What are altcoins?

[Ryan]

 

[Brandon]

Hi Ryan,

Altcoins are other cryptocurrencies that came up after Bitcoin was successful.  By 2020 there were over 5000 altcoins. They are termed as a better and an alternative option to Bitcoins. When Bitcoin became successful as a peer-to-peer digital currency, it leads to the invention of the other cryptocurrencies.
An altcoin needs to be better in many ways so that it can have better popularity and broader usage than Bitcoin.
Most altcoins mimic how Bitcoin operates. The costs of transacting with the altcoins are usually smaller and efficient compared to Bitcoin.
Altcoins came up in various categories, such as stablecoins, mining-based cryptos, security, and utility tokens. 
Mining-based cryptocurrencies generate coins by tackling challenging problems related to the unlock blocks. An example of an altcoin is Ethereum. These cryptocurrencies are more like Bitcoins as against other altcoins.
Security tokens mimic traditional stocks. You can get some dividend payments for owning security tokens.
Utility tokens are sold as an initial coin offering (ICO). Filecoin is an example of a utility token.
Stablecoins mainly aim at being less volatile than Bitcoin. The coins' value is, therefore, tied to existing currencies. Libra is the most popularly known altcoin.