million coins, which simply means destroying them and raising the price and demand for the coin. Considering this coin is tied to a system that regularly ups the price, it is a solid investment opportunity.
Tether
While cryptos pride themselves on the fact that they aren’t tied to fiat currencies, some are, with one being Tether. Tether is directly attached to the US dollar and is called a stable coin, a far more transparent coin, and offers lower transaction fees.
Tether is supposedly a 1:1 value with the dollar, meaning you are simply purchasing a crypto version of a regular fiat dollar.
Steller
The Stellar Network was designed to connect banks, payment systems, and financial institutions to allow for large transactions to happen quicker and at a much lower cost to the user.
With their coin XLM, Stellar first emerged in 2014 and is now valued at around $10 billion. Experts and investors believe the strength of Steller lies in facilitating loans and remittances to underbanked and emerging economies.
Polkadot
Polkadot was co-founded by Gavin Wood, the same man who created Ethereum. Polkadot works on two different blockchains, the “relay” network, where all transactions are done and are permanent, and a user-created chain that lets you create apps, for instance, and allows you to benefit from the security of the main blockchain.
The goal of Polkadot is to build bridges within the blockchain that allows for the seamless transmission of data and improve the security of the blockchain with each block and bridge added. They aren’t the only ones doing this, but they are certainly the best right now.
Doge
Dogecoin is, in simple terms, a joke coin. It was created in 2013 to meme on Bitcoin and the apparent stupidity of buying coins you can’t touch or spend on anything. However, a Tweet from Elon Musk changed what Doge was.
He tweeted his support, and suddenly, a handful of people with a few thousand Doge coins became overnight millionaires. While this type of spike is unlikely to happen again soon, it made Doge a legitimate crypto and now trades for a few cents with potential profits to be made.
Monero
Monero was designed to address the privacy issues that Bitcoin has. When trading Bitcoin, it is possible to track transactions, meaning it isn’t completely anonymous. Monero changes that by making all transactions completely anonymous with no way for them to be tracked.
It is also possible to mine Monero with less hardware and power compared to ETH and Bitcoin, meaning if you want, you can mine and create your Monero coins, it may take a while, but it is possible.
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Litecoin
Litecoin first hit the market in 2011 and was created by a former Google employee named Charlie Lee. The credibility and history of Lee add to the credibility of the coin, unlike a currency such as Bitcoin, whose inventor is still unknown.
Lee has stated that Litecoin was created to be like silver is to gold, with gold being Bitcoin. It has its advantages, too. It is cheaper than Bitcoin and has much faster block creation, allowing shorter transaction confirmation times.
Final thoughts
If you are brand new to cryptocurrencies, these are the coins that will help you get started and allow you to understand the world of cryptos. While nothing is guaranteed, these coins have huge long and short-term potential for investors and creators.