Which Cryptocurrency to Buy? — Top 3 Bitcoin Alternatives
Bitcoin paved way for a whole lot of other digital currencies. Collectively, these other digital currencies are known as altcoins. Despite the fact that most investors are still looking to buy Bitcoin, some altcoins are considered to be perfect Bitcoin alternatives because of their ever-improving market capitalization. Here are the top 3 Bitcoin alternatives to buy.
Litecoin (LTC)
Litecoin (LTC) is a digital currency that shares similar characteristics with Bitcoin such as decentralization and being open source but utilizes a completely different protocol. The digital currency wasn’t made to try and destabilize Bitcoin, but to provide a more advanced payment solution to users.
Charlie Lee is the man behind Litecoin (LTC). According to Lee, the digital currency was created to provide an alternative payment solution to users and address some of the issues faced by Bitcoin, such as transaction confirmation times. Although the digital currency was inspired by Bitcoin and is similar to Bitcoin in various ways, its block generation rate is better than that of Bitcoin and this allows the altcoin to offer prompt transaction confirmation. The altcoin’s block confirmation time is roughly two and a half minutes unlike Bitcoin’s, which is approximately ten minutes.
84 million units of the altcoin were initially produced. Out of these, almost 57 million units are already circulating on the market, meaning that there are approx. 27 million units still available for mining.
At the moment, Litecoin (LTC) is among the digital currencies with the highest market capitalization. Those looking to buy the digital currency will have a whole range of options — Coinbase, Binance, Bitfinex, Kraken, and many more. Be sure to check all available exchanges and choose one that offers a straightforward, quick, and affordable way to own the altcoin.
Ethereum (ETH)
Over the last few years, Ethereum (ETH) has been a successful digital currency. This is one of the many reasons why the crypto is a viable Bitcoin alternative. Just like the software platforms of most other cryptos Ethereum’s is also decentralized. In addition, Ethereum’s platform supports ĐApps as well as Smart Contracts with no downtime or fraud.
Transactions on the Ethereum (ETH) platform are much faster compared to the Bitcoin platform. According to the charts, Ethereum’s block time is 14.8s, while that of Bitcoin is 10m.
Importantly, this altcoin’s basic technology allows a wide range of functionalities including the creation of decentralized applications by developers and supports digital currency transactions made with Ether, its native cryptocurrency, and ERC-20 tokens.
Nonetheless, we must mention that Ethereum’s system has its own share of flaws. For instance, at the moment, many Initial Coin Offerings are based on Ethereum, and most of them have been associated with fraudulent activities. It’s about time Ethereum (ETH) came up with a steadfast regulation mechanism in order to ensure that its users are protected from fraudulent projects. Doing so will go a long way to making the platform more trustworthy.
Still, Ethereum is probably among the most recognized cryptocurrency projects and enjoys backing from the industry giants like Cisco, MasterCard, Microsoft, JPMorgan, — they all are members of Ethereum Enterprise Alliance.
Being one of the most heavily traded cryptocurrencies, Ethereum can be easily found through all exchanges.
Ripple (XRP)
Ripple (XRP) is another valuable altcoin you can invest in instead of Bitcoin. Ripple (XRP) allows banking institutions to carry out cross-border banking activities in real-time.
Payments done through the Ripple (XRP) network are transparent. Additionally, payment transactions are low-priced. Ripple’s transaction fee is predefined at 0.00001 XRP. Given the current rate of the coin ($0.49 on 5 July 2018), the cost of a transaction is minuscule. No wonder it is growing in popularity among both financial institutions and individuals.
Since Ripple (XRP) was launched in 2012, its market capitalization has been going up. One unique thing about Ripple (XRP) is that its consensus ledger does not require mining. This feature makes the altcoin to stand out from Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Because its structure does not involve any mining activity, it considerably minimizes the risk of the network congestion.
Ripple (XRP) is a strong believer of distributing value in an effort to promote various blockchain-related initiatives. Recently the company has invested an impressive sum in a venture fund aiming to popularize blockchain technology and contribute to the wider adoption of cryptocurrency.
Ripple is no less popular than Ethereum or Litecoin and thus is accessible through most trading platforms, with Poloniex, CEX.IO, Kraken, and Bittrex being the major options.
Conclusion
You can also buy other altcoins such as Cardano (ADA), Stellar (XLM), Dash (DASH), and Tron (TRX) instead of Bitcoin. They have some amazing features and are increasingly earning the trust of users. All of them run on blockchain platforms and some even support decentralized app building. They have improved security features, allow for speedy transactions, and are more applicable for daily payments.
The volatility of the digital currency market is unavoidable, thus investing in a single cryptocurrency is unwise. Invest in several altcoins to spread your risk, and remember not to spend more than you can afford to lose. Top it all, always do your own research and decide in favor of the coin that you think has the most potential in the competitive cryptocurrency market.
