A quick overview of the biggest cryptocurrencies

Top 10 best cryptocurrencies of all time!!! MUST WATCH!!!

Just joking. These are just my notes on the most popular cryptocurrencies.

       

1. Bitcoin - the granddaddy of all cryptocurrencies, who needs no introduction. It dominates over almost half of the whole cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin basically dictates the price of all altcoins. When it goes up most major cryptocurrencies will follow it and vice versa. However due to that, it's extremely difficult to predict which way it's price will go. Since we are talking about thousands of dollars for one coin (currently more than 2760 USD) it can be a gold mine for some or a death trap for others.
2. Ethereum (not to be confused with Ethereum Classic) - the second biggest player, capitalizing over 20% of the whole market. It utilizes smart contracts to introduce more complex functionality to it's blockchain, allowing it to process contracts and execute transactions on conditions. Due to it's nature it's perfect for developers wishing to create blockchain applications (which has spawned a great community and also provides great opportunities for startups). And now after the one month dip it seems it has stabilized and (maybe) entering a slight bullish trend.
3. Ripple (the actual coin's name is XRP) - banks love it and some people hate it. Due to the fact that it's a private currency unlike bitcoin or other altcoins, and it complies with government and bank regulations it's easy to see why it is favoured by official establishments and disliked by people who strongly believe in decentralization of money. Everyone should decide for themselves if they are in support or against it. As it is now (holding about 7.5% of the global market) the future of Ripple is unsure, depending on the public opinion and weather major governments will implement it globally.
4. Litecoin - if bitcoin is the gold of the cryptoworld than litecoin would surely be the silver. Due to it's long history (longer than most other coins), and it's similarities with it's older brother bitcoin, makes litecoin easy and easy to get into. With it's price of 40.85 USD for one coin and 2.5% market cap it's a solid choice for investment, even though major dips or rises specific for the coin are unlikely.
5. NEM, Dash and Ethereum Classic - 3 very different cryptocurrencies each of which possesses about 1.5-1.8% of the market.

            

• NEM: (called initially New Economic Movement): It's scalable, fast and with extremely low transaction fee, and as far as I've heard people claim that it's very stable and safe. It uses "harvesters" instead of "miners" and utilizes a proof-of-importance (POI) algorithm. NEM transactions are also easily traceable (there are no private transactions, take that whichever way you like). I would wait until more of the early adopters take a hold of it before I form a solid opinion (some parts seem kind of foggy).

                

• Dash: It has the same features as bitcoin + an InstandSend function, and Unlike NEM transactions can be made privately. Dash uses a two tier architecture: Firstly "miners" write transactions to the blockchain, and after that masternodes (servers which have 1000+ Dash) execute Dash's special functionalities (InstantSend, PrivateSend etc). Not sure what to think about some of it's previous controversy, also the fact that right now it's site is down doesn't help.

              

• Ethereum Classic: After a flaw in the system of the original Ehtereum which resulted in stolen funds from investors. The majority of the Ethereum team decided to reset the blockchain resulting in the funds being recovered. However some of the community believed that the blockchain shouldn't be altered and created a separate currency with no alteration to the block, now known as Ethereum Classic. As far as I know not there aren't a lot of people developing and expanding the currency which unfortunately doesn't give much hope for the future of the coin.

Market Capitalization - coinmarketcap.com/charts

There are numerous other altcoins some of them great, some not so much, and some of them are just pump and dump scams. It's a good idea to look at not only the coin itself, but at the whole team behind it (especially in the case of ICO's).

As always it's best to do your own homework. Self research will yield a lot more results than a little post someone like me can make. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to drown my boredom in researching the blockchain.

                                                                            -The endless grind of learning