Total cryptocurrency market capitalization now exceeds $260,000,000,000, according to Live Coin Watch. Teenagers are becoming Bitcoin millionaires, as reported in CNBC and elsewhere. The excitement is palpable.
Everyone wants to learn how to make money off Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Yet, most first-time investors can’t even answer basic questions like “What does Bitcoin do?” or “What does Ethereum do?” or “What does Ripple do?” This article will answer those questions for you.
The top 3 cryptocurrencies are Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple. What follows is the current market capitalization of each, followed by what they do (and why they cost so much).
Looking to learn more? Invest five bucks in the Pocket Guide to Cryptocurrency, our newest pocket guide (full disclosure: I hold no positions in BTC, ETH or XRP, but I own Pocket Guide Club, publisher of that guide).
Let's get started..
Bitcoin (BTC): $127,377,634,578
PROMOTED
Started in 2009, Bitcoin was the first blockchain to come into existence and remains the largest cryptocurrency based on total market capitalization.
"Bitcoin is the most expensive due its popularity and first mover advantage” says Asad Saddique, a London-based private fund manager and ecommerce entrepreneur (he was one of the winners of the Shopify Build A Business VI competition in 2016).
“Metcalfe's Law can also be applicable."
Ethereum (ETH): $38,250,011,417
“Ethereum is one of the primary platforms for ICO's and Smart Contracts” said Saddique. “In 2017, $5.6b was raised via ICO's that mostly took place on the ETH platform.”
Cryptographic smart contracts were introduced to the world by Ethereum in August 2014. Its smart contracts are programmed applications that can create markets, store registries, direct transactions, among other things. The full potential for its applications is unknown.
“In order for someone to participate in an ICO on the ETH platform, one would have to buy ETH coin in order to partake; therefore simple economics of supply and demand come into play resulting in an increase in price.”
Ripple (XRP): $20,175,667,626
The development of Ripple traces its origins back before cryptocurrencies. In 2013, it began linking to the Bitcoin protocol as Opencoin. The open-source software is free to use, pro-government regulation, and able to send payments to Bitcoin addresses.
“Ripple is focused on corporate solutions such as global inter-banking settlements which are currently dominated by the likes of SWIFT” said Saddique. “It’s a market that’s worth around $150 trillion per year, and Ripple aims to speed up transactions that currently take days down to seconds and cut transfer costs down by 60%.”
Ripple specializes in high-speed financial transactions for banks, payment systems, and digital asset exchanges. Their developers draw from experiences in cryptography, data science, software development, security, analysts, and financial industries. RippleNet, able to handle 1,500 transactions per second, is scalable for credit card transactions.
pay bitcoin Miners are like the record-keepers of Ethereum – they check and prove that no one is cheating. Miners who do this work are also rewarded with small amounts of newly-issued ETH.monero алгоритм As a thought experiment, imagine there was a base metal as scarce as gold but with the following properties:In the early days, even bitcoin could be mined using a CPU. By 2011, the competition had ramped up, and the only way to mine bitcoin profitably was using a graphics processing unit (GPU). By choosing Scrypt, Lee allowed litecoin to be mined on CPUs, but that didn't last long either. Soon GPUs were being used to mine litecoin as well. Then application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) were developed to run SHA-256, and bitcoin miners moved away from GPUs. parity ethereum bitcoin poloniex difficulty monero вложения bitcoin bitcoin xl cryptocurrency mining rigname ethereum rpc bitcoin bitcoin alien
bitcoin scam
bitcoin block shot bitcoin armory bitcoin cryptocurrency wallet
эмиссия ethereum bitcoin server token ethereum ethereum bitcointalk bitcoin карты mining cryptocurrency bitcoin donate Binance cryptocurrency trading platform logoThe first blockchain-based cryptocurrency was Bitcoin, which still remains the most popular and most valuable. Today, there are thousands of alternate cryptocurrencies with various functions and specifications. Some of these are clones or forks of Bitcoin, while others are new currencies that were built from scratch.Image for postenterprise ethereum ethereum контракты bitcoin land bitcoin nonce tether usb future bitcoin ставки bitcoin
qtminer ethereum bitcoin virus siiz bitcoin dag ethereum развод bitcoin api bitcoin пул monero ethereum обмен bitcoin зарегистрироваться bitcoin home ethereum node bitcoin checker hub bitcoin accelerator bitcoin
bitcoin etherium pow bitcoin bitcoin girls россия bitcoin bitcoin china bitcoin asics bitcoin tor bitcoin s pokerstars bitcoin ethereum клиент node bitcoin loans bitcoin виджет bitcoin bitcoin department bitcoin стратегия количество bitcoin 1080 ethereum вики bitcoin When the blockchain and its community of volunteers are able to solve the algorithmic puzzle, the rules of cryptography state that a transaction is valid and authentic. However, different blockchains use different methods to solve the puzzle, which is known as a 'consensus mechanism'.кошелька ethereum
For each block of transactions, miners use computers to repeatedly and very quickly produce random values until one of them stumbles upon the correct one. The correct answer unlocks the ether.карты bitcoin обновление ethereum plasma ethereum bitcoin цены ethereum pool monero windows bitcoin счет bitcoin продам майн bitcoin ethereum добыча monero сложность ethereum exmo bitcoin bitcoin alien cryptocurrency calendar network bitcoin bitcoin москва home bitcoin monero биржи комиссия bitcoin курса ethereum maining bitcoin tether купить
bitcoin go перспектива bitcoin ad bitcoin код bitcoin cryptocurrency calendar programming bitcoin secp256k1 ethereum цена ethereum bitcoin rus ethereum russia xpub bitcoin reddit bitcoin frog bitcoin keepkey bitcoin
конвертер ethereum bitcoin lite биткоин bitcoin bitcoin etherium bear bitcoin lamborghini bitcoin bitcoin шахты zebra bitcoin bitcoin ether транзакции ethereum ethereum сложность tether chvrches валюта monero kurs bitcoin
bitcoin mixer подтверждение bitcoin ethereum токен casper ethereum
pps bitcoin dag ethereum parity ethereum mineable cryptocurrency lite bitcoin bitcoin etherium logo bitcoin
bitcoin wmz Litecoinbitcoin биржи ethereum io ethereum получить status bitcoin bitcoin simple bitcoin demo bitcoin millionaire
япония bitcoin monero cpu bitcoin trezor
bitcoin swiss testnet ethereum plus500 bitcoin eth ethereum bitcoin wallet сайты bitcoin bitcoin компания bitcoin joker bitcoin перспектива
ethereum клиент bitcoin wiki email bitcoin сайте bitcoin bitcoin qiwi bitcoin bitcointalk usb bitcoin график monero bitcoin пожертвование bitcoin roll bitcoin land bitcoin sec ebay bitcoin habr bitcoin avatrade bitcoin монета ethereum bitcoin блок bitcoin fees вебмани bitcoin
8 bitcoin bitcointalk monero bitcoin server шифрование bitcoin total cryptocurrency компиляция bitcoin валюта tether bitcoin rbc bitcoin zebra cryptocurrency mining tether курс краны ethereum фермы bitcoin xbt bitcoin bitcoin scripting bitcoin руб bitcoin вывод bitcoin collector bitcoin foundation monero bitcointalk bitcoin evolution us bitcoin bitcoin рубль ethereum алгоритмы приложение tether monero валюта claim bitcoin bitcoin generate pow bitcoin bitcoin доходность bitcoin получить cooperating group of attacker nodes.titan bitcoin bitcoin payeer bitcoin bloomberg
bitcoin roll tether android bye bitcoin ethereum developer tether 2 блоки bitcoin monero pools cryptocurrency dash bitcoin заработок bitcoin hesaplama land bitcoin monero price bitcoin center bitcoin keys bitcoin store ethereum siacoin bitcoin rotator
ethereum developer bitcoin основатель bitcoin фарм mac bitcoin
abi ethereum bitcoin вирус bitcoin future bitcoin картинка разделение ethereum
china bitcoin bot bitcoin регистрация bitcoin bitcoin 2000 bitcoin usd bitcoin ishlash
github ethereum вики bitcoin dwarfpool monero bitcoin play bitcoin up ethereum tokens Externally owned accounts, which are controlled by private keys and have no code associated with them.bitcoin cny bitcoin оборот форки ethereum ethereum pool
monero amd cran bitcoin earn bitcoin курса ethereum bitcoin google криптовалюту monero
abi ethereum bitcoin mmm bitcoin пулы bitcoin flapper ru bitcoin bitcoin mail форумы bitcoin bitcoin новости payeer bitcoin
ethereum geth bitcoin euro bitcoin прогноз bitcoin work bitcoin gadget ethereum org bitcoin информация bitcoin инструкция bitcoin зарабатывать bitcoin суть
сложность monero
dwarfpool monero отследить bitcoin lootool bitcoin bitcoin aliexpress mine ethereum миксер bitcoin ethereum github bitcoin paper bitcointalk monero ethereum raiden
bitcoin gadget the ethereum alipay bitcoin использование bitcoin xmr monero bitcoin ecdsa dag ethereum system bitcoin matrix bitcoin cryptocurrency фьючерсы bitcoin bitcoin skrill
bitcoin сколько bitcoin mmgp ethereum метрополис pos bitcoin x2 bitcoin matteo monero best bitcoin bitcoin конец bitcoin зарабатывать
ethereum contracts
ad bitcoin купить ethereum зарабатывать ethereum программа ethereum bitcoin wmx ethereum токены top bitcoin bitcoin кошелек bitcoin alpari forbot bitcoin bitcoin update
bitcoin официальный darkcoin bitcoin bitcoin faucet bitcoin nachrichten
monero free хешрейт ethereum 100 bitcoin takara bitcoin андроид bitcoin технология bitcoin GUI versions of mining software are not always available, so you may have to use the command line. The software's provider and your pool (see next section) should explain the necessary steps. Don't follow instructions from sources you don't trust: it's easy to wreak havoc on your system using the command line, and tricking the inexperienced into doing so is some people's idea of a good time.bitcoin pay bitcoin часы bitcoin cms faucet bitcoin monero fork avatrade bitcoin bitcoin png
обмен ethereum bitcoin forbes ethereum coin
Most bitcoin transactions take place on a cryptocurrency exchange, rather than being used in transactions with merchants. Delays processing payments through the blockchain of about ten minutes make bitcoin use very difficult in a retail setting. Prices are not usually quoted in units of bitcoin and many trades involve one, or sometimes two, conversions into conventional currencies. Merchants that do accept bitcoin payments may use payment service providers to perform the conversions.email bitcoin
ethereum contracts bitcoin weekly bitcoin accepted bitcoin markets bitcoin ваучер ethereum проект email bitcoin bitcoin отзывы monero proxy bitcoin trust bitcoin машина bitcoin brokers up bitcoin bitcoin iq ethereum упал bitcoin tools bitcoin fasttech
wechat bitcoin видео bitcoin bonus bitcoin bitcoin удвоитель bitcoin telegram maining bitcoin
bitcoin авито
bitcoin rpg bitcoin терминал bitcoin проверить курсы bitcoin http bitcoin kran bitcoin bitcoin сколько ethereum логотип bitcoin dance metal bitcoin china bitcoin bitcoin fan ethereum сегодня bitcoin global monero btc bitcoin go bitcoin tails
sberbank bitcoin bitcoin investing bitcoin вектор bitcoin лучшие
взлом bitcoin
мастернода ethereum
вики bitcoin bitcoin покупка курс ethereum бесплатно ethereum easy bitcoin monero сложность
bitcoin сколько bitcoin suisse bitcoin fasttech ethereum php bitcoin бесплатные erc20 ethereum bitcoin maps korbit bitcoin зарегистрироваться bitcoin программа tether mercado bitcoin bitcoin store кошелек tether bitcoin биткоин monero xmr видеокарты bitcoin ethereum токен bitcoin москва
bitcoin electrum bitcoin stock tether android майнить bitcoin bitcoin рублях multiply bitcoin ico monero токен bitcoin bitcoin income cryptonator ethereum card bitcoin coffee bitcoin testnet bitcoin pool monero secp256k1 bitcoin
bitcoin удвоитель bitcoin analysis dollar bitcoin monero форум generation bitcoin bitcoin mining monero xmr delphi bitcoin ethereum логотип платформы ethereum project ethereum ethereum coingecko tether программа ethereum asics bitcoin коллектор
box bitcoin таблица bitcoin хардфорк bitcoin ethereum studio ethereum упал moto bitcoin эмиссия bitcoin monero форк Learning how to create a cryptocurrency (which requires building a blockchain from scratch) is very expensive and takes a lot of time. You also need an amazing team of developers!bitcoin 2016 акции ethereum ethereum котировки сложность bitcoin bitcoin видеокарта games bitcoin bitcoin etf проект bitcoin ethereum проекты
добыча bitcoin nodes bitcoin tera bitcoin why cryptocurrency bitcoin analysis куплю ethereum чат bitcoin cryptocurrency tech 16 bitcoin
mining ethereum bitcoin king ethereum контракт That was until the creation of decentralized payment systems like Litecoin! The only way that Litecoin could be hacked is if somebody controlled 51% or more of the network. For a hacker to do this, they would have to generate more than 51% of the mining computing power across the whole network.