There were an estimated 900 known cryptocurrencies available on the internet in July 2017, but less than a dozen of them are widely known. Out of that dozen, only a handful are used on a large basis.

Most cryptocurrencies are not widely used; because they are experiments created by hobbyists, companies and in some cases companies or institutions.

Despite that there are a few altcoins which have taken off and found largescale acceptance.

Five of those widely used cryptocoins are Monero, Zcash, DASH, PVIX and Cloakcoin. There are some other cryptocurrencies such as Zencash, ZClassic, and ZCoin that are also simliar to Zcash though as of time of this writing, much less known.Some of these coins can be mined on the cloud, and many of them are being accepted by some retailers and exchanges. There is also a possibility that some of these coins will go mainstream because of new technology.

TenX a Singapore company; that is creating a mobile wallet and debit-card solution for altcoins, has created a wallet that can convert Dash into fiat currencies such as dollars, Euros or pounds. A video at TenX’s website even shows one of its cofounders purchasing burgers with DASH at McDonald’s.

DASH has also come up with their own solution for using Dash in the real world by offering their own Dash debit card. You can load it this card with Dash and spend it wherever you might use a debit/credit card.

Because we finally have a couple viable methods for using privacy cryptos to BUY things in the real world, this means that crypto is closer to mainstream.Even if you never use them or invest in those altcoins you should have an understanding of the new varieties of digital cash coming your way.

Even if you never use them or invest in those altcoins you should have an understanding of the new varieties of digital cash coming your way.

What is Monero?

Monero or XMR is a next-generation cryptocurrency that has been around since 2014. The big difference between Monero and bitcoin; is that it employs a different encryption technology called CryptoNote.

Basically Monero was designed to be a more secure and more private altcoin than others on the market. Its’ creators built a variety of tricks designed to enhance both privacy into security into Monero including; ring signatures and stealth addresses. These features are supposed to make it harder for somebody to identify and track Monero users.

Another way that Monero tries to keep transactions and users’ identities, a secret is to mix coins up in an attempt to confuse observers. These features were partially designed by academics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Weizmann Institute.

An interesting feature about Monero is that a user can choose to keep his or her identity secret or choose to reveal it. One way this done is by creating separate addresses through each transaction and not tracking every coin as with bitcoin.

The big drawback to Monero is that it is not widely traded or accepted. If you want to buy and sell with Monero you will have to convert it into bitcoin or fiat currency. Monero is not traded on major exchanges or tracked by Coinbase, but you can mine it through Genesis Mining, and trade it through lesser exchanges like Kraken.

Despite that Monero is worth something it was trading at $46.71 on August 13, 2017. That is a very respectable price for a lesser cryptocurrency.

If you are wondering what Monero means, it is the word for coin in the made up language Esperanto. Monero was launched back in 2014 as BitMonero and was a variant of an older altcoin called Bytecoin.

What is Zcash?

Like Monero Zcash; also known as ZEC or Zero Cash, was designed to provide a higher level of security and privacy than other cryptocurrenices. Zcash’s creators; the Zerocoin Electric Coin Company (ZECC), goal was to create a fungible altcoin.

When an item or commodity or fungible it is completely interchangeable; that means any Zcash coin can take the place of any other. The idea is to make coins harder to track by confusing the trackers. The hope is that the tracker will not be able to tell coins apart and identify their owners.

An interesting difference between Zcash and some altcoins is that we know the identities of its creators. You can even contact ZECC through their website. Despite that Zcash is an open-sourced technology which means anybody can fool around with it if they wish.

The problem with Zcash is that it is not that widely mined or accepted. There is almost nothing that you can buy with and you can only use it to make a few transactions such as donations to Wikipedia.

Even though it is not that well known, Zcash is rather valuable it was trading at $212.21 apiece on August 13, 2017. That makes a pretty good investment for a coin that is not widely traded.

What is DASH?

DASH the cryptocurrency formerly known as Xcoin or Darkcoin, has a very sleazy reputation because of its association with the Darkweb. The Darkweb is a section of the internet often used by bad people; including criminals, terrorists and sexual predators, in an attempt to get around the law.

Today DASH has been branded as “digital cash” and its’ creators are trying to reach a mass audience. Unlike Zcash or Monero, DASH is accepted by some legitimate merchants including the Misconduct Wine Company. Australians can even pay bills on it using something called Living Room of Satoshi.

You can even get a DASH-Visa card and Android app from Shakepay which means this cryptocurrency is closer to the mainstream than you might think. Shakepay’s app is designed to convert DASH into US dollars or Euros If that was not enough DASH is one of the cryptocurrencies converted by the Singapore based wallet TenX.

TenX has developed a mobile payment app and a debit card that can convert DASH into fiat currencies; such as dollars. As we noted above TenX’s employees have successfully tested DASH payment at McDonald’s.

Therefore if any of these currencies goes mainstream it might be DASH. The big drawback to DASH is its’ association with the Darkweb. Persons using it might get placed under surveillance by law enforcement or intelligence agencies that are trying to track or identify bad guys. Despite that DASH is more valuable because you can actually use it to buy real stuff in the real world.

Despite its’ slimy past DASH has a good reputation with investors, it was trading at $198.02 on August 13, 2017, P_Research reported. There were also around 7.49 million DASH coins in circulation on that day.

What is PIVX?

PIVX stands for Private Instant Verified Transaction; like the other altcoins here it is an attempt to create a high-secure and very-private open-sourced cryptocurrency.

PIVX was created and is maintained by a community that is trying to build a global payments network. One major difference between PIVX or X is that its creators are more idealistic than some of their more materialistic competitors.

Their goal is to create an open sourced community rather than a market place. The creators even posted a Manifesto online stating their ideology on line and have created a road map of goals.

Long term goals for PIVX include lending; a chat or message system, and compatibility with other altcoins including bitcoin and Zerocoin. Like the DASH group the PVIX team had to rebrand its project; it was originally called Darknet or DNET but they changed the name.

PIVX is a very new cryptocurrency it launched in 2016, but its creators have made some impressive progress. It possible to buy apps through GitHub with it, but there are few other places where it can be used. Nor does it appear to be traded on any major exchanges yet. One of the few advantages of PIVX is that is very cheap, it was trading at $2.02 a piece on August 12, 2017.

What is CloakCoin?

CloakCoin or CLOAK; introduced in 2014, is a digital currency designed to provide total privacy for its users.

The major difference between CloakCoin; and other altcoin is that there are number of added layers of security. Among other things, the CloakCoin creators claim that their wallets cannot be penetrated because of these added precautions. The most interesting of these is offline “coin-mixing;” which is designed to confuse hackers.

There’s also a lot of extra encoding to make the system even secure. Beyond that, there’s a transaction system called Enigma, which is supposed to guarantee equality and interchangeability. Enigma also adds a high layer of fungibility designed to make tracking of CloakCoan impossible.

Unfortunately, all that has not done too much for CloakCoin’s price; it was trading at $5.24 a unit on August 12, 2017, better than PIVX, P Research reported. Nor is it widely accepted; there were only around 5 million CLOAK units in circulation on August 12, 2017.

One reason for that is, CloakCoin is not widely accepted. There do not seem to be any CloakCoin Visas available and few merchants take the currency (in fact, none that we are aware of). If you want to make purchases with CloakCoin funds you will have to convert it into Bitcoin, ethereum or a fiat currency.

The only places that appear to take CLOAK payments right now are the Cryptoside online casino, and a number of online retailers listed at the CloakCoin website. CloakCoin can also apparently be used at least some of the retailers listed on the BlockPay website. Unfortunately, it is not clear how many of these retailers will accept CloakCoin.

So which Currency is Best?

Three of these lesser altcoins; DASH, Zcash, and Monero are pretty good investments, but only one of them is likely to become widely used.

Unlike the others, DASH may be on the verge of breaking through to the mainstream because it is being integrated with Visa or MasterCard debit cards; like those from TenX and Shakepay. As we noted above, TenX has even figured out to instantly convert DASH for use in retail transactions.

There is currently one plastic Visa debit card that converts DASH into US dollars and Euros on the market right now. It is the Shakepay Visa which will cost you $15 or €15 but can be used in 130 countries or at one of 2.6 million ATMs or 44 million merchants worldwide. The company behind Shakepay, Shake Labs, claims it will ship the cards to 130 countries.

Shake and TenX are taking DASH one step closer to mainstream acceptance. That will make it more valuable and possibly a viable competitor to coins like Litecoin and Ethereum.

The Best Privacy Cryptocurrency?

There’s a heated debate about which cryptocurrency offers the most privacy.

  • Dash is the least secure, but also the most mainstream (and easily spendable as a currency at this point with the Dash debit card, Tenx card, etc).
  • Zcash is a popular coin, but it doesn’t necessarly completely hide your tracks. Rumors are that the coin gives backdoor access to government agencies. However, this is a strond development team behind Zcash dedicated to getting this coin mainstream.
  • Monero is one of the better privacy coins in that it offers true anonymity and is run by a community. However, it’s not widely accepted as a currency outside of hardcore ‘darkweb’ marketplaces. The coin value also seems more stable than Zcash.
  • PIVX is an interesting coin, but is still being developed.
  • Cloakcoin makes claimsm of being the best privacy coin for those who want to completely stay off the radar and hide their tracks. However, it’s not yet used as a spendable currency outside of trading exchanges. However, if we wanted to put our money on a truely private coin, we say Cloakcoin is the best right now.
  • Zencash claims to be a better version of Zcash, which from what we looked at does seem to be the case. It’s still in early days though.

Then there are some other privacy coins like Verge, Komodo, ZClassic, Zoin, Zcoin, though these are all less widely known than the ones talked about above.

For now, based on our research, CloakCoin gives the most privacy of all the coins. However, it’s not a mainstream coin yet.

The Big Problem Zcash, Monero, CloakCoin and PVIX

There is a big drawback to Zcash, Monero, CloakCoin and PVIX which might stop them from going mainstream and becoming widely held investments. At the present moment, real people are not able to buy real stuff in the real world with them.

This is a huge barrier to adoption because nobody can use those altcoins to buy groceries, fill the gas tank, or buy lunch. That means such coins are only of value to most people as investments and little else.

A person that wants to hedge against inflation; that is to protect the buying power of his or her cash, will not touch them. Nor will somebody that wants or needs a secure means of moving funds around touch them.

The reason why bitcoin’s value has shot up to such astronomic heights is that real people can use it do all sorts of everyday stuff. Currently, a person can buy a computer from Dell, order software from Microsoft, purchase a wide variety of gift cards, buy stuff from Overstock.com, and even buy electronics from Newegg with bitcoin.

There are also a wide variety of Bitcoin Visa debit and gift cards available. Some of which can be used to make general purchases on and off line.

Therefore if you plan to buy one of these currencies right now, buy DASH. It has the most potential value and you might soon be able to use it offline.

Why Debit Cards and Payment Apps are the Key to Altcoin Value

There is one probable even that has the potential to greatly increase the value of all four of these cryptocurrencies. The event is the appearance of debit or credit cards and mobile payments that automatically convert a variety of cryptocurrencies into fiat currencies.

Since TenX, Omisigo, Monaco, and Tokencard are testing (and as of the time of this Article, TenX solution is live on the market and works), it is probably only a matter of time before they become widespread.

When such payment instruments become commonplace they will boost the value of the cryptocurrencies they convert.

If DASH, Monero, Zcash, PIVX and CloakCoin are converted by those apps those currencies will go mainstream and greatly increase in value. Until that happens; all four of these altcoins are basically interesting investments.

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