8 key crypto currency protocols you need to know

1. Bitcoin

The first and most famous of the cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin was the idea of Satoshi Nakamoto (a pseudonym) and was introduced in 2009. It uses a proof-of-work protocol for mining and transactions, more on mining later. It is a virtual currency that you can exchange for goods or services with anyone willing to accept Bitcoins.

2. Ripple

This protocol was created in 2004 and is designed to instantly make secure payments between two parties without the need to go through a financial institution such as a bank or credit card company. It said that it supports tokens representing fiat currency, cryptocurrency, commodity or any other unit of value such as frequent flier miles or mobile minutes.

3. Ethereum

This protocol was proposed in 2013 by VitalikButerin and had its source code released in early 2014. It is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts, i.e., applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, and fraud or third-party interference. Furthermore, these apps run on a custom-built blockchain, an enormously powerful shared global infrastructure that can move value around and represent property ownership.

4. Monero

Introduced in April 2014, this protocol was created to improve existing cryptocurrency protocols by increasing anonymity for its users. This protocol utilizes ring signatures, stealth addresses and confidential transactions; more on these later.

5. Litecoin

Created in October 2011, this protocol is very similar to Bitcoin apart from a few significant changes where it is faster and has more coins. It uses scrypt instead of SHA-256 as its proof-of-work algorithm, so consumer-grade hardware can be used to mine the currency. For now, Litecoin is a better option for those who want to take advantage of cheap transaction fees.

6. Dash

This cryptocurrency was created by Evan Duffield in 2014 and is short for “digital cash.” It is directly inspired by, and the name reflects, the digital currency of the same name, which was very popular in the early days of crypto currencies.

7. Corda

This is a distributed ledger protocol designed for financial services and other purposes requiring agreements between multiple parties to be recorded. It is meant to record, manage, and synchronize financial agreements between regulated financial institutions; non-financial institutions, like insurance providers and supply chain businesses, can also be used.

8. Hyperlegder

Hyperledger is a project, and a growing open source community of developers and companies focused on building blockchain distributed ledger frameworks and code bases to support business transactions. It is hosted by the Linux Foundation and is incubated by the Hyperledger Project within its Technical Working Group.

The technical steering committee has allowed members to vote on where they think the incubation of Hyperledger should go, with a diverse representation from finance, banking, IoT, supply chain and other fields.

Conclusion

These are just 8 of the most popular crypto protocols, but many more to learn about. For now, it is highly recommended that you take time to understand what each of these protocols does and how they are unique from each other.