
Cryptocurrencies described in four words or less - middle1
https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/19/100-cryptocurrencies-described-in-4-words-or-less/
======
dewyatt
> Bitcoin: Digital gold

Huh, I remember it being "Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash".

[https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf](https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf)

~~~
ericb
Bitcoin cash deserves the moniker "Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash." Core's
roadmap ceded that claim.

Sadly, being "digital gold" is a huge mistake because a store of value that is
_also_ a currency is a dominating strategy in this game.

Lightning is "18 months away" which is exactly the sort of estimate I hear at
work when something will take 4-6 years, or be shelved without getting
released.

~~~
lawlessone
>Bitcoin cash deserves the moniker "Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash."

I think Litecoin deserves it far more, bcash was a cynical pump and dump.

~~~
ericb
I don't think so. Bitcoin cash is not being dumped by miners--they are in it
for the long haul. Litecoin is a me-too copy, bitcoin cash is people with
different values working on a different vision. Here's an interview with the
lead dev. Doesn't sound like he's going anywhere.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By0w43NQdiY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By0w43NQdiY)

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shazow
Would be nice to get more meaningful descriptions than "_ clone."

Also seems a bit selective/biased: For example, Litecoin is "Faster Bitcoin"
but Vertcoin is "Bitcoin clone" while the Litecoin codebase is maybe closer to
Bitcoin core than any other coin on that list. (Is there any coin on that list
that is _not_ "Faster Bitcoin" or a "Bitcoin clone"?)

If anything, "fork" would be more accurate than "clone", but still not really
a meaningful description.

Some suggestions:

\- Bitcoin Cash: Bitcoin for P2P payments

\- Ethereum Classic: Ethereum for immutability purists

~~~
aulani
> Bitcoin Cash: Bitcoin for P2P payments

Bitcoin... is for P2P payments. The literally only difference between Bitcoin
and Bitcoin Cash is block size and segwit. Your descriptions are partisan and
disingenuous.

~~~
shazow
> Bitcoin... is for P2P payments. The literally only difference between
> Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash is block size and segwit. Your descriptions are
> partisan and disingenuous.

... and different community, different ideals/goals, different features
approaches, incompatible protocols (replay protection, difficulty adjustment).

Please be constructive in your comments, suggest how to improve things rather
than disagree and hit submit.

~~~
aulani
If you wanna go there, it's obvious Cash is basically a money grab for Ver —
made apparent by the fact r/btc won't shut up about r/bitcoin while the latter
cares about actually improving the network. Same tactic used by r/The_Donald
against r/politics.

Oh yeah, and since you're so knowledgeable and pc I'm surprised you forgot
Cash almost _didn 't_ have relay protection.

~~~
glauque
> Same tactic used by r/The_Donald against r/politics.

And yet the irony of it all is that the reason some r/bitcoin users migrated
to r/btc was that any discussion even remotely critical of core's decision
would get _literally_ removed or downvoted into oblivion, creating a de facto
echo chamber that you very conveniently decide to ignore. Just like how T_D
readers were forced out of r/politics in the first place.

edit: and regarding your "Bitcoin is for P2P payment claim". yeah sure, as
long as you don't mind paying an average of $10 per transaction to make it
happen in a reasonable amount of time. the days of the changetip mania on
r/bitcoin sure seem long gone.

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jashmenn
Author here. The TC version of this post is essentially immutable, but I'll be
keeping the Google doc (and potentially Github repo) up to date.

If you have a better four-word description of what any coin is for, post it
below and I'll make updates.

This list is designed for minimal orientation. The difference between e.g.
hashing algorithms or block time is inconsequential at this altitude.

~~~
jashmenn
Here's the Github repo if you'd like to suggest changes:
[https://github.com/jashmenn/cryptocurrencies-in-four-
words](https://github.com/jashmenn/cryptocurrencies-in-four-words)

This guide is intended to provide orientation for someone who knows very
little about cryptocurrencies. Many are quite different in scope (and
legitimacy).

I hope no one makes investment decisions on just four words. It's just a taste
to help you find what you might be interested in pursuing further.

By the way, if you're interested in learning the hard-core technical details
of programming cryptocurrency, you find more of my in-depth material here:
[https://www.newline.co/](https://www.newline.co/)

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Benjamin_Dobell
Applicable to all:

> _Is pyramid, buy please._

Joking, of course... sort of.

~~~
mrep
Yeah, this list amazes me that there have been this many companies/teams
creating new blockchains and yet they still fail to solve any real world
problems more efficiently than current solutions (besides illegal markets
where governments have explicitly made it hard and the "decentralized
blockchain solution" kind of currently gets around it).

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ryangittins
I'm really disappointed at how Buzzfeed-esque this piece is and (even more so)
how it could reach the front page of HN. I'd like to think that easily-
digestible, low-effort articles don't have a place in this community, but
here's one on HN. I guess even HN-types are susceptible to the wrapping of a
hot topic in the "For Dummies" style.

~~~
King-Aaron
> I'd like to think that easily-digestible, low-effort articles don't have a
> place in this community

I'd be inclined to disagree with your opinion here - You can have an easily-
digestible piece of writing that still holds good value and insight. Not
everything needs to be a peer-reviewed journal article, I'd start pulling my
hair out if literally every submission here was an effort to read since I
usually browse HN on my short breaks at work.

However it's still worth vetting low-quality content, I agree.

~~~
ryangittins
Yes, fair enough—I guess it's more about the low effort on both sides of the
equation. I suppose I do value articles which make it easy for me to quickly
digest more complex ideas, but this this in particular is just... almost the
bathroom graffiti of cryptocurrency reporting.

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fourstar
Wonder how much money coinmarketcap.com is bringing in.

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ionwake
This was a fantastic list, is there a larger, or more up to date feed or
something similar to this list?

~~~
jashmenn
Author here. I'm working on adding many more.

Here's the Google Doc:
[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/151E3d26SIRNhXQewq-55...](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/151E3d26SIRNhXQewq-55dcvsJ8CEz70pzjCDg-
B_350/edit?usp=sharing)

~~~
ionwake
hmmmmmm if you could host as a text or even a json document somewhere and
somehow get it to update that would be super useful. Happy to share my
personal trading algorithm outputs if you do.

~~~
digitalshankar
Let me see your algorithm?

------
stochastic_monk
I've been interested in ZCash since Snowden commented on it. Quoting a tweet
stating 'Zcash is the only altcoin (that i know of) designed and built by
professional and academic cryptographers. Hard to ignore':

"Agree. Zcash's privacy tech makes it the most interesting Bitcoin
alternative. Bitcoin is great, but "if it's not private, it's not safe.""

[Source:
[https://twitter.com/snowden/status/913544739542241282](https://twitter.com/snowden/status/913544739542241282)]

I still think cryptocurrency is a dumb idea on the whole. I haven't invested
and never plan to. But the element of privacy would be important to me if I
did.

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arisAlexis
Maidsafe is a new encrypted internet. Rent your disk space is sooo far from
what it is

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diggan
"Pura | PURA | Cryptocurrency"

Well, true and it is under four words but...

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unixhero
I can't get this page to work on Chrome/Android.

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debt
Mine applies to all of em: Bubble about to burst.

~~~
deevolution
What might cause the bubble to burst, in your opinion?

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ahmeni
Have Solution, Seeking Problem

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dannbru
to the trolls: it's impossible to be exhaustive in 4 words; this is excellent
starting point to learn more...

