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At this writing there are '''735''' cryptocurrencies on the market. This article aims to list ''only'' the most relevant cryptocurrencies.
The cryptocurrency market is explosive which currently serves hundreds of currencies. Almost all of them are obvious scams—including many which purport to have a large market cap. This article aims to list only the most relevant cryptocurrencies in terms of novel technological advancements or strong engineering teams, or due to widespread awareness thereof. Direct, low-level scams should not be listed here.


To be listed here, a currency must have '''one''' of the following qualities:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
* At one point had significant notoriety.
! style="width: 100px;" | Cryptocurrency
* A market cap of 1 billion US dollars.
! Exchange symbol
* Highly decentralized (anonymous).
! Launched
* First to introduce an innovative protocol.
* Been an infamous fraud.
 
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: 100%; text-align: center; font-size: smaller; "
! style="width: 1;" | Coin
! style="width: 1;" | Symbol
! style="width: 1;" | Launched
! style="width: 99;" | Consensus tool
! style="width: 1;" | Distribution
! style="width: 1;" | Market cap
! style="width: 1;" | Unit cap
! style="width: 1;" | Status
! Anonymity
! Anonymity
! Significant notoriety
! Max supply
! Algorithm
! Proof Type
! Notes
! Website
|-
|-
! {{rh}} | [[File:Bitcoin.png|16px|link=]] [[Bitcoin]]
! {{rh}} | [[File:Bitcoin.png|16px|link=]] [[Bitcoin]]
| BTC
| BTC
| 3 Jan 2009
| 2009-01-03
| SHA256d
| {{no|Low}}
| [[Proof of work | Proof-of-work]] (fixed, halving)
| style="text-align: right" | ~21,000,000
| $36 billion
| SHA256
| 20,999,999.9769
| PoW
| {{yes|Active}}
| First blockchain.
| [https://bitcoin.org/ bitcoin.org]
|-
! {{rh}} | [[File:Bitcoin.png|16px|link=]] [[Tonal Bitcoin]]
| TBC
| 2011-01-02
| {{no|Low}}
| {{no|Low}}
| First blockchain
| style="text-align: right" | ~21,000,000
| SHA256
| PoW
| First on-chain alternative.
| -
|-
|-
! {{rh}} | [[File:Bitcoin.png|16px|link=]] [[Testnet|Bitcoin Testnet 1]]
! {{rh}} | [[File:Bitcoin_Cash.png|16px|link=]] BCash
| TNBTC
| BCH
| 21 Oct 2010
| 2017-08-01
| SHA256d
| Proof-of-work (fixed, halving)
| ''None''
| 20,999,999.9769
| {{no|Abandoned}}
| {{no|Low}}
| {{no|Low}}
| First [[altcoin]]<ref>http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2jw5pm/im_gavin_andresen_chief_scientist_at_the_bitcoin/</ref>
| style="text-align: right" | ~21,000,000
| SHA256
| PoW
| BCash is an altcoin based on an old snapshot of Bitcoin's blockchain (2017 Aug 1) with replay protection and an increased block size limit of 8MB. An unusual emergency difficulty adjustment algorithm causes significant periods of hyperinflation. Significant miner centralization; often a very low hashrate. Major proponents deliberately attempt to confuse new users into thinking BCash is actually Bitcoin, especially by using the name "Bitcoin Cash". On 15 November 2018, an airdrop of BCash occurred between two rival factions now called BCash (BCH) and CraigCoin (BSV).
| [https://www.bitcoincash.org/ bitcoincash.org]
|-
|-
! {{rh}} | [[File:Bitcoin.png|16px|link=]] [[Testnet|Bitcoin Testnet 3]]
! {{rh}} | [[File:Bitcoin.png|16px|link=]] CraigCoin
| TNBTC
| BSV
| 12 Apr 2012
| 2018-11-15
| SHA256d
| Proof-of-work (fixed, halving)
| ''None''
| 20,999,999.9769
| {{yes|Active}}
| {{no|Low}}
| {{no|Low}}
| Current Bitcoin testnet
| style="text-align: right" | ~21,000,000
| SHA256
| PoW
| On 15 November 2018, a hard fork chain split of BCash occurred between two rival factions called BCH and BSV. Mostly based around a cult following of the fraudster Craig Wright who claims to be Satoshi (hence SV = Satoshi's Vision).
| https://bitcoinsv.io/
|-
|-
! {{rh}} | [[File:Bytecoin-16x16.png|16px|link=]] Bytecoin
! {{rh}} | [[File:Namecoin.png|16px|link=]] Namecoin
| BCN
| NMC
| 4 Jul 2012
| 2011-04-18
| [[CryptoNight]]
| Proof-of-work (random, smooth)
| $414 million
| 184.46 billion
| {{yes|Active}}
| {{no|Low}}
| {{no|Low}}
| Introduced [[CryptoNote]].
| style="text-align: right" | ~21,000,000
| SHA256 Merged
| PoW
| First cryptocurrency that implemented Satoshi's BitDNS idea. Essentially the first real altcoin. Still under active development. First merged-mined altcoin.
| [https://namecoin.info/ namecoin.info]
|-
|-
! {{rh}} | [[File:Dash.png|16px|link=]] Dash
! {{rh}} | [[File:Dash.png|16px|link=]] Dash
| DASH
| DASH
| 18 Jan 2014 under Darkcoin
| 2014-01-18
| [[X11]]
| {{no|Low}}
| Proof-of-work (fixed, curve)
| style="text-align: right" | 22,000,000
| $914 million
| X11
| 19 million (estimate)
| PoW/PoS
| {{yes|Active}}
| Introduced the X11 algorithm, which is just a composite function of multiple hashing algorithms. Had a significant failure mode in the beginning which equated to a majority premine by a small number of Amazon EC2 customers. This means their Master Node algorithm has been in a failure mode from the beginning.
| style="background: lightyellow;" | Medium
| [https://dash.org/ dash.org]
|  
|-
|-
! {{rh}} | [[File:Dogecoin.png|16px|link=]] Dogecoin
! {{rh}} | [[File:Ethereum_Classic-32x32.png|16px|link=]] Ethereum Classic
| DOGE
| ETC
| 6 Dec 2013
| 2015-08-07
| [[scrypt]]
| Proof-of-work (random)
| $278 million
| Unlimited
| {{yes|Active}}
| {{no|Low}}
| {{no|Low}}
| Was joke, became huge
| style="text-align: right" | Infinite
| Ethash
| PoW
| Majority premine sale. Used to be known as just "Ethereum" and "ETH" until the Ethereum Foundation split off an altcoin using their trademark.
| [http://www.ethereumclassic.org/ ethereumclassic.org]
|-
|-
! {{rh}} | [[File:Ethereum.png|16px|link=]] Ethereum
! {{rh}} | [[File:Ethereum.png|16px|link=]] Ethereum
| ETH
| ETH
| 7 Aug 2015
| 2016-07-20
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| $21 billion
| {{?}}
| {{yes|Active}}
| {{no|Low}}
| {{no|Low}}
|  
| style="text-align: right" | Infinite
|-
| Ethash
! {{rh}} | [[File:Ethereum_Classic-32x32.png|16px|link=]] Ethereum Classic
| PoW
| ETC
| An altcoin of Ethereum Classic which split from ETC's blockchain in order to refund the Ethereum Foundation's members' money when the DAO was exploited. Regular hardforks to bail out larger losses by e.g. ETH foundation. Source of the ICO bubbles. Multiple client implementations which fail against each other in terms of consensus errors regularly. Requires multiple months of time to sync to eth blockchain. Contract-building tools interpret input incompatibly.
| 24 Jul 2016
| {{?}}
| {{?}}
| $1.6 billion
| {{?}}
| {{yes|Active}}
| {{no|Low}}
|
|-
! {{rh}} | [[File:Komodo.png|16px|link=]] [[Komodo]]
| KMD
| 5 Feb 2017
| Zerocash
| {{?}}
| $54 million
| {{?}}
| {{yes|Active}}
| {{yes|High}}
|  
|  
|-
|-
! {{rh}} | [[File:Litecoin.png|16px|link=]] Litecoin
! {{rh}} | [[File:Litecoin.png|16px|link=]] Litecoin
| LTC
| LTC
| 7 Oct 2011
| 2011-10-07
| scrypt
| Proof-of-work (fixed, halving)
| $1.2 billion
| 83,999,949.9076
| {{yes|Active}}
| {{no|Low}}
| {{no|Low}}
| style="text-align: right" | ~84,000,000
| Scrypt
| PoW
| Originally meant to be a CPU-friendly "silver" to Bitcoin's "gold", the early SCRYPT parameters, it was discovered later, led directly to GPU, and then ASIC-mining almost from the start.
|  
|  
|-
! {{rh}} | [[File:Maid.png|16px|link=]] MaidSafeCoin
| MAID
| 22 Apr 2014
| Bitcoin
| Central
| $166 million
| 452,552,412
| {{yes|Active}}
| {{no|Low}}
|
|-
|-
! {{rh}} | [[File:Monero.png|16px|link=]] Monero
! {{rh}} | [[File:Monero.png|16px|link=]] Monero
| XMR
| XMR
| 18 Apr 2014
| 2014-04-18
| [[CryptoNight]]
| {{yes|High}}
| Proof-of-work (random, smooth)
| Infinite (has tail emission of 0.6 XMR)
| $584 million
| [https://github.com/tevador/RandomX RandomX] (formerly [[CryptoNight]])
| ~18,400,000 then <1% inflation
| PoW
| {{yes|Active}}
| The most successful implementation derived from the [[CryptoNote]] codedrop. Uses [https://www.ledgerjournal.org/ojs/index.php/ledger/article/view/34 Ring CT] and its own implementation of [[Confidential transactions]], [[ECDH_address|Stealth Addresses]], [[BIP_0156|Dandelion]]++ to enhance user privacy.
| style="background: lightyellow;" | Medium
| [https://getmonero.org/ getmonero.org]
|
|-
|-
! {{rh}} | [[File:Namecoin.png|16px|link=]] Namecoin
! {{rh}} | [[File:Zcash-16x16.png|16px|link=]] Zcash
| NMC
| 18 Apr 2011
| SHA256d - [[Merged mining specification | merged mined with Bitcoin]]
| Proof-of-work (fixed, halving)
| $23 million
| 20,999,999.9769 (like Bitcoin)
| {{yes|Active}}
| {{no|Low}}
| First alternative chain, bitDNS
|-
! {{rh}} | [[File:NEM-16x16.png|16px|link=]] NEM
| XEM
| 31 Mar 2015
| [[Proof-of-importance]]
| Peer-to-peer
| $1.7 billion
| 9 billion
| {{yes|Active}}
| style="background: lightyellow;" | Medium
| Introduced the [[proof-of-importance]] (POI) algorithm.
|-
! {{rh}} | [[File:Nxt.png|16px|link=]] Nxt
| NXT
| 29 Sep 2013
| Consensus through obscurity<ref>https://download.wpsoftware.net/bitcoin/pos.pdf</ref>
| Proof-of-stake
| $51.6 million
| 999,997,096
| {{yes|Active}}
| {{no|Low}}
|
|-
! {{rh}} | [[File:Peercoin.png|16px|link=]] Peercoin
| PPC
| 19 Aug 2012
| Central authoriy<ref>[https://github.com/ppcoin/ppcoin/blob/master/src/checkpoints.cpp#L370 Peercoin Source | Centralized Checkpointing Public Key]</ref>
| Proof-of-work/stake
| $35.6 million
| Unlimited
| {{yes|Active}}
| {{no|Low}}
|
|-
! {{rh}} | [[File:PIVX-16x16.png|16px|link=]] PIVX
| PIVX
| 1 Feb 2016 under Darknet
| [[Quark]]
| [[proof-of-stake]] 3.0
| $83.9 million
| {{?}}
| {{yes|Active}}
| style="background: lightyellow;" | Medium
|
|-
! {{rh}} | Primecoin
| XPM
| 7 Jul 2013
| [[Cunningham]]
| Proof-of-work
| $7.2 million
| Unlimited
| {{Yes|Active}}
| {{no|Low}}
| Implements a unique scientific computing proof-of-work system.
|-
! {{rh}} | Ripple
| XRP
| 1 Mar 2011
| [[Ripple (payment protocol)|Ripple]]
| Central
| $8.2 billion
| 28,989,252,282
| {{yes|Active}}
| {{no|Low}}
| XRP is the native currency of the Ripple network that only exists within the Ripple system
|-
! {{rh}} | [[File:Bitcoin.png|16px|link=]] [[Tonal Bitcoin]]
| TBC
| 2 Jan 2011
| ''See Bitcoin''
| ''See Bitcoin''
| ''See Bitcoin''
| 7,750,54.00
| {{yes|Active}}
| {{no|Low}}
| First on-chain alternative
|-
! {{rh}} | [[File:Zcash-16x16.png|16px|link=]] [[Zcash]]
| ZEC
| ZEC
| 28 Oct 2016
| 2016-10-28
| Zerocash
| style="background: lightyellow;text-align: center;" | Medium
| [[Zero-knowledge proofs]], Proof-of-work ([https://z.cash/blog/why-equihash.html Equihash]), with a portion of each block subsidy distributed to founders for the first four years.
| style="text-align: right" | ~21,000,000
| [https://explorer.zcha.in/ $338 million]
| Equihash
| 21,000,000 (like Bitcoin)
| PoW
| {{yes|Active}}
| First cryptocurrency that implemented the zerocash protocol. Large "Founder's Reward" which is paid out over the first few years of mining to people including Roger Ver.
| {{yes|High}}
| [https://z.cash/ z.cash]
| First cryptocurrency that implemented the zerocash protocol.
|-
|-
! {{rh}} | [[File:Zclassic-32x32.png|16px|link=]] [[Zclassic]]
! {{rh}} | [[File:Zcoin-800x800.png|16px|link=]] Zcoin
| ZCL
| 10 Nov 2016
| Zerocash
| ''See Zcash''
| $5 million
| ''See Zcash''
| {{yes|Active}}
| {{yes|High}}
| First Zcash-based currency without the 20% fee for miners made by Zcash.
|-
! {{rh}} | [[File:Zcoin-800x800.png|16px|link=]] [[Zcoin]]
| XZC
| XZC
| 28 Sep 2016
| 2016-09-28
| Zerocoin ([[Zero-knowledge proofs]]), Merkle Tree Proof of Work ([[Proof of work | Proof-of-work]])
| style="background: lightyellow;text-align: center;" | Medium
| style="text-align: right" | ~21,000,000
| Lyra2RE
| PoW
| First cryptocurrency that implemented the zerocoin protocol which also makes it the first useful Zero-knowledge proof based anonymous cryptocurrency. First that implements Merkle Tree Proof of Work (MTP).
|  
|  
| $16.9 million
|-}
| 21,000,000 (like Bitcoin)
| {{yes|Active}}
| {{yes|High}}
| First cryptocurrency that implemented the zerocoin protocol which also makes it the first useful Zero-knowledge proof based anonymous cryptocurrency. First that implements Merkle Tree Proof of Work (MTP).
|}
 
==See Also==
* [http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=134179.0 List of alternative chains]
 
==References==
<references/>


[[Category:Alternative cryptocurrencies]]
[[Category:Alternative cryptocurrencies]]

Latest revision as of 13:10, 28 July 2020

The cryptocurrency market is explosive which currently serves hundreds of currencies. Almost all of them are obvious scams—including many which purport to have a large market cap. This article aims to list only the most relevant cryptocurrencies in terms of novel technological advancements or strong engineering teams, or due to widespread awareness thereof. Direct, low-level scams should not be listed here.

Cryptocurrency Exchange symbol Launched Anonymity Max supply Algorithm Proof Type Notes Website
Bitcoin BTC 2009-01-03 Low ~21,000,000 SHA256 PoW First blockchain. bitcoin.org
Tonal Bitcoin TBC 2011-01-02 Low ~21,000,000 SHA256 PoW First on-chain alternative. -
BCash BCH 2017-08-01 Low ~21,000,000 SHA256 PoW BCash is an altcoin based on an old snapshot of Bitcoin's blockchain (2017 Aug 1) with replay protection and an increased block size limit of 8MB. An unusual emergency difficulty adjustment algorithm causes significant periods of hyperinflation. Significant miner centralization; often a very low hashrate. Major proponents deliberately attempt to confuse new users into thinking BCash is actually Bitcoin, especially by using the name "Bitcoin Cash". On 15 November 2018, an airdrop of BCash occurred between two rival factions now called BCash (BCH) and CraigCoin (BSV). bitcoincash.org
CraigCoin BSV 2018-11-15 Low ~21,000,000 SHA256 PoW On 15 November 2018, a hard fork chain split of BCash occurred between two rival factions called BCH and BSV. Mostly based around a cult following of the fraudster Craig Wright who claims to be Satoshi (hence SV = Satoshi's Vision). https://bitcoinsv.io/
Namecoin NMC 2011-04-18 Low ~21,000,000 SHA256 Merged PoW First cryptocurrency that implemented Satoshi's BitDNS idea. Essentially the first real altcoin. Still under active development. First merged-mined altcoin. namecoin.info
Dash DASH 2014-01-18 Low 22,000,000 X11 PoW/PoS Introduced the X11 algorithm, which is just a composite function of multiple hashing algorithms. Had a significant failure mode in the beginning which equated to a majority premine by a small number of Amazon EC2 customers. This means their Master Node algorithm has been in a failure mode from the beginning. dash.org
Ethereum Classic ETC 2015-08-07 Low Infinite Ethash PoW Majority premine sale. Used to be known as just "Ethereum" and "ETH" until the Ethereum Foundation split off an altcoin using their trademark. ethereumclassic.org
Ethereum ETH 2016-07-20 Low Infinite Ethash PoW An altcoin of Ethereum Classic which split from ETC's blockchain in order to refund the Ethereum Foundation's members' money when the DAO was exploited. Regular hardforks to bail out larger losses by e.g. ETH foundation. Source of the ICO bubbles. Multiple client implementations which fail against each other in terms of consensus errors regularly. Requires multiple months of time to sync to eth blockchain. Contract-building tools interpret input incompatibly.
Litecoin LTC 2011-10-07 Low ~84,000,000 Scrypt PoW Originally meant to be a CPU-friendly "silver" to Bitcoin's "gold", the early SCRYPT parameters, it was discovered later, led directly to GPU, and then ASIC-mining almost from the start.
Monero XMR 2014-04-18 High Infinite (has tail emission of 0.6 XMR) RandomX (formerly CryptoNight) PoW The most successful implementation derived from the CryptoNote codedrop. Uses Ring CT and its own implementation of Confidential transactions, Stealth Addresses, Dandelion++ to enhance user privacy. getmonero.org
Zcash ZEC 2016-10-28 Medium ~21,000,000 Equihash PoW First cryptocurrency that implemented the zerocash protocol. Large "Founder's Reward" which is paid out over the first few years of mining to people including Roger Ver. z.cash
Zcoin XZC 2016-09-28 Medium ~21,000,000 Lyra2RE PoW First cryptocurrency that implemented the zerocoin protocol which also makes it the first useful Zero-knowledge proof based anonymous cryptocurrency. First that implements Merkle Tree Proof of Work (MTP).
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