Altcoins
Altcoins are cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin. The majority of altcoins are forks of Bitcoin with small uninteresting changes.
The word “altcoin” is an abbreviation of “Bitcoin alternative,” and thus describes every single cryptocurrency except for Bitcoin. Altcoins are referred to as Bitcoin alternatives because, at least to some extent, most altcoins hope to either replace or improve upon at least one Bitcoin component. An altcoin is useful if it accomplishes a task that Bitcoin cannot. There are thousands of altcoins and every day appear more. CoinMarketCap lists 2082 altcoins (January 4th, 2019). CoinMarketCap lists the first TOP 100 Cryptocurrencies.
Most altcoins are little more than Bitcoin clones, changing only minor characteristics such as its transactions speed, distribution method, or hashing algorithm. Most of these coins do not survive for very long. There are several exceptions, one being Litecoin, which has been one of the first altcoins. In addition to using a different hashing algorithm than bitcoin, litecoin has a much higher number of currency units. For this reason, Litecoin has branded itself as “silver to Bitcoin’s gold”.
Another exception is Dogecoin which has a powerful community that has managed to make remarkable things. |
Be aware of scam coins!
For example premine and instamine - these coins have been created in “get rich quick” scheme in order to make money only by their creators and small group involved in instamine or premine. Do not use these coins, let them fall into limbo. Using them it is waste of your time and CPU/GPU power.
Check the list of scam coins and keep yourself updated with the latest news.
For example premine and instamine - these coins have been created in “get rich quick” scheme in order to make money only by their creators and small group involved in instamine or premine. Do not use these coins, let them fall into limbo. Using them it is waste of your time and CPU/GPU power.
Check the list of scam coins and keep yourself updated with the latest news.