What are Cryptos
Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrency) defines a cryptocurrency as follows:
A cryptocurrency (or crypto currency) is a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange that uses strong cryptography to secure financial transactions, control the creation of additional units, and verify the transfer of assets. Cryptocurrencies use decentralized control as opposed to centralized digital currency and central banking systems. The decentralized control of each cryptocurrency works through distributed ledger technology, typically a blockchain, that serves as a public financial transaction database.
Bitcoin, first released as open-source software in 2009, is generally considered the first decentralized cryptocurrency. Since the release of bitcoin, over 4,000 altcoins (alternative variants of bitcoin, or other cryptocurrencies) have been created.
In the mainstream media, cryptos (mostly bitcoin) are presented as nebulous and pure speculative objects. They mostly report during the cyclical bear markets and often take the associated discounts as proof that the cryptos is nothing but a bubble. These fears are completely unjustified, because a bubble is a single cycle with a strong rise and a just as strong descent. And that was it. The crypto market had not only one short cycle, but has existed for more than 10 years now, and there have already been four cycles during that time, with each cycle producing a tremendous overall development. Therefore one can not talk about a bubble in any way. The reason for this long-term and impressive development lies in the enormous potential of the cryptos to facilitate and improve much in the future. In the following colored fields some examples are listed (source: coinmarketcap.com)
Bitcoin (BTC) would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.
Source: coinmarketcap.com
IOTA (IOTA) is a distributed ledger for the Internet of Things that uses a directed acyclic graph (DAG) instead of a conventional blockchain. Its quantum-proof protocol, Tangle, reportedly brings benefits like 'zero fees, infinite scalability, fast transactions, and secure data transfer'. The IOTA Tangle is a Directed Acyclic Graph which has no fees on transactions and no fixed limit on how many transactions can be confirmed per second in the network; instead, the throughput grows in conjunction with activity in the network; i.e., the more activity, the faster the network.
Source: coinmarketcap.com
Ethereum is the pioneer for blockchain based smart contracts. When running on the blockchain a smart contract becomes like a self-operating computer program that automatically executes when specific conditions are met. On the blockchain, smart contracts allow for code to be run exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third-party interference.
Source: coinmarketcap.com
Ripple (XRP) is an independent digital asset that is native to the Ripple Consensus Ledger. With proven governance and the fastest transaction confirmation of its kind, XRP is said to be the most efficient settlement option for financial institutions and liquidity providers seeking global reach, accessibility and fast settlement finality for interbank flows.
Source: coinmarketcap.com
Cardano is developing a smart contract platform which seeks to deliver more advanced features than any protocol previously developed. The development team consists of a large global collective of expert engineers and researchers. The protocol reportedly features a layered blockchain software stack that is flexible, scalable, and is being developed with the most rigorous academic and commercial software standards in the industry.
Source: coinmarketcap.com
TRON (TRX) strives to build the future of a truly decentralized internet and global free content entertainment system that utilizes blockchain technology. The TRON Protocol represents the architecture of an operating system based on the blockchain which could enable developers to create smart contracts and decentralized applications, freely publish, own, and store data and other content.
Source: coinmarketcap.com