## Neo (NEO) คืออะไร?

Neo เรียกตัวเองว่าเป็นระบบนิเวศที่มีการ "เติบโตและพัฒนาอย่างรวดเร็ว" โดยมีเป้าหมายในการเป็นระบบพื้นฐานสำหรับโลกแห่งอินเตอร์เน็ตที่จะเกิดขึ้นในอนาคตเน็ต — ซึ่งเป็นการรวมการชำระเงิน, ข้อมูลประจำตัว และสินทรัพย์ดิจิทัลเข้าด้วยกัน

ในระยะแรกจะรู้จักกันในชื่อ Antshares โดยเชื่อกันว่าโปรเจคเป็นบล็อคเชนสาธารณะแห่งแรกของจีนเมื่อครั้งเปิดตัวในเดือนกุมภาพันธ์ 2014 แพลตฟอร์มโอเพ่นซอร์สเปลี่ยนชื่อเป็น Neo ในอีกสามปีต่อมา

เช่นเดียวกับการสร้างชุมชนนักพัฒนาทั่วโลก ซึ่งเป็นผู้สร้างโครงสร้างพื้นฐานใหม่สำหรับเครือข่ายและลดอุปสรรคในการเข้าถึง ทีมงานที่อยู่เบื้องหลังโครงการนี้ได้ดำเนินโครงการริเริ่ม EcoBoost ที่ออกแบบมาเพื่อสนับสนุนให้ผู้คนสร้างแอปที่มีการกระจายอำนาจและมี smart contracts บนบล็อกเชน

บ่อยครั้งที่มักจะถูกนำไปเปรียบกับเครือข่าย Ethereum เวอร์ชันภาษาจีน

### ใครคือผู้ก่อตั้ง Neo?

ผู้ร่วมก่อตั้งของ Neo และ Antshares รุ่นก่อนคือ Da Hongfei และ Erik Zhang ทั้งสองทำหน้าที่เป็นประธานของ Neo Foundation ซึ่งมีจุดมุ่งหมายเพื่อส่งเสริมการนำบล็อกเชนไปใช้

Da Hongfei กล่าวว่าแม้ว่าอินเทอร์เน็ตจะเป็นสิ่งประดิษฐ์ที่ยอดเยี่ยม แต่ก็มีข้อบกพร่องมากมาย ซึ่งหมายความว่าผู้บริโภคไม่สามารถควบคุมข้อมูลของตนเองได้ในทุกวัน ผู้ประกอบการเชื่อว่าแอปพลิเคชั่นบล็อคเชนจะกลายเป็นกระแสหลักในที่สุด

Erik Zhang เป็นผู้เขียนอัลกอริธึม Delegated [Byzantine Fault Tolerance](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/byzantine-fault-tolerance-bft) ซึ่งมีจุดมุ่งหมายเพื่อยับยั้งผู้เข้าร่วมที่ไม่น่าเชื่อถือจากการมีส่วนร่วมในการดำเนินงานของบล็อคเชน เทคโนโลยีนี้ยังถูกใช้ต่อไปใน Neo blockchain นอกจากนี้ เขายังทำหน้าที่เป็นผู้พัฒนาหลักสำหรับเครือข่ายนี้ และมีบทบาทสำคัญในการพัฒนา Neo 3.0 ซึ่งเป็นการทำ iteration ของโครงสร้างพื้นฐานของโครงการ

### อะไรทำให้ Neo มีเอกลักษณ์เฉพาะตัว?

หนึ่งในจุดขายที่ไม่เหมือนใครของ Neo blockchain ก็คือการพัฒนาอย่างต่อเนื่อง ซึ่งช่วยให้มั่นใจได้ว่าจะสามารใช้ได้ในอนาคตและสามารถรับมือกับความต้องการที่เพิ่มขึ้นอย่างรวดเร็วได้ ดังที่ได้กล่าวไว้ก่อนหน้านี้ โปรเจ็กต์ได้มีการพัฒนา Neo 3.0 — ซึ่งเพิ่มความปลอดภัยในเครือข่ายและช่วยเพิ่มการประมวลผลธุรกรรมต่อวินาทีได้มากขึ้น

แตกต่างจากบล็อคเชนอื่น ๆ ตรงที่เครือข่ายนี้มีโทเค็นดั้งเดิมถึงสองตัว: NEO และ GAS ในขณะที่ NEO ทำหน้าที่เป็นโทเค็นการลงทุนและอนุญาตให้ผู้คนมีส่วนร่วมในการโหวตเกี่ยวกับการปรับปรุงบล็อคเชน แต่ GAS จะทำหน้าที่รับชำระค่าธรรมเนียมสำหรับธุรกรรมที่เสร็จสมบูรณ์บนเครือข่าย

โครงการบล็อคเชนอื่น ๆ อีกสองสามโครงการยังดำเนินการกองทุนเพื่อการพัฒนาในระดับที่ Neo ทำ EcoBoost เปิดตัวในปี 2019 และถูกเรียกว่าเป็นผู้มีความคิดริเริ่มในการให้บริการ "การสนับสนุนตลอดวงจรชีวิตสำหรับโครงการที่มีศักยภาพสูง" ซึ่งรวมถึงเงินช่วยเหลือ, การสนับสนุนทางเทคนิค และการส่งเสริมบนโซเชียลมีเดีย

#### หน้าที่เกี่ยวข้อง:

[ดูข้อมูลเพิ่มเติมเกี่ยวกับ GAS ซึ่งเป็นโทเค็นดั้งเดิมตัวที่สองของ Neo](https://coinmarketcap.com/th/currencies/gas/)

[Neo เป็นอย่างไรเมื่อเปรียบเทียบกับ Ethereum?](https://coinmarketcap.com/th/currencies/ethereum/)

[สำรวจคำแนะนำเกี่ยวกับคริปโตที่ครอบคลุมของเรา](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/categories/how-to-guides)

[เกิดอะไรขึ้นในอุตสาหกรรมคริปโต? ค้นหาใน blog ของเรา](https://blog.coinmarketcap.com/)

### มีเหรียญ Neo (NEO) หมุนเวียนอยู่กี่เหรียญ?

ในขณะที่เขียน มีการหมุนเวียนของ NEO อยู่ที่ 70.5 ล้าน — และมีอุปทานทั้งหมด 100 ล้าน โทเค็น NEO ไม่ได้ถูกขุด และแน่นอนว่าทั้งหมด 100 ล้านโทเค็นถูกสร้างขึ้นเมื่อบล็อกเชนเปิดตัว

โทเค็นเหล่านี้ได้รับการแจกจ่ายแบบ 50/50 โดยครึ่งหนึ่งจะอยู่ในส่วนของการขายโทเค็น และอีกครึ่งหนึ่งจะถูกแบ่งระหว่างนักพัฒนาซอฟต์แวร์และสภา NEO ซึ่งในขณะนั้นได้รับการยืนยันแล้วว่ากองทุนเหล่านี้จะถูกนำไปใช้ลงทุนในโปรโตคอลบล็อคเชนอื่น ๆ ที่องค์กรสนับสนุน

ในขณะเดียวกัน GAS ก็จะถูกสร้างขึ้นในทุก ๆ 20 วินาที หรือเมื่อใดก็ตามที่มีการสร้างบล็อกใหม่ จำนวนโทเค็นที่สร้างขึ้นค่อย ๆ ลดลงทุกปี และคาดว่าจะใช้เวลา 22 ปีสำหรับอุปทานทั้งหมด 100 ล้านเพื่อเข้าสู่การหมุนเวียน

### เครือข่าย Ren มีความปลอดภัยอย่างไร?

ดังที่เราได้กล่าวไว้ก่อนหน้านี้ Neo ใช้ Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance และคาดว่า blockchain จะสามารถประมวลผลการทำธุรกรรมได้หลายพันรายการต่อวินาที

อ้างอิงจาก Neo, กลไก dBFT ได้รับแรงบันดาลใจจากอัลกอริทึม Byzantine Fault Tolerance

ซึ่งมีความคล้ายคลึงกันบางประการกับ delegated proof-of-stake เนื่องจากกลไกทั้งสองอนุญาตให้ผู้ถือโทเค็นลงคะแนนให้ตัวแทนที่จะดำเนินการธุรกรรมได้

ผ่าน dBFT บล็อกจะถูกเพิ่มเข้าไปในบล็อคเชนตราบใดที่ตัวแทนอย่างน้อยสองในสามบรรลุการตกลง — และหวังว่าสิ่งนี้จะช่วยป้องกันไม่ให้ผู้ที่ไม่หวังดีมาทำลายการทำงานที่ราบรื่นของเครือข่าย

### คุณสามารถซื้อ Neo (NEO) ได้จากที่ไหน?

สามารถซื้อ NEO ได้จากตัวกลางการแลกเปลี่ยนต่าง ๆ — รวมถึง Binance, Poloniex และ HitBTC แต่มันไม่สามารถใช้ได้ทั่วไปและไม่ได้รับการสนับสนุนในบางแพลตฟอร์ม เช่น Coinbase

ตัวกลางการแลกเปลี่ยนหลายแห่งเสนอคู่การซื้อขายที่เชื่อมโยงระหว่าง NEO กับ Bitcoin [ค้นหาข้อมูลเพิ่มเติมเกี่ยวกับการแปลงคำสั่งของคุณเป็น BTC ได้ที่นี่](https://coinmarketcap.com/how-to-buy-bitcoin/)

We are excited to announce the Neo X TestNet Bug Bounty Program, offering up to 

 savvy developers to join us. Your contribution is crucial to ensuring a bug-free Neo X MainNet launch. 🚀

We are excited to announce the Neo X TestNet Bug Bounty Program, offering up to $5,000 in $GAS for the most critical bug. 💰

We invite all #EVM savvy developers to join us. Your contribution is crucial to ensuring a bug-free Neo X MainNet launch. 🚀
https://neo.org/blog/details/4305

The Worst-Performing Altcoins in September

Ledger

Trezor

Trust Wallet

Math Wallet

Neotracker

Neon Wallet

Atomic wallet

Flamingo

Nash

The EOS Network is an open-source blockchain platform that prioritizes high performance, flexibility, security, and developer experience. As a third-generation blockchain platform powered by the EOS virtual machine, EOS has an extensible WebAssembly engine for deterministic execution of near fee-less transactions.

EOS is the market's most scalable, divisible, and programmable digital currency. EOS is a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) network where stakeholders have the authority to select node operators. Due to the decentralized nature of the token distribution on EOS, power doesn't reside in the hands of block miners, but rather all parties involved in the EOS Network.

The EOS Network is attractive because of its technology and community. It allows developers to build projects that other blockchains cannot support. The network is straightforward and has multiple tools and educational resources to help users acclimate to the blockchain.

Dash is an open-source blockchain and cryptocurrency focused on offering a fast, cheap global payments network that is decentralized in nature. According to the project's white paper, Dash seeks to improve upon Bitcoin (BTC) by providing stronger privacy and faster transactions.

Dash, whose name comes from "digital cash," was launched in January 2014 as a fork of Litecoin (LTC). Since going live, Dash has grown to include features such as a two-tier network with incentivized nodes, including "masternodes," and decentralized project governance; InstantSend, which allows for instantly settled payments; ChainLocks, which makes the Dash blockchain instantly immutable; and PrivateSend, which offers additional optional privacy for transactions.

Dash

Tezos is a high-performing blockchain and open-source platform for assets and applications, with a strong focus on code security, on-chain governance, and decentralization. Tezos 2.0, the upcoming step in the evolution of Tezos, aims to improve scalability (via layer 2s), composability, and to implement support to mainstream programming languages (like Javascript, Typescript, Python, and many others).

Initially built with formal verification in mind, the Tezos protocol enables builders to avoid bugs when developing smart contracts, making it particularly suited to applications that require a high degree of security and certainty.

Tezos’ LPoS (Liquid Proof-of-Stake) consensus mechanism enables any stakeholder to take part, directly or by delegation, in the consensus process, and to be rewarded for securing the network. Rather uniquely, Tezos’ on-chain governance system also enables stakeholders to create and vote on protocol upgrade proposals. This pioneering system allows the protocol to self-amend and upgrade itself without leading to a split (or fork) in the blockchain, empowering the community without slowing down innovation.

First proposed in 2014 and launched in 2018, the Tezos Mainnet has a proven track record of running uninterrupted ever since, having earned a strong reputation for technical excellence and a supportive community.

Tezos

Qtum (pronounced ‘“quantum”)  is a proof-of-stake (PoS) smart contract open-source blockchain platform and value transfer protocol. It aims to bring together the strengths of Bitcoinand Ethereumin one chain. Qtum is built on Bitcoin's UTXO transaction model, with the added functionality of smart contract execution and DApps. Recently, the platform added support for DeFi applications. As of March 2021, there are more than 20 tokens created on the Qtum blockchain.

To learn more about this project, check out our deep dive of Qtum.

The project was announced in March 2016 and held an ICO a year after, in March 2017, which brought its founders $15 million USD. The Qtum main chain was released on Sept.13, 2017. Initially, the Qtum coin was issued as a ETH-20 token, but with the launch of the mainnet, it was converted to native blockchain.

Qtum

IOTA is a distributed ledger technology (DLT) that features unique architecture and an open-source product suite for individuals, businesses, and institutions to use in Web3. It is built on a directed acyclic graph (DAG) called the Tangle, which can be pictured as a multi-dimensional blockchain. It enables the exchange of data and value on a decentralized platform through direct and secure transfers, executed on and immutably recorded on the network.

To learn more about this project, check out our deep dive into IOTA.

Together with its staging network Shimmer, IOTA aims to offer solutions to establish a secure and permissionless infrastructure that can drive the economy of the future. It enables the development of decentralized applications through automated trust in the form of Ethereum-compatible smart contracts, an advanced consensus algorithm, and thoughtfully balanced incentives.

IOTA delivers tools for creating and managing custom Layer 2 (EVM) chains, deploying smart contracts, minting native tokens and NFTs with distinctive features, and introducing digital identities to users.

Launching in 2024, IOTA 2.0 will be a protocol upgrade that rebuilds IOTA’s architecture to deliver full decentralization. You can find more about it here.

IOTA

Ontology is a project designed to bring trust, privacy, and security to Web3 through decentralized identity and data solutions. It is building the infrastructure to provide trusted access to Web3, allowing individuals and enterprises to rest assured that through regulatory compliant digital identity solutions, users and their privacy come first.

The Ontology blockchain is a high speed, low cost public blockchain. It is designed to bring decentralized identity and data solutions to Web3, with the goal of increasing privacy, transparency, and trust. To achieve this, users and enterprises are provided with the flexibility to build blockchain-based solutions that suit their needs, while also ensuring regulatory compliance. Through Ontology’s Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), Ontology ensures frictionless compatibility with Ethereum, the first step in the creation of the Ontology Multi-Virtual Machine and further interoperability for the chain.

At its launch, Ontology chose to forego the popular initial coin offering (ICO) model in favor of a series of community distributions and airdrops of its ONT cryptocurrency.

This helped to quickly establish both organic price discovery and a passionate community and helped the project to avoid subsequent regulatory scrutiny.

For example, for a brief period any person who signed up for the Ontology newsletter received an airdrop of free 1,000 ONT, which reached a value of $10 per token soon after the token became listed on major exchanges like Binance.

Ontology launched its own MainNet on June 30, 2018 and has been up and running smoothly since.

Ontology

Zcash is a decentralized cryptocurrency focused on privacy and anonymity. It uses the zk-SNARK zero-knowledge proof technology that allows nodes on the network to verify transactions without revealing any sensitive information about those transactions.

Contrary to a common misunderstanding, the majority of cryptocurrencies on the market, including Bitcoin (BTC), are not anonymous, but rather pseudonymous; while they do not explicitly reveal the identities of their users, each user has their own public address or addresses which can be traced back to them via the methods of data science and blockchain forensics.

Zcash transactions, on the other hand, still have to be relayed via a public blockchain, but unlike pseudonymous cryptocurrencies, ZEC transactions by default do not reveal the sending and receiving addresses or the amount being sent. There is an option, however, to reveal this data for the purposes of auditing or regulatory compliance.

Zcash was first released on October 28, 2016, and it was originally based on Bitcoin’s codebase.

Zcash

Litecoin (LTC) is a cryptocurrency that was designed to provide fast, secure and low-cost payments by leveraging the unique properties of blockchain technology.

To learn more about this project, check out our deep dive of Litecoin.

The cryptocurrency was created based on the Bitcoin (BTC) protocol, but it differs in terms of the hashing algorithm used, hard cap, block transaction times and a few other factors. Litecoin has a block time of just 2.5 minutes and extremely low transaction fees, making it suitable for micro-transactions and point-of-sale payments.

Litecoin was released via an open-source client on GitHub on Oct. 7, 2011, and the Litecoin Network went live five days later on Oct. 13, 2011. Since then, it has exploded in both usage and acceptance among merchants and has counted among the top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization for most of its existence.

The cryptocurrency was created by Charlie Lee, a former Google employee, who intended Litecoin to be a "lite version of Bitcoin," in that it features many of the same properties as Bitcoin—albeit lighter in weight.

Litecoin

NEM is a blockchain platform that was launched in March of 2015. It was one of the pioneers of the cryptocurrency industry, and sought to improve on the imperfections found on other chains at the time. It was one of the first non-turing complete chains to feature user-defined tokens (called mosaics), namespaces, multisignature accounts, and a P2P reputation system based on EigenTrust++. Its most notable contribution to the space is the proof-of-importance consensus mechanism, which sought to reward on-chain activity and deter the concentration of wealth commonly associated with proof-of-stake. Its client, NIS, is written in Java.

NEM has a global community. It sees the most utility as an alternative form of payment for businesses and vendors, and has a variety of social media apps built on top of it in Japan, such as nemgraph, a community-driven owned and operated alternative to Instagram.

In December 2021, NEM was hard forked by a pseudonymous team of cryptocurrency experts and enthusiasts alike. Titled Harlock, this hard fork signaled the community’s intent to take NEM from a shadow of its former self into the world’s leading payments platform for on-chain and off-chain media content.

Stellar (XLM) is a peer-to-peer (P2P) decentralized network created in 2014 by The Stellar Development Foundation or Stellar.org. The network officially launched in 2015 with the purpose of connecting the world's financial systems and ensuring a protocol for payment providers and financial institutions. The platform is designed to move financial resources swiftly and reliably at minimal cost. Stellar links people, banks, payment processors and allows users to create, send and trade multiple types of crypto.

The basis of the network is its native digital currency - XLM or Lumens. XLM acts as an intermediate currency for operations and is also used to pay transaction fees. How it works: the protocol converts money in a few seconds, first into XLM, and then into the requested currency.

The Stellar payment protocol is based on distributed ledger technology -- an open-source development, community-owned and distributed by community. The crypto asset of the Stellar platform helps with cross-border transactions, overcoming the problems of high fees and slow procedures. XLM is more focused on assisting individuals transfer money than they are with institutions. Thus, Stellar offers access to financial systems, and people can send money at low cost and promptly around the world.

Moreover, Stellar serves as a decentralized exchange and marketplace, with a built-in order book that tracks ownership of Stellar assets. Platform users can manage buy/sell orders, as well as select and set their preferred assets in settlements. XLM is a built-in coin that helps reduce transaction fees.

The network maintains a high level of security.  XLM holders must have at least one token in order to remain active on the network. This nuance performs a global goal - the execution of network transactions efficiently and with minimal time costs. Plus, Lumens offers protection against flood attacks by making microtransactions too expensive for hackers with no chance of profit, which keeps Stellar Network safe from serious threats.

The target audience of Stellar is the inhabitants of developing countries, ordinary users who are provided access to the global economy through fast, simple and inexpensive transactions. Stellar Network makes extensive use of Lumens to produce live convection as well as to send cash in multiple currencies; currency is sent from one peer, and the recipient can receive the amount in another currency. This feature is beneficial when a transaction is made between currencies without widely traded pairs.

Support for multi-currency transactions is another competitive advantage of Stellar, and the ability for cross-currency transactions has only enhanced processes with foreign operations. Moreover, stable speed and low transaction costs are a privilege that users receive.

This functionality is powered by a development called Anchors (a bridge between different currencies and the network), which simplifies the exchange within the network and helps speed up the whole process.

In summary, the benefits of Stellar (XLM) include:

Stellar

Theta Network

VeChainThor (VET) is a versatile enterprise-grade L1 smart contract platform whose origins began in 2015. VeChain is known as a pioneer of real-world enterprise applications, and built a distributed platform powered by Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, NFC chips and blockchain to help various industries solve data-related challenges.

VeChain solves major blockchain adoption hurdles. The platform uses an intelligent two token model, VET and VTHO, separating the protocol's Store of Value and gas fee payment mechanisms, ensuring costs can be kept low and stable. Fee delegation allows smart contracts to pay gas fees on behalf of business users, and an advanced transaction model allows data to be packaged more efficiently while ensuring finality of data.

VeChain is focused on delivering a wave of incentive-based sustainability dApps through its new platform, VeBetterDAO, working closely with Boston Consulting Group to achieve adoption across enterprise and individual users, and helping  onboard the next billion users to Web3 over the coming decade.

From supply chains to sustainability, VeChain has continuously demonstrated its leading role as a driver of blockchain in business, and is dedicated to its role as a pioneer of driving real world adoption of blockchain technology.

VeChain

Compound is a DeFi lending protocol that allows users to earn interest on their cryptocurrencies by depositing them into one of several pools supported by the platform.

To learn more about this project, check out our deep dive of Compound.

When a user deposits tokens to a Compound pool, they receive cTokens in return. These cTokens represent the individual’s stake in the pool and can be used to redeem the underlying cryptocurrency initially deposited into the pool at any time. For example, by depositing ETH into a pool, you will receive cETH in return. Over time, the exchange rate of these cTokens to the underlying asset increases, which means you can redeem them for more of the underlying asset than you initially put in — this is how the interest is distributed.

On the flip side, borrowers can take a secured loan from any Compound pool by depositing collateral. The maximum loan-to-value (LTV) ratio varies based on the collateral asset, but currently ranges from 50 to 75%. The interest rate paid varies by borrowed asset and borrowers can face automatic liquidation if their collateral falls below a specific maintenance threshold.

Since the launch of the Compound mainnet in September 2018, the platform has skyrocketed in popularity, and recently passed more than $800 million in total locked value.

Compound

TRON (TRX) is a decentralized blockchain-based operating system developed by the Tron Foundation and launched in 2017. Originally TRX tokens were ERC-20-based tokens deployed on Ethereum, but a year later they were moved to their own network.

Initially, the project was created with the aim of providing full ownership rights to makers of digital content. The main goal is to help content creators (who receive only a small part of the income) and encourage them with more rewards for their work. How: invite content consumers to reward content makers directly (without intermediaries like YouTube, Facebook or Apple).

The TRON software supports smart contracts, various kinds of blockchain systems, and decentralized applications aka dApps. The cryptocurrency platform uses a transaction model similar to Bitcoin (BTC), namely UTXO. Transactions take place in a public ledger, where users can track the history of operations.

Therefore, the platform was built to create a decentralized Internet and serves as a tool for developers to create dApps, acting as an alternative to Ethereum. Anyone can create dApps on the TRON network, offer content, and in return receive digital assets as compensation for their efforts. The ability to create content and share it openly without hesitation regarding transaction fees is an undeniable advantage of TRON.

TRON

Filecoin is a decentralized storage system that aims to “store humanity’s most important information.” The project raised $205 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) in 2017, and initially planned a launch date for mid-2019. However, the launch date for the Filecoin mainnet was pushed back until block 148,888, which is expected in mid-October 2020.

The project was first described back in 2014 as an incentive layer for the Interplanetary File System (IPFS), a peer-to-peer storage network where users pay for data storage and distribution services in $FIL. Filecoin is open protocol and backed by a blockchain that records commitments made by the network’s participants, with transactions made using FIL, the blockchain’s native currency. The blockchain is based on both proof-of-replication and proof-of-spacetime.

Filecoin is open-source and decentralized, which means that all governance is in the hands of the community. On the Filecoin platform, developers have the opportunity to create cloud file storage services like Dropbox or iCloud. Anyone can join Filecoin and start storing their data or earn money by providing space for someone else's funds. The creators of Filecoin opted for their blockchain technology to run the network and their token with their own consensus.

$FIL is the native currency of Filecoin that powers the entire network and all processes. Clients pay for transactions in FIL tokens. Miners place FIL as collateral, guaranteeing their services.

The developers claim that Filecoin solves the problem of inefficient file storage and retrieval. Customers can find the right solution with an efficient set of tools and its core development, IPFS.

Filecoin

Aave

Monero was launched in 2014, and its goal is simple: to allow transactions to take place privately and with anonymity. Even though it’s commonly thought that BTC can conceal a person’s identity, it’s often easy to trace payments back to their original source because blockchains are transparent. On the other hand, XMR is designed to obscure senders and recipients alike through the use of advanced cryptography.

The team behind Monero say privacy and security are their biggest priorities, with ease of use and efficiency coming second. It aims to provide protection to all users — irrespective of how technologically competent they are.

Overall, XMR aims to allow payments to be made quickly and inexpensively without fear of censorship.

Monero

Ethereum Classic (ETC) is the original Ethereum (ETH) blockchain that launched in July 2015. Its main function is as a smart contract network, with the ability to host and support decentralized applications (DApps). Its native token is ETC.

Since its launch, Ethereum Classic has sought to differentiate itself from Ethereum, with the two networks’ technical roadmap diverging further and further from each other with time.

Ethereum Classic first set out to preserve the integrity of the existing Ethereum blockchain after a major hacking event led to the theft of 3.6 million ETH.

Ethereum Classic

Uniswap is a popular decentralized trading protocol, known for its role in facilitating automated trading of decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens.

An example of an automated market maker (AMM), Uniswap launched in November 2018, but has gained considerable popularity this year thanks to the DeFi phenomenon and associated surge in token trading.

Uniswap aims to keep token trading automated and completely open to anyone who holds tokens, while improving the efficiency of trading versus that on traditional exchanges.

Uniswap creates more efficiency by solving liquidity issues with automated solutions, avoiding the problems which plagued the first decentralized exchanges.

In September 2020, Uniswap went a step further by creating and awarding its own governance token, UNI, to past users of the protocol. This added both profitability potential and the ability for users to shape its future — an attractive aspect of decentralized entities.

Uniswap

Waves is a multi-purpose blockchain platform which supports various use cases including decentralized applications (DApps) and smart contracts.

Launched in June 2016 following one of the cryptocurrency industry’s earliest initial coin offerings (ICO), Waves initially set out to improve on the first blockchain platforms by increasing speed, utility and user-friendliness.

The platform has undergone various changes and added new spin-off features to build on its original design.

Waves’ native token is WAVES, an uncapped supply token used for standard payments such as block rewards.