The cryptocurrency world is garnering more mainstream attention with each passing day. As more individuals worldwide become familiar with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and BNB, several other notable contenders that utilize different technologies are making their way into the crypto arena.
One of the most popular types of crypto used today is stablecoins. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies whose values are pegged to fiat currencies, such as the USD. Today the three most widely used stablecoins are Tether (USDT), USD Coin (USDC) and Binance USD (BUSD). All of these stablecoins are pegged 1:1 to the USD.
What is cryptocurrency?
A cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that is protected by cryptography, which makes it almost impossible to counterfeit or double spend. Many cryptos are decentralized networks based on blockchain technology, which is a distributed ledger that is enforced by a disparate network of computers.
One of the defining features of cryptocurrencies is the fact that they are usually not issued by any central authority. This renders them basically immune to government interference or manipulation.
What is a stablecoin?
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies whose value is pegged,or tied, to that of another currency, commodity or financial instrument.
Stablecoins provide an alternative to the high volatility of the more popular cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC).
Stavlecoins pursue price stability by maintaining reserve assets as collateral or through algorithmic formulas that are supposed to control supply.
Top 10 Cryptocurrencies by market capitalization
Polkadot
According to CoinMarketCap, Polkadot (DOT), is the 10th biggest cryptocurrency in terms of market cap. DOT’s market cap currently stands at about $10.51 billion.
Polkadot was launched in May of 2020 and its developers included the Ethereum co-creator Gavin Wood.
DOt, like most cryptos in the market, is a token that can be bought and sold on crypto exchanges like, for example, Coinbase. It is also a decentralized protocol.
The Polkadot protocol is designed to allow unrelated blockchains to securely communicate with each other, so that value or data can flow between blockchains without any immediate intermediary.
It was also designed to be quick and scalable through the use of many blockchains, also called parachains, that take much of the processing demand off of the main blockchain.
The DOT token has two main functions within the Polkadot network, The first is the fact that it is a governance token. This means that it allows holders to have a say in the future of the protocol.
Secondly, it can be used for staking. This is the way the Polkadot network verifies transactions and issues new DOT tokens.
Solana
CoinMarketCap puts Solana (SOL) in the 9th position in the top 10 crypto in terms of market cap. SOL’s market cap is holding steady at around $16.53 billion.
It was created in 2017 by a former executive at Qualcomm, AnatolyYakovenko, and aims to scale the throughput beyond that is normally achieved by popular blockchains while keeping its costs affordable.
Solana implements a very innovative hybrid consensus model that combines the proof-of-history algorithm with the lightning-fast synchronization engine, which is a version of proof-of-stake.
Because of this, the Solana network can in theory process over 71,000 transactions per second (TPS) without the need for any scaling solutions.
Solana’s third generation blockchain design is also perfect for facilitating smart contracts and decentralized application (DApp) creation. The project also supports a wide array of decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms as well as non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces.
The native cryptocurrency for Solana, SOL, is a native and utility token that provides a means of transferring value as well as blockchain security through staking. SOL itself was launched in March of 2020.
The SOL token operation scheme is very similar to that used in Ethereum. Even though they are relatively similar, Solana token holders stake the token in order to validate transactions through the PoS consensus mechanism.
In addition to this, the SOL token is used to receive rewards and pay transaction fees while also enabling holders to participate in governance and decision making.
Binance USD
Binance USD (BUSD), is the 8th biggest crypto in terms of market cap and its market cap is hovering around $17.64 billion.
Binance USD was created in September of 2019 in a partnership with Paxos. Binance launched this stablecoin that works as a trusted stablecoin in the Bionance ecosystem. The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) approved the launch and introduced trading pairs against BTC, BNB and XRP.
BUSD also has several use cases. One of these cases is the fact that users can transfer their digital dollars (BUSD) anywhere in the span of a few minutes in the blockchain with very low costs. Users can also deposit BUSD to earn interest rate returns.
BUSD can also be used as payment for goods and services as well as collateral and as a loan asset. The stablecoin can also be used as cross collateral in Futures.
Due to the fact that BUSD is pegged to the USD, any market fluctuations that affect the dollar will have an effect on the price of Binance USD.
Like many other cryptos, BUSD can be converted into cash. All users have to do is sell the BUSD holdings to the crypto exchange they purchased from and cash out in the fiat currency they desire.
Ripple
According to CoinMarketCap, Ripple (XRP) is the 7th position when it comes to the top 10 cryptos in terms of market cap. The market cap for XRP stands at around $18.95 billion.
Ripple was founded in September of 2012 under the name OpenCoin, one tear after work on what would later become the XRP ledger had started.
XRP is a crypto token that was designed to migrate transactions from central databases controlled by financial institutions to a more open infrastructure while cutting down of=n costs. XRP transactions are thus trustless,inexpensive and instant which puts them at an advantage for cross-border movements.
XRP also has the very ambitious goal to find a new way of operating blockchains that proponents claim is better suited for transactions.
While the Bitcoin blockchain allows anyone to contribute computing power, validate transactions and secure its network, the XRP blockchain, on the other hand, only allows select network participants to help validate transactions and secure the network.
XRP also olds benefits to those who want to make international transactions. In order for an XRP transaction to be verified, the crypto employs a consensus system that involves several bank-owned servers.
Validators verify that proposed transactions are valid by comparing them to the most recent version of the XRP ledger. Transaction has to be accepted by the majority of validators to be verified.
Cardano
Cardano (ADA) is the 6th largest crypto in terms of market cap. The market cap of ADA is currently around $19.77 billion.
Charles Hoskinson, theco-founder of Ethereum, began developing Caradno in 2015 and launched the platform in 2017.
Cardano is known by many as an alternative to Ethereum. Both of the platforms are used for similar applications, like smart contracts,and have goals of building a connected and decentralized system.
Cardano is also considered to be an updated version of Ethereum and is aso calling itself a “third-generation” platform. The Cardano platform also plans to provide banking services to the world’s unbanked.
Cardani is a decentralized proof-of-stake blockchain that is designed to be a more efficient alternative to the proof-of-work networks. Scalability, interoperability, sustainability, growing costs, energy use and slow transaction speed are some of the most important tenets behind Cardano’s development.
The native token of Cardano is known as ADAis used in the blockchain’s PoS consensus mechanism. ADA is given as a reward for the work done for the blockchain by users taking part in a stake pool.
BNB
CoinMarketCap is also one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies in terms of market cap and is occupying the 5th position as its market cap is standing at $53.20 billion.
BNB Coin is a cryptocurrency that is primarily used to pay transactions and trading fees on the Binance exchange. As of Q2 2022, the Binance exchange is the largest crypto exchange in the world, with a volume of around $7.6 billion.
BNB initially ran on the Ethereum blockchain with ERC20 standard, but has since become thenative coin of the Binance chain. It was launched in an initial coin offering (ICO) in July of 2017 and has a maximum of 200 million tokens.
Although around 100 million BNB tokens were initially offered in the ICO, the current total supply is much lower. This is because every quarter, Binance uses one-fifth of its profits to repurchase and destroy BNB coins held in the treasury. This is also what is known as burning.
Binance regularly implements these burnings. The most recent BNB burn was in April of 2021 where a total of 1,099,888 BNB. This is the equivalent of $595,314,380 USD.
This means that the total supply of BNB has decreased from 170,532,825 to 169,432,937.
USD Coin
USD Coin (USDC) occupies the 4th position in the top 10 biggest cryptos in terms of market cap. The market cap for USDC now stands at about $53.81 billion.
USDC is a digital currency that is fully backed by U.S. dollars or dollar-denominated assets like U.S. Treasury. USDC’s reserve assets are held in segregated accounts with regulated U.S. financial institutions. The segregated accounts are overseen by the accounting firm Grant Thorton.
Despite the name of the crypto, it is very important to keep in mind the fact that USDC is not issued or backed by the U.S. government. USDC is an open-source project. This means that anyone can view and contribute to the code of the projects.
USDC is able to maintain its peg to the dollar because if you initiate a transaction to buy one USDC coin using fiat currency, that fiat currency is then deposited and stored as one U.S dollar and the new USDC is minted.
If you then sell a USDC coin in exchange for fiat currency, that USDC is burned when the fiat currency is transferred back to your account.
USD Coin is managed by Centre, which is a consortium that was co-founded by the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN) and Circle, which is a financial tech company. Centre has the goal to change the global financial landscape by connecting every person, merchant, financial service and currency around the world.
Tether
Tether (USDT) also claims a spot in the top 10 cryptos in terms of market cap. USDT occupies the 3rd position with its market cap of $67.30 billion. This places USDT right behind the two biggest and well-known cryptos in the market.
USDT is a stablecoin pegged to the U.S dollar and which is backed 100% by the Tether reserves, according to its website. Tether updates a breakdown of its reserves holdings daily on its website. In May of 2022, it was reporting assets of $81.3 billion for USDT.
Tether also issues tokens pegged to the euro, the offshore Chinese yuan, and gold. None of these, however, has even half of the market cap of the U.S. dollar pegged USDT tokens.
Tether is owned by iFinex, which is a Hong Kong-registered company that also owns BitFinex. Tether was launched in July 2014 as RealCoin. It was later rebranded as Tether in November of the same year. Tether then started trading in 2015.
As Tether was originally based in the Bitcoin blockchain, it now supports Bitcoin’s Omni and Liquid protocols as well as the Etherum, TRON, EOS, Algorand, Solana, OMG Network, and Bitcoin Cash (SLP) blockchains.
Ethereum
The biggest altcoin in the cryptomarket, Ethereum (EHT) is the second biggest crypto in terms of market cap with its market cap standing at around 243.07 billion.
Ethereum is the second most popular cryptocurrency after Bitcoin and was founded by Vitalik Buterin and Gavin Wood in 2015. Today, Ethereum’s market cap represents almost 17% of the $1.2 trillion global crypto market.
The crypt describes itself as a global, decentralized platform for money and new kinds of applications.with thousands of games and financial apps running on top of the Ethereum blockchain.
At the very center of Ethereum lies its blockchain which is distributed in the sense that everyone participating in the Ethereum network holds an identical copy of this ledger. This allows them to see all past transactions.
The blockchain is also decentralized as there is no centralized entity. Instead, it is managed by all of the distributed ledger holders.
Ether (ETH) which is the native token on Ethereum, can be used to sell goods and services. However, what makes Ethereum unique is the fact that users can build applications that run on the blockchain like software runs on a computer. These applications are able to store and transfer personal data or handle complex financial transactions.
The updated version of Ethereum is also in the works. It is known as The Merge and means that Ethereum 2.0 will switch from the proof-of-work consensus mechanism to proof-of-stake. This will eliminate the need for miners, who run validators on expensive crypto mining equipment and consume huge amounts of electricity.
Bitcoin
The king of crypto, Bitcoin (BTC) remains the biggest crypto in terms of market cap with its market cap of $471.93 billion.
Not only is Bitcoin the first cryptocurrency, but it is also the most well-known crypto of the more than 19,000 crypto in the market.
Bitcoin is described as a digital currency that you can buy, sell and exchange directly, without a middle man like a bank. The creator of Bitcoin is known as Satoshi Nakamoto, and he created Bitcoin because he saw the need for an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust.
All of the Bitcoin transactions that have ever been made exist on a public ledger that is accessible to everyone. This succeeds in making it extremely hard to reverse or fake transactions.
This is proof of Bitcoin’s decentralized nature as Bitcoin’s are not backed by the government or any issuing institution, and there is nothing that guarantees their value decides the proof baked in the heart of the system.
Ever since it was launched in 2009, Bitcoin has seen dramatic increases in value. Although it sold at $150 at one point, it reached a price of $30,200 on June 8 of 2022.
Because Bitcoin’s supply is limited to 21 million coins, many believe the price will only continue rising as time goes on. This could be especially true as more institutional investors are starting to place their trust in Bitcoin.
At the moment, there are roughly about 19 million coins in circulation.
To Conclude
The top 10 biggest cryptocurrencies in terms of market cap are currently DOT, SOL, BUSD, XRP, ADA, BNB, USDC, USDT, ETH and BTC. The easiest way to calculate the market cap of a crypto is to multiply the current price of the cryptocurrency of your voice by the total number of the crypto in circulation. It is still very important to keep in mind the fact that crypto assets are extremely volatile, and these positions are not permanent.
