Bitcoin
(XBT)
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"The king and forefather of cryptocurrencies"
 

Created in 2009 by a person known as Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin rules over the digital currencies market, making up more than half of the capitalisation.
 

For the time being, the share prices of altcoins still fluctuate based on Bitcoin. Supporters view the currency as digital gold, whose value will only increase over time.

Ethereum
(ETH)
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"The smart contract platform"

Created in 2015 by prodigy Vitalik Buterin, Ether has caused quite a sensation ever since. It is currently the second most important digital currency in terms of capitalisation.

Ethereum allows for the creation of smart contracts that can self-execute automatically, which makes thirdparty intervention unnecessary. Many companies and developers are experimenting with this token.

Litecoin
(LTC)
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"Faster than Bitcoin"

This top 10 cryptocurrency is inspired by Bitcoin’s technical foundations but offers faster transactions.

With Litecoin, blocks are created every two minutes and thirty seconds, whereas Bitcoin creates a block every 10 minutes. Mining is also easier and transaction fees are substantially lower

Ripple
(XRP)
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"The cross-border payment champion"

This token, created in 2012 by California based company Ripple, is primarily used to accelerate international financial transactions and reduce costs.

XRP acts as a "bridge currency" in the exchange between two currencies that can be used to carry out the entire transaction (send, exchange and receive money) in just a few seconds. XRP holds third place out of all cryptocurrencies, just behind Ethereum.

Bitcoin Cash
(BCH)
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"Bitcoin revisited"

This token, created on 1 August 2017, is the result of a hard fork with Bitcoin.

It is based on the same blockchain as Bitcoin but is faster and allows for less expensive transactions. Bitcoin Cash ranks as the world’s fifth-largest cryptocurrency.

Chainlink
(LINK)
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"Decentralised information"

Operating on the Ethereum blockchain, this token has taken off in the past two years, while the market has virtually all but collapsed. ChainLink derives from the notion of integrating "off-chain" information, i.e. information not included on the blockchain, to serve the entire ecosystem.

Information is more reliable when based on multiple sources. The project benefits from many partnerships and marks an important step towards decentralised finance.

Ethereum Classic
(ETC)
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"The purists’ choice"

Historically, this is Ethereum as it started. This cryptocurrency emerged from the hard fork within the community after Ethereum was the victim of a major hack in 2016.

While most developers wanted to start over as if the incident had never happened, a handful of diehards chose to move on and accept the situation. Although less popular with developers than Ethereum, Ethereum Classic can recover features implemented on the Ethereum blockchain.

EOS
(EOS)
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"Competition for Ethereum"

Referred to as third-generation blockchain technology, EOS is based on a concept similar to that of Ethereum with the development of fully decentralized applications (dApps). But unlike Ethereum, EOS uses a delegated proof of stake system, which uses "block producers" to validate transactions.

This choice significantly increases the speed and number of transactions. After a record-breaking ICO completed in 2018, in which it raised $4 billion, the token has grown impressively to seize a spot in the top 10.

Stellar
(XLM)
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"Limitless payment"

Started in 2014 by the co-founder of Ripple, Stellar is based on the same protocol. However, while Ripple and its XRP token are focused primarily on financial institutions, Stellar targets the peer-to-peer payments market for transferring small sums of money.

This token has grown admirably over the past few months and is solidly in the top 20.

Tezos
(XTZ)
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"The Ethereum Killer"

The creators of Tezos are quite happy with the cryptocurrency’s nickname "Ethereum Killer". Like EOS, the token is based on the principle of delegated proof of stake. In other words, stakeholders can earn more Tezos rewards for creating and validating blocks on the blockchain.

The cryptocurrency offers a slightly faster and more secure environment than Ethereum. Its governance model also has the advantage of avoiding forks. Tezos has joined the top 10 and is currently one of the best performing tokens on the market.

Augur
(REP)
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"Decentralised peer-to-peer protocol"

Built on the Ethereum blockchain, Augur allows token holders to bet on the likelihood that an event will occur. Simply put, users can buy shares of probability. Prices are adjusted in line with supply and demand, similar to the principle of sports betting.

But with Augur, the outcome of an event is not validated by a central authority. Users themselves verify results, making any manipulation impossible.

0x
(ZRX)
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"Decentralised exchange"

This Ethereum-based ERC20 token aims to facilitate decentralised exchange on the Ethereum blockchain. Its designers have developed a protocol that enables the peer-to-peer exchange of ERC20 tokens.

The ICO in 2017 was a success. 0x then spiked in value and has since come back down, but 0x still ranks in the top 50.