There are dozens of different cryptocurrencies, ranging from Bitcoin and Ethereum to Dogecoin and Tether, which might be confusing when you’re just starting in cryptocurrency. These are the top five cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization, or the total value of all coins presently in circulation, to help you start.
Because of the rule of supply and demand, market capitalization statistics are constantly changing. The values in the list below are for March 22, 2022, thus approximations.
Following each cryptocurrency, such as BTC, the acronym refers to its ticker symbol, which serves as a form of identification for trading reasons.
1. Bitcoin (BTC)—Market capitalization—$880 billion
Bitcoin (BTC) was the first cryptocurrency, developed in 2009 under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. BTC, like other cryptocurrencies, is based on a blockchain, which is a ledger that records transactions over a network of thousands of computers.
Because modifications to distributed…