Tether (USDT)
The cryptocurrency market can become very volatile at times. During volatility, the safest thing to do is to exchange your other cryptocurrencies into a stablecoin until the market returns to normal. Tether was developed in 2014 on the Bitcoin blockchain using the Proof of Reserve standard and aimed to incorporate fiat currency into digital currencies. Tether is one of the most popular stablecoins and is pegged to the US dollar, and its value is almost equivalent to $1. As of September 2021, Tether is the fifth largest asset by market capitalization ($65.5 billion).
.
Ethereum (ETH)
Ethereum is a blockchain platform, and its issued cryptocurrency, Ether (or Ethereum), is the second most valuable cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, with each coin having a value of $3,170 at the moment (09/21/01). The platform was developed with its own programming language, Solidity, using the Proof of Work (POW) method. It allows users to sign smart contracts and run decentralized applications (dApps) without the control and interference of a third-party organization. Ethereum’s goal is to provide the means for everyone on the globe to have free access to financial products.
Litecoin (LTC)
Litecoin is famous for being the “silver to Bitcoin’s gold” and was developed in 2011 as a fork of Bitcoin. LTC uses Scrypt as the standard scheme for the proof-of-work protocol. Scrypt was designed to prevent custom hardware attacks on LTC. The coin aims to generate blocks and complete transactions faster than Bitcoin. Additionally, LTC is continuing an unfinished Bitcoin project called Segregated Witness or SegWit that aims to detach signal data outside of the base block. LTC has a limited supply of 84 million coins, and its current market price (CMP) is $173.
.
Cardano (ADA)
As mentioned earlier, Ethereum, a second-generation platform, uses the POW protocol and needs a lot of energy to operate. Energy consumption has been a serious challenge for projects using POW, especially with serious warnings from environmentalists about drastic climate changes. Therefore, the Proof-of-Stake (POS) protocol was developed as a more efficient alternative to POW, and Cardano, a third-generation platform, based its project on a POS base. ADA is Cardano’s main currency. The project pursues the same goals as Ethereum by consuming less energy.
Polkadot (DOT)
Polkadot is a POS project developed to create a medium where platforms (permissioned or permissionless) of different blockchains can work together, serving the purpose of interoperability. Using Polkadot, developers can create their blockchain in a secure environment. Additionally, the platform can be used to transfer arbitrary data as well as tokens. DOT is the official cryptocurrency issued by Polkadot, with a CMP of $25 and a market cap worth $24.9 billion.
Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
Bitcoin Cash is another successful fork of bitcoin that was created in August 2017 but later in November 2018 split into two versions: ABC and SV (Satoshi version). The goal of BCH is to increase the block size in the Bitcoin blockchain from 1MB to between 8MB and 32MB and, therefore, speed up transaction confirmation processes. Thanks to BCH, the Bitcoin blockchain – which could previously process 1,500 transactions per block – now processes up to 25,000 transactions per block. BCH has a supply limit of 21 million coins and is currently worth $644 with a market cap of $12.1 billion.
Stellar (XLM)
Stellar is a non-profit company that received its funding from Stripe (an online payment infrastructure) and donations from Google, BlackRock, and other organizations. Stellar’s project is aimed at developing economies and hopes to provide enterprise solutions to connect institutions around the world and reduce transaction fees for transferring money between institutions without the presence of a third party. However, anyone can use the platform, and it is not reserved for entrepreneurs. Stellar has issued Lumens (XLM) as its primary cryptocurrency. The token is worth $0.33, and its market cap is $7.9 billion.
.
Solana (SOL)
Solana is a recently developed platform that provides decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions. The novelty of the project is the hybrid consensus algorithm that can handle a maximum of 50,000 transactions per second. The platform is open source and is based on two protocols: Proof of Stake and Proof of History. The duality of the protocols has inspired retail and institutional traders, and SOL, the project’s cryptocurrency, has grown rapidly since Solana’s official launch in March 2020. Currently, the value of one SOL is $106, and its market capitalization stands at $30.6 billion.
.
Chainlink (LINK)
Chainlink is a decentralized oracle network that connects off-chain data with smart contracts via a software service level agreement (SLA) that meets the needs of blockchain users. The project claims to bridge the gap between blockchains and the real world. Chainlink provides security to oracle networks using the ERC-20 token but has a POS algorithm. LINK is the official token of Chainlink with a maximum supply of 1 billion tokens, currently worth $25 with a market cap of $11.2 billion.
Binance Coin (BNB)
BNB is the coin issued by the popular cryptocurrency exchange, Binance. BNB initially used the TRC-20 token but eventually developed the blockchain and now runs on the POS protocol. BNB is used to pay transaction fees for trading on Binance at a discount, and the trader can exchange BNB for other cryptocurrencies. Currently, one BNB is worth $478, and its market cap is $79.8 billion.