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According to cryptocurrency market capitalization aggregators, there are more than 5,000 cryptocurrencies and over 20,000 different types of markets today. BTC is the oldest and most well-known digital asset, and almost everything else has typically been referred to as “altcoin”. The term refers to any of the thousands of prevailing cryptocurrencies that aim to work together with bitcoin and each other, or are competing for ultimate dominance.
Read also: Bitcoin History Part 5: A Wild Altcoin Appears
Since 2011, the Altcoin issuance rate has grown exponentially
Satoshi’s creation has existed for over 11 years and there are 5,098 alternative cryptocurrencies (altcoins) that exist alongside the creator’s invention. Cryptocurrency historians widely view the Namecoin network as the first altcoin and the term “altcoin” would have been first described by developer Andrew Chow.
Namecoin was launched on April 18, 2011 and the project aims to decentralize the domain registration. Between 2011 and 2014 – before the blockchain hype of 2015 – Altcoin’s launch rate began to grow exponentially. After namecoin, bitcoiners witnessed the birth of ripple, litecoin, peercoin, feathercoin, mastercoin, counterpart and unobtainium. There are now thousands of digital currencies that have used the BTC code base and the developers have modified some minor details with coins like einsteinium, litecoin, dash, zcash and novacoin. There are also Ethereum (ETH) forks with networks such as ubiq, ethereum classic, and wanchain. Bytecoin has a unique code base and also has a plethora of forks including monero, boolberry, and electroneum.
Ripple has the stellar fork and NXT has forks like nem, ardor and burst. As you travel further down the rabbit hole, you will also find tokens created by networks like Tron, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum using the TRC20, SLP or ERC20 token standards. Some forks are born directly from the codebase hosted on sites like Github and some forks are created by a divergent blockchain in two different chains. If a group of people modify the original code and run the software differently than the main consensus rules, they will move to a new blockchain scheme.
A number of cryptocurrencies have died, but that doesn’t stop developers from making a better Bitcoin
Today, the thousands of existing digital assets are put together on market valuation websites like coinmarketcap.com, markets.bitcoin.com, and messari.io. Of all the cryptocurrencies traded on the open market, the valuation of all 5000+ coins in existence is around $ 285 billion today. The BTC network captures approximately 63% of the overall market capitalization with its net worth at $ 183 billion. A historical snapshot from December 2013 from coinmarketcap.com shows that the top ten cryptocurrency market limits were very different than they are today. BTC only had a valuation of around $ 13 billion in December 2013, and the underlying altcoins were completely different currencies than today’s top ten. The top ten in the last month of 2013 included BTC, LTC, XRP, PPC, NMC, MEC, FTC, WDC, XPM, FRC, and NVC. Today’s top ten list, as of February 2019, includes BTC, ETH, XRP, BCH, BSV, LTC, EOS, USDT, BNB and XTZ.
If Satoshi Nakamoto was a genius, people are probably wondering why there are thousands of digital tokens in cryptocurrency. Some people know what they are and where they come from, but they often think about why altcoins exist. There are many reasons why altcoins exist and it is mainly because people can do whatever they want in this environment without permission. But even some individuals, groups and developers believe they can create a cryptocurrency project that surpasses BTC or have created a coin to offer compatibility, but also features other than BTC.
Some projects claim to offer better anonymity, and some coins aim to address a specific industry such as entertainment. There are digital assets that provide people with the ability to create their own tokens and also develop smart contracts. Altcoins exist because Satoshi not only unveiled the Bitcoin network, but the anonymous creator has also opened a sort of Pandora’s box in the world of technology and finance. Now that the box is open, there’s no turning back and it doesn’t appear that the altcoin issuance rate is slowing anytime soon.
What do you think of the thousands of altcoins in existence? Why do you think there are so many cryptocurrencies today? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comments section below.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, nor a recommendation, endorsement or sponsorship of any product, service or company. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or allegedly caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.
Image Credits: Shutterstock, Markets.Bitcoin.com, coinmarketcap.com, Pixabay, Fair Use, and Wiki Commons.
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