Since the creation ofbitcoin in 2009, the number of newcryptocurrencies has expanded rapidly.[1]
The UK'sFinancial Conduct Authority estimated there were over 20,000 different cryptocurrencies by the start of 2023, although many of these were no longer traded and would never grow to a significant size.[2]
Active and inactive currencies are listed in this article.
| Year of introduction | Currency | Symbol | Founder(s) | Hash algorithm | Programming language of implementation | Consensus mechanism | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Bitcoin | BTC,[3] XBT,₿ | Satoshi Nakamoto | SHA-256d[4][5] | C++[6] | PoW[5][7] | The first and most widely used decentralized ledger currency,[8] with the highest market capitalization as of 2018[update].[9] |
| 2011 | Litecoin | LTC, Ł | Charlie Lee | Scrypt | C++[10] | PoW | One of the first cryptocurrencies to use scrypt as a hashing algorithm. |
| 2011 | Namecoin | NMC | Vincent Durham[11][12] | SHA-256d | C++[13] | PoW | Also acts as an alternative, decentralizedDNS. |
| 2012 | Peercoin | PPC | Sunny King (pseudonym)[citation needed] | SHA-256d[citation needed] | C++[14] | PoW &PoS | The first cryptocurrency to use both PoW and PoS functions. |
| 2013 | Dogecoin | DOGE, XDG, Ð | Jackson Palmer & Billy Markus[15] | Scrypt[16] | C++[14] | PoW | Based on theDoge internet meme. |
| 2013[17][18] | Gridcoin | GRC | Rob Hälford[19] | Scrypt | C++[20] | DecentralizedPoS | Linked tocitizen science through theBerkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing[21] |
| 2013 | Primecoin | XPM | Sunny King (pseudonym)[22][23] | 1CC/2CC/TWN[24] | TypeScript,C++[25] | PoW[24] | Uses the finding of prime chains composed of Cunningham chains and bi-twin chains for proof-of-work. |
| 2013 | Ripple[26][27] | XRP | Chris Larsen & Jed McCaleb[28] | ECDSA[29] | C++[30] | "Consensus" | Designed forpeer-to-peer debt transfer. Not based on bitcoin. |
| 2013 | Nxt | NXT | BCNext (pseudonym) | SHA-256d[31] | Java[32] | PoS | Specifically designed as a flexible platform to build applications and financial services around its protocol. |
| 2014 | Auroracoin | AUR | Baldur Odinsson (pseudonym)[33] | Scrypt | C++[34] | PoW | Created as an alternative currency for Iceland, intended to replace theIcelandic króna. |
| 2014 | Dash | DASH | Evan Duffield[35][36] | X11 | C++[37] | PoW & Proof of Service[nt 1] | Abitcoin-based currency featuring instant transactions,decentralized governance and budgeting, and private transactions. |
| 2014 | NEO | NEO | Da Hongfei & Erik Zhang | SHA-256 &RIPEMD160 | C#[38] | dBFT | China based cryptocurrency, formerly ANT Shares and ANT Coins. The names were changed in 2017 to NEO and GAS. |
| 2014 | MazaCoin | MZC | BTC Oyate Initiative | SHA-256d | C++[39] | PoW | The underlying software is derived from that of another cryptocurrency, ZetaCoin. |
| 2014 | Monero | XMR | Monero Core Team | RandomX | C++[40] | PoW | Privacy-centric coin based on theCryptoNote protocol with improvements for scalability and decentralization. |
| 2014 | Titcoin | TIT | Edward Mansfield & Richard Allen[41] | SHA-256d | TypeScript,C++[42] | PoW | The first cryptocurrency to be nominated for a major adult industry award.[43] |
| 2014 | Verge | XVG | Sunerok | Scrypt, x17, groestl, blake2s, and lyra2rev2 | C,C++[44] | PoW | Features anonymous transactions usingTor. |
| 2014 | Stellar | XLM | Jed McCaleb | Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP)[45] | C,C++[46] | Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP)[45] | Open-source, decentralized global financial network. |
| 2014 | Vertcoin | VTC | David Muller[47] | Verthash[48] | C++[49] | PoW | Aims to beASIC resistant. |
| 2015 | Ethereum | ETH, Ξ | Vitalik Buterin[50] | Ethash[51] | C++,Go[52] | PoW,PoS | SupportsTuring-complete smart contracts. |
| 2015 | Ethereum Classic | ETC | EtcHash/Thanos[53] | PoW | An alternative version of Ethereum[54] whose blockchain does not include the DAO hard fork.[55] SupportsTuring-complete smart contracts. | ||
| 2015 | Nano | XNO, Ӿ | Colin LeMahieu | Blake2 | C++[citation needed] | Open Representative Voting[56] | Decentralized, feeless, open-source, peer-to-peer cryptocurrency. First to use a Block Lattice structure. |
| 2015 | Tether | USDT | Jan Ludovicus van der Velde[57] | Omnicore[58] | PoW | Tether claims to be backed byUSD at a 1 to 1 ratio. The company has been unable to produce promised audits.[59] | |
| 2016 | Firo | FIRO | Poramin Insom[60] | Merkle tree Proof[61] | C++[62] | PoW | The first financial system employingZero-knowledge proof to protect users' privacy.[60] It conducted the world's first large-scale blockchain election forThailand Democrat Party in 2018.[63] |
| 2016 | Zcash | ZEC | Zooko Wilcox | Equihash | C++[64] | PoW | The first open, permissionless financial system employing zero-knowledge security. |
| 2017 | Bitcoin Cash | BCH[65] | SHA-256d | PoW | Hard fork from bitcoin, increased maximum block size from 1MB to 8MB (as of 2018[update], 32MB) | ||
| 2017 | EOS.IO | EOS | Dan Larimer | WebAssembly,Rust,C,C++[66] | delegatedPoS | FeelessSmart contract platform for decentralized applications anddecentralized autonomous corporations with a block time of 500 ms.[66] | |
| 2017 | Cardano | ADA, ₳ | Charles Hoskinson | Ouroboros, PoS Algorithm[67] | Haskell[68] | PoS | Proof-of-stake blockchain platform: developed via evidence-based methods and peer-reviewed research.[69][70][71] |
| 2017 | Tron | TRX | Justin Sun | Java,Solidity[72] | |||
| 2018 | AmbaCoin | official cryptocurrency of the Cameroonian separatist entity ofAmbazonia | |||||
| 2018 | Nervos Network | CKB | Kevin Wang, Daniel Lv, Terry Tai | Eaglesong | Rust,JavaScript,C | PoW | Multi-layered blockchain smart contract platform[73] |
| 2019 | Algorand | ALGO | Silvio Micali | Go[74] | PoS | Uses averifiable random function to randomly select groups of users to certify blocks.[75] | |
| 2020 | Avalanche | AVAX | Emin Gün Sirer,Kevin Sekniqi, Maofan "Ted" Yin | PoS | |||
| 2020 | Shiba Inu | SHIB | Ryoshi | PoS | |||
| 2020 | Polkadot | DOT | Gavin Wood | Rust | PoS | ||
| 2020 | Solana | SOL | Anatoly Yakovenko | Rust | PoS | ||
| 2021 | DeSo | DESO | Nader al-Naji (aka diamondhands)[76] | Go[77] | PoW[78] | Also asocial media platform, resemblingTwitter.[79][80] Known asBitClout until September 2021.[76] | |
| 2021 | SafeMoon | SAFEMOON | SafeMoon LLC | Solidity[81] | PoW | ||
| 2023 | Arkham Intel Exchange | ARKM[82][83] | Miguel Morel | Solidity | PoS |
| Release | Currency | Symbol | Founder(s) | Hash algorithm | Programming language of implementation | Cryptocurrency blockchain (PoS,PoW, or other) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Coinye | KOI, COYE | Scrypt | PoW | Used American hip hop artistKanye West as its mascot, abandoned after he filed a trademark lawsuit. | ||
| OneCoin | Ruja Ignatova and Stephen Greenwood | APonzi scheme promoted as a cryptocurrency. | |||||
| 2017 | BitConnect | BCC | BitConnect was described as an open source, all-in-one bitcoin and crypto community platform but was later discovered to be aPonzi scheme. | ||||
| 2018 | KodakCoin | Kodak and WENN Digital | Ethash[84] | KodakCoin is a "photographer-centric" blockchain cryptocurrency used for payments for licensing photographs. | |||
| Petro | Venezuelan Government | onixCoin[85] | C++[86] | Stated byNicolás Maduro to be backed byVenezuela's reserves ofoil. As of August 2018[update] it does not appear to function as acurrency.[87] | |||
| PlusToken | A ponzi scheme which mainly had investors in China and South Korea.[88] |
The coin is not sold on any major cryptocurrency exchange. No shops are known to accept it.