There are thousands of different cryptocurrencies, ranging from Bitcoin and Ethereum to Dogecoin and XRP, making it difficult to get started when you’re new to the field.
Check out the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, or the sum of the value of all coins currently in circulation.
Bitcoin (BTC): Market Cap – Over USD 846 billion
Bitcoin (BTC) is the first cryptocurrency, having been developed in 2009 by a person using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Like the majority of other cryptocurrencies, BTC runs on a blockchain, which is a shared ledger that keeps track of transactions and is shared among a network of thousands of computers.
Bitcoin is maintained secure and protected from fraudsters because updates to the distributed ledgers have to be validated by cracking a cryptographic puzzle, a procedure known as proof of work.
As Bitcoin has gained popularity, its value has risen. Approximately USD 500 could be spent on Bitcoin in May 2016. The cost of a single Bitcoin was above USD 44,000 on March 1st, 2022. That is an increase of almost 7,800%.
Ethereum (ETH): Market Cap – Over USD 361 billion
Due to its potential applications, including so-called smart contracts that automatically execute when certain conditions are met and non-fungible tokens, Ethereum—which is both a cryptocurrency and a blockchain platform—is a darling among programmers (NFTs).
Ethereum has also grown incredibly fast. Its price increased by more than 27,000% from roughly USD 11 to over USD 3,000 between April 2016 and the beginning of March 2022.
Tether (USDT): Market Cap – Over USD 79 billion
Tether is a stablecoin, which means it is backed by fiat currencies like US dollars and the Euro and hypothetically maintains a value equal to one of those denominations, in contrast to some other types of cryptocurrencies.
Because Tether’s value is predicted to be more stable than that of other cryptocurrencies, investors who are wary of the extreme volatility of other coins prefer it as a result.
Binance Coin (BNB): Market Cap – Over USD 68 billion
One can trade and pay fees on Binance, one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, using the Binance Coin cryptocurrency. Binance Coin has grown since it was introduced in 2017, and it now does more than just enable transactions on Binance’s exchange platform.
Now, it can be utilised for trading, processing payments, or even making travel plans. Additionally, it can be traded or converted into other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum or Bitcoin. In 2017, BNB cost only USD 0.10. Its price increased to nearly USD 413 by the start of March 2022, a gain of roughly 410,000%.
XRP (XRP): Market Cap – Over USD 37 billion
XRP is a cryptocurrency that may be used to facilitate exchanges of many other kinds of money, including fiat money and other significant cryptocurrencies.
XRP was developed by some of the same founders as Ripple, a digital technology and payment processing company. XRP was worth USD 0.006 at the start of the year 2017. Its price increased by more than 12,600% to USD 0.80 as of March 2022.
Terra (LUNA): Market Cap – Over USD 34 billion
Terra is a stablecoin blockchain payment platform that depends on maintaining a balance between two different cryptocurrencies.
Stablecoins backed by Terra, like TerraUSD, is correlated to the value of real money. Their counterweight, Luna, manages the Terra platform and uses Luna to mint fresh Terra stablecoins.
Luna and Terra stablecoins cooperate based on supply and demand: Users are encouraged to burn their Luna in order to produce additional Terra stablecoins when the price of a given stablecoin exceeds the value of the currency to which it is connected.
Similarly, when its value declines relative to its base currency, users are encouraged to burn their Terra stablecoins in order to create more Luna.
As the Terra platforms are used, Luna’s value increases. From January 3, 2021, when it cost USD 0.64, to the start of March 2022, Luna’s price has increased by more than 14,200%, reaching USD 92.
Cardano (ADA): Market Cap – Over USD 33 billion
Despite entering the cryptocurrency business fairly late, Cardano stands out for implementing proof-of-stake validation early. By eliminating the competitive, problem-solving part of transaction verification found in systems like Bitcoin, this approach reduces energy consumption, increases transaction speed, and has a negligible negative impact on the environment.
Similar to Ethereum, Cardano uses ADA, its native coin, to power smart contracts and decentralised applications. The growth of the Cardano ADA token has been somewhat quelled, compared to the other popular crypto coins.
The cost of ADA was USD 0.02 in 2017. Its cost was USD 0.99 on March 1st, 2022. This represents a 4,850% increase.
Solana (SOL): Market Cap – Over USD 33 billion
Solana was created to support the use of decentralised finance (DeFi), decentralised apps (DApps), and smart contracts. It operates on a special hybrid proof-of-stake and proof-of-history system that aids in the speedy and secure processing of transactions.
The platform is run by the native token of Solana, SOL. SOL’s pricing started at USD 0.77 when it debuted in 2020. Its cost was roughly USD 101 on March 1, 2022, an increase of almost 13,000%.
Polkadot (DOT): Market Cap – Over USD 22 billion
Polkadot (DOT) blockchain interoperability protocol was created to link various chains together. Additionally, it enables secure data exchange and transaction processing for parachains, or parallel blockchains. Developers can use Polkadot security to build their own blockchains.
Polkadot was developed by Gavin Wood, who also happens to be the principal architect of Ethereum. The intriguing aspect of DOT is that there is no strict cap on the total supply. Instead, a fresh token is always being distributed. The price of Polkadot peaked in May 2020 at USD 6.30 and then reached an all-time high of USD 55.11 in May 2021.
Litecoin (LTC): Market Cap – Over USD 9 billion
Charlie Lee, a former software developer for cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, invented the open-source blockchain project Litecoin (LTC), which was introduced in 2011. It was among the first digital currencies whose code was a copy of Bitcoin’s.
Often being compared to having similarities with Bitcoin, it is designed to have a quicker confirmation time for transactions. It can be used as a method of direct payment to anyone anywhere in the world. The term “silver to Bitcoin’s gold” is widely used to describe LTC.
The overall round-off supply of Litecoin is 84 million coins. It reached an all-time high of USD 413.47 in May 2021 but then fell by more than 50%. The number of businesses accepting Litecoin is increasing. It ranks as the 21st largest cryptocurrency in the world with a per-token value of roughly USD 106.