Bitcoin not the only cryptocurrency, there are thousands more

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Bitcoin, which is the oldest and the most popular cryptocurrency, has given around 10 times return over the last year. But do you know apart from Bitcoin, there are thousands of other cryptocurrencies that have given similar kind of returns? These are called altcoins and are based on certain projects, which one can learn about from their websites. Currently, Bitcoin is trading at Rs 41.38 lakh ($56,988), generating a return of around 52% since Jan 2021.

Money9 spoke with Neeraj Khandelwal, co-founder of CoinDCX, on emerging cryptocurrencies.

Khandelwal said, “There are other cryptocurrencies based on the Bitcoin technology, which is called blockchain. So we have cryptocurrencies like Litecoin, Etherem Ripple, EOS. So these are popular cryptocurrencies that have been around for the past four to five years and they have been performing really well. Most of these cryptocurrencies have some kind of technological improvements or they have some other kind of utility like smart contract currency, etc.”

Another point is no one knows who is the founder of Bitcoin. Satoshi Nakamoto is known as the creator of Bitcoin but no one knows who he really is. In such a case who are the people behind these altcoins? Khandelwal said, “All the other cryptocurrencies that we are talking about, we know promoters behind them. We can talk to them, we can discuss with them on a regular basis. What are the upcoming technological improvements and what is the utility of the currency? So it’s, it’s very transparent.”

Moreover, there are so many schemes doing rounds on social media guaranteeing high returns. What are these cryptocurrencies? Is it advisable to stay away from them? “There are a lot of bad players. Whenever a new industry comes up, there are always some bad actors in the industry who take advantage of people who are not informed properly. So, it’s very important that in the cryptocurrency market, we should not send money to any third party but should always go by the exchange route.” said Khandelwal