Comparison of cryptocurrencies
The cryptocurrency market is explosive which currently serves 735 currencies. This article aims to list only the most relevant cryptocurrencies. Data in this article are gathered from cryptocompare.com.
To be listed here, a currency must
- currently be sold on cryptocurrency exchanges in general
and meet one of the following qualities:
- A market cap of 1 billion US dollars.
- Medium or highly decentralized (anonymous).
- Been the first to introduce an innovative protocol.
| Cryptocurrency | Symbol | Launched | Market cap, rounded | Anonymity | Introduced an innovative protocol |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Bitcoin
|
BTC | 2009-01-03 | $36 billion | Low | First blockchain |
 Bytecoin
|
BCN | 2012-07-04 | $414 million | Low | Introduced CryptoNote. |
 Dash
|
DASH | 2014-01-18 | $914 million | Medium | Introduced the X11 algorithm. |
 Ethereum
|
ETH | 2015-08-07 | $21 billion | Low | |
 Ethereum Classic
|
ETC | 2016-07-24 | $1.6 billion | Low | Fastest growing cryptocurrency on the market ever. |
 Komodo
|
KMD | 2017-02-05 | $54 million | High | |
 Litecoin
|
LTC | 2011-10-07 | $1.2 billion | Low | |
 Monero
|
XMR | 2014-04-18 | $584 million | Medium | |
 Namecoin
|
NMC | 2011-04-18 | $23 million | Low | First alternative chain, bitDNS. merged mined with Bitcoin. |
 NEM
|
XEM | 2015-03-31 | $1.7 billion | Medium | Introduced the proof-of-importance (POI) algorithm. |
 PIVX
|
PIVX | 2016-02-01 | $84 million | Medium | Introduced the Quark algorithm. |
 Primecoin
|
XPM | 2013-07-07 | $7 million | Low | Implements a unique scientific computing proof-of-work system. |
 Ripple
|
XRP | 2011-03-01 | $8.2 billion | Low | XRP is the native currency of the Ripple network that only exists within the Ripple system |
 Zcash
|
ZEC | 2016-10-28 | $338 million | High | First cryptocurrency that implemented the zerocash protocol. |
 Zclassic
|
ZCL | 2016-11-10 | $5 million | High | First Zcash-based currency without the 20% fee for miners made by Zcash. |
 Zcoin
|
XZC | 2016-09-28 | $17 million | 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). |
| Cryptocurrency | Max supply | Algorithm | Proof Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin
|
21,000,000.0 | SHA256 | PoW |
| Bytecoin
|
184,467,440,735.0 | CryptoNight | PoW |
| Dash
|
? | ? | ? |
| Ethereum
|
Not Applicable | Ethash | PoW |
| Ethereum Classic
|
- | Ethash | PoW |
| Komodo
|
200,000,000.0 | Equihash | dPoW/PoW |
| Litecoin
|
84,000,000.0 | Scrypt | PoW |
| Monero
|
Not Applicable | CryptoNight | PoW |
| Namecoin
|
21,000,000.0 | SHA256 | PoW |
| NEM
|
8,999,999,999.0 | ? | PoI |
| PIVX
|
- | Quark | PoW/PoS |
| Primecoin
|
3,299,976.0 | Multiple | PoW |
| Ripple
|
38,305,873,865.0 | - | |
| Zcash
|
21,000,000.0 | Equihash | PoW |
| Zclassic
|
21,000,000.0 | Equihash | PoW |
| Zcoin
|
21,000,000.0 | Lyra2RE | PoW |