What Are Altcoins & Are They a Good Investment?
Bitcoin (BTC) is revolutionary, but it isn’t perfect. While BTC may be the oldest and most known digital asset, there are plenty of cryptocurrencies, particularly altcoins, that aim to outstrip the domination of Bitcoin. But wait, what exactly are altcoins?
Altcoins refers to alternative cryptocurrencies, are developed to set apart from Bitcoin monopolization. They are created mainly to address Bitcoin’s scalability and are often a modified or improved version of Bitcoin.
Yes, Bitcoin’s peer-to-peer payment network does pave the way for altcoins. But they distinguish themselves with better privacy and a more efficient transaction speed.
Among the thousands, the first introduced altcoin was Namecoin by Andrew Chow back in 2011. But altcoin took off and grew exponentially, thereby resulting in the rise of ETH, XRP, DOT, ADA, BNB, and more. Ether (ETH) alone is currently accounting for around 20% of the total crypto market cap, and there are over 10,000 other altcoins available to date. While altcoin might be granted recognition, one can’t stop asking how altcoin works and the prospects it gives?