Virtual currency like Bitcoin and Ethereum are financial buzzwords, but what are the other top cryptocurrencies and how much of a market share do they have?
Investors are flocking to the most well-known digital currencies in a bid to turn a buck, but the real profits are in buying low and holding for the long-term.
But what other cryptocurrencies are there?
Well, the market has around 1,600 live currencies.
Some are coins, which live on their own blockchains – the secure underlying infrastructure that records transactions and ownership of virtual currency.
Coins or tokens?
Others are tokens – these piggy-back a coin’s blockchain and have no infrastructure of their own.
Bitcoin, which is 10 years old in 2019, is by far the biggest player, with a market cap of £142.39 billion – you would have to add up the next six in the list to come near the market cap of Bitcoin.
Go to the informative Coinmarketcap.com to find the full listing, financial data and links to charts and trading history.
Many cryptocurrencies have a scant financial background and do not list their market cap.
If you are looking to invest, some points to consider are:
- Who controls supply and is supply finite – this impacts price
- Is the currency a coin with a blockchain and not a token?
- Are the developers contactable?
- Where is the coin based and what is the legal jurisdiction, should things go wrong?
- Is the blockchain an open source code?
Top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap
Below is a list of the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation:
| Rank | Currency | Market cap (billions) | Value |
| 1 | Bitcoin | $142.39 | $8,356.76 |
| 2 | Ethereum | $70.35 | $706.64 |
| 3 | Ripple | $27.40 | $0.69 |
| 4 | Bitcoin Cash | $22.07 | $1,288.75 |
| 5 | EOS | $11.48 | $13.34 |
| 6 | Litecoin | $7.89 | $139.56 |
| 7 | Cardano | $6.60 | $0.25 |
| 8 | Stellar | $6.13 | $0.33 |
| 9 | IOTA | $5.23 | $1.88 |
| 10 | TRON | $4.59 | $0.069 |
| 11 | NEO | $3.94 | $60.72 |
| 12 | Dash | $3.27 | $405.97 |
| 13 | Monero | $3.26 | $203.56 |
| 14 | NEM | $2.87 | $0.31 |
| 15 | VeChain | $2.35 | $4.47 |
| 16 | Tether | $2.30 | $1.00 |
| 17 | Ethereum Classic | $1.83 | $18.06 |
| 18 | Bytecoin | $1.77 | $0.009 |
| 19 | ICON | $1.47 | $3.81 |
| 20 | Qtum | $1.45 | $16.40 |
Source: Coinmarketcap.com – May 17, 2018