Who’s challenging Bitcoin? - Sangli (-Miraj)

The gradual but exponential amplification in the values of Cryptocurrencies and the success of initial coin offerings are stimulating people across the globe, to not only get acquainted with them but also engage in their trading. Envision of a lucrative investment option make Cryptocurrencies the popular universal choice. The undefeated king of the Cryptocurrency market is certainly- Bitcoin, with its current value crossing the $10,000 mark in November 2017.

In the race of being No#1!

Bitcoin started the year, 2017, with value at $1000, and surpassed the $5000 milestone in October 2017. With several ups and downs from June’17 to Sept’17, it finally smashed the $10,000 mark in Nov’17. Today, 12th Dec’17, it stands at $16229.50, which is equal to Rs.1046485.95 only.

The experts have been warning since it touched the $5000 mark that Bitcoin is in a bubble and can burst anytime. Until today, they are still to witness the blast. Does this mean that Bitcoin will remain undisputed king of Altcoins? Let’s explore top five contenders or possible players who can uproot Bitcoin or topple it.

Ethereum

Currently at No#2 in the Cryptocurrency world by market capitalization, Ethereum carries the podium for smart contracts and “Programmable Money”. It has endless adoption potential in optimizing and efficiently managing business, law, Fintech, and Governance. It is being supported by its associates like- Ether and Fuel which are capable of bringing transformation in society, a transformation, where every small thing will be based on them.

Though it might take some time, there is a high probability of such a happening. Another very strong reason which makes Ethereum a strong probable for No#1 is its Russian-Canadian Co-founder Vitalik Buterin. He is the pillar behind Ethereum and has co-founded the “Bitcoin Magazine” also. The current value of Ethereum stands at $478.74.

Dash:

The very reason that Dash is independent for its research and development makes it a strong contender for the No#1 race. The fact that every time the mining process for Dash happens, a part of the block reward goes to the Dash development team.

This way the developers earn millions of dollars each year and enjoy the freedom of having their own full-time staff for improvements in the altcoin. They do not need sponsors or outside funding for even running Facebook campaigns.

With current values at $768, features like fee-less and secure private transactions make Dash the favorite choice of commercial users and unique users every year. Dash, though little known in the world outside the Crypto community, has the full potential of emerging as the “Dark Horse” of Altcoins.

IOTA:

This is believed to be the next generation of blockchain and works use the “Direct Acyclic Graph” (DAG) technology, in place of the conventional blockchain. It is an open-source distributed ledger which facilitates secure communications and transactions without any fees. The confirmation time is less, and the number of transactions happening at the same time can be endless irrespective of the size. The best part is the system is scalable.

Founded in 2015 by the IOTA foundation, which is a non-profitable foundation, it is already at a market capitalization of $12billion as on Dec 2017. The foundation has developed a license-free ecosystem for all developers to expand the technology.

As IOTA is focused on the transaction between machines on “Internet of Things”, it can become the critical facilitator of inter-operable activities. This probably is a reason that it is already the 4th largest Cryptocurrency as of today.

Litecoin:

Litecoin technically is a mirror image of Bitcoin and is almost fee-less. It matches all the traits of Bitcoin, rather is superior in terms of features which makes it faster and cheaper. The processing time of a block in Litecoin network is 2.5minutes, as compared to Bitcoins 10 minutes. This is a clear indicator that, the developers of Litecoin can make it better and superior with continuous improvements and small changes.

The fact that developers have a respected name in the Crypto community, Charlie Lee, as their leader gives additional strength to this claim. With the current value at $154.94, it has a market cap of $8400121363.52 as of today.

Bitcoin Cash

To understand why this altcoin is one of the successors in the race, you need to learn the term “Hard fork”. When a blockchain splits into two, while trying to rule the system with their separate sets of regulations, the condition is termed as Hard Fork. The new blocks, hence generated, are invalid in the older software. The new blocks are separate entities and can coexist independently.

Bitcoin Cash is a “hard fork” which happened on 1 August 2017. Immediately after it happened the Bitcoin holders had equal quantities of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) with them. By the end of the day, the block size of BCH was increased to 8MB; as a result, it became the 3rd highest Crypto, by market cap. The current value of BCH is $1470.26.

To predict today, as who will become No#1 Cryptocurrency in near future by defeating the King is not possible. The world of altcoins, stores within itself numerous, amazing, and astounding surprises. Till then, Bitcoin is the undisputed Emperor of Cryptocurrency!