Interested in investing in cryptocurrencies? Look at the list below to see which of them are the biggest in terms of market capitalization:

 

1)     Bitcoin

Market capitalization: US$ 1 trillion

 

As the first cryptocurrency that’s been created, Bitcoin remains the king of digital currencies. With a market capitalization that surpasses even those of established companies, it’s probably one of the safest cryptocurrencies to invest in.

 

Bitcoin popularized the use of blockchain technology which paved the way for the emergence of altcoins utilising a similar framework.

 

Bitcoin has the biggest community and established investors are backing it, furthering its growth. More industries are adopting it as a mode of payment, making digital currency more popular than ever.

 

2)     Ethereum

Market capitalization: US$ 78 billion

 

Ethereum was created in 2015 by Vitalik Buterin. It functions more than just a digital currency as it focuses on smart contracts and the development of decentralized applications.

 

It’s currently the most popular platform for executing smart contracts; its quick processing speed is perfect for this kind of transaction.

 

What makes Ethereum unique is how other blockchain-based applications can be built on it. The majority of the ICOs that launched starting 2017 used the Ethereum platform as their blockchain base.

 

3)     Ripple

Market capitalization: US$ 34 billion

 

Ripple was created in 2012 and is one of the cryptocurrencies designed to complete a specific task only: to process international payment transfers. It was made to make international transactions cheaper and faster.

 

Usually, international money transfers take a week or more to process due to restrictions and conversions. With Ripple, the process only takes seconds to complete. The fees of the platform are also significantly lower compared to what banks and financial institutions charge.

 

4)     Bitcoin Cash

Market capitalization: US$ 13 billion

 

Bitcoin Cash was created in 2016 as a fork of Bitcoin. It was designed to resolve the issues of Bitcoin regarding scalability and transaction fees.

 

Bitcoin Cash processes transactions faster than Bitcoin because of the increased block size. It also costs lower, with fees averaging just $ 0.067 compared to Bitcoin’s $1.8.

 

5)     Stellar

Market capitalization: US$ 11 billion

 

Stellar was founded in 2014 and is made specifically to process cross-border payments like Ripple. But unlike Ripple, Stellar is more decentralized.

 

Stellar currently has ties with large banks and companies like Deloitte and IBM.

 

6)     Litecoin

Market capitalization: US$ 9.7 billion

 

Litecoin was created in 2011 and is based on the same concept as Bitcoin’s blockchain, but with vast improvements in speed and cost. It processes transactions faster than Bitcoin and costs only cents to complete.

 

7)     Cardano

Market capitalization: US$ 9.4 billion

 

Cardano was launched in 2017. It has features similar to Ethereum for creating smart contracts and decentralized apps, with some technological improvements.

Cardano intends to introduce interoperability with other cryptocurrencies for a more seamless transaction processing.

 

8)     NEO

Market capitalization: US$ 5.5 billion

 

NEO is a China-based cryptocurrency founded in 2014. It was originally called AntShares before it got rebranded to NEO in 2017.

 

It’s dubbed the Chinese Ethereum because it has similar features to the latter when it comes to creating smart contracts and decentralized apps.

 

 

9)     EOS

Market capitalization: US$ 4.8 billion

 

EOS launched in 2017 as a direct competitor to Ethereum. It offers the same features as Ethereum, allowing developers to create smart contracts and build decentralized apps.

 

It’s said to be more scalable than Ethereum as it’s able to process up to 100,000 transactions per second. EOS also supports multiple programming languages, unlike other cryptocurrencies.

 

 

10) IOTA

Market capitalization: US$ 4 billion

 

IOTA was developed in 2015 to power a new crypto protocol called Tangle. It’s another decentralized approach that’s different from blockchain as it utilizes the so-called Internet-of-Things (IoT).

 

 

Conclusion

These cryptocurrencies form more than half of the total market capitalization of all digital currencies combined known today. Their popularity and huge market capitalization make them ideal for investment, but you still have to be careful because most of them are unregulated and highly volatile.