Quantity of cryptocurrencies as of December 9, 2024

How many cryptocurrencies are there? In short, there were over 9,000 as of 2023, although there were many more digital coins in the early months of 2022. Note, however, that a large portion of cryptocurrencies might not be that significant. There are other estimates of roughly 20,000 cryptocurrencies existing, but most of these are either inactive or discontinued. Due to how open the creation process of a cryptocurrency is, it is relatively easy to make one. Indeed, the top 20 cryptocurrencies make up nearly 90 percent of the total market. Why are there thousands of cryptocurrencies?Any private individual or company that knows how to write a program on a blockchain can technically create a cryptocurrency. That blockchain can be an existing one. Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain are popular blockchain platforms for such ends, including smart contracts within Decentralized Finance (DeFi). The ease of crypto creation allows some individuals to find solutions to real-world payment problems while others hope to make a quick profit. This explains why some crypto lack utility. Meme coins such as Dogecoin - named after a Japanese dog species - are an infamous example, with Dogecoin's creator coming out and stating the coin started as a joke. The many different types of cryptocurrencyMeme coins are but one group of cryptocurrencies. Other types include altcoins, utility tokens, governance tokens, and stablecoins. Altcoins are often measured against Bitcoin, as this refers to all crypto that followed after Bitcoin - the first digital currency ever created. Utility tokens and governance tokens are somewhat connected to NFTs and the metaverse. A specific example is the MANA cryptocurrency, which allows real estate purchases in the Decentraland metaverse. Stablecoins refer to the likes of Tether, which are pegged to a real-world asset like the U.S. dollar. Such coins are meant to be less volatile than regular cryptocurrency.

当前加密货币的种类繁多，截至2023年，数量已超过9,000种，尽管在2022年初的几个月内，数字货币的数量更为庞大。然而，值得注意的是，大量加密货币可能并不具备显著意义。据其他估计，存在大约20,000种加密货币，但其中大多数要么处于非活跃状态，要么已经停止运营。由于加密货币的创建过程相对开放，因此制作一种加密货币相对容易。确实，前20种加密货币占据了近90%的市场份额。为何存在如此众多的加密货币？任何懂得如何编写区块链程序的个人或公司都可以从技术上创建一种加密货币。这样的区块链可以是现有的。以太坊和币安智能链是创建加密货币时常用的区块链平台，它们还包括了去中心化金融（DeFi）中的智能合约。加密货币创造的便捷性使得一些人能够找到解决现实世界支付问题的方案，而其他人则希望迅速获利。这解释了为何某些加密货币缺乏实用性。以狗狗币（Dogecoin）为例，这种以日本犬种命名的加密货币臭名昭著，其创造者曾公开表示，这种货币最初只是一个玩笑。加密货币的种类繁多，除了梗币之外，还包括替代币、实用代币、治理代币和稳定币。替代币通常与比特币进行比较，因为比特币是第一种被创造出的数字货币，所有在比特币之后出现的加密货币都被视为替代币。实用代币和治理代币与NFT和元宇宙有着某种联系。例如，MANA加密货币允许在Decentraland元宇宙中进行房地产购买。稳定币，如泰达币（Tether），与真实世界的资产挂钩，如美元，旨在降低与传统加密货币相比的波动性。