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Bitcoin first came into existence in 2008. It’s been over a decade since its launch and the cryptocurrency is still leading the crypto space with market dominance above 65%. Bitcoin might still be the leading cryptocurrency, but that doesn’t mean lessen the worth of other cryptocurrencies. While referring to Bitcoin alternatives, we are referring to the cryptocurrencies that have either come over scalability and transaction speed issues unlike Bitcoin or which provide unique features like building smart contracts and Dapps. In this article, we are going to talk about the top cryptocurrency alternatives in which you can invest and use for other purposes. Let’s start right away and find out about some of the best alternatives to bitcoin.
Reasons Why You Should Look For Alternatives To Bitcoin
Well, clearly, Bitcoin is awesome, and there’s no cryptocurrency yet that has even given it an equal competition. Even the second-largest cryptocurrency Etheruem has a dominance rate of around 10% which is six times less than that of Bitcoin. With no doubts, there are many advantages of Bitcoin. So, is there really a need for a Bitcoin alternative? Yes! There is because no matter how much more dominance bitcoin has over altcoins in the market, it still has scalability issues. When we send a Bitcoin to another wallet, it takes a minimum of 10 minutes to complete the transaction. Moreover, if there would be more traffic on the network, it could take from hours to days for the transaction to get completed.
This clearly tells us that Bitcoin cannot be used for paying local merchants unless you are ready to stand on the shop until your payment gets processed. If you want to utilize cryptocurrencies for local uses such as shopping online, buying a packet of biscuit while staying anonymous, it’s not Bitcoin that’s going to work for you. Besides, there are now many cryptos like Ethereum which offers far more use cases than Bitcoin. Don’t you want to know about such cryptos and see what they can offer you better than Bitcoin?
Ethereum: The Second Largest Cryptocurrency
The reason Etheruem has so much value in the market is because of its use cases. Unlike Bitcoin which intends to behave merely as a global digital payment method, Ethereum has plans beyond it. Besides using Ethereum as a currency, its blockchain can be used for creating smart contracts as well as building, accessing and running dApps. Ethereum blockchain is useful to not only large enterprises, institutions and Govt. bodies but for small merchants and retailers. For example, financial institutions can use Ethereum’s blockchain for validating data and transactions, while dealers can use it for tracking goods in the supply chain.
Many big companies have already adopted the blockchain for better development of their businesses. Another benefit that makes Ethereum top the list of the best alternatives to Bitcoin is its ability to create smart contracts.
Ripple: Enables Instant And Real-time Cross Border Payments
Next, comes the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap as well as according to its use cases. What sets Ripple apart from Bitcoin is its ability to process transactions instantly and in real-time. The transactions are transparent and have low costs. Moreover, unlike Bitcoin Ripple doesn’t require mining as all the XRP tokens are pre-mined. So, there’s no need for expensive machines and energy because there would be no more creation of XRP tokens.
So, if you are looking for a cryptocurrency that could serve you as a real-time international payment option and is secure by end to end, Ripple is your best alternative to bitcoin.
The crypto coin has a market cap of around $9.2 billion with a total market supply of 100 billion.
Bitcoin Cash: A Better, More Scalable Version of Bitcoin
Just want a cryptocurrency that is exactly like Bitcoin but with resolved scalability issues? Bitcoin cash is your answer! If you don’t know it already, Bitcoin cash was obtained by hard forking Bitcoin when there was disagreement for increasing the block size of the blockchain.
Bitcoin Cash was known as one of the successful forks in history and also one of the best alternatives to Bitcoin. The purpose behind the creation of Bitcoin Cash was One, to resolve the issues of scalability with Bitcoin and two, to reduce the transaction fees. As a result, Bitcoin Cash can process much more transactions than Bitcoin within a second and is five to ten times cheaper if compared to Bitcoins transaction fees.
Monero: Best Privacy Coin
All cryptocurrencies claim to be the most secure but have you never wondered about the fact that all your transactions are accessible from the blockchain. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are transparent, which is actually a good thing but it has its disadvantages too. Anyone who knows your wallet address can track your everyday transactions, which is also a matter of concerns to those who give priority to privacy.
Here comes Monero in play. Monero, unlike any other cryptocurrency, is a privacy coin that enables users to transact anonymously. When the receiver won’t know your identity i.e. won’t be able to see your actual wallet address, there’s no way he’s ever going to bother you. Moreover, it also hides the number of coins sent to the receiver so that no one else would be able to trace or get details of your transaction. It is also one of the reasons for the best cryptocurrency alternative to be famous among criminals. Mostly dealers and other criminals use this currency to liquidate their black money.
Conclusion:
There are not just four or five alternatives to bitcoin but a whole gamut of them. At the moment there are more than 5000 cryptocurrencies in the crypto world and each project comes with different ideas and features. If you want to keep an eye on interesting and the top Bitcoin alternatives, read our guide about the top altcoin to invest in. Stay tuned with the latest Bitcoin news and events and never let any opportunity slip from your hands.
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