A guide to the leading digital currencies currently in circulation...digital currencies currently in...

disruptionhub.com

A guide to the leading digital currencies currently

in circulation

Created and regulated via blockchain,

cryptocurrencies are used to transfer

funds within a peer-to-peer network.

The decentralised, verifiable and secure

nature of the blockchain system is what

makes cryptocurrencies a highly regarded

alternative to traditional fiat currencies.

Completely replacing the need for regulation

from a bank or government authority,

cryptocurrencies provide a substitute

for the entire banking system as we

currently know it.

Although the blockchain might seem

confusing, the principles behind it are

actually quite simple. It all starts with a

peer-to-peer network which is designed to

complete and validate transactions. Crucially,

since no one controls or is in charge of the

network, all members have an equal role in

the system. This is why we refer to it as

being ‘decentralised’.

When someone wants to make a transaction

within the system, other members of

the network must work to validate that

transaction. If the transaction is approved,

its details are stored as a block of data, a kind

of digital ledger. Since all members of the

network have access to this block of data, it is

unalterable and therefor a permanent record

of the transaction. As more transactions are

completed, more blocks are added and the

blockchain created.

As we’ve just said, in order to validate

transactions, network members must

complete work. This involves using computer

processing power to solve a cryptographic

puzzle, and to reward members for this

Cryptocurrencies are a kind of digital money that take their

name from ‘cryptography’ – the mathematical process of

encoding data to keep it safe and secure.

Cryptocurrencies

Introduction

2 / Cryptocurrencies

output, they are given units – or tokens - of

cryptocurrency. This is what gives members the

incentive to keep the network running and it’s

this concept of work that gives rise to the term

‘mining’. Network members are also known as

‘miners’ since expending computing energy in

return for cryptocurrency tokens is the only way

that cryptocurrencies can be generated.

The mining analogy also throws light on another

crucial feature of cryptocurrency tokens. Like

physical assets such as gold, there is a finite

amount of tokens in most cryptocurrencies.

However slow the rate of generating tokens may

be, it’s an inevitability that one day, there will be

nothing left for the miners to mine.

Like the paper money in your wallet,

cryptocurrencies have no intrinsic value. Their

monetary worth comes from whatever goods or

services a person is willing to give you for the

amount of coins you have. Cryptocurrency tokens

are now widely accepted as online payment but

they can also be traded for fiat currency. As more

and more people accept the value of blockchain

in recent years, we have seen exchange rates for

popular cryptocurrencies soar.

disruptionhub.com / 3

Contents


50 companies


Bitcoin 6

Ethereum 6

Bitcoin Cash 6

Ripple 7

Litecoin 7

Nem 7

Dash 8

Iota 8

Monero 8

Neo 9

Ethereum Classic 9

Hshare 9

OmiseGo 10

Qtum 10

Lisk 10

Stratis 11

Zcash 11

Waves 11

Bytecoin 12

TenX 12

Eos 12

Bitshares 13

Steem 13

Tether 13

MadeSafeCoin 14

Augur 14

Golem Network Tokens 14

Factom 15

Iconomi 15

Stellar 15

Basic Attention Token 16

Siacoin 16

Byteball 16

Binance Coin 17

Ark 17

Dodgecoin 17

Decred 18

Gnosis 18

DigixDAO 18

Veritaseum 19

Metal 19

Ox 19

Civic 20

Digibyte 20

Status 20

PIVX 21

Populous 21

Gas 21

Komodo 22

Monaco 22

Contents

Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin is the first – and most famous – decentralised digital currency and was launched in 2009 by the unidentified person or group known as Satoshi Nakamoto. When the first ever bitcoin block was mined by Nakamoto, it came with a reward of 50 bitcoins. Embedded within the block was the text “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.”

In 2010, Nakamoto handed over control of the network key to Gavin Andresen, Lead Developer of bitcoin’s client software, who went on to found the Bitcoin Foundation in 2012. The mission of the organisation is to “standardise, protect and promote the use of bitcoin cryptographic money for the benefit of users worldwide.” Amid wild fluctuations, the value of one bitcoin has grown from around $0.003 in 2010 to an all-time peak of $19,783 in December 2017. It is commonly used to buy alternative cryptocurrency coins.

Development of the blockchain-based platform Ethereum was proposed in 2013, funded by crowdsourcing in 2014 and launched in 2015. When the Ethereum-hosted DAO project collapsed in 2016, $50m worth of the network’s cryptocurrency was lost and a dispute emerged about whether or not to change the system in order to reclaim the funds.

As a result of this dispute, the network was split in two – the blockchain underwent a hard fork which led to the creation of the new Ethereum network and cryptocurrency. Functions executed by the Ethereum network are known as ‘smart contracts’. These can be anything from transfers of funds from one user to another, agreements, or the recording of information. In order to set up smart contracts, network users pay in ETH.

Bitcoin Cash was created as a result of the bitcoin scalability problem. Since blocks in the bitcoin blockchain are limited to 1MB in size, the network’s maximum transaction capacity is highly limited. In 2017, a hard fork was made in the bitcoin network in an attempt to rectify this limitation. A new chain was created and Bitcoin Cash was born. This offers the same peer-to-peer electronic cash service as bitcoin, with miners earning BCH tokens for processing transactions.

Bitcoin (BTC) Ethereum (ETH) Bitcoin Cash (BCH)


XRP is the cryptocurrency of the open source Ripple network. Originally called Opencoin, the organisation was founded in 2012 and renamed Ripple Labs in 2015. Validated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), among other organisations, Ripple is used by companies such as Santander and UBS to accelerate financial transactions. It facilitates the transfer of money in any form, including cryptocurrencies and fiat.

The native cryptocurrency of Ripple, XRP, acts as a bridge to other currencies. The Ripple network operates on a different system to bitcoin. Transactions are validated by a consensus protocol, which means that XRP cannot be mined.

The NEM blockchain platform was launched in 2015. It offers new features to the blockchain system, including a proof-of-importance (POI) algorithm used to time stamp transactions.

Users of the system earn XEM for forming blocks in a process known as ‘harvesting’. A user of NEM’s importance is calculated by how many XEM tokens they have and the number of transactions they make. This is to encourage users to be active in the network and to not simply hold onto XEM tokens. The NEM protocol also introduced a system of encrypted messaging to the blockchain.

Litecoin was released in 2011 by former Google employee Charlie Lee. It is a fork of the bitcoin client protocol, with a faster block creation time and higher total number of tokens than bitcoin. In May 2017, the litecoin cryptocurrency was used in the first ever Lightning Network transaction – a proposed solution to the bitcoin scalability problem. 0.00000001 LTC was transferred from Zürich to San Francisco in under one second.

Ripple (XRP) NEM (XEM)Litecoin (LTC)


Cryptocurrencies

Dash – previously known as Darkcoin and XCoin – was first released in 2014. It received its current name (a portmanteau of Digital Cash) in 2015. Dash operates on a fork of the Litecoin code. At the point of making the fork, a bug caused 1.9 million of the total coin – around 10% – to be mined within two days. Different solutions to the problem were proposed but ultimately rejected by the cryptocurrency community. The initial distribution of coins was therefore left unchanged. Unlike Bitcoin, Dash operates on a two-tier network system, with certain functions fulfilled by miners but others are completed by so-called ‘masternodes’. These enable specific functions such as instant transactions (InstantSend) and private transactions (PrivateSend). Network members earn DASH tokens for processing transactions and forming blocks in the ledger. Masternodes charge higher fees, enabling them to earn 45% more DASH per block.

IOT was conceived to be the cryptocurrency of the Internet of Things (IoT), which means it will facilitate machine-to-machine payments (M2M). Unlike other cryptocurrencies, IOTA has no transaction fees, no mining and no blockchain. Instead, the system is based around a specific Directed Acyclic Graph protocol (DAG) called the Tangle. This means that devices on the network randomly verify each other’s transactions, building consensus through the web of connections between transactions. Computing power in the Tangle grows in proportion to its network, enabling IOTA to promise fast transactions for free.

When IOTA was launched in 2015, all of its tokens were sold in a crowdsale known as the Genesis transaction. No further IOTA tokens will ever come into existence. The IOTA ecosystem is run by the IOTA Foundation – a non-profit organisation which works to develop and promote the commercial adoption of this open source technology.

The Monero system places a high emphasis on privacy. Its algorithms obfuscate ledgers in the blockchain, making transactions and users more difficult to trace than in bitcoin and its derivatives.

In order to obfuscate transactions, decoy inputs are mixed with the real amount being spent. While this added level of privacy makes the Monero cryptocurrency fungible, it also comes at a cost – the processes the algorithms must undergo to obscure transactions make Monero far more difficult to scale than most of the other cryptocurrency protocols.

The system has also attracted illicit use. XMR are mined in a similar way to bitcoin, although mining can be undertaken by any ordinary CPU. This is a direct result of Monero choosing to attract smaller nodes rather than farms and mining pools.

Dash (DASH) IOTA (IOT) Monero (XMR)


NEO launched in China in 2014 and was originally known as AntShares. Its blockchain can support 10,000 transactions per second and has unlimited theoretical scalability. The system is used to automate the storage and exchange of digital assets using smart contracts (NeoContracts).

Two tokens are supported on the platform: NEO and GAS. The NEO token represents shares in the Neo ecosystem, while GAS is used to pay fees for setting up smart contracts. NEO owners are entitled to receive GAS tokens as dividends. Members of the network can also earn GAS as a reward for contributing to the system. The smallest unit of the network’s cryptocurrency is 1 NEO – it cannot be broken up into smaller denominations.

Hshare is the ICO (Initial Coin Offering) distribution token for the new cryptocurrency Hcash. Hshares are best understood as pre-launch tokens that will be exchangeable for Hcash in a ratio of 1:1 when the cryptocurrency is released.

In a revolutionary development to the world of digital cash, Hcash will allow value to be exchanged between different systems. It will develop two parallel networks – one based on blockchain, the other blockchain-less. This will make Hcash tokens interoperable and also means it will be possible to send and receive different cryptocurrency tokens with Hcash, even across blockchain and off-blockchain systems.

Ethereum Classic is the cryptocurrency attached to the original Ethereum blockchain system. At the time of the DAO project’s collapse in 2016, members of the Ethereum community disagreed on whether or not to make changes to the blockchain protocol.

Certain members were opposed to making a fork in the blockchain on the grounds of immutability – the principle that the blockchain cannot be altered. The original Ethereum network therefore remained unchanged and was given the new name of Ethereum Classic. Doubts remain around Ethereum Classic as it does not benefit from updates made to the Ethereum network.

NEO (NEO) Hshare (HSR)Ethereum Classic (ETC)


Cryptocurrencies

OmiseGo is an offshoot of the fintech startup Omise, which was founded in Thailand in 2013. OmiseGo operates on the Ethereum blockchain, with Ethereum co-founders Vitalik Buterin and Gavin Wood currently acting as company advisors. When the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) for OmiseGo tokens was held in 2017, funds were capped at $25m. While OmiseGo CEO Jun Hasegawa believes they could have easily raised $100m, the company opted to act more responsibly, only generating the amount it needed. This makes OmiseGo the first true example of a controlled ICO in an age characterised by ambitious and often reckless cryptocurrency investment.

Qtum (pronounced quantum) is a Chinese blockchain platform and cryptocurrency that has been designed to improve on the interoperability of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and Ethereum. By taking established concepts from other blockchains and merging them together, Qtum hopes to introduce feasible blockchain-based options to the business world.

A specific push towards mobile blockchain development – providing access to blockchain on smartphones and tablets – is a key part of this strategy. In 2017, the Qtum ICO generated $15.6m in 117 hours, making it one of the most quickly funded cryptocurrency crowdsales of all time.

Lisk launched in May 2016 and calls itself the “first modular cryptocurrency using sidechains”. This has two consequences:

The modular design means that anyone can use the blocks of the Lisk system to construct their own blockchain-based, decentralised apps.

Lisk’s sidechains, on the other hand, serve to remove congestion in the blockchain system by diverting high-volume transactions from the main blockchain to ensure a fast-running network. All actions performed on the Lisk network require payment in LSK tokens.

OmiseGo (OMG) Qtum (QTUM) Lisk (LSK)


UK based Stratis enables companies to create their own personalised blockchain applications. Customised, private blockchains – also known as ‘sidechains’ – are secured on the main Stratis blockchain network. This enables Stratis to provide solutions to the specific needs of corporations, making it a blockchain-as-a-service (BAAS) platform. A test ICO for STRAT cryptocurrency tokens was launched in November 2017.

The Waves blockchain platform enables users to create and exchange their own customised cryptocurrency tokens. When users trade or exchange cryptocurrencies, they pay transaction fees in the native WAVES token. It costs 0.001 WAVES to make a transaction or token transfer on the network, while the creation of a new token costs 1 WAVES. The supply of WAVES is fixed at 100 million coins.

ZCash was developed for increased privacy compared to other blockchain systems. Transactions are published on a public blockchain ledger but users have the option of engaging an additional privacy feature to conceal details about the sender, recipient and amount of the transaction. A type of Zero Knowledge Proof is used to achieve this. Like bitcoin, ZCash tokens are fixed at a total supply of 21 million.

Stratis (STRAT) Waves (WAVES)ZCash (ZEC)


Cryptocurrencies

Bytecoin was launched in 2012 and it is the first cryptocurrency to be based on CryptoNote technology – a divergence from the bitcoin system and its forks. This gives users access to truly untraceable transactions. There are 184.46bn bytecoins in total and the mining rate is 120 seconds per block in the chain.

TenX’s ICO for PAY tokens in 2017 raised 245,832 ETH in under 10 minutes. Based on the ETH exchange rate at the close of trading, this sum had a truly staggering total value of $83m. TenX has found a way to enable holders of cryptocurrencies to actually spend their tokens in the real world. Their team has created a smartphone app which functions as a digital wallet and a decentralised fee-free exchange. Users receive a debit/credit card linked to their digital wallet, which enables them to spend cryptocurrencies via VISA and Mastercard. Cryptocurrency charges are converted into local currency, enabling TenX users to spend their digital cash anywhere in the world.

EOS’s blockchain architecture introduces vertical and horizontal expansion, offering the potential to scale to millions of transactions per second. EOS tokens have been distributed on the Ethereum platform since 26 June 2017. In a distribution process consisting of several steps, taking place over 341 days, a total of 1bn EOS will be sold. The tokens in the sale have no pre-determined value but are tied in to market demand. This strategy was adopted in order to mimic the conditions of mining without giving unfair advantages to large investors.

Bytecoin (BCN) TenX (PAY) EOS (EOS)


BitShares were created to change the way we currently buy and trade cryptocurrencies. Under the traditional system, investors are required to convert their fiat currencies to and from cryptocurrencies, resulting in the loss of valuable anonymity gained from use of the blockchain. In the first move of its kind, the BitShare blockchain platform allows its users to convert their coins into other cryptocurrencies whose values are attached to real-life assets. This makes BitShares a stable investment. The main function of the BitShare network is not to provide a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency, but rather to provide an exchange system with tokens connected to real-world assets.

The Tether network bridges the gap between cryptocurrencies and fiat. By holding fiat currencies in a reserve bank account, Tether Limited backs its USDT tokens at a ratio of 1:1 with the US dollar. As a pegged cryptocurrency tied to real-world assets, the value of Tethers is relatively stable and immune to the severe volatility of most other cryptocurrencies. Operating on the bitcoin blockchain, Tether provides fee-free transactions between Tether accounts, as well as between all blockchain-based wallets which support Tether.

The Steem blockchain powers a new kind of social media network, Steemit. In a hybrid of blockchain cryptocurrencies and social media, Steemit users can create and share content on the network, earning STEEM tokens based on their reception in the community. The more upvotes a piece of content receives, the more STEEM tokens its user will gain. STEEM coins are exchangeable for other cryptocurrencies on currency exchange sites. In order to cast votes on the network, however, STEEM must be exchanged for Steem Power tokens. One further variation of this cryptocurrency exists: Steem Dollars. With one Steem Dollar valued at $1, these tokens provide a way of lending the community funds. This is designed to foster growth and development in the network.

BitShares (BTS) Tether (USDT)Steem (STEEM)


Cryptocurrencies

MaidSafeCoins are the tokens of the MadeSafe SAFE (Secure Access For Everyone) network, which is currently undergoing development. The network, although not powered by blockchain, aims to be entirely decentralised and secure. It is an ecosystem that will enable users to carry out their usual internet activities, as well as transfer and store data, with absolute security.

Unlike mining in the blockchain, MaidSafeCoins are given to network users who contribute computer processing power, internet capacity and storage to keep the network running. This is known as ‘farming’. When the SAFE network is launched, MAID coins will be exchangeable for Safecoins at a ratio of 1:1.

Founded in 2014, Augur is a kind of betting platform which uses collective wisdom to make predictions about outcomes. Based on the Ethereum blockchain, Augur provides a secure, decentralised system where users can ask other members of the network to guess the results of anything from sports matches to elections.

Augur tokens – the internal currency of the aggregate prediction system – are required to create and participate in events. They are won by users who correctly predict outcomes. There are 11m Augur tokens in total, which are each divisible in value. This means that the value of the Augur cryptocurrency will continue to grow as the number of users increases.

Golem is a global, decentralised supercomputer network made up of its users’ computers. As such, it functions as a sharing economy for computing power, enabling network members to rent out cycles of other members’ machines. In order to harness the power of other computers, software developers and requestors of computing power pay providers in Golem Network Tokens. The Golem Network is supported by an Ethereum-based blockchain, which records transactions and facilitates the trading of GNT.

MaidSafeCoin (MAID)

Augur (REP) Golem Network Tokens (GNT)


The idea behind Factom came about in 2014: to improve the integrity of the world’s data.

The Factom platform is a data layer for the bitcoin blockchain, where millions of records can be stored with the creation of one single block. It also enables users to audit records in real time. In order to enter data onto the Factom platform, users pay with factoid tokens. These tokens enable users to secure their data by linking it to the bitcoin blockchain. The total coin supply of factoids is uncapped.

The mission of the non-profit Stellar organisation is to connect people to low cost financial services. With a particular focus on the developing world, the Stellar infrastructure connects people, banks and payment systems. It facilitates multi-currency transactions on the blockchain quickly and reliably by using the native cryptocurrency lumens (XLM) as a bridge.

In order to authenticate accounts on the network, all Stellar users must hold a minimum balance of 20 lumens. There is also a negligible base fee for all transactions – currently set at 0.00001 XLM – to deter spam. Already in partnership with IBM, Deloitte and more, Stellar is notable for its emphasis on maximising the development of the individual through access to financial services.

Slovenia-based fintech startup Iconomi has developed a digital asset management and investment platform on the blockchain. Iconomi’s aim is to enable anyone to create and manage cryptocurrency tokens, making it easy for other people to invest in them.

The Iconomi platform, which launched in August 2017, serves as a kind of index fund for cryptocurrencies – the first of its kind. Digital Asset Array (DAA) managers on the platform are able to arrange investment portfolios, analyse performance, attract investors and collect fees all via the Iconomi platform.

100m Iconomi tokens were issued as part of an ICO in August and September 2016. ICN token holders are considered to be owners of the platform, enabling them to vote on the organisation’s decisions and entitling them to dividends.

Factom (FCT) Stellar (XLM)Iconomi (ICN)


Cryptocurrencies

Basic Attention Tokens fund blockchain-based digital advertising on the Brave platform, a privacy-focused browser which hopes to change the way we access the internet.

Hosted on the Ethereum blockchain, BATs can be exchanged between publishers, advertisers and users. The value of the token is derived from user attention – the focused mental engagement of users with each advertisement.

Advertisers pay BATs to place ads, publishers receive BATs for gaining user attention, and users are rewarded with BAT tokens for viewing ads.

Sia is a decentralised storage platform secured by the blockchain that makes use of idle hard drive capacity around the world to provide a global marketplace for digital storage.

The network currently has 4.0PB of storage capacity. It costs on average 90% less to store data with Sia than with other market-leading cloud providers such as Amazon and Google and renters pay their hosts for storage with Siacoin, which can also be mined and traded.

Hosts must deposit Siacoin into each file contract as collateral, which acts as a disincentive for them to go offline. Payments between renters and hosts happens off-chain, a fact that improves the efficiency and scalability of the network.

Byteball is a decentralised network which facilitates smart payments and smart contracts. It enables users to make ‘conditional payments’ by attaching conditions that a payee must fulfil in order to receive the sum. If payees do not fulfil the required conditions, the senders of the payment get their money back.

In addition to smart payments, the Byteball platform is ideally suited to facilitate P2P insurance, prediction markets, P2P betting and textcoins – the sending of cryptocurrency via email or online chats.

Byteball is supported by the Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) protocol rather than blockchain. As such, there are no blocks, with users adding their transactions to the DAG themselves without having to wait for miners. Byteball Bytes (GBYTEs) are the native cryptocurrency of the Byteball platform. Bytes are used to pay for the addition of data to the database. Additionally, users can make use of bytes to issue their own currencies.

Basic Attention Token (BAT)

Siacoin (SC) Byteball (GBYTE)


Binance Coin is the token of the Binance exchange, a decentralised cryptocurrency exchange platform running on the Ethereum blockchain.

Binance Coins were launched in an ICO to fund the development of the Binance exchange and can be used to pay fees and expenses on the trading platform. The amount of BNB has been limited to 200m. Binance has stated that during each quarter, it will use 20% of its profits to buy back BNB and destroy them. This will continue until Binance has bought back 50% (100m) of all binance coins.

American Billy Markus, the creator of Dogecoin, intended to produce a fun cryptocurrency that would broaden the appeal of blockchain and cryptocurrency technology as a whole. The symbol for the currency is a Shiba Inu dog, which was popularised as an internet meme in 2013.

Dogecoin prides itself on providing a friendly and inclusive digital currency community. Dogecoins do not have many mainstream commercial applications but are used instead by social media users to reward others for uploading interesting content. The Dogecoin is an inflationary coin, meaning that there is no limit to the amount of coins that can be mined.

Ark was founded by some of the key developers of Lisk and has created a way of connecting various discrete blockchains and their cryptocurrencies.

Ark’s SmartBridge technology can link any blockchain function to another, meaning that apps created on one blockchain can be used on a different platform. In its own words, Ark wants to provide, “an entire ecosystem of linked chains and a virtual spider web of endless use-cases that make Ark highly flexible, adaptable and scalable.”

In a democratically run project, network members vote with their Ark cryptocurrency tokens to decide which delegates will be allowed to forge new blocks. When delegates do so, they receive a reward, which they can then choose to pay back to their voters.

Binance Coin (BNB)

Dogecoin (DOGE)Ark (ARK)


Cryptocurrencies

Decred is used to make digital payments as it was created by bitcoin developers who disapproved of the way that powerful miners were able to control the supply and demand of the popular cryptocurrency.

Decred ensures that all of its miners and users have the same amount of influence in its system. It encourages members of its community to improve the network and to participate in the decision-making process. The supply of the decred cryptocurrency is limited to 21m tokens, of which around 40% have been mined so far.

Gnosis is developing a decentralised prediction market and the release of the trading interface is predicted to occur in the first quarter of 2018. The platform will broadly consist of three separate layers:

The core layer will provide the system’s smart contracts.

The second layer will provide services for developers.

The third layer will consist of applications build into the Gnosis platform.

Gnosis will use two different kinds of cryptocurrency tokens, Gnosis (GNO) and Gnosis Wizard (WIZ). Holders of GNO will use it to generate WIZ, which will then be used to pay fees on the network. GNO tokens are fixed at a total supply of 10m, of which 5% were sold in the 2017 ICO.

Digix held the first ever crowdsale on the Ethereum blockchain in March 2016. They raised $5.5m in 12 hours to create Digix DAO – the first significant Distributed Autonomous Organisation on Ethereum.

Digix has created two cryptocurrency tokens, both of which are hosted on the Ethereum blockchain. In the long term, the project will enable users to buy gold with the cryptocurrency token DGX. Every 1 DGX token will represent ownership of 1 gram of gold stored in a vault in Singapore. DGX will therefore provide stable investment opportunities in gold without the need to divest into fiat currencies. DGD tokens, on the other hand, will be used to distribute funds to investors in the network.

Fees from buying, selling and storing DGX will be allocated to holders of DGD tokens. There are currently 2m DGDs in existence with no plans to create any more.

Decred (DCR) Gnosis (GNO) DigixDAO (DGD)


Veritaseum will provide centralised and distributed software to cater to both traditional institutions and distributed capital market systems. It builds peer-to-peer capital markets as software on the blockchain but this software is not confined to any one particular chain.

Native tokens of the Veritaseum platform, veritas (VERI), will be assigned to assets on the system. When an asset receives a veritas token it will be known as ‘veritised’. VERI cannot be bought for fiat currencies but is tradeable on cryptocurrency exchanges.

0x is designed to offer a decentralised exchange on the Ethereum blockchain. In the future, the team behind 0x believes that there will be thousands of different cryptocurrencies on Ethereum and that 0x will provide a simple way to exchange them.

The 0x protocol will be free to use and will not charge users any transaction fees. However, if a developer chooses to create a cryptocurrency exchange on the 0x platform, then that person – known as a Relayer – will be able to charge fees. Users will pay Relayers’ fees in ZRX tokens, the native cryptocurrency of the 0x platform. The supply of ZRX is fixed at 1bn coins.

Metal is a mobile-based platform which rewards users for switching to cryptocurrencies. It aims to reduce the hurdles that cryptocurrency newcomers currently face when trying to enter the domain. This includes registering on exchange platforms and linking their bank accounts, in systems which can feel distinctly alien to those used to fiat currency transfers.

Metal therefore hopes to incentivise new users to join the cryptocurrency world. With the Metal Pay app, users can convert fiat currency into Metal cryptocurrency. Members of the network earn MTL tokens for sending money or making purchases within the Metal blockchain system.

Veritaseum (VERI) 0x (ZRX)Metal (MTL)


Cryptocurrencies

Civic is a decentralised identity platform which runs off the Ethereum blockchain. The ecosystem is designed to facilitate secure and low-cost identity verification services via its Secure Identity Platform.

Civic tokens (CVC) are used to make transactions in identity verification. Both users and validators receive CVC as a reward for sharing information.

Digibyte describes itself as the world’s longest, fastest and most secure UTXO blockchain in existence. Put simply, it has taken the technology behind bitcoin and improved it.

Built on top of the core protocol in the Digibyte blockchain are two additional layers. The digital asset layer provides mining capability, the record of all transactions, and the protection of digital data such as information and funds. The uppermost layer – the applications layer – provides real-world uses for the Digibyte system. Smart contracts and both centralised and decentralised applications can all be hosted on this part of the blockchain. This has led to hype around the use of DGB tokens in online gaming, particularly Minecraft.

Status is an interface for accessing applications on the Ethereum blockchain. It has developed an Android and iOS mobile client for Ethereum users, enabling them to access all of the decentralised apps (dApps) that are hosted by Ethereum nodes.

In its own words, “With Status, your mobile device becomes a light client node on the Ethereum Network, enabling you to access Ethereum’s entire ecosystem from anywhere.”

Status will act as both a browser for Ethereum dApps and as a messenger – enabling users to communicate and transact with each other securely around the world. SNT tokens are native to the Status platform and enable users to exchange and trade with other Ethereum based tokens, as well as to interact with each other for goods and services.

Civic (CVC) Digibyte (DGB) Status (SNT)


PIVX stands for Private Instant Verified Transaction. Operating on a fork of the DASH protocol, the project aims to create a digital exchange where funds can be securely and privately spent in everyday life. The main aim of PIVX is therefore to minimise transaction fees and times while retaining a high level of security.

The team is developing a digital wallet which allows not only the storage of funds but also serves as a peer-to-peer payment processor.

The PIVX system enables 2.6m PIVX tokens to be minted per year, with no maximum coin supply. 90% of these tokens are sent to Masternodes and staking wallets (similar to miners in the Bitcoin system), while 10% are given to fund proposals voted on by network members. PIVX tokens therefore give holders voting stakes in the system and act as a means of reward for users creating blocks.

Gas (also known as NeoGas) is the second of two tokens associated with the Neo network – a blockchain for the exchange of digital assets. Gas is used as payment for setting up smart contracts on the Neo system. In addition, any member holding NEO receives a by-product of GAS. GAS is generated at a rate of 0.00000008 per NEO per processed block in the chain. Both cryptocurrencies have a token limit of 100m coins.

Populous has been designed to assist invoice buyers and sellers. Hosted on the Ethereum blockchain, Populous mixes invoice finance with blockchain technology in the first development of its kind.

Two different tokens exist on the Populous platform: Populous Platform Coins (PPT) and pokens. The latter are the native cryptocurrency of the Populous system and are the only means of paying bills on the network.

The value of pokens is pegged to fiat currency: one poken is always worth £1. PPTs were issued during the ICO to raise funds for development. On the Populous platform, holders of PPT can use them to invest in invoices, which involves putting up PPT as collateral for the investment. Once the invoice is repaid, PPT investors receive pokens in profit and their original PPT investment.

PIVX (PIVX) Gas (GAS)Populous (PPT)


Cryptocurrencies

Komodo operates on a fork of the Zcash blockchain. It is used to facilitate transparent, anonymous, fungible and private transactions. According to its founders, “the Komodo platform will help the cryptocurrency space develop and flourish by providing security to third-party blockchains, power applications with privacy features, and provide the means to achieve price stability in peer-to-peer payment services.”

The Komodo cryptocurrency is mined by users who process transactions. It is also the official currency of the SuperNet system, an organisation that is developing open-source, decentralised tools for the cryptocurrency market.

Monaco is the cryptocurrency version of online banking, hosted on the Ethereum blockchain. Its users can hold multiple different fiat and cryptocurrencies in a free account, which also offers access to VISA payment systems.

The Monaco platform hosts its own native cryptocurrency, MCO, which users earn by making transactions with one of their cards. All transactions earn cashback in MCO tokens at a rate of 2%.

Komodo (KMD) Monaco (MCO)


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