Altcoins

What are Altcoins?

We call all cryptocurrencies outside of Bitcoin altcoins. The name does not describe old coins, but alternative coins. There are no specific characteristics that an altcoin must meet to be recognized as such.

Altcoins pursue different goals. This can be the creation of a better Bitcoin. Other altcoins like Ethereum, on the other hand, pursue completely different goals than Bitcoin. We also refer to hard forks such as Bitcoin Cash as altcoins.

The Largest Altcoins

The largest altcoin is the cryptocurrency Ethereum (ETH). Other well-known altcoins are Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP) or Cardano (ADA). Today there are more than 20,000 altcoins.

Not all altcoins rely on blockchain technology. A prominent example that relies on distributed ledger technology, but not on a blockchain, is IOTA (MIOTA).

You can find more detailed information in our basic article on altcoins.

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