Technology

Comparing Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Other Cryptos

Published

4 years ago

September 13, 2017

Jeff Desjardins

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Comparing Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Other Cryptos

View the high resolution version of today’s graphic by clicking here.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’re probably aware that we’re in the middle of a cryptocurrency explosion. In one year, the value of all currencies increased a staggering 1,466% – and newer coins like Ethereum have even joined Bitcoin in gaining some mainstream acceptance.

And while people like Jamie Dimon of J.P. Morgan and famed value investor Howard Marks have been extremely critical of cryptocurrencies as of late, many other investors are continuing to ride the wave. As we’ve noted in the past, the possible effects of the blockchain cannot be understated, and it could even change the backbone of how financial markets work.

However, even with the excitement and action that comes with the space, a major problem still exists for the layman: it’s really challenging to decipher the differences between cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin, Ripple, and Dash.

For this reason, we worked with social trading network eToro to come up with an infographic that breaks down the major differences between these coins all in one place.

A Description of Major Coins

Here are descriptions of the major cryptocurrencies, which make up 84% of the coin universe.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency, and was released as open-source software in 2009. Using a new distributed ledger known as the blockchain, the Bitcoin protocol allows for users to make peer-to-peer transactions using digital currency while avoiding the “double spending” problem.

No central authority or server verifies transactions, and instead the legitimacy of a payment is determined by the decentralized network itself.

Bottom Line: Bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency with the most liquidity and significant network effects. It also has brand name recognition around the world, with an eight-year track record.

Litecoin

Litecoin was launched in 2011 as an early alternative to Bitcoin. Around this time, increasingly specialized and expensive hardware was needed to mine bitcoins, making it hard for regular people to get in on the action. Litecoin’s algorithm was an attempt to even the playing field so that anyone with a regular computer could take part in the network.

Bottom Line: Other altcoins have taken away some of Litecoin’s market share, but it still has an early mover advantage and some strong network effects.

Ripple

Ripple is considerably different from Bitcoin. That’s because Ripple is essentially a global settlement network for other currencies such as USD, Bitcoin, EUR, GBP, or any other units of value (i.e. frequent flier miles, commodities).

To make any such a settlement, however, a tiny fee must be paid in XRP (Ripple’s native tokens) – and these are what trade on cryptocurrency markets.

Bottom Line: Ripple runs on many of the same principles of Bitcoin, but for a different purpose: to serve as the middleman for all global FX transactions. If it can successfully capture that market, the potential is high.

Ethereum:

Ethereum is an open software platform based on blockchain technology that enables developers to build and deploy decentralized applications.

In the Ethereum blockchain, instead of mining for bitcoin, miners work to earn ether, a type of crypto token that fuels the network. Beyond a tradeable cryptocurrency, ether is also used by application developers to pay for transaction fees and services on the Ethereum network.

Bottom Line: Ethereum serves a different purpose than other cryptocurrencies, but it has quickly grown to displace all but Bitcoin in value. Some experts are so bullish on Ethereum that they even see it becoming the world’s top cryptocurrency in just a short span of time – but only time will tell.

Ethereum Classic:

In 2016, the Ethereum community faced a difficult decision: The DAO, a venture capital firm built on top of the Ethereum platform, had $50 million in ether stolen from it through a security vulnerability.

The majority of the Ethereum community decided to help The DAO by “hard forking” the currency, and then changing the blockchain to return the stolen proceeds back to The DAO. The minority thought this idea violated the key foundation of immutability that the blockchain was designed around, and kept the original Ethereum blockchain the way it was. Hence, the “Classic” label.

Bottom Line: As time goes on, Ethereum Classic has been carving out a separate identity from its bigger sibling. With similar capabilities and a different set of principles, Ethereum Classic could still have upside.

Dash:

Dash is an attempt to improve on Bitcoin in two main areas: speed of transactions, and anonymity. To do this, it has a two-tier architecture with miners and also “masternodes” that help the network perform advanced functions such as near-instant transactions and coin-mixing to provide additional privacy.

Bottom Line: The innovations behind Dash are interesting, and could help to make the coin more consumer-friendly than other alternatives.

Bonus: Bitcoin Cash

Although not included in the graphic, we also wanted to add a quick word on Bitcoin Cash. This new currency “hard forked” from Bitcoin about a month ago, as a result of miner disagreements about the future of Bitcoin. Here’s a detailed summary of the announcement.

Related Topics:bitcoin cryptocurrency ethereum litecoin crypto dash

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Technology

Apple’s Colossal Market Cap as it Hits $3 Trillion

Apple’s market cap recently hit $3 trillion. To put that scale into context, this visualization compares Apple to European indexes.

Creator Program

Published

6 days ago

January 10, 2022

Nick Routley

Apple’s Colossal Market Cap in Context

In January of 2019, Apple’s market capitalization stood at $700 billion.

While this was perceived as a colossal figure at the time, when we fast forward to today, that valuation seems a lot more modest. Since then, Apple has surged to touch a $3 trillion valuation on January 3rd, 2022.

To gauge just how monstrous of a figure this is, consider that Apple is no longer comparable to just companies, but to countries and even entire stock indexes. This animation from James Eagle ranks the growth in Apple’s market cap alongside top indexes from the UK, France, and Germany.

Let’s take a closer look.

Apple Takes On Europe

The three indexes Apple is compared to are heavyweights in their own right.

The FTSE 100 consists of giants like HSBC and vaccine producer AstraZeneca, while the CAC 40 Index is home to LVMH, which made Bernard Arnault the richest man in the world for a period of time last year.

Nonetheless, Apple’s market cap exceeds that of the 100 companies in the FTSE, as well as the 40 in each of the CAC and DAX indexes.

Stock/Index	Market Cap ($T)	Country of Origin
Apple	$3.00T	🇺🇸
FTSE 100	$2.90T	🇬🇧
CAC 40 Index	$2.76T	🇫🇷
DAX 40 (Dax 30) Index*	$2.50T	🇩🇪

*Germany’s flagship DAX Index expanded from 30 to 40 constituents in September 2021.

It’s important to note, that while Apple’s growth is stellar, European companies have simultaneously seen a decline in their share of the overall global stock market, which helps make these comparisons even more eye-catching.

For example, before 2005, publicly-traded European companies represented almost 30% of global stock market capitalization, but those figures have been cut in half to just 15% today.

Here are some other approaches to measure Apple’s dominance.

Apple’s Revenue Per Minute vs Other Tech Giants

Stepping away from market capitalization, another unique way to measure Apple’s success is in how much sales they generate on a per minute basis. In doing so, we see that they generate a massive $848,090 per minute.

Here’s how Apple revenue per minute compares to other Big Tech giants:

Company	Revenue Per Minute
Amazon	$955,517
Apple	$848,090
Alphabet (Google)	$433,014
Microsoft	$327,823
Facebook	$213,628
Tesla	$81,766
Netflix	$50,566

Furthermore, Apple’s profits aren’t too shabby either: their $20.5 billion in net income last quarter equates to $156,000 in profits per minute.

How Apple Compares To Countries

Lastly, we can compare Apple’s market cap to the GDP of countries.

Country (excluding Apple)	Total Value ($T)
Apple	$3.0T
Italy	$2.0T
Brazil	$1.8T
Canada	$1.7T
Russia	$1.7T
South Korea	$1.6T
Australia	$1.4T
Spain	$1.4T
Mexico	$1.3T
Indonesia	$1.1T

What might be most impressive here is that Apple’s market cap eclipses the GDP of major developed economies, such as Canada and Australia. That means the company is more valuable than the entire economic production of these countries in a calendar year.

That’s some serious scale.

Technology

Companies Gone Public in 2021: Visualizing IPO Valuations

Tracking the companies that have gone public in 2021, their valuation, and how they did it.

Published

1 week ago

January 7, 2022

Omri Wallach

Companies Gone Public in 2021: Visualizing Valuations

Despite its many tumultuous turns, last year was a productive year for global markets, and companies going public in 2021 benefited.

From much-hyped tech initial public offerings (IPOs) to food and healthcare services, many companies with already large followings have gone public this year. Some were supposed to go public in 2020 but got delayed due to the pandemic, and others saw the opportunity to take advantage of a strong current market.

This graphic measures 68 companies that have gone public in 2021 — including IPOs, SPACs, and Direct Listings—as well as their subsequent valuations after listing.

Who’s Gone Public in 2021?

Historically, companies that wanted to go public employed one main method above others: the initial public offering (IPO).

But companies going public today readily choose from one of three different options, depending on market situations, associated costs, and shareholder preference:

Initial Public Offering (IPO): A private company creates new shares which are underwritten by a financial organization and sold to the public.
Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC): A separate company with no operations is created strictly to raise capital to acquire the company going public. SPACs are the fastest method of going public, and have become popular in recent years.
Direct Listing: A private company enters a market with only existing, outstanding shares being traded and no new shares created. The cost is lower than that of an IPO, since no fees need to be paid for underwriting.

The majority of companies going public in 2021 chose the IPO route, but some of the biggest valuations resulted from direct listings.

Listing Date	Company	Valuation ($B)	Listing Type
08-Jan-21	Clover Health	$7.0	SPAC
13-Jan-21	Affirm	$11.9	IPO
13-Jan-21	Billtrust	$1.3	SPAC
14-Jan-21	Poshmark	$3.0	IPO
15-Jan-21	Playtika	$11.0	IPO
21-Jan-21	Hims and Hers Health	$1.6	SPAC
28-Jan-21	Qualtrics	$15.0	IPO
09-Feb-21	Metromile	-	SPAC
11-Feb-21	Bumble	$8.2	IPO
26-Feb-21	ChargePoint Holdings	-	SPAC
03-Mar-21	Oscar Health	$7.9	IPO
10-Mar-21	Roblox	$30.0	Direct Listing
11-Mar-21	Coupang	$60.0	IPO
23-Mar-21	DigitalOcean	$5.0	IPO
25-Mar-21	VIZIO	$3.9	IPO
26-Mar-21	ThredUp	$1.3	IPO
31-Mar-21	Coursera	$4.3	IPO
01-Apr-21	Compass	$8.0	IPO
14-Apr-21	Coinbase	$86.0	Direct Listing
15-Apr-21	AppLovin	$28.6	IPO
21-Apr-21	UiPath	$35.0	IPO
21-Apr-21	DoubleVerify	$4.2	IPO
05-May-21	The Honest Company	$1.4	IPO
07-May-21	Lightning eMotors	$0.82	SPAC
07-May-21	Blade Air Mobility	$0.83	SPAC
19-May-21	Squarespace	$7.4	Direct Listing
19-May-21	Procore	$9.6	IPO
19-May-21	Oatly	$10.0	IPO
26-May-21	ZipRecruiter	$2.4	Direct Listing
26-May-21	FIGS	$4.4	IPO
01-Jun-21	SoFi	$8.7	SPAC
02-Jun-21	BarkBox	$1.6	SPAC
08-Jun-21	Marqueta	$15.0	IPO
10-Jun-21	Monday.com	$7.5	IPO
16-Jun-21	WalkMe	$2.5	IPO
22-Jun-21	Sprinklr	$3.7	IPO
24-Jun-21	Confluent	$9.1	IPO
29-Jun-21	Clear	$4.5	IPO
30-Jun-21	SentinelOne	$10.0	IPO
30-Jun-21	LegalZoom	$7.0	IPO
30-Jun-21	Didi Chuxing	$73.0	IPO
16-Jul-21	Blend	$4	IPO
21-Jul-21	Kaltura	$1.24	IPO
21-Jul-21	DISCO	$2.5	IPO
21-Jul-21	Couchbase	$1.4	IPO
23-Jul-21	Vtex	$3.5	IPO
23-Jul-21	Outbrain	$1.1	IPO
28-Jul-21	Duolingo	$3.7	IPO
28-Jul-21	Riskified	$3.3	IPO
29-Jul-21	Robinhood	$32.0	IPO
22-Sep-21	Toast	$22.0	IPO
22-Sep-21	Freshworks	$10.1	IPO
23-Sep-21	Remitly	$6.9	IPO
28-Sep-21	Amplitude	$6.4	Direct Listing
29-Sep-21	Warby Parker	$6.0	Direct Listing
14-Oct-21	GitLab	$11.0	IPO
27-Oct-21	Rent the Runway	$1.7	IPO
29-Oct-21	Udemy	$4.0	IPO
03-Nov-21	Allbirds	$2.2	IPO
04-Nov-21	NerdWallet	$1.2	IPO
10-Nov-21	Rivian	$66.5	IPO
10-Nov-21	Expensify	$2.2	IPO
11-Nov-21	Winc	-	IPO
11-Nov-21	Weave	-	IPO
17-Nov-21	UserTesting	-	IPO
17-Nov-21	Braze	$6.0	IPO
18-Nov-21	Sweetgreen	$3.0	IPO
09-Dec-21	Nubank	$41.0	IPO

Though there are many well-known names in the list, one of the biggest through lines continues to be the importance of tech.

A majority of 2021’s newly public companies have been in tech, including multiple mobile apps, websites, and online services. The two biggest IPOs so far were South Korea’s Coupang, an online marketplace valued at $60 billion after going public, and China’s ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing, the year’s largest post-IPO valuation at $73 billion.

And there were many apps and services going public through other means as well. Gaming company Roblox went public through a direct listing, earning a valuation of $30 billion, and cryptocurrency platform Coinbase has earned the year’s largest valuation so far, with an $86 billion valuation following its direct listing.

Big Companies Going Public in 2022

As with every year, some of the biggest companies going public were lined up for the later half.

Tech will continue to be the talk of the markets. Payment processing firm Stripe was setting up to be the year’s biggest IPO with an estimated valuation of $95 billion, but got delayed. Likewise, online grocery delivery platform InstaCart, which saw a big upswing in traction due to the pandemic, has been looking to go public at a valuation of at least $39 billion.

Of course, it’s common that potential public listings and offerings fall through. Whether they get delayed due to weak market conditions or cancelled at the last minute, anything can happen when it comes to public markets.

This post has been updated as of January 1, 2022.