Usually, when we hear the word ‘cryptocurrency’, bitcoin pops up in our mind. However, several other cryptocurrencies are flourishing in the market. Particularly in 2017, many new cryptocurrencies entered the market. Every new currency takes off a good start with exponential growth in the beginning as it brings out something exciting and new for the customers.
However, the hype soon died down and similar events took place in 2017 and 2018 when many new coins were introduced in the market that couldn’t last much longer. At present, there are more than 5000 cryptocurrencies available in the market but only around 1000 cryptocurrencies are actively traded or used. In fact, only a handful of them are popular and consist of high value that can help you gain maximum profits.
Bitcoin is ruling the market with a top position. There are many reliable trading platforms for bitcoin like Oil profit, but its immense price fluctuations worry the traders. Furthermore, there are many other currencies whose technology has been upgraded such that it is better than bitcoin. Thus, it is not wrong to say that bitcoin is a threat to other cryptocurrencies. Let’s take a look at some of the currencies that can be a potent threat to the ever-flourishing currency.
Ethereum
In 2015, Ethereum entered the cryptocurrency market after being developed by a Russian tech expert. Currently, the currency holds a vast market cap of around $40.6 billion. The major point-scoring development in Ethereum was the implementation of smart contracts. In simple terms, smart contracts are the implementation of if-then commands.
Take a simple example, ‘if you go to work on time, then you will get paid $xyz. When we bring together a lot of smart contracts then a decentralized application is formed that is sometimes known as dApps. These applications are tamper-proof because they can connect a user directly to the provider. Thus, you get rid of the middle agent and also save some money. Many cryptocurrencies that were built after Ethereum used the similar blockchain to implement an effective decentralized environment.
Litecoin
In 2011, Litecoin was launched by a former Google engineer and it soon became the talk of the town. The fast and low-cost global currency gained its popularity due to the decentralized network just like Ethereum. You would have noticed some similarity in the names of bitcoin and Litecoin; this is because Litecoin is actually a faster version of bitcoin.
Many people refer to Litecoin as silver when compared to bitcoin as gold. Litecoin has become the most popular choice after bitcoin and Ethereum. Thus, it would not be surprising if someday it overtakes both the cryptocurrencies due to their technical advantages and credibility.
Ripple
Just after a year of Litecoin’s launch, Ripple was introduced in San Francisco and had offices in 27 counties. The main selling point of this cryptocurrency was that it focused on multi-currency transactions that are a lot cheaper and faster than bitcoin.
The progress of the cryptocurrency can be seen by the records that showed that till the end of 2017, the company has more than 100 international banks signed up to it. Currently, the coin is nearly 300% up. It is estimated that the currency will have a market cap of $332 billion in upcoming days. The platform for ripple is known as RippleNet and its token is usually called XRP.
Conclusion:
There are other currencies like Tether, EOS, and Binance coin that are showing impressive progress and are believed to be a threat to bitcoin. We do not expect bitcoin to be overridden from the market out of the blue moon but, analysis shows that there are chances for other cryptocurrencies to override it in the near future gradually. If it happens, the reason would be bitcoin’s low transaction speed and outdated technology.