Cryptocurrency, although introduced to us on a grand scale only in late 2000s, is not a new concept. With the first of cryptocurrencies being conceived in the early 1980s, the concept of this currency is a little old, to say the least. One reason that the cryptocurrency introduced earlier than 2009 did not strike as much could be the fact that it was just like any other system, and the system was centralised. But this was not the case when we look at the Bitcoin and its entry. Before Bitcoin was introduced by a group of individuals (the Satoshi Nakamoto), they introduced the system of decentralisation (the Blockchain, a year before), making Bitcoin the first ever decentralised cryptocurrency. After the advent of bitcoin, however, a lot of other versions of cryptocurrency rose to fame, including that of Ethereum, and other altcoins like Vechain, Coinbase avis, Litecoin, Bitcoin cash etc. Considering the fact that these are just extensions of the bitcoin itself, they’re all called Bitcoin 2.0 as well.

The aim of this article is to differentiate between the cryptocurrencies out there, and to give you an idea of which cryptocurrencies to mine for, incase you are planning to, and if not, just to give you a clearer idea of the key differences between the Bitcoin and the altcoins.

The answer, really is very simple. Intentions. The intention behind the bitcoin is the creation of an alternative digital form of currency that aims to mitigate the fees paid to the trusted third party for overseeing the transaction, and to have a decentralised nature. Though every cryptocurrency has the decentralised nature, not all cryptocurrencies aim to be an alternative form of currency. They may just aim to use the blockchain technology to achieve completely unrelated things (which have every scope of being the technology of tomorrow). The altcoins maybe the only way to navigate through the system and to make trades within the system (that powers the technology), and exist only for that purpose and not to replace the current system of trading (like how bitcoin does).

For example, Ether, the cryptocurrency of the system of Ethereum is the only way for people to transact within the system when they are trading for anything and everything that can be traded through the system. As of now, Ethereum powers smart contracts and the construction of distribution applications sans interference by a third party or any kind of fraud.