Bitcoin is one of the greatest success stories of the modern age. Many people remember hearing about the idea when it was first released but found themselves thinking “It’ll never work”.
I myself had the opportunity to buy thousands of Bitcoins for $20 or so back in the day. I’ll never forget it, I even started registering an account to make the purchase. But then for some reason or another, I chickened out and spent the money on wine or pizza instead.
With Bitcoin reaching over $3000 these days, if I had made that purchase I’d be retired on a paradise island right now feeling very smug.
But I didn’t.
These days I keep a close eye on cryptocurrencies to try and make sure I never miss the next big thing. Today I’m going to talk about a few alternatives to Bitcoin that you should keep an eye on.
Let’s get started.
Ethereum
Ethereum is very different to Bitcoin. The main difference is the design of the blockchain. With Bitcoin the blockchain is reasonably simple, It’s a record of transactions that say “Bitcoins moved from wallet A to wallet B” that goes back all the way to the beginning of the platform.
However, Ethereum’s blockchain is much more advanced. It has its own scripting language that allows developers to build complex applications based on the blockchain which has opened up a wide range of potential use cases. Several applications have been built upon the cryptocurrency and millions of dollars have been raised. It’s soaring in value month on month and shows no sign of slowing down.
To put this in perspective, at the start of 2017 1 Ether was around $8.
Now it’s around $300.
Monero
Monero is another reasonably established cryptocurrency that is making quite a name for itself. What makes it so attractive is the anonymity factor it provides. Bitcoin is widely touted in the mainstream media as being an anonymous way for people to send money to one another without anyone knowing. While this is true to an extent, it’s not exactly fully anonymous.
With Bitcoin, it’s still possible for people to see who sent what to who by looking at the blockchain. There are no public names attached to the wallets, but there are ways for governments to figure out who the wallet belongs to.
Monero is a truly anonymous cryptocurrency, the blockchain is unreadable and opaque. This admittedly can (and will) be used for nefarious means, but there are also many valid legal reasons that this anonymity is a great thing for law-abiding citizens.
But one thing is for sure, people are using Monero more and more with each passing month. Its value is going up and up and we highly recommend you get involved now while the going is good.
Confido
While the other cryptocurrencies on this list are reasonably established, we wanted to include an outsider that looks to have great potential. Confido hasn’t been released into the wild yet, but its initial coin offering is scheduled for the 28th of October and it’s creating quite a buzz in the cryptocurrency world.
It uses Ethereum’s advanced blockchain technology to create what is essentially the first cryptocurrency based escrow system without a middleman. When you place an order your funds are kept on hold until your item is delivered. When the seller posts your item they enter the tracking information in the Confido app. Once the tracking info confirms delivery the funds are released to the seller within 24 hours. This is all done by smart contracts on the Ethereum and RSK blockchain, combined with a new technology called Chainlink.
It’s not exactly rocket science, but it’s not hard to understand why this is going to be a valuable feature. It’s one of those things you hear about and think “Huh, I presumed that would already be a thing”.
We highly recommend you look into Confido and get involved with their ICO in October. While we are doubtful it's going to make initial investors “Bitcoin rich”, we are sure it’s going to give you a great ROI pretty quickly.
Conclusion
So there you have it, our top 3 alternatives to Bitcoin that we highly recommend you check out. There are many more cryptocurrencies on the market, some of which are also great bets.
But keep an eye on these 3, and diversify your portfolio. Because while Bitcoin started the crypto revolution…
It’s slowly but surely being upstaged by new alternatives.