Basic Questions

Compared to the other altcoins, Feathercoin is among the closest kin to Bitcoin. For example, it is mined in much the same way as Bitcoin, and the system is set up to function very in many of the same ways as Bitcoin. Feathercoin also has a hard supply limit, and relies on P2P community monitoring to ensure stability.

Peercoin, which is short for “Peer-to-Peer” Coin, is pretty much what it sounds like. Peercoin was created by software developer Sunny King, and was the first currency to use a combination of proof-of-work/proof-of-stake system (more on that later). Peercoin is now believed to be the 5th largest cryptocurrency.

NameCoin might just be the most perplexing Bitcoin derivative. On one hand it’s a cryptocurrency that functions much like Bitcoin. Computers are used to solve algorithms, NameCoins are created, and the miner finds themselves in possession of some shiny new NameCoins.

On January 13th, more transactions were conducted in Dogecoin than all other virtual-currencies combined. That’s right, Dogecoin transactions actually outpaced Bitcoin itself. Message boards and forums have been boiling over with excitement over the currency, even though it originally started out as a joke.

Litecoin is basically Bitcoin’s younger brother. It works in a similar manner with a few changes. Litecoin was introduced on October 7th 2011 by Charles Lee. It was basically taking Bitcoin’s software and altering it a bit so it would be easier to mind and that transaction would be made faster.