Here's the some of the "elevator pitch" lines from the excellent article at https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/19/100-cryptocurrencies-described-in-4-words-or-less/
Bitcoin | BTC | Digital gold
Ethereum | ETH | Programmable contracts and money
Bitcoin Cash | BCH | Bitcoin clone
Ripple | XRP | Enterprise payment settlement network
Litecoin | LTC | Faster Bitcoin
Dash | DASH | Privacy-focused Bitcoin clone
NEO | NEO | Chinese-market Ethereum
NEM | XEM | Batteries-included digital assets
Monero | XMR | Private digital cash
Ethereum Classic| ETC | Ethereum clone
IOTA | MIOTA | Internet-of-things payments
Qtum | QTUM | Ethereum contracts on Bitcoin
OmiseGO | OMG | Banking, remittance, and exchange
Zcash | ZEC | Private digital cash
BitConnect | BCC | Madoff-like investment fund
There are more (100) --see the full list at https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/19/100-cryptocurrencies-described-in-4-words-or-less/