Cryptocurrency has taken the world by storm–a (nearly) entirely digital form of cash that is meant to operate outside of government intercession (and thereby avoids the common pitfalls of such). The main draw of cryptocurrency is its decentralization, meaning that it is controlled and processed through a public network instead of a singular entity like the government. Thus, cryptocurrency is meant to be a candid and invariable economic excursion.

Bitcoin (BTC)

Bitcoin is by far the most popular form of cryptocurrency, and also the oldest. Instituted in 2009 by the anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin is the premier iteration of cryptocurrency. Records of transactions are kept on a digital ledger called a blockchain, which every peer has access to, and confirmed by “miners” who make sure it gets spread throughout the database.

Bitcoin is often referred to as “gold” in the crypto-market, because of its prevalence and popularity. Its abbreviated name is BTC and can be bought and sold even on the most ordinary applications, like Cash App or PayPal. At the time of writing, BTC is worth around $39,000 per token.

Bitcoin Cash (BCH)

With the skyrocketing acclaim of Bitcoin, thousands of “altcoins” have cropped up, which are, as the name suggests, alternatives to BTC. Bitcoin Cash is one of the earliest derivatives of Bitcoin, initiated because of the decision to increase the block size from 1MB to 8MB. Since cryptocurrencies are decentralized, such decisions necessitate entirely new divergences. At the time of writing, BCH is worth around $290 per token.

Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum is second only to Bitcoin in market capitalization. It is a digital currency, but also a means by which users can carry out smart contracts and run decentralized applications. Ethereum’s official stance is to create an utterly unbiased and decentralized financial platform that is open to everyone, regardless of identity or location. The only requirement for trading via Ethereum is an Internet connection. At the time of writing, ETH is worth around $2,600 per token.

Litecoin (LTC)

Litecoin is Bitcoin’s successor, and is becoming exceedingly popular in the mainstream world. The reserve of Litecoin is fixed–there will never be more than 84 million Litecoins produced–which was meant to combat the cyclical nature of inflation and overproduction.

Litecoin differs from its counterparts in that it has a far shorter confirmation time for transactions (by almost one-third compared to Bitcoin). At the time of writing, LTC is worth around $103 per token.

Dogecoin (DOGE)

Dogecoin was created as a joke by a pair of software engineers in 2013. It was manufactured in response to the rising awareness of cryptocurrency and was ushered into fame by Elon Musk, co-founder of PayPal and Tesla. Since its inception, dozens of other “meme” cryptocurrencies have cropped up, to varying degrees of success. At the time of writing, DOGE is worth around $0.12 per token.