Bitcoin BTC The first cryptocurrency, a peer-to-peer digital money with a fixed cap of 21 million coins, mainly held as a long-term store of value.
Launched 2009
Consensus Proof of Work
Max supply 21M Main risk: Its price is highly volatile and has fallen by more than half several times in its history.
Ethereum ETH A programmable blockchain whose native coin, ether, pays for running smart contracts, decentralized apps, stablecoins and tokenized assets.
Launched 2015
Consensus Proof of Stake
Max supply No cap Main risk: It has no fixed supply cap and faces smart-contract bugs and strong competition from other platforms.
Tether USDT The largest dollar stablecoin, issued by Tether and designed to hold a value of one US dollar, widely used for trading and cross-border payments.
Launched 2014
Consensus n/a (issuer-backed)
Max supply No cap Main risk: Holders depend on the issuer's reserves and attestations, which are not a full audit, and USDT lacks EU MiCA authorization.
USD Coin USDC A dollar stablecoin issued by Circle, backed by cash and short-term US Treasuries and redeemable one-for-one for US dollars.
Launched 2018
Consensus n/a (issuer-backed)
Max supply No cap Main risk: It relies on the issuer and its banks; in March 2023 it briefly lost its dollar peg when part of its reserves sat at the failed Silicon Valley Bank.
BNB BNB The token of the Binance ecosystem and BNB Chain, used for trading-fee discounts and to pay transaction fees on the network.
Launched 2017
Consensus Proof of Staked Authority
Max supply 200M Main risk: Its value is closely tied to one company, Binance, and to that exchange's regulatory and security record.
Solana SOL A high-throughput blockchain for low-cost payments, trading and apps, whose SOL coin pays fees and secures the network through staking.
Launched 2020
Consensus Proof of Stake (with Proof of History)
Max supply No cap Main risk: The network has suffered several full outages in the past, and the coin is highly volatile.
XRP XRP The native asset of the XRP Ledger, designed for fast, low-cost settlement of payments and currency transfers.
Launched 2012
Consensus XRP Ledger Consensus Protocol
Max supply 100B Main risk: A large share of the supply is held by Ripple, the company, and the asset spent years in a US securities lawsuit.
Cardano ADA A proof-of-stake blockchain built on peer-reviewed research, whose ADA coin is used for fees, staking and governance.
Launched 2017
Consensus Proof of Stake (Ouroboros)
Max supply 45B Main risk: Its app ecosystem is smaller than rival platforms, so adoption remains a key uncertainty.
Dogecoin DOGE A cryptocurrency created as a joke based on the Shiba Inu "doge" meme, now used for tipping and small payments.
Launched 2013
Consensus Proof of Work
Max supply No cap Main risk: It has no supply cap and its price is driven largely by social media sentiment and celebrity posts.
TRON TRX A blockchain widely used to move stablecoins such as USDT cheaply, with TRX paying for network resources.
Launched 2017
Consensus Delegated Proof of Stake
Max supply No cap Main risk: Block production is concentrated in a small group of elected validators, and the network is often flagged in illicit-finance investigations.
Avalanche AVAX A smart-contract platform that lets institutions and projects launch their own customizable chains, with AVAX used for fees and staking.
Launched 2020
Consensus Proof of Stake
Max supply 720M Main risk: It competes in a crowded field of smart-contract platforms, and part of its supply is still being released over time.
Chainlink LINK A decentralized oracle network that feeds external data such as prices into smart contracts, with LINK paying node operators.
Launched 2017
Consensus n/a (token on Ethereum)
Max supply 1B Main risk: The token's value depends on demand for its oracle services, and the project team still holds a large share of supply.
Polkadot DOT A network that connects multiple specialized blockchains under shared security, with DOT used for staking, governance and fees; holders voted a 2.1 billion cap in 2025.
Launched 2020
Consensus Nominated Proof of Stake
Max supply 2.1B Main risk: Its supply rules can be changed by on-chain governance, and developer and user activity has lagged larger platforms.
Toncoin TON The coin of The Open Network, a blockchain originally designed by Telegram and now developed by an independent community, integrated with Telegram's wallet and mini apps.
Launched 2020
Consensus Proof of Stake
Max supply No cap Main risk: Its adoption depends heavily on Telegram, and a large share of the supply is concentrated in a few wallets.
Litecoin LTC An early fork of Bitcoin's code with faster blocks and a cap of 84 million coins, used for payments.
Launched 2011
Consensus Proof of Work
Max supply 84M Main risk: It has few features that set it apart, so it risks losing relevance to newer networks and stablecoins.
Bitcoin Cash BCH A 2017 fork of Bitcoin that raised the block size to make everyday payments cheaper, keeping the 21 million cap.
Launched 2017
Consensus Proof of Work
Max supply 21M Main risk: It has far less mining power securing it than Bitcoin, which makes attacks on the network cheaper.
Stellar XLM A payments network for low-cost cross-border transfers and issuing digital versions of currencies, with XLM paying network fees.
Launched 2014
Consensus Stellar Consensus Protocol
Max supply 50B Main risk: Its payments niche faces strong competition from stablecoins on other networks and from traditional rails.
Polygon (POL) POL The token of the Polygon network, which scales Ethereum with cheaper transactions; it replaced MATIC in a migration that began in September 2024.
Launched 2024
Consensus Proof of Stake
Max supply No cap Main risk: New POL is issued every year to fund the network, and many competing Ethereum scaling networks fight for the same users.
Shiba Inu SHIB A meme token on Ethereum inspired by Dogecoin, launched with a fixed supply of one quadrillion tokens and a community-built ecosystem.
Launched 2020
Consensus n/a (token on Ethereum)
Max supply 1000T Main risk: Its value rests mostly on community hype rather than cash flows or core utility, making extreme swings common.
Uniswap UNI The governance token of Uniswap, a decentralized exchange where users swap tokens directly from their wallets through smart contracts.
Launched 2020
Consensus n/a (token on Ethereum)
Max supply No cap Main risk: Decentralized finance faces smart-contract exploits and unsettled regulation, and governance can vote to mint new UNI.