Bitcoin is the first ever digital currency built on a decentralized peer-to-peer network. This means transactions are processed without the need for a central authority (eg bank/government). Individuals can send bitcoins to each other using apps on their computer or smartphone. The innovative technology behind bitcoin is called blockchain. On bitcoin’s blockchain transactions are recorded to an immutable ledger. The potential for bitcoin to become a free market currency with no government restrictions has immense promise for the future.

Litecoin was created on October 7th, 2011 by former Google engineer Charlie Lee. The motivation behind its creation was to improve upon the bitcoin protocol. As a result, litecoin can handle a higher volume of transactions. Litecoin is much cheaper than bitcoin and has a significantly higher circulating supply. Where bitcoin will eventually have 21 million coins in circulation, Litecoin will have 84 million coins in circulation.

Ethereum is a second generation blockchain network which enables developers to write “smart contracts.” Ethereum’s smart contracts allow users to specify the conditions necessary for their transaction to take place. This applies to money, content, property, or any transmittable data. A group of  smart contracts working together form the blueprint for a decentralized application, or DApp. Ethereum’s value will continue to grow because of the enthusiastic community of developers creating DApps to democratize software.

Ripple is a payments protocol. Using ripple a company can make international payments instantly and at a very low cost. Ripple Labs has managed to become the leading blockchain technology provider in payment/settlement solutions for financial services companies.The most notable difference between ripple and other blockchains is ripple’s centralization. As a supplement to their network Ripple Labs created a cryptocurrency called xrp which can be used as an alternative to fiat currency for value transfer.