What are Altcoins? How do they work?

Altcoins or alternative cryptocurrencies such as Dogecoin (Doge), Shiba (SHIB), Orion (ORN), and constellation (DAG) , frequently dominate the trends on the Internet, and their price fluctuations are the focus of many Internet users. For this reason, we consider that knowing them is important to be able to handle the information by oneself without having to resort to third parties, or to avoid scams.

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In this post we are going to know what the term Altcoins refers to, their history, how to access them and some of the most popular Altcoins of the moment.

Altcoins and alternative cryptocurrencies

What are Altcoins?

Altcoins is the term used to differentiate all alternative cryptocurrencies to Bitcoin. These cryptocurrencies are similar to BTC, since they are also distributed in blockchains or Blockchain.

What are the best Altcoins?

Currently we can differentiate popular Altcoins such as Ethereum- ETH, Litecoin- LTC, Binance- BNB, Ripple- XRP, Cardano- ADA, Shiba- SHIB, Vetchain- VET, Constellation- DAG, Dash- DASH, or Dogecoin- DOGE. These are changing and updating the TOP according to their updates and popularity.

When did the Altcoins appear?

Satoshi Nakamoto gave birth to the pioneering cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC), in 2009. Two years later, the first alternative cryptocurrency to BTC appeared, known as Namecoin (NMC), which made way for the rest of the Altcoins that exist today .

Why did Altcoins appear?

Altcoins are born to solve problems or provide utilities to users that Bitcoin cannot solve. These alternative cryptocurrencies slightly alter the rules and functions to attract other types of users. There are currently 5,400 cryptocurrencies on the market.

Where to buy Altcoins?

To buy alternative cryptocurrencies, we can go to any Exchange or exchange house. Within Exchanges such as Binance, Huobi, or Coinbase, we can acquire Altcoins in exchange for other cryptocurrencies, or with FIAT money.

Where to store Altcoins?

We can store and manage our Altcoins in the same way as Bitcoin BTC, through the use of Wallets or digital wallets. The choice of a cold wallet, or a hot wallet, depends on your interests, security, and your needs.

What are the best cryptocurrencies to invest in 2021?

The best cryptocurrencies to buy in 2021 according to some analysts are Bitcoin-BTC, Cardano-ADA and Compund-COMP. Although others assure that it is better to invest in Ripple- XRP, Binance- BNB or Stellar- XLM. The cryptocurrency market is popular for its high volatility, which makes it difficult to control and predict crypto assets.

Best Cryptocurrencies and Best Altcoins to Invest

No investment in cryptocurrencies provides security, even investing in Stablecoins carries risks. In fact, the stablecoin Tether USDT is facing problems and criticism since they ensure that the crypto asset does not have sufficient funds to support its currencies. However, we are going to mention the most popular Altcoins of the moment, and briefly summarize their projects.

Ethereum ETH

Ethereum (ETH) was founded in 2015 by Vitalik Buterin. The development of Ethereum is not a cryptocurrency itself, but a decentralized computing platform. That is, a chain of blocks or blockchain.

Its chain of blocks is made up of a network of computers that work as one, and allows running decentralized applications or DApps.

The entire infrastructure hosts and operates DApss (Decentralized Applications), and is powered by Ether (ETH) , its native cryptocurrency. It also has tokens, such as ERC-20, which give users who acquire them the possibility to make decisions based on the rights granted by that token.

Ripple XRP

Ripple- XRP is a cryptocurrency that uses the Ripple network, and it is commonly confused with its protocol. The XRP token can be sent with very low fees and with great speed. Even so, this cryptocurrency is not necessary for the network to function, nor for banks to use it if they want to implement Ripple technology. In fact, between banks XRP is not used for xCurrent communication.

Ripple (Ripple Transaction Protocol) is a system designed to be used by banks to carry out currency exchanges, remittances, and gross settlement. This system is managed by Ripple Labs, founded in 2012, and is the technology company in charge of developing the protocol.

Cardano ADA

Cardano development is a smart contracts platform, similar to Ethereum, with a focus on security through a layered architecture. The so-called “third-generation blockchain” is the first of its kind created from scientific philosophy and built on peer-reviewed academic research.

The main cryptocurrency or token of the ecosystem is Cardano- ADA. You can buy ADA on several major exchange platforms.

Polygon Matic

Polygon Matic is what we knew as the Matic network or Matic Network, and its main objective was to solve the existing scalability problems in Ethereum. To do this, Matic network relies on huge, high-quality libraries, which allow the creation of applications for the web and mobile devices that go beyond current technology.

Polygon's main cryptocurrency is Matic. Matic is an ERC-20 token, belonging to the Ethereum blockchain. Cryptocurrencies or tokens are used for payment services at Polygon, and as virtual currency between users operating within Polygon. Transaction fees on their network are also paid with Matic tokens or cryptocurrency.

Stellar XLM

Stellar consists of an open network for storing and moving money. In essence, we are talking about a platform that allows connecting payment systems, banks, and people.

Stellar-XLM was based on the protocol created by the production laboratory of another cryptocurrency or Altcoin, Ripple-XRP. However, due to a philosophical and ideological distancing from the Ripple project, Stellar decided to rewrite the code entirely.

Dash DASH

Dash has become one of the world's leading cryptocurrencies, alongside Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Cardano, and other high-flying cryptocurrencies. Its market capitalization has led Dash to position itself among the top 20 currencies in a market that stands out for being highly competitive.

Dash is a cryptocurrency that is hosted on a semi-private blockchain network. Dash is hosted outside of the Bitcoin and Litecoin code and includes several changes and enhancements that have made the coin different since its debut in 2014.

Binance BNB

Binance Coin is the native token of the Binance trading platform and is based on the Ethereum blockchain. In its beginnings, it used the ERC-20 token standard and its main objective was to provide users and investors of the platform with affordability and convenience in operations.

As the leading exchange continues to expand and grow in scope, many financial market experts view BNB's future as bright. Binance also encourages investment in BNB with lower rewards and fees within its exchange platform.

Shiba SHIB

First of all, we should mention that this Altcoin is a meme. Also, Shiba-SHIB is not a cryptocurrency itself, but an ERC-20 token that is enabled within the Ethereum blockchain. However, despite being an ERC-20 token, Shiba is the first unit in a huge ecosystem that integrates other tokens of the same type, a decentralized exchange, and ERC-1155 tokens.

Shiba-SHIB appears with the intention of creating a new complete ecosystem within the Ethereum-ETH Blockchain, and a community of users like the one that owns the Dogecoin-DOGE cryptocurrency. To achieve this purpose, they have devised several elements to try to boost the prominence of the Shiba cryptocurrency.

Dogecoin DOGE

Dogecoin- DOGE is a cryptocurrency that allows digital payments through the dogecoin Blockchain network. It was developed in 2013 by Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, and it entered the market with a reputation as a virtual prank currency.

This cryptocurrency does not have a CEO or an official company, therefore, it is its loyal followers who drive the coin.

The cryptocurrency DOGE or Dogecoin is mainly used to finance and tip content creators, but the number of merchants accepting it as a means of payment is increasing. Its followers are increasing year after year and are pushing dogecoin prices and its market capitalization to ever higher highs.

Tron

Tron uses P2P and blockchain technology and it is a decentralized platform. Its purpose is to share entertainment and other forms of content. Think of it this way: Tron is essentially a next-generation social media platform, where you can create and share content with absolutely anyone, no matter where in the world you live. Plus, you can pay them to create and share content and data.

With the development of the Tron cryptocurrency ecosystem , content creators are paid with Tron’s basic blockchain account unit: Tronix, which is often abbreviated to the ticker symbol TRX.

This is revolutionary — many social media platforms collect and monetize user data, and account holders never make any profit. Let’s take Facebook as an example. This social media giant collects data on almost everything you do on the web, but you won’t be compensated for it. Tron has a different vision: that each user of social networks has control of their data and is compensated for what they share