Bitcoin is no longer the only cryptocurrency that has its own idea, a community and is constantly evolving. Today we want to tell about five promising cryptocurrencies that are worth paying attention to.
Please do not take this rating as an investment recommendation. We just talked about projects that deserve attention from the point of view of our editorial staff.
Ethereum
Today, Ethereum’s creation of cryptocurrency by Vitalik Buterin ranks first in the world in terms of the number of ICOs held and tokens issued for them, and also leads in the development of smart contracts and decentralized applications. The only thing where Ethereum is not the first is the capitalization of cryptocurrency, in this respect it stably holds the second place after Bitcoin.
Some experts are sure that sooner or later Ethereum will overtake Bitcoin in terms of capitalization, but we will not make such high-profile statements. Better focus on Ethereum's direct competitors such as EOS, Cardano or TRON. These and other projects offer faster blockchains and better conditions for developing smart contracts, for which they are often called “Ethereum killers”. But on the side of Buterin and Ethereum, the largest community of developers and users of decentralized applications. And the planned updates in the form of a transition to POS-Mining, blockchain sharding and the Plasma payment channel network - will negate all the technological advantages of competitors.
Bitcoin Cash
Bitcoin Cash is the first and only hard fork of Bitcoin that managed to gain a foothold in the top five cryptocurrencies by capitalization. The developers and supporters of this altcoin believe that the solution to the problem of blockchain scalability lies in increasing the block size of transactions mined by miners. At the time of the hard fork, the maximum block size was changed from 1 to 8 MB, and then it was further increased to 32 MB. This approach has not yet brought much results, but has excellent prospects in the long run, subject to a significant increase in the number of cryptocurrency users.
Bitcoin Cash is associated with Roger Ver, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. In addition to him, authoritative developers, miners and investors stand behind this cryptocurrency. In turn, Roger acts as a promoter of Bitcoin Cash and it must be admitted that the methods he has chosen are very controversial, and the nickname Bitcoin Judas is a fair assessment of Roger's actions. But if you look at the big picture, Bitcoin Cash attracts new users with its value and high capitalization. And the project team has a clear plan and resources for further development.
Monero
Monero is one of the few cryptocurrencies that offers real anonymity of transactions, and not its pseudo-variant, like Bitcoin. Blockchain confidentiality is ensured by the use of ring signatures. Each transaction is signed by a group of users, and it is impossible to determine which of them actually sent the transfer and to whom it is addressed.
The demand for Monero is growing as blockchain tracking technologies evolve, which deprives users of cryptocurrency privacy. After all, no one wants his account information to be publicly available. Naturally, this approach does not like the states. But the more regulators try to put pressure on a crypto community, the more users switch to anonymous cryptocurrencies and Monero, in this case, one of the most reliable and convenient options.
Dash
Dash cryptocurrency positions itself as a revolutionary digital payment system and it is not just a beautiful slogan. Dash functionality supports instant transactions and has the ability to anonymize transfers. It is also worth noting that decisions on the development of the project are not made by individual programmers, but by all members of Dash through the mechanism of decentralized management.
From a technological point of view, Dash has everything you need to become a cryptocurrency for purchases in online stores and retail outlets. The project team focuses on this direction of development. Marketing is one of the main expenses of Dash, due to which more and more stores around the world are beginning to accept this cryptocurrency.
Zcash
And we decided to complete our top 5 promising cryptocurrencies with another anonymous altcoin - Zcash. This network uses a privacy protocol called zero-knowledge proof. Its essence lies in the fact that miners and nodes can process and confirm the transaction, but neither they nor anyone else can see the sender, recipient or the amount of the transfer. The only thing that remains in the blockchain is a record of the fact of the transaction.
The development and support of the Zcash network is performed by a group of professional programmers and cryptologists, which suggests one of the best technological potentials in the industry. June 26 on the network conducted an update Overwinter, which is a preparatory part of the subsequent upgrade Sapling. The transition to the new protocol will significantly increase the performance of the blockchain and expand the functionality of Zcash.
Today, Ethereum’s creation of cryptocurrency by Vitalik Buterin ranks first in the world in terms of the number of ICOs held and tokens issued for them, and also leads in the development of smart contracts and decentralized applications. The only thing where Ethereum is not the first is the capitalization of cryptocurrency, in this respect it stably holds the second place after Bitcoin.