You may have heard your friends and colleagues talk about crypto tokens and its increasing valuation. The evolving world of crypto is only increasing and people across the globe use cryptocurrencies to shop online. Do not get confused by terms like crypto, coins, token and others. These are not the same things. The two primary categories of cryptocurrencies are coins and tokens. Coins are all the cryptocurrencies like bitcoins and altcoins. Whereas tokens are assets that are programmed and found on the blockchain system. Crypto coins are created for digital usage to buy tangible products. Fiat money is seen and felt but cryptocurrencies are finite and paperless. Let us understand the five main cryptocurrencies that are very popular today.
Stellar (XLM)
The native currency of stellar is called XLM and it is based on blockchain technology. Another name that Stellar is popularly addressed as is Stellar Lumens. It is easy to use this crypto to remit money on platforms like Western Union. XLM can be traded on popular platforms and it can be easily bought, sold and stored online. Ensure you have an active digital wallet to perform all the transactions.
Dogecoin
Launched in 2013, Dogecoin has garnered a lot of attention and popularity. If you go into the details of this cryptocurrency, it would not take you much time to figure out that Dogecoins are actually memecoins. It is so because the creator had created the cryptocurrency with no expectations of returns or response from the investors and traders as it was made out of joke. It was in 2019 when Elon Musk one of the successful businessmen wrote a tweet about dogecoin which spoke about its advantages and threw a lot of positive light. This gave it a legitimate status and also increased its valuation. Just like bitcoin, it works on blockchain technology so all the transactions are verified and recorded. A lot of content creators have been rewarded with dogecoin on platforms like Twitter and Reddit. Despite dogecoin being widely accepted and popular, the valuation on 25 June 2022 was 0.072 cents. Dogecoins’ sudden upraise and sudden downfall is an extremely good example of the market volatility in the crypto trade market.
Binance Coin
Apart from being a cryptocurrency (BNB) on its own, Binance also happens to be the most popular marketplace for cryptocurrency transactions. The Binance coin was built on the Ethereum blockchain but now it independently operates on Binance’s independent blockchain platform. It was supposed to be used as an exchange token for the Binance platform. With its growing acceptance, it is now used as a currency to pay bills at hotels, spas and even buy flight tickets. Finite in nature, this digital currency was 200 million in number and approximately half of it was available for investors. An interesting aspect is that in every financial quarter, Binance itself removes the circulation of the coins so that there is no oversupply. This is great as the valuation does not dip and the price tends to increase because of scarcity.
Monero (XMR)
As the name indicates, monero means money. Digital, decentralized and private it is used all across the globe. Whenever you plan to buy things from online shopping sites, you can visit the merchants’ page and check if XMR is being accepted or not. Focused on privacy, monero transactions are confidential and private in nature. It was launched in 2014, it is used by all those who want to remain anonymous. It is decentralized hence no government can meddle and cause any delays in transactions.
Polkadot
Cofounded by Gavin Wood, this cryptocurrency was launched in 2020. It is based on dot technology hence the name polkadot. Unlike bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies, polkadot uses two blockchain technologies. One is the relay network which is the primary system while the other is called parachains. The latter is an independent system which connects to the main system and enables it to function better. Extremely safe and secure, this crypto has become very popular as it enables sharding. Sharding is the method where a blockchain is split into shards so that it can be stored in other machines as well. This helps in the easier and faster processing of transactions.
Before trading or investing in them, read about them comprehensively so that you understand the concept and trade carefully.