A cryptocurrency is a digital money which can be used to purchase goods and services, but it is secured by an online ledger and powerful encryption. Cryptocurrency is a type of online payment that may be used to buy and sell products and services. Many businesses have created their own currencies, termed tokens, that can be exchanged for the company’s goods or services. Blockchain is the technology that enables cryptocurrency to function. Blockchain is a decentralised system that handles and archives transactions across numerous systems.There are around 6,700 distinct cryptocurrencies that are publicly traded. According to CoinMarketCap, a cryptocurrency statistics and analytics firm, these are the top ten trading cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Let’s have a look at the people who invented these cryptocurrencies.
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Bitcoin
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency created by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. When the currency’s application was released as open-source software in 2009, it went into usage. Bitcoin is a decentralised digital currency that may be transmitted from user to user on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network without using middlemen. It has no central bank or single administrator. Bitcoin is extremely popular, and it has sparked the creation of hundreds of alternative cryptocurrencies known as altcoins. “BTC” is a frequent abbreviation for Bitcoin.
2. Ethereum
Vitalik Buterin, a programmer, proposed Ethereum in 2013. The network officially launched on July 30, 2015, with an initial supply of 72 million coins, after being crowdfunded in 2014. Developers may utilise the platform to create and run decentralised apps that consumers may engage with. Ethereum is a decentralised, open-source blockchain that allows users to create smart contracts. After Bitcoin, Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market valuation. It is the most widely utilised blockchain.
3. Ripple
Ryan Fugger, a Web developer in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, was the first to integrate Ripple cryptocurrency in 2004. In 2005, Fugger started developing Ripplepay as a financial solution that would allow members of an online group to make safe payments over a worldwide network. In May 2011, a new digital currency system based on this protocol was launched, complete with its own crypto currency, XRP. Ripple allows users to send money to one another using cryptographically signed transactions denominated in any real-world asset.
4. Cardano
Cardano was founded by Charles Hoskinson. After serving as a co-founder of Ethereum, Hoskinson left the business and co-founded IOHK, a blockchain engineering firm. The Cardano system was first developed in 2015, but it wasn’t officially deployed until 2017. Cardano is a fully accessible, public blockchain system with its own ADA cryptocurrency tokens.
5. Litecoin
Charlie Lee founded Litecoin (LTC) in 2011. It was one of the original cryptocurrencies. He worked for Google before joining Coinbase as Engineering Director. On GitHub, an open-source client for Litecoin was launched. On October 13, 2011, the Litecoin network became operational. Litecoin is an open source project and a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency. Starting in October 2011, Litecoin was an early bitcoin offshoot or altcoin. Litecoin is essentially comparable to Bitcoin in terms of technological specifications.