Altcoins descriptions.

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 Altcoins

Ever since the evolution of the concept of digital currency in 2009 marking the release of Bitcoin, there has been much hype worldwide to produce similar alternative cryptocurrency versions. The term Altcoin refers to the alternative cryptocurrencies that are being introduced online. The prime goal of creating an altcoin destination is to provide the interested audiences with current and detailed information about the various other virtual currencies being launched online. The news covers everything about these currencies including the download locations provided by the client, currency specifications, accurate exchange rate at any particular point of time, mining details, and much more.

All crypto currencies are not same and do not use the same hashing algorithms as that of Bitcoin, the inaugural crypto currency that used the SHA-256. Some other hashing algorithms followed by the crypto currency developers include NIST5, X11, X15, 100% POS etc. Though there are many crypto currency versions released with the same algorithms, there some interesting ones that use the scrypt algorithms. You may require some important hardware settings to mine the altcoins depending upon their algorithm patterns. Generally, the GPU and ASIC systems are required. However, there are some currencies that can be mined on the traditional CPU settings as well.

Several altcoin news websites available provide news updates to the viewers as and when any news pertaining to the crypto currency is released. The aim is to keep the audiences well informed on a single platform so that you do not have to bear the hassles of moving to different websites to seek information. Alternatively, these sites also provide the link to the websites of different currency developers that allow you to create your own wallet and purchase these currencies.

Following are some excellent altcoin options that are gradually gaining popularity among the digital currency enthusiasts:

- Ripple

Ripple is a comprehensive payment system regulated by the Ripple Labs remittance network. Established upon a distributed and native currency system of the same name, Ripples is a major currency exchange that operates on the open source IP (Internet Protocol). Allowing global transactions free of cost, the system is empowered with advanced security system and instant transaction facilities. The system operation supports several important fiat currency forms including Dollar, Japanese Yen, and various crypto currency versions including Bitcoin. Ripples transactions system is based on a shared ledger or public database containing the details available offers on assets, purchases, and sale options etc.

The concept and operational system of Ripples was expounded by Vancouver based web developer Ryan Fugger. The idea was first tested in 2004 and in the following year, Fugger started the Ripplepay secure payment system. In 2011, Jed McCaleb introduced the Ripple system eliminating the dependence of Bitcoin transactions on central exchange procedures to speed up the transactions.

The transactions are conducted through the Ripple Gateways (can be an individual or organization), accepting deposits, issuing balance into the ledger etc. All users must extent their consent through the Ripple Trustline bestowing their trust on the gateways and their deposits on the medium. Ripple Trustline also facilitate the users to add the ‘Rippling’ feature to their transaction options. This allows the users to choose between multiple gateways for dealing with their current balance.

The Ripple network also has its native currency- XRP. Having the smallest unit called ‘drop’, Ripples currency can be divided up to 6 decimal places. The value of 1 XRP is 1 million drops. Having widespread implementation, XRP also acts as a bridge currency allowing smooth transactions in the event of non-availability of other direct exchanges. Users performing transactions on non-native currencies are charged a small transaction fee as a measure to curb network-flooding issues.

- Litecoin

The Litecoin (LTC) cryptocurrency, the second largest only next to Bitcoin, operates on an open source software system. Though there are similarities to the Bitcoin, yet some extensive features of this virtual currency has helped to gain recognition in the market and professionals. This currency software operates on the MIT/X11 license, and does not impose any central authority for the mining and regulating the operations. Litecoin was released in 2011 by Charles Lee through GitHub, an open source client. As of reports in 2013, the currency has already crossed the $1 billion marketcap. The most advanced version 0.8.6.1 was introduced in December 2013.

Unlike Bitcoin, the Litecoin implements the scrypt algorithm to regulate the mining process. The mining is best done on the ASIC or FPGA hardware systems compared to the CPU or video card based settings that slow down the process. There are several wallets available for Litecoins purchases, storage, and spending. The most convenient is the Litecoin- Qt convenient for MAC OX, Linux, and Windows platforms. Some other wallets include Litecoin Android, lightweight Litecoin Electrum etc.

The litecoin can be traded on fiat currencies, and alternative cryptocurrencies through online exchanges. The irreversible litecoin transaction system eliminates the problems of chargebacks and credit card reverse transactions etc. To provide faster transaction facilities the Litecoin network allows a block every 2.5 minutes as opposed to the 10 minutes block used by Bitcoin to prevent the double spending issues. Litecoin transactions are executed under a peer-to-peer network and recorded in a blockchain, a ledger usually held with the clients. Each recorded complete transaction is of 15 minutes containing 6 blocks of 2.5 minutes. 

The Litecoin network payments are made to the digital signature based addresses formed of strings containing 33 numeric and alphabetical characters starting with the alphabet L. There are several exchanges for trading litecoins. Mostly litecoins are traded against other cryptocurrency verion Bitcoin, but some exchanges allow traders to use US Dollars, Yuan, Euros etc.

- NXT

NXT is one of the most important cryptocurrencies that exist in the world market today. Unlike other altcoins, NXT has entirely new concept and addresses many core problem areas confronted by the digital currency users. Considered the second generation of cryptocurrency, the NXT technology is not based on the similar formats as most other altcoins. The technology is completely different and developed from the scratch. NXT offers the convenience of 100% proof of stake (PoS) while most other altcoins function on the proof of work (PoW). The PoS algorithm has been developed with keen attention to provide compatibility with the Smartphone access in addition to other computing devices.

The NXT concept is based and developed on the Java cross- platform programming to allow smooth running on different Operating Systems including Windows, Mac OX, Linux, and others. For smooth access and convenience, the NXT community has built several wallets available online to suit the needs of the clients. The inaugural version of NXT software was released BCNext in September 2013. The developers had put a ceiling on the NXT mining and released only 1 billion NXT currencies and distributed them among 73 stakeholders.

The NXT mechanism has been developed with several unique features including the Transparent Forging system. The feature allows the clients to execute their transactions securely and sending them directly to the node to minimize the time taken to complete the process. NXT has widespread implementation compared to other cryptocurrencies addressing various functionalities including preparation and maintenance of smart contracts, property and digital cash ownership records, enhancing online stock and share transfers, and much more.

The centralized platform like Cryptsy, Bter, BTC-E, or other approved medium are being used for controlling the NXT trading operations. People intending to exchange NXT cryptocurrency need to create their secure 256-bit key account with any of the abovementioned platforms to acquire the coins and receive payments.

- Peercoin

Peercoin is yet another peer-to-peer altcoin that utilizes both the PoS and PoW cryptocurrency mechanisms. This virtual currency was introduced online in August 2012by its developers Sunny King (pseudonym) and Scott Nadal. Sunny King is also associated with another cryptocurrency called Primecoin. Peercoin bears several similarities to the Bitcoin technology sharing the source code and other features. In terms of market capitalization reports of June 2014, Peercoin hold the fourth position amongst the most popular cryptocurrencies circulating in the global domain with a marketcap of $30 million.

The source code distribution of Peercoin is regulated under the software license MIT/X11. Attaining the decentralized and steady annual inflation of 1%, the Peercoin does not impose any hard limit on the number of coins. There is no central bank to control the currency issue operations. The stakeholders issue the tokens. However, a central authority has been appointed to regulate the currency through checkpointing. At present the a marketcap of 2 billion coins has

The algorithm pattern SHA-256 of Peercoin is similar to that of Bitcoin and the peer-to-peer network is used for controlling the transactions etc. Peercoin exchange is mainly regulated online and can be traded for some important fiat currencies and other altcoins. Peercoin is issued upon finding a hash value, adding block of transaction to the shared blockchain. This entire procedure is called mining.

The most notable factor of consideration in this regard is the utilization of the PoS and PoW hybrid system to eliminate the risk of monopoly and acquisition of mining share and number of coins. The PoS also reduces the power consumption during the mining process by eliminating the requirement of running the resource incentive based hashing functions in the cryptography technology. A protocol defined and fixed transaction fee of 0.01 PPC is designed to deflate the money supply

- Dogecoin

Dogeoin has been a subject of major interest in context to the altcoin options due to its rapid mining and circulation online. The coin was introduced in December 2013 and the amount of coins in circulation is expected to cross 100 billion by the end of 2014. The developers also aim to introduce about 5.2 billion more coins every year post 2014. Developed by a Portland based programmer Billy Markus, there were several attempts to eliminate the pitfalls of the bitcoin and other altcoins. The widely accepted logo of the Dogecoin with the friendly mascot “doge” appeared on the dogecoin,com website for the first time. The website domain was acquired and owned by Jackson Palmer, a Sydney based employee of the marketing department of Adobe Systems.

The decentralized virtual currency operating on the peer-to-peer system has been implemented with the aim to provide speed up the process of online money transfer. The dogecoin mining and wallet setting guidelines are provided on the dogecoin.com website. The interested buyers can get started in three simple steps and start purchasing products with these coins.

Dogecoin is again a step ahead in terms of block time that is just 1 minute compared 2.5 minutes in case of Litecoin and 10 minutes in case of Bitcoin. Considering the elimination of limits on Dogecoin mining and production, this digital currency belongs to the group of inflationary currencies. The Dogecoin has already crossed the other altcoins in trading volume in January 2014. In February 2014, the market capitalization of Dogecoin was around 81 million USD.  

The involvement of the Dogecoin in several fundraising events is an exceptional matter concerning the history of cryptocurrencies. While most others are traded for currency exchanges, the involvement of Dogecoin in social causes including Doge4Water and other major 2014 events like Winter Olympics and NASCAR.  

- Namecoin

Namecoin (NMC) is yet another decentralized peer-to-peer cryptocurrency based on open source registration and secure transfer system. This digital currency was introduced online in April 2011. The code used in this altcoin is similar to that used in Bitcoin. The currency acquired importance among the traders facilitating them to regulate merged mining operations. The distributed DNS of the Namecoin is based on the Bitcoin software using the similar SHA-256 algorithm. However, it introduced further elaboration in the software program allowing additional functions including registration, update, and transfer of domains based transactions.

The users can choose from a series of Linux based operating systems including RHEL, Ubantu, CentOS, Fedora and other apart from the Windows and Mac OX versions for mining Namecoins. Supporting merged mining operations, Namecoin offers several wallets to the users. Some important wallets include NMC+BTC Single Wallet, NMC+BTC Bulk Wallet, NMC+BTC Brain Wallet etc. Buying Namecoins is easy using the Bitcoins considering the merged wallet maintenance facilities. Some important Namecoin exchanges from where you can purchase are exchange.bitparking.com, BTC-E etc.

Namecoin is an important milestone in the introduction of decentralized domain name system (DNS), virtually posing an end to the internet censorship. A peer-to-peer Namecoin network has been established to regulate and distribute the coins through consensus in the protocol. The users urging to register a domain name have to complete the registration process and pay 0.01 NMC as fee. The users can choose any public name server participating in the Namcoin system or use a current block chain. At present Namecoin is using the open source software and GitHub hosting. Namecoin uses a separate block belonging to the Bitcoin chain.  

Allowing decentralization of DNS systems, Namecoin is enhanced with secure registration and the facility to transfer the arbitrary names. The mechanism used in Namecoin allows users to attach value to their domain names up to 520 bytes.

- Mastercoin

The mastercoin cryptocurrency is developed on the Bitcoin blockchain. This altcoin functions on the master communication protocol with various features including smart contracts, peer-to-peer decentralized exchanges and user currencies. The initial draft of Mastercoin (MSC) was released in January 2012 by JR Willett. The proposal in the draft suggested using the Bitcoin protocol as the prime protocol layer that can provide a base to other currency layers so that new rules can be implied without altering the foundation.

The Mastercoin was finally released online in July 2013 alongside a fundraiser program for a month long duration. Purchasing the Mastercoins was systematic and the buyers needed to send Bitcoins to a pre mentioned “Exodus Address”. The Mastercoin protocol used special digital tokens to execute the transactions. The developers also inaugurated the Mastercoin Foundation- a nonprofit institution for managing the funds collected at the Exodus Address. As per the reports in February 2014, this altcoin acquired the seventh position in global ranking of cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization.

Mastercoin protocol addresses bearing similarity to the Bitcoin addresses provide the facility to store Bitcoins and Mastercoins at the same Bitcoin address. The Mastercoin requires few software settings to get started. Stakeholders already using software such as Bitcoin QT will need the Masterchest Installer and MS Windows operating system to get started. The instruction on proceedings is provided on the website of the Mastercoin Foundation to assist the buyers.

The users have several options to choose from the authentication methods of the Mastercoin Faucet including GitHub, Coinbase etc. The Masterchest Windows wallet v0.4 and the web wallet are two important wallets available for Mastercoin access private keys, sending, receiving and storing. The buyers can purchase the Mastercoins from the exchanges including MasterXchange.com and others. The Master Protocol is equipped with the decentralized exchange feature that can be applied to trade Mastercoins for the Bitcoins using the Mastercoin wallet.

- Darkcoin

Darkcoin (DRK) is a relatively new peer-to-peer based cryptocurrency introduced in January 2014. This altcoin developed by Evan Duffield uses a new chained X11 hashing algorithm functioning on the implementation of the PoW mechanism. This digital currency uses the Darksend closed source system to strengthen the privacy and security of the transactions. Darksend based on the CoiJoin mechanism is an important coin mixing service performed on the masternodes. The Masternodes are efficient in marking the destinations from where the darkcoins are released and where they are sent. Darksend mixing is executed in several rounds. During a round, Darkend allows electing a random masternode for mixing the coins.

The use of 11 rounds of different hashing functions allows the miners to save energy and reduce the pressure on the computer device in use. This also helps to derive higher returns from the CPUs and the GPUs. The miners can choose between solo-mining and P2Pools. Solo-mine urges the need of very high hashrate of around 30 to 40 GPUs. P2Pools is comparatively convenient eliminating the registration obligations and facilitating the users to receive instant payments too. The darkcoin wallets can be used on different platforms including the Android device wallets.     

There are various ways to acquire darkcoins. Interested buyers can directly create an account and mine the currency using the CPU or GPU technology. Darkcoins is based on the Bitcoin code and can also be traded for other cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin. You can also sell merchandize goods and accept payments for the products and services in form of darkcoins. With prime consideration to the inflation concerns, the maximum number of darkcoins to be issued by 2050 is 22 million. The issuance reduction of the number of coins will be 7%. At present around 4.4 million darkcoins are circulating on the global domain.

- Ethereum

Ethereum is the software system especially for regulating the cryptography based secure transactions of the ether cryptocurrency. The ether currency has several smaller units including finney, szabo, Shannon, babbage etc. The present exchange rate of the ether currency against 1 Bitcoin is 2000 ether. So far, around 20,844,728 ethers have been sold in the global market. The Ethereum software platform supported with unique programming language enables the developers to construct advanced distribution applications on the decentralized currency exchange and DNS framework.

The Ethereum based applications are convenient for the users that eliminate the need of trusting the users’ confidential data or currency information to the software developers. Ethereum uses a superb hardware integration to conduct actions like codification, decentralization, improve the security and convenient trading on financial exchanges, contracts and agreements, intellectual and smart property, crowdfunding etc.

The Ethereum protocol is available for everyone out there. This easy to understand protocol allows the developers and IT programmers to record the smart contracts write the Ethereum app codes in languages as per requirement. Ether is a convenient mechanism for developing and distributing the decentralization based applications.

The developers are planning to launch the Genesis Block during the winter 2014-15. The genesis block will provide several benefits to the users who have purchased ether during the pre sale period. This mechanism will help the users to claim their merchandise by making use of the wallets and the password created during the initial purchase. Hence, those who have already purchased the ethers should preserve their wallet and the password for future transaction processes. In the event of losing any of the data or the wallet, the buyers will end up losing their ether forever. The buyers seeking to purchase ether need to have JavaScript enabled on their computer. Alternatively, the users must ensure that the plugins, applications and programs blocking the JavaScript should be disabled before starting the download and installation process.