I started researching cryptocurrency after a friend told me about it in the last quarter of 2017. My programming background allowed me to quickly understand how the transactions are encrypted and form the public blockchain, which is open for all to view. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Dogecoin all need to be mined with computing power, and the cost of electricity somewhat determines the pricing. For example, if it costs $5,000 worth of electricity to mine a full Bitcoin, the price of $7,000 might not seem too high. Companies have ways of mining each coin for cheaper than individuals (at home), so they drive the price down through competition of selling the coins afterwards. Cryptocurrencies are "supposed" to be dedicated to their own blockchain, decentralized, open source, peer-to-peer and have a large development team that votes on updates rather than a dictator that demands execution of their individual vision. However, most "tokens", ICOs and coins built on the Ethereum blockchain operate more like shares of a company rather than the attributes I just mentioned.
Movement
My advice in this industry is to dollar-cost-average by purchasing the four cryptocurrencies I mentioned because they're decentralized. The crypto-world is a movement and if you follow the movement you're investments will prosper. For example, Bitcoin is a movement because it has no central power, unlike government and corporations. On the other hand, companies are being developed within this industry like EOS, TRON and BNB which operate with tokens in the crypto-industry without being decentralized. As the industry goes up and down over the next 5 years, most likely, the long term coins will be those where you don't know who runs it, who makes decisions or even who created it, because that's the movement of government money to decentralized cryptocurrencies. We, the people, have control of our crypto.
Cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC)
Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency created in January (2009) and remains the biggest in terms of network size, market capitalization and development team. It has an open source blockchain (www.blockchain.com), no single address owns more than 2% of the total existing coins and it's completely peer-to-peer. Most forms of money transfer with USD involve banks and intermediaries. Transferring bitcoins is a digital form of transferring cash, peer-to-peer. In a world where all stores and people accept bitcoins as payment through a simple QR code, I could travel to China with my phone and pay for everything without any additional or abnormal fees, and without exchanging my USD to CNY and then further try to determine the amount of money I'm spending as their stores and citizens request CNY. Instead, they can tell me that I owe. 0.01 BTC for dinner and I will understand what I'm paying. Also, assuming I run out of money while I'm in China, I can send my Bitcoin QR code to a friend via email and they can send it immediately, and it will clear in less than an hour without permission from anyone. It's borderless. Sending USD to China would be difficult, expensive and I'd have to exchange it once I get it, incurring additional fees.
Ethereum has most of the properties of Bitcoin (BTC) and additional features. First, Bitcoin will only have 21,000,000 coins ever created while Ethereum has no maximum or end point. Ethereum can be used in the example I gave above, as a currency, but it wasn't the purpose of building it, as simply, another Bitcoin. (Blockchain: https://www.etherscan.io)
Ethereum is a platform that allows developers to create tokens that aren't mined, called ERC20 tokens. I can buy a piece of equipment that mines Ethereum, but not BELL tokens built on its platform. Tokens that are created on the Ethereum Blockchain are businesses, so don't be confused. For example, I created a free (playful) token called Chris Bell with a symbol of BELL, on Ethereum. I started with all the coins (1,000,000) and there's nothing illegal stopping me from selling all of them for $5 each without any company behind the coin. Everytime I send BELL tokens I pay a transaction fee in Ethereum for being a member of their platform. There isn't any mining equipment for BELL tokens, or EOS, or TRON or BNB. When you send EOS tokens, you're using the Ethereum blockchain and paying transaction fees in Ether to send them. Once EOS builds their full platform inside the Ethereum protocol, you'll be able to seemlessly use your EOS tokens in their "store". Therefore, if you're thinking about getting involved, start with a coin that's mined, NOT an Ethereum token that could be as worthless as BELL on the open crypto market. However, buying tokens can be similar to investing early in the start-up phase of a company. Just BEWARE, you do NOT own part of the company with your tokens.
Litecoin was made almost identical to Bitcoin without too many additional properties. Bitcoin will have 21,000,000 coins and Litecoin will have 84,000,000 coins. The processing speed is 2.5X faster because blocks are processes every 2.5 minutes rather than Bitcoin's 10 minute blocks. As you can see by the name, "Lite"coin it's built to have a lighter weight, as in smaller blocks, that process faster. In 10 years, people might hold Bitcoin in a savings account and buy houses and cars with it. Bigger, slower payments for a few coins. Payments in the hundreds of dollars can be made faster with Litecoin, such as expensive dinners, hotel rooms, etc.
Why buy Litecoin instead of buying Bitcoin? Based on my description it seems like Bitcoin is bigger and better, so why bother diversifying into Litecoin? First, it has the same properties of decentralization, peer-to-peer, borderless, open source and individual blockchain (https://live.blockcypher.com/ltc/). Second, it processes faster, so if you're trying to quickly buy DOGE, for example, the transaction will happen faster if you use LTC instead of BTC. Third, you should diversify because you never know which coin will be popular in ten years. However, my assumption is that the mined cryptocurrencies will be far more popular than the companies, ICOs and tokens. Finally, if Bitcoin is your savings account, you should transfer some of that into Litecoin as a checking account, to pay bills and people quickly.
Dogecoin, much fun, such wow. :-) Dogecoin is even "lighter" than Litecoin with 1 minute block speeds and 1 minute transactions. There are 100,000,000,000 (100 Billion) along with 5% more each year. The coins are mined just like BTC and LTC. Bitcoin is your savings account, Litecoin is your checking account and Dogecoin was built as a tipping coin. Perhaps you could buy small items with it like a Subway sandwich, a water, a soda, an Uber ride and use it as a way to tip your friends, waitresses, etc. So, why do you need Dogecoin in your cryptocurrency portfolio? Simple.
One of the biggest factors of creating a cryptocurrency as big as Bitcoin is the network of people involved. Dogecoin is NOT a company, there's no CEO or central authority and there's not profit stream to allocate, but there is a development team that votes on and executes updates. DOGE has built an amazingly fun and silly community of people. It's not serious, it's not trying to be Bitcoin and it's certainly not scrutinized because it knows that it's goofy and fun, on purpose. The community was built around the Shiba Inu dog meme, wearing funny hats and glasses, and doing all kinds of funny things. This is where the community gets involved, posting "#DOGE" on Twitter, posting memes of Instagram and Facebook and even on personal blogs. The community doesn't just buy the coin and sit back, they get involved, which is how it builds, and more people equate to coin growth over time. Dogecoin is decentralized, peer-to-peer, borderless, open source and individual blockchain (https://www.dogechain.info). All of the properties of Bitcoin with far more coins keeping the price lower and faster transaction speeds.
All of the virtual items you acquire like land, homes, cars, clothes, jewels and even pets can be seen, bought and sold on OpenSea. You can race virtual cars and own car parts that allow you to race against other people. My Crypto Heroes is an RPG battle game that is built on the Ethereum blockchain. Somnium Space is a virtual world on a platform that allows users to own land on the blockchain and build on it so that it's worth more.
