I will briefly talk about several crypto-currencies in the TOP-15 on capitalization: what are their essence, advantages and disadvantages. And despite the fact that in many of them I invested money, I will not give any specific advice on investments here.
1. Bitcoin
Bitcoin is a crypto currency that can only be sent, received and stored. In doing so, it has many drawbacks inherent in the architecture itself: it is slow, difficult to scale, requires a lot of power for mining, a lot of storage space, transactions are expensive, and cryptography can be hacked if desired.
Here are some more cons:----- Bitcoin slow means that transactions in bitcoin occur every 10 minutes. To confirm the transaction, you need to mine, and this is a very energy-intensive process. To increase the number of users (scalability), you need to increase the computing power of computers.
----- To work bitcoin-network you need to store huge amounts of information.
----- Bitcoin was not such a decentralized system, as it was announced at the very beginning. Theoretically, the miners can unite into huge pools and manage the network.
----- The maximum number of bitcoins that can be released is 21 million. To date, they have already produced 16.75 million. What will happen when the total volume reaches the limit? Obviously, there will be a so-called hardcore when a decision is made to create a new version of the bitcoin network. This means a big vote, if you want - holding a referendum among the holders of the bitcoins. The Chinese crypto currency holders advocated that such a referendum should be held in September. After him, perhaps, the "constitution" of bitcoin will change. And we know how constitutions change easily and quickly in different countries ....
Most likely, according to the results of the hard-selling, the cost of the transaction will be reduced in several times, because its verification will be simplified. The restriction on mining will also change. Perhaps it will be removed altogether. But so far too many unknown. And most importantly, there are other currencies that are technically more sophisticated. While bitcoin remains the world's gold standard crypto currency.2. Ethereum
"Ether" begins to press bitcoin in terms of popularity. Probably, this currency has more prospects. If bitcoin can act only as a means of exchange and storage, then Ethereum has a number of advantages. The main thing is the ability to create smart contracts. Now this platform is the most popular in the world when building a block economy, and is used with numerous ICO.
Ethereum inherited almost all the diseases of bitcoin. Yes, it's faster - it updates every 10 seconds (that is, 60 times faster), but it has the same scaling problems (the recent case with SONM is an example), power consumption and storage.3. Ripple
The project team is trying to make a new payment system so that it can make payments in all currencies. The advantage of this currency is that it is used by banks. However, it is not decentralized. Coins can not be mined, that is, their number does not increase. Ripple has a huge speed advantage over BTC and ETH, but the operations are not so transparent. For the classical banking system, this is normal - there anonymity has never been welcomed.
4. Litecoin
Absolute analog of the cue ball. Faster, steeper in all respects - but just turned out to be the second. Buy it is worthwhile in terms of diversifying investment in the same bitcoin. But from the point of view of innovation there is nothing.
5. Ethereum Classic
Alibaba - the largest online store with a multi-billion dollar turnover. But still understand that he is still not as cool as Amazon. Classic may even be more expensive than regular Ethereum, but there are some nuances. ETC appeared after the Ethereum hail, which occurred last fall, and still does not cause trust in the crypto community. The main attention is still paid to ETH, and all the iconic projects are being conducted on this platform.
6. Dash и NEM
Honestly, I do not often see these currencies. NEM is mainly drawn in Japan, where it is officially allowed to buy and sell goods for crypto currency. The number of coins is always one less than 9 billion, additional emission is not provided, so there is no mining, but there is a so-called harvesting.
Dash - crypto currency, whose transactions are completely anonymous. Many people talk about this as an advantage, but think: why does an ordinary person have complete anonymity in transactions? Still, all decisions about changes in the "constitution" take place with the help of a general vote, that is, the Dash-network is completely decentralized.
Naturally, both currencies work faster than a cue ball and have a number of software advantages.
7. IOTA
A real innovation in the world of crypto currency. Offers a fundamentally new paradigm, which can change everything at all. IOTA is also called the "crypto currency of things". It appeared five years ago, but it has become popular just now. As soon as she entered the stock exchange, she immediately burst into the Top 10 crypto-currency.
How does bitcoin work? In order to perform a bitcoin transaction, the miner must do some work to confirm the transaction. Spend time, a lot of energy and allocate space for storage. In the case of IOTA, you can independently confirm the transaction using your device - for example, a regular phone. Your smartphone confirms two other transactions. Those transactions are confirmed by your two. And so on. The more users, the faster and better the network works.
In general, this is a real bomb that threatens to make a revolution. IOTA solves all problems inherent in bitcoin (limited, high requirements for computing power, pseudo-decentralization, data growth and storage problem, slow speed).
8. Monero
Briefly, unlike bitcoin, Monero emission is not limited, but transactions take up several times more space than bitcoin. But this is not the most interesting. Here Russian ears stick out. In general, low-cost transactions, good translation speed, good mining. But you have to be careful - with them there can be some AFK "System" ...
9. EOS
EOS - the evolution of the currency BitShares and Steemit (which, by the way, seriously criticized that does not prevent BitShares from getting close to the top 10 on capitalization). At its core is a breakthrough technology, which can be compared with the appearance of a blockade. In theory, they can replace Ethereum or enter into synergy with it.
In terms of technology, the project is better than Ethereum. Developers have created a new language, and now the EOS platform creates an operating system on which it will be possible to build separate applications.
The team expects that the whole world will work on EOS. In general, to be honest, this is the world of "Crypt 3.0", which even for me is too much. Too grand and incredible. But this may well happen in about five years.
10. BitShares
The bottom line is that here in the blockade the value of any currency is replicated. A useful tool not to lose on converting, not to depend on the legislation of different countries, taxes and so on. There is also a similar currency Tether, which is tied to the dollar.
It is used as a currency to collect fees for a transaction of a fiat currency. It can be speculated. But if we want to operate with fiat money in the blockroom, we can do it inside the BitShares system).
Little-known but promising
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1. Waves
In fact, this is a platform for crowdfanding. Serious claims, aggressive marketing. But they can turn wrong and there will be "chichvarkin".
2. Dogecoin
I do not know much about them, but I like them, because my friends from Google buy them. And that's why I also buy them.
3. Bancor
It is essentially a stock exchange: the platform on Ethereum, on which you can exchange different cryptotenes (but they all have to be the ERC20 standard - this is the most common Ethereum standard, on which most projects are developed). Everything is regulated by smart contracts. This is a new economic tool in the world of blockades. In fact, they brought the derivatives into the block, which nobody did before. It seems to me that this is a niche product, which, however, can grow 5-10 times.
4. Decrede
A good, fashionable currency, I see in them prospects. It's fast, it's cheap in a transaction, it's profitable in mining. It is loved by miners - in other words, market providers like it. And she is like McDonald's - does not belong to anyone. 99.9% of McDonald's shares are traded on the stock exchange, but the largest shareholder owns only 2% of the shares. That is, the option that with Decred will do something bad, that there will be some collusion, is extremely small. Decreded as McDonalds.
5. Aragon
Fantastic project. And by "fantastic" I do not mean "cool", but the original meaning of the word. The business model is incomprehensible, but the team is good. Try to work in the market predictions of events.
While the project is in the alpha stage and no real money goes in there, the team really knows how to correctly analyze the data. Aragon can become crypto-Netflix. How they do it - I have no idea. But just to remind you, 7 years Netflix was unprofitable.