What are alt coins?

 

Altcoins (short for "alternative coins") are all cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin. They include a wide range of digital assets that were launched after Bitcoin and aim to improve upon or offer alternatives to Bitcoin’s design

How many Altcoins exist?

As of today, over 5000 of these "alternative" currencies have been created worldwide.

Are Altcoins any different from Bitcoin?

Most of the Altcoins are based on Bitcoin, and their basic functions are essentially the same.

What are the most popular Altcoins?

Some of the most well-known Altcoins (based on market cap) are Ethereum, Ripple, Tether, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, and Litecoin.

Are there multiple types of Altcoins?

Certain Altcoins are serving more purposes than exchanging the coin for something of value, and can be classified as "Utility Tokens" or "Security Tokens" for example.

Ethereum (ETH): Focuses on smart contracts and decentralized applications.

Ripple (XRP): Designed for fast, low-cost international payments.

Litecoin (LTC): Created as a "lighter" version of Bitcoin with faster transaction times.

Cardano (ADA), Solana (SOL), Polkadot (DOT): Compete in the smart contract and decentralized app space.

Altcoins can serve various purposes—from being used as a medium of exchange, to powering decentralized networks, to providing governance tokens for blockchain protocols.