When most people think about buying a cryptocurrency, it is usually to sell or trade for a profit later. Often people read up and research a coin for its potential as an investment. The reality is that there are loads of practical uses to buy a coin that goes beyond its ability to make you money at some point in the future.
The beauty of the blockchain is that the technology has evolved to the point that it can be used to make payments, build apps and an assortment of other uses. The Internet of Things, for example has been modified and improved by moving many of the systems to the blockchain which has streamlined logistics in a big way.
In this article, we will take a look at how some of the coins can be used besides just to invest or trade in.
Table of Contents
1 – Ripple
The original intent for the creation of cryptocurrency was to offer a decentralized ledger for transaction. Which means that banks would be cut out of the process and there would be no need for a centralized authority. A purely democratic or even anarchic way of treating finance.
Ironically, one of the most useful coins to have been created is Ripple which is the crypto coin of choice for the actual banking institutions themselves. Banks can now use Ripple for international payments to move money around the world without it needing to go through a central trading hub that charges commission andis a slow process.
Banks can now quickly and economically do their international trading. Because of this, Ripple value is usually growing and very stable so it is a good coin to invest in if you are looking for opportunities. Take a look at the recent ticker for XRP to BTC exchange rates and you can see that it is a good coin to own.
2 – Ethereum
Probably the most useful coin on the market right now is Ethereum due to the unique nature of its blockchain.
The hashes or blocks contain smart contracts which can store all kinds of data besides just the transaction when using a coin. For instance, actual contracts can be stored there as well as things like important data, assets and even digitized artwork. This eliminates the need for things like a notary or a bank to act as a third party to validate any of these types of transactions. Because of this, lots of companies have used the Ethereum blockchain to streamline their operations.
The other benefit is that applications can be created on the blockchain that also don’t need to be hosted on a server somewhere with weak security. Developers love using the Ethereum blockchain for its immutability when it comes to securely creating an app.
3 – Monero
Bitcoin is often hailed as an anonymous currency that allows a user to maintain privacy, but this is only partially true. At best it is pseudo anonymous. Which is why Monero was created in 2014.
The creators wanted a truly, 100% anonymous way to send money or make purchases and still without needing to put your personal information out there. Though this can be seen as a way to skirt some laws, its function is to allow people to not need to give their personal information to a bank or organization with weak privacy systems in place.
*This article has been contributed on behalf of Paxful. However, the information provided herein is not and is not intended to be, investment, financial, or other advice.
