10 Classes of Crypto Finance Investments
If you decide you want to invest in cryptocurrency, there is a lot to learn. It can all be a little overwhelming at first because there is a lot of conflicting information on what to invest in and how. The very first thing that you need to understand, though, is what your options are.
by David Smith
There are a lot of different types of cryptocurrency that you can choose from if you are interested in crypto finance investments. Here, we will take a look at 10 options you have if you are interested in investing.
1. Bitcoin (BTC)
Even if you only have a casual knowledge of cryptocurrency, you’ve probably heard of bitcoin. This is the cryptocurrency that most people can name.
This type of cryptocurrency was started in January of 2009. The creator of bitcoin is Satoshi Nakamoto who also wrote the paper Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. There are some speculations that Nakamoto is pseudonym and the real identity of the author is unknown.
2. Ethereum (ETH)
Bitcoin is far from your only choice when it comes to cryptocurrency, despite its prominence. Another popular choice is a cryptocurrency called ethereum. This option is much newer as it was launched in 2015.
Ethereum is platform specific. To greatly simplify things, if you want to navigate the ethereum platform, you will need ether. Ether is a cryptographic token and is most valuable to developers. This is because it can be used to create and run applications on the ethereum platform.
Another important note is that ethereum brought in an era of initial coin offering (ICO) when it was set for pre-sale in 2015. This was, in part, thanks to the surprisingly positive response to its presale.
3. Litecoin (LTC)
Litecoin was launched in 2011 making it one of the first types of cryptocurrency that followed bitcoin. As such, it has often been compared to its predecessor. Fitting to its name, it has often been considered a “lighter” version of bitcoin being often described as “silver to bitcoin’s gold.”
This cryptocurrency was created by Charlie Lee. He is an MIT graduate as well as a former engineer for Google.
Litecoin is an open source global payment network. This means that it isn’t controlled by a central authority.
4. Zcash (ZEC)
On the topic of an open source and decentralized cryptocurrency, the next option is Zcash. It is also rather new as it was launched near the end of 2016.
The draw of Zcash is that it offers two things: it offers privacy as well as a certain level of transparency in transactions. However, investors can also choose a more private transaction known as a “shielded” transaction. Because of this extra security, Zcash advertises itself by saying “If bitcoin is like http for money, zcash is https.”
5. Ripple (XRP)
Ripple is both a cryptocurrency as well as the name of the website that birthed it. Ripple the website was created as a platform to give users a chance to transfer money across countries. In this goal, they created their own cryptocurrency also known as Ripple. The idea behind this was that an individual would be able to transfer money into Ripple in one country and then switch it back to the new country’s currency once it transferred.
6. NEO (NEO)
Another option is NEO. This cryptocurrency was started in 2014 and was originally known as AntShares. Interestingly, this is the largest cryptocurrency to date that has hailed from China. It is even sometimes referred to as “Chinese ethereum.” This is a crucial type of cryptocurrency to know about because it seems to be showing increasing success in recent years.
7. EOS (EOS)
EOS is a newer type of cryptocurrency as it was launched only in the summer of 2017. It was created by Dan Larimer. He has an impressive amount of experience in cryptocurrency as he worked on Bitshares and Steemit. He based EOS on the ethereum model.
This means that it works on a platform that allows for decentralized applications. Additionally, though, EOS is impressive because its initial coin offering was on of the most profitable as well as longest in history.
8. Dash (DASH)
Dash was originally known as darkcoin as a play on bitcoin when it was launched in 2014. Don’t be fooled by this original name, though, because dash isn’t a shady investment. Rather, this original name came from the idea that it would be a more anonymous investment when compared to other types of cryptocurrency.
Rebranded in 2015, darkcoin was rebranded into dash, a name that comes from the term “digital cash.” This rebranding didn’t change the use of DarkSend and InstantX as technological features. When this cryptocurrency was founded, it was thanks to Evan Duffield.
9. Cardano (ADA)
Cardano is also closely related to ethereum as it was created by Charles Hoskinson, a co-founder for ethereum. It is also rather new as it came out in September 2017. This cryptocurrency is made to have all the benefits of ethereum with a little extra to depend on such as help with scalability and interoperability.
10. Monero (XMR)
Finally, we have monero. This cryptocurrency was designed for privacy in your investments — something that other cryptocurrencies like bitcoin don’t always give. The big difference between monero and bitcoin is that bitcoin uses a transparent blockchain. Monero, on the other hand, encrypts almost all information about the transaction and the parties involved for the sake of privacy.
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David Smith is a blogger and world traveler, with experience manufacturing smart cards in China with Cardzgroup. When not behind a computer building companies, he enjoys hiking the hills of Griffith Park in LA.
