For starters, Bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency and the largest by far in terms of overall market capitalisation. Bitcoin’s market cap is currently around $126 billion. The next largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, only has a market cap over around $40 billion. Different cryptocurrencies also have different purposes and different features.
Bitcoin was initially designed to serve as digital/electronic cash. However, in the past ten years, it has become much more like digital gold than digital money. This is because its price has skyrocketed and it has become increasingly scarce. So, it has become much more of a store of value than a means of making every day transactions.
Other cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin have started to become targeted as a payments coin, or one that will be used for everyday transactions.
Ripple, another leading cryptocurrency has become a favorite for financial institutions due to its extremely low transaction fees and ability to send cross-border payments in seconds. Ripple now has over 100 financial institutions as partners and is steadily becoming a force to be reckoned with in the banking sector.
Ethereum, another top coin has achieved a reputation for being one of the best cryptocurrencies in terms of smart contracts and for programming DApps. Further, many ICOs, or initial coin offerings are launched on the Ethereum blockchain. So, different cryptocurrencies serve different purposes even though they can be similar in nature.
Many companies are also using ICOs as an alternative fundraising method which lets them avoid having to go through the expensive IPO process.
Funding with ICOs instead of IPOs is becoming increasingly popular. This is part of the reason why Ethereum is the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
Other popular cryptocurrencies include EOS, NEO,and Monero.