After the creation of bitcoin, the number of cryptocurrencies available over the internet is growing.[1] This is a list of notable cryptocurrencies.
Year of introduction | Currency | Symbol | Founder(s) | Hash algorithm | Programming language of implementation | Consensus mechanism | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2009 | Bitcoin | BTC,[2] XBT, ₿ | Satoshi Nakamoto[nt 1] | SHA-256d[3][4] | C++[5] | PoW[4][6] | The first and most widely used decentralized ledger currency,[7] with the highest market capitalization.[8] |
2011 | Litecoin | LTC, Ł | Charlie Lee | Scrypt | C++[9] | PoW | One of the first cryptocurrencies to use scrypt as a hashing algorithm. |
2011 | Namecoin | NMC | Vincent Durham[10][11] | SHA-256d | C++[12] | PoW | Also acts as an alternative, decentralized DNS. |
2012 | Peercoin | PPC | Sunny King (pseudonym)[citation needed] |
SHA-256d[citation needed] | C++[13] | PoW & PoS | The first cryptocurrency to use both PoW and PoS functions. |
2013 | Dogecoin | DOGE, XDG, Ð | Jackson Palmer & Billy Markus[14] |
Scrypt[15] | C++[13] | PoW | Based on the Doge internet meme. |
2013 | Gridcoin | GRC | Rob Hälford[16] | Scrypt | C++[17] | Decentralized PoS | Linked to citizen science through the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing[18] |
2013 | Primecoin | XPM | Sunny King (pseudonym)[citation needed] |
1CC/2CC/TWN[19] | TypeScript, C++[20] | PoW[19] | Uses the finding of prime chains composed of Cunningham chains and bi-twin chains for proof-of-work. |
2013 | Ripple[21][22] | XRP | Chris Larsen & Jed McCaleb[23] |
ECDSA[24] | C++[25] | "Consensus" | Designed for peer-to-peer debt transfer. Not based on bitcoin. |
2013 | Nxt | NXT | BCNext (pseudonym) |
SHA-256d[26] | Java[27] | PoS | Specifically designed as a flexible platform to build applications and financial services around its protocol. |
2014 | Auroracoin | AUR | Baldur Odinsson (pseudonym)[28] |
Scrypt | C++[29] | PoW | Created as an alternative currency for Iceland, intended to replace the Icelandic króna. |
2014 | Dash | DASH | Evan Duffield & Kyle Hagan[citation needed] |
X11 | C++[30] | PoW & Proof of Service[nt 2] | A bitcoin-based currency featuring instant transactions, decentralized governance and budgeting, and private transactions. |
2014 | NEO | NEO | Da Hongfei & Erik Zhang | SHA-256 & RIPEMD160 | C#[31] | dBFT | China based cryptocurrency, formerly ANT Shares and ANT Coins. The names were changed in 2017 to NEO and GAS. |
2014 | MazaCoin | MZC | BTC Oyate Initiative | SHA-256d | C++[32] | PoW | The underlying software is derived from that of another cryptocurrency, ZetaCoin. |
2014 | Monero | XMR | Monero Core Team | RandomX | C++[33] | PoW | Privacy-centric coin based on the CryptoNote protocol with improvements for scalability and decentralization. |
2014 | Titcoin | TIT | Edward Mansfield & Richard Allen[34] | SHA-256d | TypeScript, C++[35] | PoW | The first cryptocurrency to be nominated for a major adult industry award.[36] |
2014 | Verge | XVG | Sunerok | Scrypt, x17, groestl, blake2s, and lyra2rev2 | C, C++[37] | PoW | Features anonymous transactions using Tor. |
2014 | Stellar | XLM | Jed McCaleb | Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP) [38] | C, C++[39] | Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP) [38] | Open-source, decentralized global financial network. |
2014 | Vertcoin | VTC | David Muller[40] | Verthash[41] | C++[42] | PoW | Aims to be ASIC resistant. |
2015 | Ethereum | ETH, Ξ | Vitalik Buterin[43] | Ethash[44] | C++, Go[45] | PoW, PoS | Supports Turing-complete smart contracts. |
2015 | Ethereum Classic | ETC | EtcHash/Thanos[46] | PoW | An alternative version of Ethereum[47] whose blockchain does not include the DAO hard fork.[48] Supports Turing-complete smart contracts. | ||
2015 | Nano | Nano | Colin LeMahieu | Blake2 | C++[citation needed] | Open Representative Voting[49] | Decentralized, feeless, open-source, peer-to-peer cryptocurrency. First to use a Block Lattice structure. |
2015 | Tether | USDT | Jan Ludovicus van der Velde[50] | Omnicore[51] | PoW | Tether claims to be backed by USD at a 1 to 1 ratio. The company has been unable to produce promised audits.[52] | |
2016 | Firo | FIRO | Poramin Insom[53] | Merkle tree Proof[54] | C++[55] | PoW | The first financial system employing Zero-knowledge proof to protect users' privacy.[53] It conducted the world's first large-scale blockchain election for Thailand Democrat Party in 2018.[56] |
2016 | Zcash | ZEC | Zooko Wilcox | Equihash | C++[57] | PoW | The first open, permissionless financial system employing zero-knowledge security. |
2017 | Bitcoin Cash | BCH[58] | SHA-256d | PoW | Hard fork from bitcoin, increased maximum block size from 1MB to 8MB (as of 2018[update], 32MB) | ||
2017 | EOS.IO | EOS | Dan Larimer | WebAssembly, Rust, C, C++[59] | delegated PoS | Feeless Smart contract platform for decentralized applications and decentralized autonomous corporations with a block time of 500 ms.[59] | |
2017 | Cardano | ADA, ₳ | Charles Hoskinson | Ouroboros, PoS Algorithm[60] | Haskell[61] | PoS | A proof-of-stake blockchain platform: developed through evidence-based methods and peer-reviewed research.[62][63][64] |
2017 | TRON | TRX | Justin Sun | Java, Solidity[65] | |||
2018 | AmbaCoin | official cryptocurrency of the Cameroonian separatist entity of Ambazonia | |||||
2019 | Algorand | ALGO | Silvio Micali | Go[66] | PoS | Uses a verifiable random function to randomly select groups of users to certify blocks.[67] | |
2020 | Avalanche | AVAX | Emin Gün Sirer, Kevin Sekniqi, Maofan “Ted” Yin | PoS | |||
2020 | Shiba Inu | SHIB | Ryoshi | PoS | |||
2020 | Polkadot | DOT | Gavin Wood | Rust | PoS | ||
2021 | DeSo | DESO | Nader al-Naji (aka diamondhands)[68] | Go[69] | PoW[70] | Also a social media platform, resembling Twitter.[71][72] Known as BitClout until September 2021.[68] | |
2021 | SafeMoon | SAFEMOON | SafeMoon LLC | Solidity[73] | PoW | ||
2021 | Internet Computer | ICP | Dominic Williams, DFINITY Foundation | Rust[74] |
Release | Currency | Symbol | Founder(s) | Hash algorithm | Programming language of implementation | Cryptocurrency blockchain (PoS, PoW, or other) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | Coinye | KOI, COYE | Scrypt | PoW | Used American hip hop artist Kanye West as its mascot, abandoned after he filed a trademark lawsuit. | ||
2015 or before | OneCoin | Ruja Ignatova and Stephen Greenwood | A Ponzi scheme promoted as a cryptocurrency. | ||||
2017 | BitConnect | BCC | BitConnect was described as an open source, all-in-one bitcoin and crypto community platform but was later discovered to be a Ponzi scheme. | ||||
2018 | KodakCoin | Kodak and WENN Digital | Ethash[75] | KodakCoin is a "photographer-centric" blockchain cryptocurrency used for payments for licensing photographs. | |||
Petro | Venezuelan Government | onixCoin[76] | C++[77] | Stated by Nicolás Maduro to be backed by Venezuela's reserves of oil. As of August 2018[update] it does not appear to function as a currency.[78] |