Comparison of cryptocurrencies

This article aims to list relevant cryptocurrencies, and is the only article allowed to discuss altcoins specifically. These coins are ordered according to market cap.

Top 10 by market cap

Bitcoin (BTC)

• http://bitcoin.org/
• blocks every 10 min
• coin supply* 21 million coins will be available
• difficulty adjustment* 2016 blocks
• hashing algorithm SHA256d
• Initial Reward 50 coins per block
• Launch Date: January 3rd, 2009

Litecoin (LTC)

• http://litecoin.org/
• blocks every 2.5 min
• coin supply* 84 million coins will be available
• difficulty adjustment 2016 blocks
• hashing algorithm scrypt
• Initial Reward 50 coins per block
• Launch Date: October 2011

Peercoin (PPC)

• http://ppcoin.org/
• https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=101820.0
• blocks every 10 min
• Coin supply* non-deterministic coins will be available
• difficulty adjustment each block
• hashing algorithm SHA-256
• Reward varies on difficulty coins per block
• Mining: Incorporates Proof of Stake coin Generation, contains central checksums to kickstart the protocol
• Launch Date: approx August 19th, 2012 (date of its whitepaper)
  • The public design phase of this coin was very brief.

Nxt (NXT)

• http://nextcoin.org
• Pronounced as "Next"
• Blocks every 1 min
• Designed as 100% PoS (Proof-of-Stake) system
• Coin supply* 1 billion coins exist from the start distributed by 74 founding stake holders
• Launch Date: September, 29, 2013

Dogecoin (Doge)

• http://www.Dogecoin.com/
• blocks every 1 min
• coin supply* 99 Billion coins will be available and 5 Billion added every year.
• hashing algorithm scrypt
• Initial Reward 1,000,000 - 0 (Random) coins per block
• Launch Date: December 2013

Namecoin (NMC)

• https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Namecoin
• (merged mined with BTC)
• https://github.com/vinced/namecoin
• http://namecoin.info/
• blocks every 10 min
• coin supply* 21 million coins will be available
• difficulty adjustment 2016 blocks
• hashing algorithm SHA256d
• Initial Reward 50 coins per block
• Launch Date: April 18, 2011

Top 100

Anoncoin (ANC)

• Anoncoin website
• Anoncoin wiki
• Built in support of I2P and Tor
• 4.2 million total coins
• Block reward 5 ANC, halved every 306k blocks
• Block target 3.4 minutes, difficulty changes every block
• Launched: June 2, 2013

The goal of Anoncoin is to provide a truly anonymous cryptocurrency. The location of the user is concealed by providing built-in support of the I2P darknet and Tor. Zerocoin will be implemented in an upcoming release, making it impossible to trace transactions in the blockchain.

Bytecoin (BCN)

• BCN https://bytecoin.org
• CryptoNote technology https://cryptonote.org/
• Algorithm: CryptoNight
• Started on July 4, 2012
• Block time: 120 seconds (2 minutes)
• Difficulty retargets each block
• Block reward decreases each block according to the formula: BaseReward = (MSupply - A)/2^18, where MSupply = (2^64 - 1) atomic units and 'A' is amount of already generated coins
• Total 184.46 billion BCN
• Forum https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=512747.0
• Forum https://cryptocointalk.com/forum/1362-bytecoin-bcn/
• Twitter https://twitter.com/Bytecoin_BCN
• Coin features:
  • Difficult to trace payments by use of ring signature
  • Only CPU-mining & ASIC-resistant
  • POW mechanism is a voting system for users

Devcoin (DEV)

• https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=34586.0
• (merged mined with BTC)
• blocks every 10 min
• coin supply* constant generation coins will be available (???)
• difficulty adjustment 2016 blocks
• hashing algorithm SHA256d
• Reward 50,000 coins per block
• EXTRA 90% block subsidy goes to foundation

FeatherCoin (FTC)

• http://feathercoin.com/
• A fork of Litecoin
• 243 million total coins

Freicoin (FRC)

• http://freico.in/
• http://www.freicoin.org/
• blocks every 10 minutes
• coin supply* 100 million coins will be available
• difficulty adjustment 2016 blocks
• hashing algorithm SHA-256
• Arithmetically decreasing reward
• EXTRA:
  • 4.89% annual demurrage
  • 80% block subsidy goes to foundation for the first 3 years (about 500 coins for each of first 161280 blocks, total 80m)

GoldCoin (GLD)

• http://gldcoin.com/
• https://www.gldtalk.org/
• https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=317568.0
• blocks every 2 minutes
• coin supply* 123 million coins will be available
• difficulty adjustment* 60 blocks
• hashing algorithm Scrypt
• reward 45 coins per block

IxCoin (IXC)

• https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=36701.0
• (merged mined with BTC)
• blocks every 10 min
• Coin supply* 21 million coins will be available
• difficulty adjustment 2016 blocks
• hashing algorithm SHA1
• Reward 96 coins per block

Mastercoin (MSC)

• http://www.mastercoin.org
• Coin supply: 619478.59338440 MSC
• Launch Date: September 1, 2013
• Blockchain: Uses Bitcoin for transport, storage and security, inherits Bitcoin Protocol properties
• Extended Properties: Distributed Exchange, Savings & Guardian Addresses, Contracts for Difference, Smart Properties, User Currencies
• Protocol: Master Protocol
• Spec Github Repo: https://github.com/mastercoin-MSC/spec

Megacoin (MΣC)

• http://www.megacoin.co.nz/
• https://forum.megacoin.co.nz
• Block Target is 2.5 minutes
• Block reward halved every every 420,000 blocks
• 25 coins per block
• 42 Million total coins
• Difficulty changes every block

The implentation of the Kimoto Gravity well retargets difficulty every block. This keeps mining fair and secure for all miners and users of the coin, and prevents the rampant multipool abuse that was (and still is) common with most all other altcoins out on the market today.

Netcoin (NET)

• Main - http://netcoin.org.uk/
• Forums - http://forum.netcoinfoundation.org/
• blocks every 1 min
• coin supply* 320.6 million coins will be available
• difficulty adjustment* 60 blocks
• hashing algorithm Scrypt
• Initial Reward 1024 coins per block
• Reward Halves Every 3 months or 129,600 Blocks
• Market Cap: approx. $200,000 (Dec 4th, 2013)
• Launch Date: Sept 2nd, 2013

Terracoin (TRC)

• http://terracoin.org/
• blocks every 2 minutes
• coin supply* 42 million coins will be available
• difficulty adjustment 30 blocks
• hashing algorithm SHA-256
• Reward 20 coins per block

See Also

• List of all cryptocoins curated list on BitcoinTalk forum.