The cryptocurrency market is an unpredictable and peculiar place, differing significantly from traditional financial markets which operate under official economic policies and legal frameworks.
Cryptocurrency prices remain volatile in May as investors remain concerned about the banking system. This has resulted in Bitcoin prices falling below $28,000.
What is XRP?
RippleNet (XRP) is a cross-border currency payments and settlements network. Banks are testing out RippleNet as an alternative to costly SWIFT wire transfers and services like Western Union. Due to its speed and scalability, banks are becoming interested in its use as they look for cost savings through Ripple.
Contrary to Bitcoin, XRP has a finite supply. At launch, 100 billion were pre-mined at once with 80 billion allocated to Ripple Labs Foundation’s oversight (which sells 1 billion each month) while the remainder are held in escrow and owned by its co-founders.
Due to this reason, XRP does not use mining and does not feature a blockchain ledger like other coins do, drawing the attention of regulators such as the SEC which filed suit against Ripple in December 2020 for selling XRP without registration.
What is ETH?
Ethereum is a programmable blockchain that enables developers to create decentralized applications (DApps) without central control, using its native cryptocurrency Ether incentivize miners and validate transactions across its network.
Ethereum network can process more complex smart contracts than Bitcoin, leading to increased adoption by banking sector users who now utilize it to manage remittances and payments, as well as shipping companies tracking cargo with proof of origin documentation.
Like Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH) can be traded on many exchanges and its price can be determined by many different factors such as market performance or sentiment analysis. Unlike its cryptocurrency counterpart, however, ETH does not have a limit to how many tokens may be created at once.
What is LTC?
Litecoin (LTC) is one of the world’s most beloved and largest cryptocurrencies available to purchase or trade, having launched back in 2011. Commonly referred to as digital silver, or its “little brother”, Bitcoin, Litecoin has experienced exceptional growth since 2011.
Like BTC, Litecoin is a decentralized cryptocurrency that facilitates fast peer-to-peer exchanges of value worldwide. However, unlike its more well-known rival, Litecoin uses an innovative faster mining algorithm and smaller block rewards, making mining more attractive to miners so transactions are added to its blockchain.
Due to its volatility and limited user base, adoption may be restricted; however, major online retailers like Amazon and Overstock have recently started accepting it as payment. Some Litecoin price predictions are optimistic; one site expects double returns in five years! That would make investing worthwhile.
What is DSH?
The DSH program provides additional income for thousands of hospitals in America that serve low-income Americans. Unfortunately, with the recent cryptocurrency boom payments have decreased considerably over time.
Due to an influx of new transactions and increases in fees per transaction, there has been a backlog that has led to many transactions failing or getting delayed – affecting overall system performance and leading to many transactions failing or getting delayed.
Ripple and Litecoin both aim to make transactions simpler, safer and faster; with Ripple focused on large corporations and financial institutions while Litecoin targeting peer-to-peer and daily transactions. Their processing requirements, maintenance needs and scaling needs differ – which explains their fierce competition among themselves for adoption.
What is BCH?
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency designed to address scalability issues plaguing its older sibling, Bitcoin. BCH features larger transaction blocks which allow more transactions to be completed within each block and reduce wait times and fees significantly.
BCH may have enjoyed an impressive price increase in recent weeks, yet remains far from becoming market dominant. You can find BCH on various exchanges and as trading pairs for hundreds of other digital assets.
To buy Bitcoin Cash (BCH), first sign up with an exchange that provides it. Establishing an account requires verification of identity and address as well as KYC/AML checks before you can store your digital currency in a wallet – most beginners prefer web wallets but these open your private keys up for hacking and third parties.
