Cryptocurrency Price as of April 28, 2021 Market Cap

which are the top cryptocurrencies for 2021?

RANK 1 - Bitcoin 1018 billion Bitcoin is the first distributed consensus-based, censorship-resistant, permissionless, peer-to-peer payment settlement network with a provably scarce, programmable, native currency. Bitcoin (BTC), the native asset of the Bitcoin blockchain, is the world's first digital currency without a central bank or administrator. The Bitcoin network is an emergent decentralized monetary institution that exists through the interplay between full nodes, miners, and developers. It is set by a social contract that is created and opted into by the users of the network and hardened through game theory and cryptography. Bitcoin is the first, oldest, and largest cryptocurrency in the world.

RANK 2 - Ethereum 302 billion Vitalik Buterin conceived Ethereum in 2013, after what he perceived as limitations in the functionality of Bitcoin’s scripting language, namely the lack of Turing completeness. Buterin published the first Ethereum white paper later that year, describing a distributed computing platform for executing smart contracts and building decentralized applications (dApps). In 2014, Buterin and some other early contributors founded the Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to Ethereum’s research, core protocol development, and ecosystem growth. The foundation's first task was to host the Ethereum crowdsale, which raised 31,529 BTC (~$18 million at the time) in exchange for about 60 million ether, and use the proceeds to fund the network's initial development. The Ethereum Foundation continues to be the primary funding organization, issuing grants to research teams and projects focused on Ethereum.

RANK 3 - Binance Coin 85 billion Binance is a crypto exchange that started in the summer of 2017 and quickly became one of the largest in the world by trading volume, recording $200 million in profit in its second full quarter of operation. Binance Coin was launched as an ERC-20 token sold through an initial coin offering (ICO) to be used for discounted trading fees, of which a portion are burned each quarter. Once Binance launched Binance Chain, its own public blockchain in April 2019, the ERC-20 tokens were swapped for native tokens. On top of Binance Chain, the team built a decentralized exchange known as Binance DEX allowing traders to maintain custody of their funds. Over time, additional utility has been added to the token such as use in the Binance Launchpad lottery system and various payments in the Binance ecosystem. In addition, according to their CEO Changpeng Zhao ("CZ") 90% of Binance employees choose to receive part of their salary in BNB.

RANK 4 - Tether 51 billion Tether was created as an attempt to solve two major issues with existing cryptocurrencies: high volatility and convertibility between fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies. To address these perceived issues Tether created a cryptocurrency that is fully backed 1:1 by deposits of U.S. dollars held at banks. On Ethereum, USDT tokens are represented as ERC-20 tokens, while on Bitcoin, Tether utilizes the Omni layer, to represent USDT tokens. While the tokens themselves operate in a decentralized network, Hong Kong based Tether Ltd is solely responsible for creating and redeeming tokens as well as maintaining the 1:1 deposit backing.

RANK 5 - Ripple 24 billion XRP is a cryptocurrency aiming to increase the speed and reduce the cost of transferring money between financial institutions. Underpinning Ripple's xRapid product, an on-demand liquidity solution, XRP is used as a bridge currency for financial institutions exchanging value between multiple fiat currencies. XRP is the native token of the XRP Ledger, an open-source cryptographic ledger powered by a peer-to-peer network of nodes.

RANK 6 - Dogecoin 42 billion Dogecoin is a meme cryptocurrency with the internet-famous Shiba Inu canine breed as a mascot. The project was introduced on Twitter by Jackson Palmer on November 27, 2013 when he tweeted about "investing" on “Dogecoin”, a made-up name. Some of Palmer's friends encouraged him to create a real Dogecoin project, so he registered dogecoin.com and started working. Billy Markus saw the website and reached out to Palmer. Markus and Palmer thought Dogecoin would make the cryptocurrency space more palletable to newcomers since, as they built the protocol, Bitcoin was beleaguered by associations with Silk Road and dark web. Palmer exited the Dogecoin project and community in June 2014 by tweeting, "Unsubshibing. Peace."

RANK 7 - Cardano 39 billion Cardano is an open-source, smart-contract platform that aims to provide multiple features through layered design. Its modularization will eventually allow for network delegation, sidechains, and light client data structures. Cardano uses a version of Proof-of-Stake (PoS) called Ouroboros to secure the network and manage the block production process. The network features a native token called ADA that gives stakers a claim on new issuance in proportion to their holdings and allows users to pay for transactions.

RANK 8 - Polkadot 31 billion Polkadot is a blockchain network designed to support various interconnected, application-specific sub-chains called parachains (short for parallelized chains). Each chain built within Polkadot uses Parity Technologies' Substrate modular framework, which allows developers to select specific components that suit their application-specific chain best. Polkadot refers to the entire ecosystem of parachains that plug into a single base platform known as the Relay Chain. This base platform, which also leverages Substrate, does not support application functionality but instead provides security to the network's parachains and contains Polkadot's consensus, finality, and voting logic.

RANK 9 - Uniswasp 20 billion Uniswap was born out of an idea proposed in 2016 by Vitalik Buterin for a decentralized exchange (DEX) that would employ an on-chain automated market maker with certain unique characteristics. A year later Hayden Adams began working on turning this idea into a functional product. After receiving several grants as well as $100,000 from the Ethereum Foundation, Uniswap launch in November 2018. The protocol quickly gained liquidity and started facilitating meaningful volume. Six months after launching, a fundraising round was completed, led by Paradigm to allow the addition of two more employees.

RANK 10 - Litecoin 17 billion Created in October 2011 by ex Google and Coinbase engineer, Charlie Lee, Litecoin is a fork of Bitcoin's source code that posits itself as "a silver to Bitcoin's gold." Technically, Litecoin is nearly identical to Bitcoin with key differences relating to block time, supply, hashing algorithm, and initial distribution. Litecoin aimed to keep the best aspects of Bitcoin while making some optimizations for its use as a medium of exchange.

Risks of Investing in Bitcoin The value of Bitcoin tends to fluctuate a lot. You may see the price go up or down thousands of dollars during any month. If wild fluctuations like these make you nervous, you may want to avoid Bitcoin. Otherwise, as long as you keep in mind that cryptocurrency is a smart long-term investment, these fluctuations shouldn’t be too concerning.