Bitcoin (BTC)
The oldest and most popular crypto token on the market, Bitcoin was the coin that started the entire crypto craze. From its humble beginnings in 2009, it has soared to unimaginable heights and gained the attention of investors, the media and businesses.
The network is used as an alternative means of payment to cash and is protected through Proof of Work consensus. All transactions are stored on a blockchain, while miners can earn rewards for each block of transactions they confirm.
Pros of Bitcoin
Most well-known token, which leads to heavy investments in the project.
Relatively stable compared to some newer crypto tokens.
Cons of Bitcoin
BTC operates on proof of work, which consumes a lot of electricity and requires excessive time to confirm transactions.
As BTC acts as an index of the general crypto market, it rarely deviates from general market trends and conditions.
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Ethereum (ETH)
After Bitcoin, Ethereum has established itself as one of the most dominant forces in the crypto market. It was the first to introduce smart contract functionality, which enables developers to create and automate several key features we take for granted today. Ethereum is also built to provide a platform for decentralised applications and finance, becoming the leading blockchain to service this need.
Pros of Ethereum
The largest player in the DeFi and dApp space. This gives it market dominance and requires that competitors offer much greater incentives to switch.
Ethereum’s Proof of Stake consensus mechanism has made the blockchain highly efficient. The future upgrades are focussed on increasing TPS and improving the already robust security protocols.
Cons of Ethereum
Ethereum sometimes has high network traffic that can slow transactions down to a crawl. It must rely on scaling solutions to address the traffic on its network.
Ethereum’s transaction costs can also skyrocket. In some cases, the fees can be higher than the value of the transaction.
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Binance Coin (BNB)
Launched in 2017, BNB has evolved from a simple token to powering its own ecosystem. At first, BNB was used to provide special benefits to users of the Binance crypto exchange, such as lower fees, exclusive access to initial coin offerings and cashback.
Today, it forms the backbone of the BNB Chain ecosystem, which boasts high speed and low cost to compete with Ethereum’s dominance. It has established itself as a strong option in the market.
Pros of BNB
Low costs and high throughput mean it can service much greater demand than many competitors.
Owning BNB provides you benefits on the Binance exchange platform
Cons of BNB
BNB is a highly centralized token, as it is controlled and managed by Binance. This reduces the freedom available to its community.
BNB’s success is tied to Binance, which the regulators of several countries like the UK, Japan and Germany have targeted.