Cryptocurrencies were all the rage toward the end of 2017, as prices surged allowing these currencies to steal the headlines. Traders jumped in to capture the rally. During 2018, prices have come back to earth and now provide traders with an alternative asset that is continuing to expand. There are several different kinds of cryptocurrency. While bitcoin is the most liquid and actively traded, there are a plethora of other cryptocurrencies, each having a unique property which makes this new asset class a diverse investment sector. Vestle provides CFDs on cryptocurrencies, allowing investors to capture changes in prices. The most popular cryptocurrencies outside of bitcoin are litecoin, ripple, ethereum and bitcoin cash.
Vestle Trades Cryptocurrency CFDs
The most popular and actively traded cryptocurrency is bitcoin. This is a cryptocurrency used like a sovereign currency. It trades against the dollar, euro and yen as well as other cryptocurrencies. A cryptocurrency contract for differences (CFD) allows you to speculate on the direction of a cryptocurrency without having to purchase it. Instead, you buy or sell a cryptocurrency CFD on the Vestle platform, which tracks the movements of cryptos like Bitcoin, litecoin, or ethereum.
Types of Cryptocurrencies
Litecoin, like Bitcoin is a digital currency that is generated using a mining technique. This cryptocurrency has the 3rd largest market cap among digital coins and was established in October 2011 by former Google engineer Charles Lee. The difference for users of cryptocurrencies is that Litecoin can be mined nearly 4-times faster than bitcoin, and new blocks can be created in 2.5 minutes compared to bitcoin’s 10 minute duration.
Ethereum is a digital currency that is generally used on the ethereum network. Ethereum allows you to participate in a global computational network, where applications are developed on a platform that is internet like. Ethereum is used to generate smart contracts where you can track the movement of products throughout their lifecycle. Ethereum is the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, and like bitcoin, it uses blockchain technology. To produce Ethereum, as a digital currency, it must be mined and created in blocks.
Ripple is the 4th largest cryptocurrency by market cap. It is considered an open payment network in which the currency is transferred. As opposed to working through a public blockchain, like bitcoin, ripple works with a network of nodes that are actually participating in transactions with banks and financial institutions. This has caught the attention of many large institutions such as American Express which is considering the use of ripple as a payment method. Ripple operates on an internal ledger called the enterprise blockchain. As opposed to other cryptocurrencies which are mined, Ripple was never mined but instead was initiated with a specific number of shares that are finite.
Bitcoin cash is an upgraded version of bitcoin using an upgraded block chain technology which was introduced on August 1, 2017. It functions in the same manner as bitcoin and is mined actively to generate new blocks. The price of Bitcoin cash surged higher since inception but has leveled off in 2018.