Bitcoins are so popular in the public consciousness that the word is widely believed to be almost synonymous with “cryptocurrency” and “blockchain”. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Bitcoin is only one of many cryptocurrencies that are available today. But bitcoin itself was the trendsetter that introduced cryptocurrencies as a feasible and legitimate digital currency.
Today, there are over 1,600 cryptocurrencies available and there is no reason for this number to stop growing. With so many options and variety out there, it is reasonable to ask if you should invest in Bitcoin and use this cryptocurrency for your digital payments and for that you need crypto platforms like Coinbase, Binance or wallets to secure your online currency, or are there better alternatives out there?
We will explore this question in this article.
What is Cryptocoin?
A crypto coin is a medium for an exchange like traditional currencies (USD, Pound, Yen), designed for exchanging digital information through principles of cryptography. While cryptography is mainly utilized to secure the transactions and control the production of fresh coins. In the world of crypto coins, Bitcoin holds the pride of being the first crypto coin ever. In addition to this, there are various other cryptocurrencies known as altcoins or alternative coins.
What is Cryptocurrency used for?
Cryptocurrency or digital currency has been widely adapted for conducting online transactions. The reason behind its popularity lies in the anonymity and protection it offers. The cryptocurrency uses decentralized control as opposed to traditional centralized banking systems.
2nd Biggest Hacking Attack on Bitcoin
Hong Kong-based digital asset and exchange Bitfinex has halted its exchange operations after discovering a major security breach in one of its biggest crypto-currency systems Bitcoin. The security breach involves the theft of 120,000 Bitcoin currency worth the US $72 million or more.
It’s still unclear that whether the hack was conducted within the premises of the company or the hackers were able to conduct attacks remotely. As soon as the news broke, bitcoin dropped its prices to $506 from $607. However, the number of victims are still unidentified and the official site of Bitfinex is down at the moment with the following message:
Bitfinex stands among the largest currency exchanges for the trading of digital currency including Bitcoin, ether, and litecoin. The company has confirmed that the attack is 2nd biggest security breach Bitcoin has ever encountered. Fortunately, not all hopes are down as Bitcoin alternatives are still available.
Alternatives For Bitcoin
Here’re the safest and reliable alternatives for Bitcoin for safe online transactions:
1. Litecoin
Litecoin holds the worth of being silver to Bitcoin’s gold. The currency system uses a similar protocol as bitcoin. Its popularity lies in the design that makes mining more economical and democratic than bitcoin. Litecoin works as a peer-to-peer digital currency that allows instant payment to anyone located across any corner of the world.
The payment network is open source and entirely decentralized with no central authorities in place. The payment system offers faster transactions, confirmation times, and better storage efficiency. It can be utilized as an effective alternative to Bitcoin.
2. Peercoin
Peercoin is acclaimed for being more environmentally sustainable than the majority of other digital currency providers in the market. The currency system has a brilliant 1 percent rate of inflation.
The peer coin holds its position by relying on the (POW) proof-of-work system in which miners have to solve hashes. In addition to this, Peercoin doesn’t offer a fixed upper limit of coins, therefore stands as an inflationary currency and a preferable Bitcoin alternative.
3. Namecoin
Namecoin prides itself on being the first folk of Bitcoin and stands among the most popular “altcoins”. Namecoin was the first digital currency system to impose a merged mining strategy and a decentralized DNS. The currency system provides a prime solution for Zooko’s Triangle and decentralized Domain Name System.
Namecoin was primarily created for record-keeping of cryptocurrency, but now it is widely used for peer-to-peer & DNS system for dot-bit domains. Users can get dot-bit domains using namecoin and then the company tracks the transaction using the “blockchain”.
4. QuarkCoin
QuarkCoin s one of the widely used “altcoin” or Bitcoin alternative. QuarkCoin provides robust security to financial transactions of privacy-conscious netizens. The hallmark of Quark’s strong privacy lies in the nine rounds of encryption that ensures reliable safety and anonymity to users’ tractions. Moreover, QuarkCoin uses CPU mining and doesn’t offer a hard cap on the number of total QRK, thus stands as a suitable bitcoin alternative.
5. Primecoin
Primecoin stands as an innovative digital currency, secured by cryptography and provided through a decentralized mining market. Primecoin offers strong security and minting to the network. In addition to this, a vital aspect that differs Primecoin from other altcoins is the mining which doesn’t include any hashes.
6. Novacoin
Novacoin is a division of Peercoin and works as a decentralized digital currency. The currency system uses an open-source peer-to-peer internet protocol and scrypt hashing for the POW system. Novacoin distinguishes itself from other altcoins with its maximum total supply of over 2 billion NVC, even though it’s uncommon to achieve this cap.
7. Feathercoin
Feathercoin replaces the traditional banking system by utilizing peer-to-peer technology for transactions. Feathercoin payments are fast, global, and safe with zero payment fees. The innovative digital currency system uses Advanced Checkpointing as a security measure intended to protect transactions against 51% of attacks. On top, Advanced Checkpointing is acclaimed to be the safest Bitcoin alternative that stops malicious reversing of cryptocurrency transactions.
Secure Your Online Transactions With a VPN
Hacking attempts on digital currency systems are increasing with the passage of time. We have witnessed a hacking incident where a PayPal account of a journalist was hacked and exploited to fund a banned militant organization.
While Bitcoin claims to be an anonymous and safe method for online transactions, user’s IP address can still be visible while making a Bitcoin account. The IP address can later help to reveal the actual location of a user.
To achieve top-notch protection for e-transactions, a Bitcoin VPN masks a user IP address with one that belongs to an overseas VPN server. This makes a user anonymous to the eyes of ISP, spy agencies, hackers, and even Bitcoin.
Conclusion
It isn’t the first time netizens have been struck with such a massive cyber attack. In 2014, Bitfinex faced a similar security breach where hackers forced the company into bankruptcy. The hack left Bitfinex with a loss of $650 million worth of Bitcoins.
Considering the threats to one’s data privacy, you should consider one of the alternatives that we have recommended above. In addition to these Bitcoin alternatives, you can also use a VPN as it is a one-stop solution for Supreme data confidentiality and secure financial transactions. With a VPN on your side, you will be able to perform safe, secure, and protected financial transactions with any of the Bitcoin alternatives.
