Cryptocurrencies Beyond Bitcoin
When the dates showed November 2008, the concept of crypto money entered our lives with the article titled “Bitcoin: Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System“
published on the internet by a person or group with the code name Satoshi Nakomoto
. With Bitcoin, people have started to actively use crypto coins, which are alternatives to fiat money, by rapidly expanding their areas of use. In this new field, where Bitcoin is the pioneer, 2365 crypto currencies have emerged until September 2019, except for Bitcoin, and today the number of crypto currencies has reached over 7 thousand. (Assoc. Prof. Dr. M.YILDIRIM, 2019, Blockchain Technology, Crypto Coins and Countries’ Approaches to Crypto Coins)
People always tend to gravitate towards what is popular due to their structure, but what are the crypto coins that are at least as popular as Bitcoin?
Ethereum (ETH)
, both a cryptocurrency and a cryptocurrency operating system, was first introduced in late 2013 by cryptocurrency researcher and programmer Vitalik Buterin
. It is the largest crypto money in the crypto money market after Bitcoin. Ethereum, which is more innovative than Bitcoin’s
blockchain
system due to its short increase in value, is shown as the biggest competitor to Bitcoin. Ethereum production is done by mining, and unlike Bitcoin, it is done on the GPU (video card) without the need for high processor devices. There are currently 111 million units in circulation, but there are no restrictions on its supply. We have mentioned that Ethereum is a crypto money operating system, and thanks to this feature, it allows the creation of new software and enables new crypto coins to participate in circulation. Since its launch, it has seen its highest value in 2018 at $1400.
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Tether (USDT)
It is a stablecoin that was launched in 2014 as Realcoin but was rebranded Tether in 2015. It is a blockchain-based cryptocurrency whose value is fixed to $1 by the manufacturer company. The biggest advantage of Tether is that it is fixed to the dollar, allowing investors to dry up different cryptocurrencies from the state of converting them to dollars and transfer them between platforms in a fast, cheap way. Tether is not mined, it is released by its manufacturer, the Tether company, with US$1 for each Tether. In 2020, Tether surpassed Ripple in terms of market capitalization and ranked 3rd largest after Bitcoin and Ethereum. It is traded as a cryptocurrency.
Ripple (XRP)
In 2012, it was launched as a payment network “RippleNet” and also as a cryptocurrency “Ripple/XRP”. Unlike many cryptocurrencies, Ripple is a cryptocurrency that cannot be mined and where blockchain-based ledgers are completely managed by a company. The goal with Ripple is a reliable, cheap and fast transfer of high-sum assets and coins. With Ripple, the transfer process is provided in 4 seconds from one end of the world to the other end. With the presence of a center, it stands out as a crypto money and network that is frequently preferred by large companies and banks that provide payment systems because they can find a counterpart. In terms of market capitalization, Bitcoin is the crypto money that comes after Tether and Ethereum. The reason why the price of Ripple is low compared to other crypto coins is shown as the use of it as a means of transfer. Ripple production was initially produced as 100 billion, but 38 billion were put into circulation
Litecoin (LTC)
It was released in 2011 by Charlie Lee, a former Google engineer, to fix some bugs in the Bitcoin system. Although it has the same working principles as Bitcon, there are some differences. Parts separated by Bitcoin: While each block is processed in 10 minutes in the Bitcoin network, this time is provided as 2.5 minutes in the Litecoin network. Transfers on the Bitcoin network that take a long time and with high transaction fees are provided in a short time and cheaply on the Litecoin network. The reason why Litecoin is cheaper to transfer is that it uses the scrypt algorithm instead of the SHA-2 algorithm used in Bitcoin. While mining with personal computers is possible in the Litecoin system, this is not possible in Bitcoin. The supply of Litecoin is set at 84 million.
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Stellar Lumens (XLM)
Stellar, which appeared in July 2014; It is the platform that connects banks, payment system infrastructures and people in order to ensure the transfer of money quickly, reliably and with minimum expense. It was founded in partnership with Mt Gox and Ripple’s designer Jed McCaleb. With the update made to the network in 2015 It is named Lumen. Lumen is the cryptocurrency of the Stellar network. There is no Stellar mining operation. The existing 103 billion Stellar was mined before the network was operational.
