Thousands of cryptocurrencies are currently in use. Although a few have made headlines, there are several more that are equally fascinating. We've compiled a list of 12 currencies to keep an eye on.

Although you've definitely heard of Bitcoin, you've probably never heard of Dogecoin.

With all of the hype — and, let's be honest, craziness — surrounding cryptocurrencies, we thought you may be interested in a primer. The cryptocurrency Dogecoin has been on an undeserved roll, similar to the off-the-rails GameStop stock hack. And, since what's a fake currency without a bonkers billionaire, Elon Musk and his penchant for tweeting can be blamed for a lot of Dogecoin's recent success (and that of Bitcoin, too).

We'll take a brief look at the 12 cryptocurrencies we find most intriguing in this post. You're not alone if you haven't heard of many of them. Of course, there are far more than twelve cryptocurrencies accessible. Some of these are, well, let's just say that if you read the entire post, you'll discover a currency depends on the current market value of marijuana. Is there anything else I can say?

What are cryptocurrencies and how do they work?

The speculative world was taken by surprise when Bitcoin and the blockchain idea burst onto the internet in 2009. It provided a way to send money, protect one's identity, and transfer money around the world almost instantly, all while avoiding government, banking, and central control.

Individuals and organizations ranging from dissidents trapped in oppressive countries to organized crime organizations concealing transactions to individuals and large companies interested in pursuing a new data processing model benefited greatly from this independence.

There are thousands of different cryptocurrencies available today. Some are simply "forks" of the original Bitcoin design, while others have been developed entirely from scratch. Most take advantage of the blockchain concept's architectural advantages, which enable transactions to be added to a central but distributed data store.

Although the identity of each person performing transactions can be concealed, every single transaction ever made in Bitcoin is open for everyone to study and analyze.

Bitcoin also introduced the idea of "coin mining," which is the process of making new digital coins by using computer hardware to solve difficult problems. Mining has grown rapidly in recent years, evolving from a program run on a spare PC to massive mining complexes built into the sides of mountains in cold climates to monitor the heat produced by mining computers.

It's important to mention that none of these cryptocurrencies are recommended by me. Investing in cryptocurrencies is, at best, speculative. Their principles can swing wildly, their management is frequently uncertain, and the issue of how governments can respond and control them is always on the table.

However, cryptocurrencies are intriguing, and you'll likely conduct business using one or more in the foreseeable future. If you're specifically using a cryptocurrency or one of the companies you come across has implemented blockchain technology as an underlying technology, it's almost certain that you'll conduct business using it.

As a result, we've put together a list of a dozen interesting cryptocurrencies, beginning with the one that began it all: Bitcoin.

Bitcoin (BTC)

Bitcoin is the well-known cryptocurrency that started the digital gold rush. The Bitcoin code, which was first released on the internet in 2009 by a mysterious person known only as Satoshi Nakamoto, introduced blockchain technology and solved several difficult technological problems related to transaction protection.

Bitcoin sparked an investment frenzy when its value soared from $100 to more than $60,000 in mid-March. Bitcoin can also be used to purchase a Tesla.

Regrettably, Bitcoin has sparked competition for so-called digital coin mining. As a way to add friction to the currency's output, the core Bitcoin algorithm needs more and more resources for each coin mined. The design's unavoidable side effect is an ever-increasing energy footprint.

Bitcoin mining is estimated to consume between 500 megawatts and 3.4 gigawatts of electricity globally, which is more than enough to power an entire coal-fired power plant. A typical electrical plant produces about 600 megawatts. Bitcoin mining activities, according to some authors, would consume the entire world's energy supply. For a variety of reasons, this is impractical, but there's no denying that Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) are consuming energy at an alarming rate.

All of this means that running Bitcoin mining software on a spare PC is no longer an option. Today's Bitcoin miners are so advanced that they're establishing operations in extremely cold countries like Iceland, where the natural cold offsets the costs of cooling all those machines.

Since Bitcoin was the first major cryptocurrency, it has a range of inherent drawbacks, including the cost and time of mining a single coin, as well as its scalability limitations. There is a slew of alternative currencies to build on the original Bitcoin.

Bitcoin Cash is one of them since it is a "hard fork" from the original Bitcoin code. It employs a new verification process as well as a larger block size. Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin Dark, Bitcoin Plus, BitcoinZ, Bitcoin Scrypt, and Bitcoin Red are also accessible. If you're searching for the original Bitcoin, make sure it's the currency that trades under the symbol BTC.

LITECOIN (LTC)

The less-filling alternative currency is Litecoin. With a market capitalization of billions of dollars, Litecoin is one of the most common Bitcoin-alternative currencies.

It's crucial to note that each cryptocurrency is basically a software application at its heart. As a result, the application's underlying code has a significant effect on the currency's transaction behavior.

ETHEREUM (ETH)

Ethereum, which has its roots in Russia, pushes the idea of currency-as-software even further. Ethereum is regarded as an application framework rather than just a digital equivalent of money. This will almost certainly cause you a headache, but it is important to pay attention to it.

Ethereum's fundamental architecture was built to decentralize computing processes, take cloud app storage services out of the hands of a single organization (such as Google or AWS), and spread them across the entire internet. You're not wrong if this reminds you of old peer-to-peer music-sharing sites.

RIPPLE (XRP)

Ripple is another well-known cryptocurrency, with a market capitalization of more than $25 billion at the time of writing.

Ripple is distinct from the majority of the other cryptocurrencies in this directory because it is focused entirely on the centralized control of one organization, Ripple Labs, Inc. The firm, which has deep ties to the banking industry, owns nearly 60% of the total supply of Ripple's currency, XRP. It is not possible to mine XRP.

ZCASH (ZEC)

Although most cryptocurrencies allow anonymous trading, the level of privacy provided is limited. In the case of Bitcoin, for example, while the identity of the owner of a given wallet can be kept secret, all of the transactions associated with that wallet are a matter of public record. All of your transactions can be tracked through your entire transaction history if you can be linked to a specific Bitcoin identifier.

DASH (DASH)

Dash has been described as a "digital currency in search of a home." Dash was originally known as XCoin, a portmanteau of "digital" and "money" (CXO). Its creators renamed it Darkcoin, then Dash, before finally settling on Dash.

Dash is a fork of the Litecoin code that allows for near-instant transactions and private money transfers. Dash's blockchain is tiered, unlike Bitcoin and Litecoin's. Currency miners use one tier, which is used for block formation. The "master nodes" tier, the second tier, is responsible for transition and governance.

DOGECOIN (DOGE)

You could not take a currency seriously if it is based on a Shiba Inu dog picture originating from a Reddit joke, which was based on Strong Bad's nickname "Doge" in the Homestar Runner animated cartoon series. Despite its peculiar beginnings, Dogecoin has a market capitalization of more than $7 billion (with a "b"), making it deserving of publicity.

It's an unusual currency with a devoted following. Despite a serious hack in 2013 that resulted in the theft of coins, members of the Dogecoin group stepped in and compensated those who were harmed.

MONERO (XMR)

Monero takes Zcash's privacy idea and amps it up a notch. While Zcash allows anonymous transactions, this is not the default behavior. Monero transactions, on the other hand, begin anonymously by default.

The currency employs a variety of mechanisms to protect the privacy of both transacting parties and individual coins. This is in stark contrast to Bitcoin, which allows for the identification of individual coins as part of specific transactions. With Bitcoin, it is possible to track which coins were involved in illegal activity, potentially tarnishing certain coins for future trading or subjecting them to vendor and exchange blacklisting.

BYTECOIN (BCN)

Bytecoin is functionally similar to Monero in several respects. The open-source CryptoNote framework protocol was used to create both Monero and Bytecoin. Bytecoin, like Monero, has transaction anonymity by default. Bytecoin, like Monero, uses mixed coins, making it technically difficult to track individual coins. Bytecoin, like Monero, has complete participant protection, ensuring that all parties in a transaction remain anonymous.

NEO (NEO)

Neo was originally known as Antshares and was created in China until mid-2017. At first glance, Neo seems to have many of the same features as Ethereum as a currency network, most importantly the principle of smart contracts.

POTCOIN (POT)

Medical marijuana is legal in 36 states, plus Guam, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, with a doctor's prescription. Cannabis is legal for recreational use in eight states. A total of 15 states have decriminalized marijuana use. However, since cannabis is still classified as a Schedule I drug by the federal government, the legalization of marijuana is in limbo.

WAVES (WAVES)

Waves is a cryptocurrency platform similar to Ethereum and Neo, but it was built in Russia. Waves' relationship with Deloitte CIS in Russia, a subsidiary of the big-four financial services company Deloitte, is what makes it interesting beyond its simple feature set.

Finally, some thoughts

We've only looked at twelve of the many cryptocurrencies available, as I mentioned at the start of this article. According to Investopedia, there are over 4,000 of them. Even though we've just scratched the surface, we hope that this has given you a sense of what's out there and what's going on in this ever-expanding tulpenmanie-like sector.

What are your thoughts on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology? Do you have a favorite among them? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.