Cryptocurrency Prices
I'm studying cryptocurrencies. These are the winners in
an insanely chaotic and turbulent market.
I don't own any of these, and I don't plan to;
as investments, I think jumping into a whirlpool
would make more sense.
Here are my conclusions so far:
- Bitcoin has lasting value because it's useful to criminals to
launder money. It has had
three killer apps so far
: Silk Road,
black markets in Argentina, and ransomware. I think it will continue to have
value as long as criminals find it useful--probably a long time.
- The vast majority of cryptocurrencies are pyramid schemes or "pump-and-dump" scams. Scammers make a website, stir up a lot of buzz, then launch crap to shear the suckers.
The most obvious example I've seen is Lisk. When they launched, the website
was incomplete, most of the software was absent and what little there was
didn't work, and they continued to
lie about it constantly. Its value fell to nearly zero immediately
after its launch. Tens of
millions of dollars vanished; someone has them.
- Some of these have some actual value, along
with the hype. Etherium and Ripple seem to have good ideas, and Dogecoin
seems cheerful and harmless.
- The best software I know of isn't on the list:
MultiChain. That seems to be a legitimate business,
writing software that works and selling it without lying
about its value. I think blockchains have real value, but
cryptocurrencies are a sideshow of scammers and victims
trying to get rich quick, serving mainly as a distraction
to the real products being developed.
You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.
Click images for sources and current data.
Top CryptoCurrencies
These are the 17 cryptocurrencies with
market capitalization above $ 10 M as of 6-17-16,
from
WorldCoinIndex.
(I only looked at the top 200 on their list.)
1. Bitcoin ($ 11.80 B, launched 10-2008)
2. Etherium ($ 1.14 B, launched 7-30-15)
Digital currency Ethereum nose-dives after $50 million hack (6-17-16)
3. Litecoin ($ 258.98 M, launched 10-7-11)
4. Ripple ($ 222.29 M, launched in 2012)
Santander Becomes the First U.K. Bank to Use Ripple for Cross-Border Payments (5-26-16)
5. TheDAO ($ 121.10 M, launched 5-28-16)
Digital currency Ethereum nose-dives after $50 million hack (6-17-16)
6. Capricoin ($ 53.91 M, launched 7-6-15)
7. Dash ($53.21 M, launched 1-18-14)
8. Storjcoinx ($ 51.34 M), launched 7-18-14
9. Lisk ($ 39.69 M, launched 5-24-16)
Lisk Releases First Modular Cryptocurrency With Sidechains
Lisk Raises Over 5.7 Million USD in 2nd Most Successful Crypto-Currency Crowd-Fund to Date
Lisk has launched and is down -100.00% on the day.
Lisk launch post-mortem: What went right, what went wrong (May 25, 2016)
10. Maidsafecoin ($ 31.26 M, launched 4-22-14)
11. Dogecoin ($ 30.63 M, launched 12-8-13)
12. Digixdao ($ 26.23 M)
13. Nem ($ 23.97 M, launched 3-31-15
14. Leocoin ($ 21.19 M, launched 4-2-15)
LEOcoin: 'Bitcoin rival' launches amid claims of pump and dump scam (4-2-15)
LEOCoin: yet another Bitcoin alt with links to Ponzi schemes
15. Monero ($ 20.22 M, launched 4-18-14)
16. Clubcoin ($ 13.07 M, launched 1-19-16)
17. Siacoin ($ 12.98 M)
References
Ethereum Launches (July 30th, 2015)
Dogecoin launched Dec 8, 2013
Litecoin launched Oct 7, 2011
DAO Trading Launched on May 28, 2016
Capricoin launched on 7/6/2015
Dash launched on 1-18-2014
Storjcoin X launched on 7-18-2014
Maidsafecoin launched on 4-22-14
DigixDAO launched 4-28-16
Bitcoin launched in Oct., 2008
Ripple was released in 2012
NEM launched 3-31-15
Monero launched 4-18-14
Clubcoin launched 1-19-16
Siacoin launched 6-6-15
Posted 6-17-16 by Sam Bowne