Today’s cryptocurrency trading has boomed in recent years. People are realizing how profitable it is to invest in cryptocurrency these days, and are hopping on board with enthusiasm. The most popular choice for investing in cryptocurrency in today’s market is bitcoin. bitcoin is a popular choice because it can be traded and can give a profitable return from a modest investment. Apart from bitcoin, there are six other cryptocurrencies that are taking the investment market by storm; these currencies include Litecoin (LTC), Ethereum (ETH), Zcash (ZEC), Dash, Ripple (XRP), and Monero (XMR).

Bitcoin has been more than just a trendsetter attracting inexperienced investors. It has become a standard for cryptocurrency. Bitcoins have inspired new currencies that are called altcoins, which have tried to become modified, better versions of the original bitcoin. Some of these altcoins can be easier to mine and trade than bitcoin, but can be a riskier investment that brings less liquidity and holds less value in the long run. Bitcoin prices are soaring to new heights, holding high values, and turning profits. Their rise of popularity has also brought more popularity to six other types of cryptocurriencies. Invest MIB

Launched in 2011, litecoin was one of the first currencies to be developed after bitcoin. It has quite a value, though next to bitcoin it is often seen as the silver to its gold. Creator of litecoin, Charlie Lee, is a MIT graduate and worked as an engineer for Google for many years. His currency has an open source global payment network and uses Scrypt as work proof and can be decoded with the use of CPUs at the consumer grade. Litecoin, though similar to bitcoin, has faster block generation rate thereby offering faster transaction confirmation. Developers and several other merchants are widely accepting litecoin.

Ethereum was founded in 2015 as a decentralized software. It enables smart contracts and distributes apps to run without fraud, control, or interference from third parties. Ethereum is sought mostly by developers looking to develop apps inside Ethereum. It can be used to code, decentralize, secure, and trade mostly anything. Following the 2016 attack on DAO, Ethereum split into the original Ethereum and Ethereum Classic. It currently has a 41.4 billion dollar market capitalization coming second to only Bitcoin.

Zcash was created as an open-source cryptocurrency. It was launched in the late part of 2016, and though it is a new currency, it has quite a bit of promise. They offer privacy and extra security for all transactions. They allow transactions to be encrypted and uses techniques called zk-SNARK, a transaction shielder created by the Zcash team. Wigmarkets

Originally called Darkcoin, Dash is a version of bitcoin that was founded in January of 2014. It was created by Evan Duffield and can be mined using CPU or GPU. Dash, which stands for digital cash, works on a decentralized master-code network and makes transactions so secretive they are almost untraceable.

Cryptocurrency monero is a completely private and untraceable currency. The open sourced currency started in 2014 and quickly caught the eyes of knowledgeable cryptography enthusiasts. The founding of monero was funded by donations and an enthusiastic community. They use a technique so that each transaction contains many signatures including the one real investor. Since all appear valid, the real signature can’t be isolated and keeps transactions completely safe.

At the end of the day bitcoin continues to lead the market as a cryptocurrency. However, currencies such as ethereum and ripple are gaining in popularity. Cryptocurrencies are here to stay, but which will stay the leader in the market will only tell in time.