Now that Bitcoin has surged to a shocking $16,000+ per coin, everyone is asking “what is the next bitcoin?”. The answer is tricky, as there are hundreds (!) of digital cryptocurrency coins out there to purchase (and to be hacked!).
We have gone ahead and curated a list of 13 interesting coins, some of whom may indeed be the next bitcoin. As always with cryptocurrencies, invest at your own risk.
The Next Bitcoin Cryptocurrency Alternatives:
The next Bitcoin has become a sexy catchphrase, as everyone wants to find a cheap coin that may skyrocket in value. Bitcoin started as a coin that cost mere pennies, and is now ranging between fourteen to nineteen thousand dollars per coin.
Below are a list of alternative cryptocurrencies, also known as alt-coins, which may be bargains compared to their future prices. Here’s hoping that they will be the next Bitcoin:
Tron Coin: Decentralized Applications, Blockchain-enabled Smart Contracts
Tron coin is probably one of the most tantalizing alt coins on the market today. This is because of two reasons: it is still dirt cheap (under .10 cents), and is run by Justin Sun, the wunderkind protege of Jack Ma, who founded Ali Baba. Additionally, Justin Sun came from Ripple, which recently exploded from 25 cents to $3 a coin. Justin Sun is as proactive as they come, and him and his board are extremely connected, making Tron not only a safe bet as an alt coin, but one with a promising upside. It should be noted that there are about 75 billion Tron coins in circulation, which means it will likely never reach Bitcoin prices (Bitcoin has only 16 million coins out there). However, based on Ripple’s surge, Tron could easily eclipse $2 as recently as Spring 2018.
IOTA: Internet of All Things Next Generation Blockchain
No one quite knows what to make of IOTA – it is the opposite of the vaunted Ethereum blockchain, as it operates in a tangled complicated web which gets more complex and safer the more it is used. Many people are buying IOTA as a hedge in case Bitcoin and Ethereum all tumble. Here’s a nice breakdown of the IOTA vs Ethereum debate. As for the viability of IOTA, most experts agree that the technology is incredible, possibly ahead of its time, but as a coin it isn’t quite there yet.
Peercoin: Secure & Sustainable Cryptocoin
One of the most attractive investment alternatives to Bitcoin is Peercoin, which is actually derived from it and uses the same hardware, thus enabling the miner to accept payments in several different cryptocurrencies without having to connect to other networks.
The potential increase in the value of Peercoin is huge, because it consistently rewards miners, and its algorithm marks no limit on the amount of coins to be mined. The network security of Peercoin uses a Proof of Stake protocol, which ensures no Selfish Mining practice may exploit this particular cryptocurrency.
Dash: A revolutionary digital money system: Digital Cash
An open source and privacy-oriented cryptocurrency? That is Dash. Designed to work as a peer-to-peer transaction framework, it confirms and displays instantly every payment, and only discloses information privately to the parties involved, wherever they might be in the world.
Another interesting feature of Dash are its very low fees, which are set to compete with the lowest fees of bank and credit card transactions. How about zero fees? Yes, in some cases it is possible to send money through Dash for free. Is this the next Bitcoin? It has it all to become exactly that.
Litecoin: The Cryptocurrency For Payments – Based on Blockchain Technology
Before all the other forks of Bitcoin there was Litecoin. Even though it has existed from several years now, it remains little known. Based on open-source software running over a decentralized network, which is hardened with math-based security, it also includes an extra layer of safety with its encrypted wallet, which will protect your assets from trojans and viruses with a password-based lock.
This cryptocurrency allows a higher transaction volume than its predecessor, and given that the mining difficulty is lower than Bitcoin, the mining reward is quite higher: for each block a miner will get about 25 minted Litecoins, and this quantity will halve in over four years.
feathercoin: Leading NeoScrypt Altcoin
The next Bitcoin must be able to surpass conventional banking, incorporating and transcending its services and features. Based on its own peer-to-peer network, the feathercoin project has taken this goal to heart, and it achieves that by deploying ATMs and Point of Sale equipment powered with open source software, thus making it possible to use feathercoin in day-to-day transactions, which is still not easy to do in most other cryptocurrencies. This project includes on its roadmap the minting of physical coins, laser-etched and ready to change hands at the counter of any business.
Digitalcoin: A Currency for the Digital Age
Competing with Bitcoin and Dash, this digital currency is already backed by the trust of a significant number of businesses, and it is constructed on a decentralized and secure algorithm, all of which makes Digitalcoin a strong competitor to become the next Bitcoin. Designed for stability, it combines the capacity to rapidly send and receive money to any point in the world with a lower rate of block rewards than many other cryptocurrencies, thus producing evenly distributed revenue for every miner who finds a solution for a block.
Quarkcoin: Improved Digital Currency
Bitcoin has already moved on to a high difficulty stage, therefore mining it requires huge investments in specialized hardware, all of it for a meager return of investment. On the other hand, Quarkcoin can be profitably mined with CPUs and its algorithm doesn’t give advantage to GPUs and server arrays.
Quarkcoin functions as a peer-to-peer network, with almost instant transaction confirmation between parties. Security is upgraded by using nine rounds of hashing, instead of the one round of hashing performed by most cryptocurrencies.
Ethereum: Blockchain App Platform (Bitcoin’s Biggest Competitor)
Much more than a cryptocurrency, Ethereum is a decentralized software platform that can be used for running Distributed Applications on its network. It also provides Smart Contracts, which allows trading and monetary transactions. It does all this by using ether, which is a cryptographic token that behaves as a vehicle for traversing the Ethereum network, and developers can deploy applications using its secure and decentralized framework. Currently Ethereum is valued in $35 billion USD of market capitalization and it has been steadily climbing since it was launched in 2014, but after a hacking attack on the DAO in 2016 the platform divided into Ethereum and Ethereum Classic.
Zcash: Internet Money
Combining the efficiency of a decentralized cryptocurrency with highly improved security and privacy features, Zcash constitutes a great contestant to become the next Bitcoin. Its algorithm provides a custom degree of transparency for transactions, where all of them are recorded and displayed on the blockchain, while keeping sensitive information hidden from view: sender, recipient and amount are kept private. The users of Zcash have the option to encrypt or ‘shield’ their operation, or else to use the zk-SNARK proof construction facility, which renders completely private any transaction done by both parties involved.
Ripple: One Frictionless Experience To Send Money Globally
Since its release in 2012, Ripple has increased its market capitalization to more than $9 billions USD worth, and it’s been doing so well because of its unique features: a consensus ledger, which substitutes mining and provides a method of confirmation that is fully real-time, at a lower cost than other cryptocurrencies and with minimum network latency. Their strategy to become the next Bitcoin is based in distributing the value through incentives for liquidity providers as well as selling Ripple tokens directly to investors and institutions.
Monero: Private Digital Currency
Developed by the enthusiastic support from the cryptographic community and their donations, Monero was launched in 2014 with the goal of becoming the most secure and untraceable digital currency. It achieves this by using a system of ‘ring signatures’ where every transaction appears as a group of cryptographic signatures of which only one participant is actually real, thus hiding the identity of the participants behind a veneer of fictitious transactions. At the time of this writing, Monero is valued at more than $2 billion USD in market capitalization, and so it’s one of the top players in the global cryptocurrency market and perhaps on its way to be the next Bitcoin.
Safecoin: Digital Tokens
With a roster of amazing features, Safecoin is the lubricant that enables the SAFE Network. This token is automatically distributed on the SAFE Network, which is a distributed system with opportunistic data caching. The algorithms distribute Safecoin automatically, with no human involvement, and they also encrypt all the data and ensure its availability with built-in redundancy. The total amount of tokens to be produced is 4.3 billion, and each token will have its own unique identity, they will be recycled after users exchange them for network services and any duplicate tokens are removed automatically, thus preventing fraudulent transactions.
Steem: Smart Media Tokens as Social Media Currency
Think Facebook plus cash rewards for every ‘Like’: That is what Steem proposes. A social media platform based on blockchain technology, Steem allows for the users to reward each other for their contributions, voting up their posts and shared content. The blockchain distributes rewards every 24 hours after the votes are sent, and the payouts are about 50% in Steem Power for every vote and %50 Steem Dollars which can be traded for real cash in the cryptocurrency market exchanges. At the time of this writing each Steem Dollar is worth $0.91 USD.
Namecoin: Key/Value Pair Registration & Transfer System Based on the Bitcoin Technology
Solving the problem of creating a domain naming system for Internet addresses that is at the same time secure, decentralized and human-readable, Namecoin stepped in with its experimental algorithm. It was created as the first Bitcoin fork, and it was developed to combine mining and a brand new DNS system. This framework has the potential to bring about an Internet that is resistant to censorship, with a higher privacy and resilience to hacking, as well as providing a secure trading facility for monetary transactions over the web. Other promising features are implementing services such as file signatures, voting, web of trust, notary services, and proof of existence.
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