The 10 Oldest Cryptocurrencies
We’re starting with the cryptocurrency that began the crypto we know today: Bitcoin ($BTC.X). Was Bitcoin the first cryptocurrency? Technically, no, we’d have to back to the 1980s – but we’re not going to start there.
Bitcoin
Year: 2009
Stocktwits Ticker: $BTC.X
Still around? Yes.
This one doesn’t need much of an introduction.
Hard to believe it’s been 13 years since Satoshi Nakamoto published his whitepaper: Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.
Litecoin
Year: 2011
Stocktwits Ticker: $LTC.X
Still around? Yes.
You don’t hear this comparison much anymore, but if Bitcoin is considered ‘digital gold,’ then Litecoin was once considered ‘digital silver.’
Litecoin was started by Charlie Lee, the same Charlie Lee who worked at Coinbase ($COIN) as their Director of Engineering until 2017ish. Litecoin was created to address concerns about how Bitcoin was mined: GPUs. Litecoin’s response was to develop mining done with CPUs. But a lot of things have changed since then.
Depending on who you talk to, some consider Litecoin as the first hard fork of Bitcoin.