Cryptocurrencies have been gaining quite a bit of momentum within the past decade and have been an excellent market for investing and making some of your dollars count. However, wealth is only attained by investing your money in the right currencies. So, therefore, we’ll talk about the top five most popular cryptocurrencies, so you know where to begin.
Top 5 Most Popular Cryptocurrencies
Investing is only a smart move if you know exactly what you’re investing in. Here are five well-known cryptocurrencies to use as your starting point if you wish.
1. Bitcoin
Everyone has heard of Bitcoin (BTC) as it’s the most famous cryptocurrency and the most valuable. Currently, a single bitcoin is worth about $56,000 only after being founded in 2008. However, it has been known to fall out time and again, like back in 2018 when it wiped out billions of dollars for heavy investors.
Even though lately the Bitcoin market has hit its burst, and has fallen quite a bit, it’s expected to pick back up. Just because a currency has had a recent drop, does not mean that it’s not a wise one to invent into. It’s more of a matter of timing than anything.
2. Ethereum
Ether (ETH) took off in 2015. It used Bitcoin’s blockchain model but added smart contracts to it. Smart contracts are where a specific set of criteria is met; the model can then code automated agreements.
One Ethereum equals about $4,100 at the time of writing. If you want to be a part of the ecosystem that Ethereum is, it’s wise to purchase Ether to begin.
3. Monero
Monero (XMR) was created to keep anyone from tracing transactions that it’s used in. It was a great idea as far as the privacy aspect goes; however, it’s also now used for criminal activity. The way they do this is by using cryptography. This helps make the addresses of the sender and receiver and the amount; all obscured with no record of it.
One Monero is worth $400, even after having been created in 2014. However, many things the worth is low due to illegal use. The stealth of Monero comes from combining three privacy technologies, and they are:
- Stealth address
- Ring confidential transactions
- Ring signatures
4. Litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) is essentially the same as Bitcoin, as it was created from the blockchain of Bitcoin. However, it just has higher transaction speeds, unlike Bitcoin, which is notorious for slow transaction speeds.
Both of these cryptocurrencies have similar architectures. However, Litecoin goes about its algorithm differently. Litecoin is worth about $373 as of May 2021.
5. Tether
Tether (USDT) is a bit as it doesn’t have the same degrees of market instability. One tether is equivalent to one US dollar. Therefore, when anyone uses it for a transaction, they know exactly how much money they’re putting into it, so it’s easy to track.
It has been the largest stable coin on the market but has recently increased in popularity in recent months. Tether is slow growing, but growing, nonetheless.