Altcoin – what it is and where to buy?

Cryptocurrencies have been growing in popularity in recent years, so surely everyone has at least heard about them. Although the number of them is huge, for a long time the most popular and still worth the most is bitcoin. However, this does not mean that you can not earn on altcoins, because it is often quite the opposite. What they actually are and what you should know about them?

Altcoin – what is it?

Altcoin is a word derived from English (alt-coin), which literally means alternative coin. However, in this case refers to cryptocurrencies, so it is about any new virtual coin, which emerged after bitcoin. It is worth noting that bitcoin was created in 2009 and the first altcoin in 2011.

How to make money with cryptocurrencies

The easiest and most obvious option when it comes to making money with cryptocurrencies is to buy them to sell later. However, this is just one of the many ways in which we can get them in order to make money on them later. That is why it is worth knowing the other ways, and this applies not only to altcoins, but also to the already mentioned bitcoin.

Where to buy cryptocurrencies

Buying altcoin is practically the same as buying bitcoin, although due to lower popularity we may encounter some difficulties. Although on the Internet we should not have major problems with their purchase, but eg. such a bitomat will not allow us to buy other cryptocurrencies. Unless it is a really popular altcoin, then there is a chance that we will succeed.

The first altcoin

Although this is not very important information, but you can treat it as an interesting fact. The first altcoin was created in 2011 and was called Namecoin (bitcoin in 2009). This one, however, has not gained as much popularity as the second one, Litecoin, which was characterized by almost four times more supply and much less time to dig the cryptocurrency. In subsequent years, more altcoins appeared, often taking the place of their predecessors.

The most popular altcoins

Altcoins are thousands and new ones are being created all the time, but not all of them have enough clout to support themselves. Therefore, it is hard to point out those the most important and with potential, although some of them have been at the top for many years. To the most popular we can include e.g:

is based on its own blockchain and is used primarily to support smart contracts, – unlike other cryptocurrencies it does not require mining and is used primarily for bank payments, – called improved bitcoin, because it has a better mining efficiency and lower transfer costs – currently considered the most anonymous cryptocurrency.

How to check their exchange rate

We can check the exchange rate of altcoins in an easy way using a search engine e.g. Google. If we are interested in a particular cryptocurrency, we just need to enter its name + word „exchange rateand you will see the price of the survey and a graph showing how its value has changed over a given period. On the other hand, if we want to check the rates in general, but we do not have any particular one in mind, then various cryptocurrency exchanges are a good choice.

Bitcoin or altcoin – opinions

Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency and it is still the most popular one, but with its current value it seems much easier to earn money on altcoins – provided we choose the right one. However, considering the number of languages we know, it is not so easy, because many of them will be forgotten in a relatively short time.

On the other hand, bitcoin is already so popular that it offers many other ways to acquire this cryptocurrency – not only through its purchase, which in the case of altcoins is not so obvious anymore. Therefore, it can prove to be a safer choice, because we can gain it even without investment.

What do you think? It is better to bet on bitcoin or some altcoin? Share your opinion in the comments.