Blockchain can seem complicated, and it can be, but its core concept is actually quite simple.
As of July 2021, the cryptocurrency market hosts nearly 6,000 digital currencies which all differ to some extent. Fortunately, cryptos are commonly divided into a few general subgroups that help make things a little clearer.
Coins and Tokens
A good way to start is to differentiate cryptocurrencies based on their underlying technology. Although the terms “coin” and “token” are often used interchangeably, they refer to two different concepts in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Coins refer to digital currencies that are built on a standalone independent blockchain network and thus are the native currency of that blockchain. The most famous example is Bitcoin (BTC), the first successful cryptocurrency ever created and the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.