The cryptocurrency market (aka cryptomarket) counts with hundreds of virtual currencies, but some of them are most popular. These are the top 7 cryptocurrencies in terms of market cap: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, IOTA, Litecoin, Cardano, Dash, Monero and NEO.
Note: If you don’t know, you may consider a cryptocurrency like an encrypted data string which is used to track the ownership of digital coins or tokens. The blockchain technology at the center of cryptocurrency can be used for the exchange, trading, security and authentication of any kind of data to provide a secure and fast way to carry out transactions over an internet-based network.
1. Bitcoin ($117 billion market cap)
Bitcoin is a decentralized currency, which means that it is not regulated by any government. It also has a finite supply of 21 million. Bitcoin transactions are verified by network nodes and recorded in a public distributed ledger called the blockchain.
2. Ethereum ($29 billion market cap)
Ethereum is the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation (after Bitcoin), according to coinmarketcap.com. Ethereum is a public, blockchain-based distributed computing platform with an associated cryptocurrency token called ether.
It provides a decentralized Turing-complete virtual machine, the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), which can execute scripts using an international network of public nodes.
3. Ripple ($14 billion market cap)
Ripple is an open-source protocol that uses blockchain technology for the global money transaction system.
It provides a secure and instant way to send any currency to anyone in the world without any form of chargebacks, making it different from other cryptocurrencies in the market. Recently, Ripple has seen a sudden surge in its price, surpassing Ethereum as second most valued cryptocurrency with its price reaching $2.21 at one point.
Ripple has been built on a distributed open source Internet protocol and makes use of consensus ledger to make transactions happen faster. The payment system is not controlled by any central authority, so every participant can access and feel confident about the value of each transaction done within Ripple’s network.
4. Dash (DASH-$6 billion market cap)
Dash is a cryptocurrency that was created to address the need for an anonymous, decentralized electronic currency.
Dash is based on Bitcoin software and has an integrated API which allows it to be used as a point of sale system, or to send and receive money from remittance networks. It has a debit card that makes it easy for people who live in Dash-supported countries to withdraw cash at ATMs.
The Dash network has many features which can be activated by the community with the use of masternodes.
5. Monero (XMR-$5 billion market cap)
Monero is a cryptocurrency that focuses on privacy and decentralization. It has a strong development team, which is why it doesn’t suffer from the issues that Bitcoin has.
The main difference between Monero and Bitcoin is the level of privacy. The two cryptocurrencies are often compared to each other because they are in the same market segment and both have unique features. Monero’s main goal in life is to achieve complete anonymity for its users, which it does by employing a type of cryptography called “ring signatures.”
Ring signatures work by mixing up the user’s public key with other public keys from other users, so that each transaction looks like it came from a different person. This makes it very difficult for anyone to track down who actually transmitted a given transaction or how much was sent in any given
6. NEO (NEO-$2 billion market cap)
NEO is a platform which allows the deployment of smart contracts and also provides a development framework for them.
NEO was founded in 2014 and has been one of the leading cryptocurrencies in recent years. One of its goals is to create a scalable network of decentralized applications, which is backed by distributed storage technology, cross-chain protocol, digital identity authentication, and secure communication protocol.
NEO uses 2 distinct types of tokens: NEO (the value token) and GAS (the utility token). GAS tokens are used for running the network while NEO tokens give voting rights to its holders on how to manage the network.
7. Litecoin ($1.6 billion market cap)
Litecoin is a cryptocurrency created by Charlie Lee, an ex-Google engineer. After working for Google, Lee saw the need for a network that is capable of handling more transactions per second than Bitcoin.
He developed the Litecoin to be faster and less expensive than Bitcoin. Litecoin has faster processing time and lower transaction fees, allowing more users to use the coin without worrying about high processing costs like Bitcoin.