Bitcoin and other virtual currencies

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1 There are, in the meantime, a raft of other virtual currencies that aim to compete with Bitcoin. As usual, success always invites imitators. Most rivals have just tweaked Bitcoin s software here and there. After all, the software is open-source so everyone has access to it and can, if they wish, make their own digital money. But one disadvantage all imitators and rivals face is a deficit of acceptance compared with Bitcoin.

2 01 Litecoin Litecoin is one of the most popular bitcoin-alternatives. It has been published in Octobre As bitcoin it uses an opensource programme and its structure is dezentralised. Its use will be focused on facilitating fast global transfers.

3 02 Peercoin Peercoin wants to be the green, energy-saving alternative to Bitcoin. They see this as a marketing opportunity because much has been made in the media of Bitcoin s processorintensive and thus energy-intensive creation. Peercoin also generates its money through algorithms but only a small portion of Peercoins are created through full processing. And, unlike Bitcoin and rival Litecoin, the total number of Peercoins is unlimited.

4 03 Ripple Active since 2013, Ripple is another player in the race to rival Bitcoin. Unlike some competitors Ripple doesn t piggyback on Bitcoin s technology. Instead, it has introduced its own system, which is based on a collective database, a register that lists the holdings of all public Ripple accounts the total Ripple money supply, as it were. The register also informs about current buying and selling offers, exchange rates for conventional currencies and records goods and services exchanged for Ripple coins. Ripple be used as a payment system and as a trading platform, and it processes transactions within seconds. The concept is based on Hawala (see Wikipedia for more information).

5 04 Ripple targets commercial success In contrast to Bitcoin, Ripple is a commercial business. While Bitcoin was spawned in the fertile ground of the global open source movement, Ripple has set about building its own proprietary platforms. Ripple doesn t strive to have the greatest number of users. Rather, it aims at serving individual customers, including large commercial enterprises. It will attract smaller users by first winning larger ones. That s Ripple s strategy for success. In 2014 Ripple announced a cooperation with a German online-bank as regards to the latter's payment system.

6 05 Dogecoin Dogecoin was launched at the beginning of December Originally intended as a joke, a parody of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies, Dogecoin s logo is a Shiba, a Japanese breed of dog. Surprisingly, after its launch its value climbed steadily. By the end of January 2014 Dogecoin had a market capitalization of over 61 million US dollars, the fifth most largest of all digital currencies. From joke to giant: Dogecoin in now a serious rival for Bitcoin and the rest of the Internet currencies.

7 06 KittehCoin and Pandacoin KittehCoin is a peer-to-peer internet currency that enables instant payments to anyone in the world. It is based on the scrypt proof-of-work algorithm. New blocks are generated every 60 seconds. Total coins are 25,000,000,000. Random block rewards for first several tiers of payout schedule. Difficulty is retargeted after each block using the Kimoto Gravity Well algorithm. See: kittehcoin.info The founders, developers and architects of the Pandacoin Project have sought to make Pandacoin (PND) a cryptocurrency that is geared towards use of the coin to bring liquidity to commerce interchange as opposed simply be another abstract commodity. Many new alternative cryptocurrencies are simply 'yet another' micro commodity with no vision beyond that with an attempt to derive value into an

8 07 The wild, wonderful world of Internet currencies The number of web-based currencies is rapidly climbing. Anyone can create their own money and place it on the Internet, for the most diverse purposes. Thus, the currency called Philospher s Stone is intended for savers. Keep your money on your account for one year minimum and receive an interest payment. Other digital currencies are really meant for fun, and some have political backgrounds, like Mazacoin, the virtual money of the Lakota Sioux people in the US. The funds are meant to help the tribe gain more financial independence.

9 08 Outlook Which currency will prevail as the dominant online currency Bitcoin, one of its clones or another of its rivals? It s impossible to say right now. At the moment, Bitcoin is certainly the most accepted Internet currency worldwide. But Ripple is making strong gains with its very different system. Despite being so new, it s already a commercial success. As regards to its market capitalisation it is the third most valuable internet-currency after bitcoin and litecoin.