Bitcoin was the first blockchain. Everything else is an altcoin. This might be contentious, but for ease of understanding, that's the assumption I'm working with.
Blockchain technology is as revolutionary as the internet was in the 90's. With the advent of smart contracts and expanded block sizes, the usefulness of cryptocurrency has yet to be fully explored. There are plenty of contenders, as of January 16, 2018, there are 1,450 cryptocurrencies listed on Coin Market Cap. The number of companies that have grown in this digital space has boomed, beginning the ideal of Satoshi Nakamoto's white paper - disruption of established markets.
Here's a short list of crypto-business sectors:
Decentralized applications, or dApps, run on blockchain P2P networks, most using smart contracts. As I mentioned in a previous post, Ethereum built the first platform for these applications. A majority of the altcoins run on ETHs network and are called ERC20 tokens, collectively. There are wallets available that will hold them at the same address but keep them all separated.
Ethereum isn't the only application development chain, a few of the top 25 coins by market cap, have a backbone for creating a program to run on blockchain technology. These companies will drive the crypto-sphere forward by saturating the old markets with more flexible, reliable startups. The cost of starting an altcoin can be offset by planning an ICO, or Initial Coin Offering. Here these business' can raise funds, promote and compile data for the actual launch. Buying into an ICO is just like investing in a company, with one caveat. If the ICO fails or bails, you have no recourse to get your money back. No legal action is yet available for anyone who gets burned in a bad investment. So choose carefully.
