Altcoin is any digital crytocurrency similar to bitcoin. The term stands for " Alternative to Bitcoin" and used to describe any crytocurrency that is not a bitcoin. Altcoins are created by diverging from bitcoin consensus rules ( the fundamental rules of the crytocurrency's network) or by developing a new crytocurrency from scratch. Most popular altcoins used the same fundamentals building blocks as bitcoin. This approach is relatively easy to carry out because bitcoin is a free open source platform. When an altcoin forks at the blockchain level, an alternate system of consensus rules must be use and the coin will have an entirely different distributed ledger. the same is true for altcoins built from scratch. Some altcoin have different monetary policy rules built into the currency to encourage different uses and treatment. Policies such as minimum spend, positive or negative interest on coin stored, can encourage or discourage hoarding. Policies for coin mining may function differently from bitcoin, as may the number of coins paid out per new block mined.

An altcoin is any digital cryptocurrency similar to Bitcoin. The term is said to stand for “alternative to Bitcoin” and is used describe any cryptocurrency that is not a Bitcoin. Altcoins are created by diverging from Bitcoin consensus rules (the fundamental rules of the cryptocurrency’s network) or by developing a new cryptocurrency from scratch.


Most popular altcoins use the same fundamental building blocks as Bitcoin. This approach is relatively easy to carry out because Bitcoin is a free, open source platform. When an altcoin forks at the blockchain level, an alternate system of consensus rules must be used and the coin will have an entirely different distributed ledger. The same is true for altcoins built from scratch.

Some altcoins have different monetary policy rules built into the currency to encourage different uses and treatment. Policies such as minimum spend, or positive or negative interest on coins stored, can encourage or discourage hoarding. Policies for coin mining may function differently from Bitcoin, as may the number of coins paid out per new block mined.