From around $1000 in the beginning
of this year, Blockchain based cryptocurrency bitcoin is today nearing $20,000
mark. The boom in Bitcoin value has also helped its rivals surge.
Cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple too have soared to records
in the past few weeks. Here are some closest rivals of Bitcoins.
Ethereum – It is one of the hottest rivals of Bitcoins. Launched
in the year 2014, it is currently the second most valuable cryptocurrency. Like
Bitcoin, it is also a type of Blockchain network. Ethereum is a decentralized
platform that runs smart contracts. Applications that run exactly as programmed
without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third party
interference.
The Bitcoin and Ethereum Blockchains
differ primarily in purpose and capability. While the Bitcoin Blockchain is
used to track ownership of the digital currency bitcoin, the Ethereum Blockchain
can be used to build decentralized applications. The virtual currency
associated with Ethereum is called Ether.
Ripple – It is reportedly considered as logical successor to Bitcoin.
It was launched in the year 2012 by former Bitcoin developers and is a startup
using Blockchain technology that as per its website connects Banks, payment
providers, digital asset exchanges and corporates. It also operates as a
payment network called RippleNet. XRP is Ripple cryptocurrency. It has been
soaring to record high since Bitcoin jumped. Currently, Ripple XRP is up more
than 7,000% from its 0.65% at the beginning of last year.
Litecoin – The digital currency Litecoin too has emerged as a
strong rival to Bitcoin, giving tough competition to other cryptocurrency
rivals like IOTA and Ripple. Litecoin has surged over 5,700% last year till December
12, whereas Bitcoin had gained 1,550% during the same period. It is a peer to
peer cryptocurrency, launched in 2011. Litecoin is very similar to Bitcoin in
its technical implementation. The biggest advantages of Litecoin are claimed to
be speed and low fees. Litecoin uses Scrypt Algorithm; it reportedly demands
memory instead of processor resources. Generating new Litecoin is possible
through mining as well.
Zcash – It claims to be the first open, permission-less
cryptocurrency that can fully protects the privacy of transactions using zero
knowledge cryptography. Like Bitcoin, Zcash is a Blockchain based currency.
Launched in October 2016, as per Zcash website, its monetary base too is the
same as Bitcoin’s – 21 Million Zcash currency units and is mined over time.
It is a scarce token just like
Bitcoin which can be transferred globally and exchanged to/from other Cryptocurrencies
or flat currencies via online exchanges, in-person transactions etc. Recently, Zcash
became the third digital currency to receive the backing of the Bitcoin
Investment Trust and the Ethereum Classic Investment Trust.
Dash – Is an open source peer to peer cryptocurrency. Dash can be
used to make instant private payments online or in-store using our secure open
source platform hosted by thousands of users around the world. Bitcoins
shortcomings led to the development of cryptocurrency Dash. Its three biggest benefits,
as per its website, are said to be Instant, Private and Security. It claims to
send payment confirmations in less than a second. Two protect user’s financial
information by safeguarding their activity history and keeping balances
private. Three transactions are claimed to be confirmed by 200 TerraHash of X11
ASIC Computer power and over 4,500 servers hosted around the world.
Monero – It is claimed to be a secure, private and untraceable
cryptocurrency. The open source cryptocurrency created in April 2014 has been
soaring for the past five weeks with prices more than tripling since early November.
Monero Research Labs is also said to be working hard to bring down the network’s
transaction fees by as much as 80%. Monero developers are said to be
implementation Bulletproofs to bring down transaction sizes on the network.
IOTA – It is another emerging bitcoin rival. It has marked capitalization
of Rs 0.75 Lakh crore. IOTA represents a third generation of Blockchain after
the development of Bitcoin.
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