Since the creation of bitcoin in 2009, the number of new cryptocurrencies has expanded rapidly. [1]
The UK's Financial Conduct Authority estimated there were over 20,000 different cryptocurrencies by the start of 2023, although many of these were no longer traded and would never grow to a significant size. [2]
Year of introduction | Currency | Symbol | Founder(s) | Hash algorithm | Programming language of implementation | Consensus mechanism | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2009 | Bitcoin | BTC, [3] XBT, ₿ | Satoshi Nakamoto | SHA-256d [4] [5] | C++ [6] | PoW [5] [7] | The first and most widely used decentralized ledger currency, [8] with the highest market capitalization as of 2018 [update] . [9] |
2011 | Litecoin | LTC, Ł | Charlie Lee | Scrypt | C++ [10] | PoW | One of the first cryptocurrencies to use scrypt as a hashing algorithm. |
2011 | Namecoin | NMC | Vincent Durham [11] [12] | SHA-256d | C++ [13] | PoW | Also acts as an alternative, decentralized DNS. |
2012 | Peercoin | PPC | Sunny King (pseudonym)[ citation needed ] | SHA-256d [ citation needed ] | C++ [14] | PoW & PoS | The first cryptocurrency to use both PoW and PoS functions. |
2013 | Dogecoin | DOGE, XDG, Ð | Jackson Palmer & Billy Markus [15] | Scrypt [16] | C++ [14] | PoW | Based on the Doge internet meme. |
2013 [17] [18] | Gridcoin | GRC | Rob Hälford [19] | Scrypt | C++ [20] | Decentralized PoS | Linked to citizen science through the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing [21] |
2013 | Primecoin | XPM | Sunny King (pseudonym) [22] [23] | 1CC/2CC/TWN [24] | TypeScript, C++ [25] | PoW [24] | Uses the finding of prime chains composed of Cunningham chains and bi-twin chains for proof-of-work. |
2013 | Ripple [26] [27] | XRP | Chris Larsen & Jed McCaleb [28] | ECDSA [29] | C++ [30] | "Consensus" | Designed for peer-to-peer debt transfer. Not based on bitcoin. |
2013 | Nxt | NXT | BCNext (pseudonym) | SHA-256d [31] | Java [32] | PoS | Specifically designed as a flexible platform to build applications and financial services around its protocol. |
2014 | Auroracoin | AUR | Baldur Odinsson (pseudonym) [33] | Scrypt | C++ [34] | PoW | Created as an alternative currency for Iceland, intended to replace the Icelandic króna. |
2014 | Dash | DASH | Evan Duffield [35] [36] | X11 | C++ [37] | PoW & Proof of Service [nt 1] | A bitcoin-based currency featuring instant transactions, decentralized governance and budgeting, and private transactions. |
2014 | NEO | NEO | Da Hongfei & Erik Zhang | SHA-256 & RIPEMD160 | C# [38] | dBFT | China based cryptocurrency, formerly ANT Shares and ANT Coins. The names were changed in 2017 to NEO and GAS. |
2014 | MazaCoin | MZC | BTC Oyate Initiative | SHA-256d | C++ [39] | PoW | The underlying software is derived from that of another cryptocurrency, ZetaCoin. |
2014 | Monero | XMR | Monero Core Team | RandomX | C++ [40] | PoW | Privacy-centric coin based on the CryptoNote protocol with improvements for scalability and decentralization. |
2014 | Titcoin | TIT | Edward Mansfield & Richard Allen [41] | SHA-256d | TypeScript, C++ [42] | PoW | The first cryptocurrency to be nominated for a major adult industry award. [43] |
2014 | Verge | XVG | Sunerok | Scrypt, x17, groestl, blake2s, and lyra2rev2 | C, C++ [44] | PoW | Features anonymous transactions using Tor. |
2014 | Stellar | XLM | Jed McCaleb | Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP) [45] | C, C++ [46] | Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP) [45] | Open-source, decentralized global financial network. |
2014 | Vertcoin | VTC | David Muller [47] | Verthash [48] | C++ [49] | PoW | Aims to be ASIC resistant. |
2015 | Ethereum | ETH, Ξ | Vitalik Buterin [50] | Ethash [51] | C++, Go [52] | PoW, PoS | Supports Turing-complete smart contracts. |
2015 | Ethereum Classic | ETC | EtcHash/Thanos [53] | PoW | An alternative version of Ethereum [54] whose blockchain does not include the DAO hard fork. [55] Supports Turing-complete smart contracts. | ||
2015 | Nano | XNO, Ӿ | Colin LeMahieu | Blake2 | C++ [ citation needed ] | Open Representative Voting [56] | Decentralized, feeless, open-source, peer-to-peer cryptocurrency. First to use a Block Lattice structure. |
2015 | Tether | USDT | Jan Ludovicus van der Velde [57] | Omnicore [58] | PoW | Tether claims to be backed by USD at a 1 to 1 ratio. The company has been unable to produce promised audits. [59] | |
2016 | Firo | FIRO | Poramin Insom [60] | Merkle tree Proof [61] | C++ [62] | PoW | The first financial system employing Zero-knowledge proof to protect users' privacy. [60] It conducted the world's first large-scale blockchain election for Thailand Democrat Party in 2018. [63] |
2016 | Zcash | ZEC | Zooko Wilcox | Equihash | C++ [64] | PoW | The first open, permissionless financial system employing zero-knowledge security. |
2017 | Bitcoin Cash | BCH [65] | SHA-256d | PoW | Hard fork from bitcoin, increased maximum block size from 1MB to 8MB (as of 2018 [update] , 32MB) | ||
2017 | EOS.IO | EOS | Dan Larimer | WebAssembly, Rust, C, C++ [66] | delegated PoS | Feeless Smart contract platform for decentralized applications and decentralized autonomous corporations with a block time of 500 ms. [66] | |
2017 | Cardano | ADA, ₳ | Charles Hoskinson | Ouroboros, PoS Algorithm [67] | Haskell [68] | PoS | Proof-of-stake blockchain platform: developed via evidence-based methods and peer-reviewed research. [69] [70] [71] |
2017 | Tron | TRX | Justin Sun | Java, Solidity [72] | |||
2018 | AmbaCoin | official cryptocurrency of the Cameroonian separatist entity of Ambazonia | |||||
2018 | Nervos Network | CKB | Kevin Wang, Daniel Lv, Terry Tai | Eaglesong | Rust, JavaScript, C | PoW | Multi-layered blockchain smart contract platform [73] |
2019 | Algorand | ALGO | Silvio Micali | Go [74] | PoS | Uses a verifiable random function to randomly select groups of users to certify blocks. [75] | |
2020 | Avalanche | AVAX | Emin Gün Sirer, Kevin Sekniqi, Maofan "Ted" Yin | PoS | |||
2020 | Shiba Inu | SHIB | Ryoshi | PoS | |||
2020 | Polkadot | DOT | Gavin Wood | Rust | PoS | ||
2020 | Solana | SOL | Anatoly Yakovenko | Rust | PoS | ||
2021 | DeSo | DESO | Nader al-Naji (aka diamondhands) [76] | Go [77] | PoW [78] | Also a social media platform, resembling Twitter. [79] [80] Known as BitClout until September 2021. [76] | |
2021 | SafeMoon | SAFEMOON | SafeMoon LLC | Solidity [81] | PoW | ||
2023 | Arkham Intel Exchange | ARKM [82] [83] | Miguel Morel | Solidity | PoS |
Release | Currency | Symbol | Founder(s) | Hash algorithm | Programming language of implementation | Cryptocurrency blockchain (PoS, PoW, or other) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | Coinye | KOI, COYE | Scrypt | PoW | Used American hip hop artist Kanye West as its mascot, abandoned after he filed a trademark lawsuit. | ||
OneCoin | Ruja Ignatova and Stephen Greenwood | A Ponzi scheme promoted as a cryptocurrency. | |||||
2017 | BitConnect | BCC | BitConnect was described as an open source, all-in-one bitcoin and crypto community platform but was later discovered to be a Ponzi scheme. | ||||
2018 | KodakCoin | Kodak and WENN Digital | Ethash [84] | KodakCoin is a "photographer-centric" blockchain cryptocurrency used for payments for licensing photographs. | |||
Petro | Venezuelan Government | onixCoin [85] | C++ [86] | Stated by Nicolás Maduro to be backed by Venezuela's reserves of oil. As of August 2018 [update] it does not appear to function as a currency. [87] | |||
PlusToken | A ponzi scheme which mainly had investors in China and South Korea. [88] | ||||||
Proof of work (PoW) is a form of cryptographic proof in which one party proves to others that a certain amount of a specific computational effort has been expended. Verifiers can subsequently confirm this expenditure with minimal effort on their part. The concept was first implemented in Hashcash by Moni Naor and Cynthia Dwork in 1993 as a way to deter denial-of-service attacks and other service abuses such as spam on a network by requiring some work from a service requester, usually meaning processing time by a computer. The term "proof of work" was first coined and formalized in a 1999 paper by Markus Jakobsson and Ari Juels. The concept was adapted to digital tokens by Hal Finney in 2004 through the idea of "reusable proof of work" using the 160-bit secure hash algorithm 1 (SHA-1).
A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it.
Litecoin is a decentralized peer-to-peer cryptocurrency and open-source software project released under the MIT/X11 license. Inspired by Bitcoin, Litecoin was among the earliest altcoins, starting in October 2011. In technical details, the Litecoin main chain shares a slightly modified Bitcoin codebase. The practical effects of those codebase differences are lower transaction fees, faster transaction confirmations, and faster mining difficulty retargeting. Due to its underlying similarities to Bitcoin, Litecoin has historically been referred to as the "silver to Bitcoin's gold." In 2022, Litecoin added optional privacy features via soft fork through the MWEB upgrade.
Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency created by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, who decided to create a payment system as a joke, making fun of the wild speculation in cryptocurrencies at the time. It is considered both the first "meme coin", and more specifically the first "dog coin". Despite its satirical nature, some consider it a legitimate investment prospect. Dogecoin features the face of Kabosu from the "doge" meme as its logo and namesake. It was introduced on December 6, 2013, and quickly developed its own online community, reaching a peak market capitalization of over US$85 billion on May 5, 2021. As of 2021, it is the sleeve sponsor of Watford Football Club.
Blockchain.com is a cryptocurrency financial services company. The company began as the first Bitcoin blockchain explorer in 2011 and later created a cryptocurrency wallet that accounted for 28% of bitcoin transactions between 2012 and 2020. It also operates a cryptocurrency exchange and provides institutional markets lending business and data, charts, and analytics.
Vitaly Dmitrievich Buterin, better known as Vitalik Buterin, is a Canadian computer programmer and co-founder of Ethereum. Buterin became involved with cryptocurrency early in its inception, co-founding Bitcoin Magazine in 2011 and Dark Wallet in 2013 together with Amir Taaki and Cody Wilson In 2015, Buterin deployed the Ethereum blockchain with Gavin Wood, Charles Hoskinson, Anthony Di Iorio, and Joseph Lubin.
Counterparty is a peer-to-peer financial platform and a distributed, open source protocol built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain and network. It was one of the most well-known "Bitcoin 2.0" platforms in 2014, along with Mastercoin, Ethereum, Colored Coins, Ripple and BitShares.
Bitfinex is a cryptocurrency exchange owned and operated by iFinex Inc, and is registered in the British Virgin Islands. Bitfinex was founded in 2012. It was originally a peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange, and later added support for other cryptocurrencies.
Firo, formerly known as Zcoin, is a cryptocurrency aimed at using cryptography to provide better privacy for its users compared to other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
Cardano is a public blockchain platform. It is open-source and decentralized, with consensus achieved using proof of stake. It can facilitate peer-to-peer transactions with its internal cryptocurrency, ADA.
The Bitcoin scalability problem refers to the limited capability of the Bitcoin network to handle large amounts of transaction data on its platform in a short span of time. It is related to the fact that records in the Bitcoin blockchain are limited in size and frequency.
A cryptocurrency wallet is a device, physical medium, program or an online service which stores the public and/or private keys for cryptocurrency transactions. In addition to this basic function of storing the keys, a cryptocurrency wallet more often offers the functionality of encrypting and/or signing information. Signing can for example result in executing a smart contract, a cryptocurrency transaction, identification, or legally signing a 'document'.
Tether is a cryptocurrency stablecoin launched by Tether Limited Inc. in 2014.
A cryptocurrency bubble is a phenomenon where the market increasingly considers the going price of cryptocurrency assets to be inflated against their hypothetical value. The history of cryptocurrency has been marked by several speculative bubbles.
Cryptocurrency and crime describe notable examples of cybercrime related to theft of cryptocurrencies and some methods or security vulnerabilities commonly exploited. Cryptojacking is a form of cybercrime specific to cryptocurrencies that have been used on websites to hijack a victim's resources and use them for hashing and mining cryptocurrency.
OKX is a global cryptocurrency spot and derivatives exchange and the second biggest crypto exchange by trading volume, serving over 50 million people globally. It was founded by Star Xu in 2017, who is also the CEO as of 2023. The President is Hong Fang and the CMO is Haider Rafique. OKX is owned by OK Group, which also owns the crypto exchange Okcoin. As of August 2024, OKX is Top 3 Spot Cryptocurrency exchange in the world according to Coinmarketcap with a Spot Exchange Score of 7.8.
A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency where the value of the digital asset is supposed to be pegged to a reference asset, which is either fiat money, exchange-traded commodities, or another cryptocurrency.
Ouroboros is a family of proof-of-stake consensus protocols used in the Cardano and Polkadot blockchains. It can run both permissionless and permissioned blockchains.
Aggelos Kiayias is a Greek cryptographer and computer scientist, currently a professor at the University of Edinburgh and the Chief Science Officer at Input Output Global, the company behind Cardano.
Algorand is a proof-of-stake blockchain and cryptocurrency. Algorand's native cryptocurrency is called ALGO.
The coin is not sold on any major cryptocurrency exchange. No shops are known to accept it.