what's an alt coin??

there is a whole lot more to the world of crypto besides bitcoin. there are thousands of alt coins out there today and they all come with their own unique capabilities and functionality.

basically

An alt coin is any other cryptocurrency besides Bitcoin. Some are more promising than others, like Cardano and Polygon, and then some are simply "meme coins" with no apparent use or functionality in the DeFi space, like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu. Then theres the most famous alt coin, Ethereum, which is so much of it's own project and protocol already that some no longer refer to Ethereum as just another alt coin. Ethereum is on levels that even Bitcoin has not reached yet because of it's widespread functionality in the decentralized world of internet.

Some alt coins have their own Blockchain, which is a fundamentally different technology than what the internet (web2) that we know is built on. Blockchain technology is precisely what allows cryptocurrency to be decentralized. Blockchain technology is super complex and hard to understand, so I will cover that in a different post, but for now just try and keep up and I promise that you can use this info to your advantage.

A few coins that are built on their own blockchain are...

Bitcoin

Ethereum

Binance

Cardano

Polkadot

Dogecoin

Solana

...just to name a few. These coins are cryptocurrencies which is a store of value native to a specific blockchain and is issued directly by the protocol upon which it is run. While those coins have their own blockchains, others are simply built off of those specific blockchains. These would be tokens. They are units of value that blockchain based organizations or projects develop on top of an existing blockchain. Some tokens built off of the Ethereum blockchain include

Shiba Inu

Polkadot

Augur

Audius

...and more. Some of these tokens like Polkadot and Audius might have more promise than other tokens because they have better projects to back up the value of their token. For example, the Audius token is associated with the Audius dApp (decentralized app). Some people say this dApp (and therefore the token) is promising because it is said that Audius could be the next big music streaming platform for the decentralized internet. Even names like Katy Perry and Jason Derulo are venturing into the crypto space by investing in this decentralized rival to Spotify and Soundcloud. It is some very exciting stuff! (Be on the lookout for more content on decentralization and blockchain technology if you wish to know more)

Some other tokens

however have very little to no use. For example, Shiba Inu is a token built off of the Ethereum blockchain and was literally invented for the sole purpose of being the "Doge Killer". Granted, Shiba Inu has made people quite a lot of money, but it is a gamble. People throw money into it in hopes that it'll go up, but unlike the Audius token which has a dApp to give it reason to go up in value, Shiba has absolutely nothing backing it. As a matter of fact, the reddit header on the Shiba Inu page very clearly says that they are nothing but an

Experiment in decentralized community building

and even though that is all it is, there are still people out there who are willing to put money into it because it is so low that even the slightest jump in price will make people money and send them "to the moon!". For example, the gamble I took when I invested some money into Shiba has already made me about $600, but that does not mean it is in any way useful or reliable for anything other than short term gains. For reference I bought in at around .000008 and it rose only to .000032, but when you do the math that actually turns out to be a gain of well over 200%. Be mindful though that I only made the money I did because I watched the market, pulled out at the right time, and made some profit. While I made some money, there were still plenty of other Wolf of Wall Street wanna be stock bros who lost just as much because they waited to long or left their money in and saw the numbers plummet right back down.

Shiba has some pros and some cons just like all other coins and tokens, but what got people into it was the potential money to be made. Not all alt coins have the potential that some people can only wish Shiba Inu had, but some of them certainly do! And there is money to be made.

When it comes to legitimate investment strategies

don't listen to me. I am not a financial advisor by any means, but I do look into a lot of stuff and am pretty dang good at relaying all of that information back to you guys. If you want to know what I really think then the cryptos to keep an eye out for are very obviously Bitcoin and Ethereum because of their massive involvement in the decentralized space, but also coins likes Cardano because of their NFT functionality and Polkadot because of their ease of use functionality that works on the Ethereum network. Dogecoin and Shiba Inu are fun investments if you have money to gamble, but when you want to make legitimate decisions with alt coin investing, either stick to the big boys like Bitcoin and Ethereum which we know is going in the right direction, or invest into legitimate projects that you decide is worth investing in yourself based off of its potential and functionality. To check out all the different crypto coins I would head to coinmarketcap.com. Here you can find info on all the different cryptos including specifics like price, market cap, circulating supply, functions, and more.

Something else to keep in mind

is how new this all is. Any and all ventures into the crypto space is uncharted territory. This stuff is new, but exciting! No one really knows what could happen, but some people seem to have a pretty good idea. If you really would like to get involved in alt coin investing then I would checkout Coinbase. Not only is it the easiest exchange to use in my opinion, but it offers the most alt coins to trade than many of the other major exchanges out there and with great security.

Click this icon to join Coinbase and in doing so receive $10 worth of Bitcoin for FREE

If you found that any terms or topics talked about in this blog were too daunting or unfamiliar, then be on the lookout for future content on the importance of #decentralization, the intricacies of #blockchain technology, #NFTs (non-fungible tokens), different exchanges to use, and even more news and info on #cryptocurrency! For a general recap of what Bitcoin is head over to my blog on The Basics of Bitcoin.

*this is not financial advise and i am not a financial advisor.