Crypto Assets

Bitcoin

Bitcoin (Bitcoin Core) is a digital currency. Cryptography methods are used to ensure the operation and protection of its system. That is why it has the name “cryptocurrency.” All information about transactions between addresses of this system is available in a clear form. It is completely transparent and serves as the cash equivalent on the Internet. Bitcoin is a kind of flagship and has the highest capitalization in the crypto assets market. Despite the high value of the coin, it continues to be quite affordable, as it is sold in parts and allows the trader to make a transfer of as little as 0.00000001 of its total, which is called 1 Satoshi.

Ticker – BTC
Release Date – January 3, 2009.
The total amount of coins to be minted is 21 000 000 BTC
Encryption algorithm-SHA256
The algorithm for consensus – PoW (Proof of Work)
Creator/lead developer – Satoshi Nakamoto

Ethereum

Ethereum is a virtual platform for creating decentralized online services based on sequentially built blocks containing information (blockchain). It is implemented as a single decentralized virtual machine and is known as the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). It is the second most popular cryptocurrency after Bitcoin. Any action or dependency can be mathematically prescribed with the help of the Ethereum platform. It is a kind of the programming language. Today, the vast majority of new tokens appear on the Ethereum basis.

Ticker – ETH
Release Date – July 30, 2015.
The emission is not limited now, but will be limited probably at 120 million ETH after the network update
The encryption algorithm is Ethash (Dagger Hashimoto)
The algorithm for consensus is PoW (Proof of Work) now, but will be transferred to the PoS (Proof of Stake) after the network update
Creator/lead developer – Vitalik Buterin

Bitcoin Cash

Bitcoin Cash is the cryptocurrency, resulting in hard forks (global network change) of the original blockchain Bitcoin Core on the block 478559. Bitcoin Cash has set the fashion for the invention of new currencies as a result of hard forks. Two key differences from the original network: The Bitcoin Cash block size is 32 MB and the complexity of network operations changes every 6 blocks in comparison with 2016 Bitcoin Core blocks. And this currency is remarkable as it has two tickers which are equally used on different exchanges: BCH and BCC.

Ticker – BCH (BCC)
Release Date – August 1, 2017
Emission – 21 000 000 BCH
Encryption algorithm – SHA256
The algorithm for consensus – PoW (Proof of Work)
Creator/lead developer – Amaury Séchet

Ripple

Ripple is a cryptocurrency platform for payment systems, focused on operations with the exchange of currencies of non-refundable payments. In other words, it is not exactly a cryptocurrency. It is centralized and has its own management company. That is why the community cannot influence the development of the platform, as it does in other cases. Another important difference is that Ripple is not mined. One of the advantages of this platform is fast transactions (just a few seconds), without waiting for the next block. The internal cryptocurrency of the Ripple network is called XRP.

Ticker – XRP
Release Date – May 01, 2013
Emission – 100 000 000 000 XRP
Encryption algorithm – N/A
Consensus algorithm – N/A
Creator/lead developer – Chris Larsen, Jed McCaleb, Ryan Fugger

Dash

Dash (formerly known as Darkcoin and XCoin) is an open decentralized payment system in the form of a cryptocurrency based on a blockchain that uses an anonymous transaction mechanism. Dash has a “Darkcoin” reputation (in comparison with others). The basic principles of the community of this cryptocurrency: anonymity of transactions and increased protection of transactions (at the moment they are almost impossible to track). A distinctive feature of Dash from all other cryptocurrencies is a hybrid consensus mechanism that uses both PoW (Proof of Work) and PoS (Proof of Stake).

Ticker – DASH
Release Date – January 18, 2014
Emission -18,900,000 DASH
Encryption algorithm – X11
The algorithm for consensus – PoW (Proof of Work) / PoS (Proof of Stake)
Creator/lead developer – (Evan Duffield)

Bitcoin Gold

Bitcoin Gold is another fork of the Bitcoin network (Bitcoin Core) that occurred on the block 491407. It uses an encryption algorithm that does not allow the efficient use of specialized ASIC mining hardware, attracting miners using regular farms based on graphics cards. The goal of Bitcoin Gold is to make Bitcoin decentralized again. In fact, it is practically no different from Bitcoin Cash.

Ticker – BTG
Release Date – 25 October 2017
Emission – 21 000 000 BTG
The encryption algorithm is Equihash
The algorithm for consensus – PoW (Proof of Work)
Creator/lead developer – Jack Lao

Litecoin

Litecoin is a fork of Bitcoin, an electronic payment system using the eponymous cryptocurrency. It is practically not different from its progenitor. Litecoin is the second fork of Bitcoin after Namecoin and its main advantage is faster transaction processing on the network (2.5 minutes compared to 10 minutes for BTC). This crypto currency was created by a very famous programmer and developer Charlie Lee, who is constantly trying to improve Litecoin and implement new technologies on its basis. For some community members, this fact is a very powerful argument when choosing a cryptocurrency.

Ticker – LTC
Release Date – October 7, 2011
Emission – 84 000 000 LTC
Encryption algorithm – Scrypt
The algorithm for consensus – PoW (Proof of Work)
Creator/lead developer – Charlie Lee

Monero

Monero Monero (“coin” in Esperanto) is a cryptocurrency focused on increased anonymity of transactions. It is a direct competitor to Dash, and is also often used for transactions in the black and gray markets. Monero is a secure, untraceable and resilient digital currency that creates an exceptional level of privacy (Stealth addresses, ring signatures, etc.).

Ticker – XMR
Release Date – April 25, 2014
The emission is not limited
The encryption algorithm is CryptoNight
The algorithm for consensus – PoW (Proof of Work)
Creator/lead developer – Riccardo Spagni

Ethereum Classic

Ethereum Classic is a cryptocurrency, which was the result of the DAO hard forks in the ETH network. A split occurred as a result of the attempt to keep the Ethereum blockchain unchanged by a part of the community. These were the developers who opposed the DAO hard fork, and continued to work on Ethereum Classic.

Ticker – ETC
Release Date – July 30, 2015
The emission is not limited
The encryption algorithm is Ethash
The algorithm for consensus – PoW (Proof of Work)
Creator/lead developer – Igor Artamonov (Dev Team ETC), Dexaran (Ethereum Commonwealth), Charles Hoskinson (IOHK Grothendieck), Gavin Wood (EthCore)

Zcash

Zcash is a cryptocurrency that aims to provide privacy and selective transparency of transactions. Transactions are available on the blockchain, but the sender, recipient, and the amount transaction are private. It is the third “shadow” cryptocurrency in a competitive row with Dash and Monero.