The first cryptocurrency is Bitcoin. Bitcoin was created in 2009 by a pseudonym developer named Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin uses SHA-256, which is a cryptographic hash function designed by the US National Security Agency. Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency based on evidence-system work.
In April 2011, Namecoin, the first altcoin, was created to establish a decentralized DNS to make Internet censorship more difficult. In October 2011, litecoin was released and became the first successful cryptocurrency to use scrypt as a hash function instead of SHA-256. This gives the community the ability to mine litecoins without purchasing certain hardware such as ASIC machines that are typically used to mine Bitcoin.
Litecoin began receiving media attention in late 2013 - reaching a market capitalization of $ 1 billion. Ripplecoin, created in 2011, is built on the same protocol as Bitcoin but the service as a payment system - think of it as Paypal for cryptocurrencies that support fiat currencies, 
