Looking at the vast amount of altcoins/tokens out there it's almost impossible to give each one time to properly research. That's why I have a fairly simple method to verify whether a coin is worth the time to research... before I understand how it works or how it will achieve its goal, I try to understand a simple question:
What problem does it solve?
Bitcoin
Problem it is aiming to solve: The world economy is too connected, and long term is unstable.
Bitcoin is a long-term investment vehicle separate from fiat based instruments; it's a disconnected USD hedge.
Ethereum
Problem it is aiming to solve: Shortest term: the need for a platform to issue ICO tokens (and sell them with smart contracts); mid term: legal contracts are inefficient; long term: AI overlords
Ripple
Problem it is aiming to solve: The banking system is disjointed and contains thousands of ledger systems spread across the world, it'd be better if they all were on the same ledger system; Market makers park insane amounts of capital to facilitate payments where on a more efficient system they wouldn't have to.
Connecting all payment systems on one ledger, providing a blockchain system for banks to use.
Litecoin
Problem: Originally ASIC miners pushing out GPU miners from Bitcoin, recently, all the drama in Bitcoin is making people look for a backup Bitcoin.
Ethereum Classic
Problem: Ethereum shouldn't modify the network to refund losses to those who create faulty code. Code is law.
Excellent article - thank you!
welcome)
here's my cheeky take:
bitcoin: designed to go up in value over time. solves problem of worldwide zero or negative real interest rates and poor risk return in traditional investments that are manipulated by central banks. also has cool peer-to-peer value transmission and distributed ledger functions.
ethereum: solves problem of hipster masses wanting to be cool yet totally missing the bitcoin boat when it first set sail in 2010. want in on a major cryptocurrency but not necessarily libertarian? ethereum might be the ticket. also solves the problems of bringing smart contracts and kickstarter/over-the-counter bulletin board type stock investments to crypto.
ripple: you are a major banking player and want to make a fortune off this new fangled crypto stuff. you may wish to leave your senior JP Morgan position and scale down to bank consulting and loybbyist work. you create the framework for ripple at a bar in Davos over a few cocktails and install a secret backdoor in the code that makes your future consulting firm indispensable. the XRP lockup period strategy is lifted straight from Bud who was the lead syndicate managing director of the Pets.com and Etoys IPOs in the nineties.
litecoin: solves the problem of how to get all sides to agree on a bitcoin testnet.
ethereum classic: you are a bitcoin maximalist and want to moon some more with this crazy ethereum stuff. after watching a million bitcoin clones go down, you realize that an immutable clone of ethereum with a similar name is a winner. who wouldn't instantly remember that Coke Classic is superior to New Coke?