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Cryptocurrencies have been in the news a lot lately. Almost every person around tends to be speaking about these non-stop.The main reason for this sudden new interest has been the spike in the prices of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Naturally, people have been intrigued by this entirely-digital currency platform and have been wondering how to make money out of it.First things first, there’s something important you MUST know. Investing in Bitcoins or cryptocurrencies is a highly speculative activity. The ups and downs follow no specific pattern and the market is unregulated. Therefore, you should be aware of this ground reality before processing any further.To start with lets first understand what a cryptocurrency is. Normal currencies like the dollar or the pound are issued by the central banks of different countries. These currencies are valid only because they’re guaranteed by the central banks of their respective countries. They are available in coins and banknotes which can be used for making transactions.Cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, are completely digital. They work on something called a “blockchain” mechanism where every transaction is recorded in a single ledger using encryption. These currencies are not controlled by any central bank or authority and, therefore, are considered to be outside governmental control.As a result, details of cryptocurrencies and their holders are completely anonymous. The transactions made through cryptocurrencies are also anonymous since there is no identifiable record of who exactly holds which cryptocurrency and in what amount.This has made Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies a favorite tool of those who wish to remain anonymous while conducting their activities. Payments can be made on the Dark Web using cryptocurrencies mainly because they are untraceable and outside government control.This fact has greatly contributed towards the rise in the value of cryptocurrencies. Of course, there are some genuine applications of these currencies and, increasingly, a lot of renowned international websites and merchants have started accepting them as a legitimate form of payment.With a plethora of cryptocurrencies out there in the market, the biggest question that people face is: which of these should I be tracking?We did some research to find out the 10 most important cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin alternatives) in the market that are legit and worth looking at for an average person.The trend of Google Searches for “Cryptocurrency”

Steem (STEEM)   

Steemit is a blogging and social media platform that has now integrated itself into the world of cryptocurrencies. On the Steemit platform, users get awarded tokens for writing comments, creating blogs, and for generating content which can be used for payments on the internet. This is, therefore, an excellent way of mining cryptocurrency by generating online content.As of now, Steem dollars and tokens can be used for payments only within the platform. However, as Steemit grows, we can soon expect to see this cryptocurrency gaining wider traction for payments made on the internet using blockchain technology.Recommended Exchange: Binance

Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum is a cryptocurrency proposed by Vitalik Buterin, who was a computer programmer. It was launched in July 2015 with about 12 million pre-mined coins. Ethereum saw a massive spike last year as it grew over 13,000% in value making it a phenomenal investment option for cryptocurrency enthusiasts.Ethereum is your very best to purchase, sell and trade in 2018. According to the Coinmarketcap, Ethereum is the most market capped crypto in the market after bitcoin.Recommended Exchange: Binance

VeChain

Based out of China, many consider VeChain to be one of the most under-rated cryptocurrencies in the market right now. This makes it an extremely attractive coin for investors in 2018.The company is headed by Sunny Liu who has been a C-level executive at several Fortune 500 companies in the past.As an Upcoming cryptocurrency project, VeChain’s basic aim is to develop supply chain solutions for Chinese corporates which will also help them in preventing counterfeiting.Why is Ve Chain future-proof Coin?Recommended Exchange: Binance

Ripple (XRP)

Backed by a company with the same name, Ripple has recently been in the news for its widespread adoption by several companies. Even reputed institutions like MIT now accept Ripple as a legitimate form of payment.Even a startup called Omni recently raised its Series C and D funding of USD 25m completely using Ripple rather than traditional currencies.Recommended Exchange: Binance

Litecoin (LTC)

• Started in 2011, Litecoin is modeled on the Bitcoin framework and was the idea of a Google employee named Charlie Lee. The USP of Litecoin is that it processes a block every 2.5 minutes thus making it a much faster means of processing transactions.Between November and December 2017, Litecoin saw a tremendous jump in its value and has made it one of the top cryptocurrencies in the world.Recommended Exchange: Binance

Dash 

Dash (which stands for Digital Cash) is an independent Next big Altcoin platform which started in 2015. With a market capitalization of USD 4.8bn, Dash handles close to USD 100m worth of transactions per day thus making it one of the world’s top cryptocurrencies.Recommended Exchange: Binance

Zcash (ZEC)

Zcash is one of the new promising entrants on the cryptocurrency scene and it’s recent spike in price stands restatement to its bright future. Started in 2016, ZCash is headed by  Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn who is the founder as well as the CEO.ZCash currently has 21 million coins in circulation and their payments are listed on a public blockchain. Zcash also provided users with the option of complete anonymity by masking details of transactions including the names of the payer as well as those of the recipient. However, unlike many other cryptocurrencies, Zcash allow users to receive a copy of the records of payments made by them.This is to enable individuals and corporations to comply effectively with money laundering and taxation laws while still being able to transact using a cryptocurrency.Recommended Exchange: Binance

IOTA (MIOTA)

Founded by David Sønstebø, Sergey Ivancheglo, Dominik Schiener, and Dr. Serguei Popov in 2015, IOTA is going to be among the most-talked-about cryptocurrencies in 2018. Thanks to its unique blockchain architecture, transactions made on IOTA are completely free regardless of the ticket size of the payment.This is an extremely useful feature especially for a cryptocurrency which aims to become a payment mode that’s adopted by startups and tech corporates alike.IOTA also operates the IOTA Foundation and has already tied up with companies like Deutsche Telekom, Fujitsu, and Microsoft. Considering all these factors, IOTA is among the cryptocurrencies to watch out for in 2018 as it aims to integrate itself better with mainstream payments. IOTA also aims to get heavily integrated into the Internet-of-Things (IOT) ecosystem so that’s another space worth watching out for.Recommended Exchange: Binance

Digibyte (DGB) 

Digibyte (DGB) has had a good year so far. The biggest development has been in terms of investor awareness. More than ever before, more people know about Digibyte (DGB).  This is mainly due to the shakeup of ICOs that has happened in the last 8 months, which were the main reason behind the crypto mad rush of 2017.  More investors are beginning to realize that not all projects that use the name blockchain actually have anything to do with its true essence of decentralization. That’s why true UTXO blockchains are now gaining in demand.Digibyte has also made some huge steps in terms of adoption. Today, a growing number of people in Venezuela are now using Digibyte for payments, due to the collapse of their national currency. The same thing is happening in Turkey.  A few weeks ago, when the Turkish currency started tumbling, Digibyte volumes shot up alongside those of Bitcoin (BTC).That’s a key indicator that people believe Digibyte can be a viable alternative to government controlled currency. This is a huge step, one that validates the usefulness of Digibyte (DGB) on the basis of its decentralization, and its community driven nature, which eliminates any possibility of it getting censored by any nation-state.This aspect to it is about to get better all thanks to the upcoming Digibyte Core v7.16.1 (Algo swap). The whole idea behind this hard fork is to make Digibyte friendlier to GPU miners, hence maintaining its decentralized nature.  By maintaining true decentralization, Digibyte (DGB) stands to gain more adoption as people turn to politically neutral money. Outside of its usage as a currency, Digibyte has made some huge strides in terms of adoption in cyber security.  It’s only a few days ago that Antum announced that they were integrating Digi-ID into their systems, a move that has been received quite well in the market.With such positive developments, the future for Digibyte (DGB) is without a doubt quite bright. Looking further in 2019, Digibyte will be launching Digibyte Core v7.17.1, which is aimed at incentivizing the community to participate more in DGB.   This will add to the awareness levels of Digibyte, further adding to its intrinsic value.  In essence for an investor looking for a crypto with an element of longevity and a strong intrinsic value to it, Digibyte is definitely the coin to watch. A return of positive sentiment in crypto, coupled with a higher level of adoption, could see it test $1 in the near-term

Recommended Exchange: Huobi

Stellar — XLM

Stellar’s goal is providing a fast, efficient, and inexpensive service to individuals for cross-border payments. Unlike XRP, Stellar is geared to individuals, not large institutions. Companies like Paypal currently dominate the online payment sector and charge around 5% in fees per transaction. In contrast, Stellar offers 5-second transaction speeds and nominal fees (e.g. the Tempo remittances dApp running on the Stellar blockchain can process 600,000 transactions for 0.01 USD). Importantly, Stellar is it does not use proof of work verification, which means it doesn’t have to deal with the energy consumption issue plaguing Bitcoin (instead of PoW it uses the Stellar Consensus Protocol). Finally, Stellar has established several partnerships with large tech companies, including IBM. I think Stellar represents a solid investment.Buy XLM on Kucoin or Binance

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https://medium.com/@Parampreet777/10-best-cryptocurrency-to-invest-in-2019-next-big-altcoins-366bde338497