Today, 16% of Americans say they’ve dabbled in cryptocurrencies. It’s not a huge number, but many of us are turning from investing in fiat currencies to digital ones, especially since they’ve been making such a buzz in the news lately!
If you’ve been looking to diversify your portfolio a bit, then you might be interested in crypto coins.
What are the different types of cryptocurrencies you can invest in though? Read on to find out which ones are worth your time and money!
Bitcoin
Let’s start off with the most famous cryptocurrency of them all: Bitcoin. This crypto completely dominates the market and has been around the longest.
In fact, Bitcoin was first created in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto. It was first intended to be used as a digital payment system. However, it wasn’t until around 2017 that people started paying attention to this cryptocurrency.
There’s a cap of 21 million Bitcoins and almost 19 million have already been mined. It’s estimated that the last Bitcoin will be mined in 2140.
If you want to invest in a sure thing, then Bitcoin is one of the best cryptos to put your money in. While it’s still a very volatile cryptocurrency, it’s one that’s more stable than others.
As of mid-December 2021, the price of 1 Bitcoin is around $49,200.
Ethereum
If Bitcoin is too rich for your blood, then get peace of mind knowing that other cryptos aren’t as expensive. Plus, it’s always a good idea to diversify and not put all your eggs in one basket.
The second most known cryptocurrency is Ethereum. This is a crypto that depends on an open-source blockchain, which means developers can build both apps and other cryptos around Ethereum.
Ethereum was first created in 2013 and quickly rose in value ever since then. While Bitcoin has a cap, there’s no limit on the number of Ether available. However, there’s a cap of 18 million per year.
In mid-2021, there were over 116 million Ether in circulation. This crypto’s value in mid-December 2021 is around $4,100 for 1 Ether.
Dogecoin
You might’ve heard of Dogecoin; it’s a cryptocurrency that has the face of the Shiba Inu that’s famously on a meme where it says things like “much wow”.
Dogecoin was first created as a joke, by software engineers Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus in 2013. but it’s really taken off, especially in recent years. For instance, you might’ve heard about Elon Musk commenting on this cryptocurrency, which made its value soar like crazy in early 2021.
Like Ethereum, Dogecoin doesn’t have a cap. In October 2021, there were over 130 billion Dogecoins in circulation.
The cost of Dogecoin in mid-December 2021 is $0.16, which makes it an extremely cheap cryptocurrency to get into.
Litecoin
Litecoin is actually a cryptocurrency that’s based on the code for Bitcoin. MIT graduate and former Google engineer Charlie Lee took Bitcoin’s code and improved it as a “fork”.
This crypto was first created in 2011 and is known as crypto “silver” while Bitcoin’s known as crypto “gold”. It’s a much faster version, which allows users to get through transactions much quicker.
Litecoin does have a cap; there are 84 million available, which is 4 times the amount of Bitcoin. This is because Litecoin transactions are 4 times faster!
As of September 2021, there were 84 million Litecoins mined. And as of mid-December 2021, 1 Litecoin costs around $155.
Bitcoin Cash
Bitcoin Cash might sound like the same thing as Bitcoin, but it’s not. Like Litecoin, it’s a fork, which means it shares coding with Bitcoin but is a separate cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin Cash was first created in August 2017 when developers wanted to increase the block size from 1 megabyte (MB). This means Bitcoin Cash’s block size is 8 MB, and as a result, not only can this crypto’s blocks hold more transactions, but the speed of them is faster as well.
Like with Bitcoin, there’s a cap of 21 million Bitcoin Cash. And similarly, there are 18.5 million Bitcoin Cash in circulation.
As of mid-December 2021, 1 Bitcoin Cash is worth just over $455.
Binance Coin
Binance Coin is a cryptocurrency that’s used mainly for trading on the Binance Exchange.
Initially, this crypto was an ERC-20 token, which meant you used it on the Ethereum blockchain. However, its popularity drove developers to create their own mainnet.
There’s a cap of 200 million Binance Coin. They’re pre-mined, which means you can’t take it upon yourself to mine them.
The worth of 1 Binance Coin in mid-December 2021 is around $555.
Tether
Tether’s an interesting cryptocurrency because it’s the first stablecoin in existance. It was created in an effort to fight against volatility. This is why its market value is tied to a currency; in this case, to the US dollar.
This crypto was first created in 2014 and aims to let users use fiat currency digitally. In most cases, Tether is used to move one crypto to another.
There’s no cap on the supply of Tether and because its value is tied to the US dollar, its worth is always $1 per Tether coin.
No matter which type of crypto you get, make sure you sign up for a cryptocurrency wallet. This will allow you to store your digital assets securely!
What Are the Different Types of Cryptocurrencies? Make a Wise Investment Today
Now you know the answer to the question, “what are the different types of cryptocurrencies?”
As you can see, there are several popular cryptos you can invest in. And what’s great is, this is just the tip of the iceberg! There are numerous other cryptocurrencies out there, so do some exploring to discover which are best for you to put your money in.
Want to learn more about blockchain technology? Then check out our other blog articles!