Ross Peili, Publisher at CoinCodex

Learn the most important facts about the popular Litecoin (LTC) cryptocurrency and how it compares to Bitcoin.

If you're into Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, you have probably heard about the Silk Road and other dark web marketplaces. The Silk Road marketplace was created by Ross Ulbricht, known under the alias "Dread Pirate Roberts", and it came to an abrupt ending after and FBI raid in 2013.

Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency ever created and still remains the most popular asset on the cryptocurrency market. People from all over the world can send and receive BTC using a peer-to-peer (P2P) network without relying on third-party authorities such as banking institutions, government agencies, and monetary vendors/apps.

XLM has been a mainstay of the cryptocurrency market for multiple years now. If you consider yourself a crypto-veteran, Stellar Lumens should require no introduction to signify its importance to the broader public cryptocurrency market. For newcomers, we'll capitalize on this opportunity for you to get a first date with Stellar as 2020 gets underway.

Whether you're holding, using or investing cryptocurrencies on an everyday basis, the price of each crypto unit signifies not only your performance as a trader, custodian, or consumer but also has an effect on your pockets.

While the physical art realm often generates controversy thanks to exorbitant prices being paid for artwork (a prime example is the duct-taped banana in Miami that was recently sold for $120,000), there is an emerging art scene that grows by the minute focusing on digital art, and more specifically on crypto art.

Bitcoin might be both the first cryptocurrency and the leading choice for investors, but there is one blockchain platform that is more recognizable for its numerous applications and use-cases. In fact, some of you might be already utilizing without even realizing it.

Unlike most traditional cryptocurrencies, which use either proof-of-work or proof-of-stake, the XRP Ledger is distinguished by its unique approach to distributed ledger design. XRP cannot be mined or staked, as the entire supply of the coin was created at launch. With each transaction, a tiny amount of XRP is burned, so XRP is a deflationary cryptocurrency.

It is safe to say that Bitcoin's modern history, which can be put to start in early 2017 carries so much about Bitcoin itself, as well as DLTs as a concept, that can be attributed to 90% of what's carried in terms of information, adoption, regulations and real-life use-cases, besides Silk Road in Bitcoin's whole history.

In this next series of articles, we'll be focusing on Bitcoin, starting from its pre-history, followed by its development, deployment, and adoption phases, and finally landing at Bitcoin today, analyzing how widespread it is in 2019, while taking a dive in the various forms of regulations subjecting the decentralized currency among different parts of the world.