Crypto for Beginners: Must-Know Brands and Names—Part 1

In the fast-paced world of cryptocurrencies, navigating the diverse landscape of digital assets can be overwhelming for beginners. This guide is your essential introduction to the key cryptocurrency names and brands that every novice should be aware of —and, maybe, make use of. From Bitcoin to Obyte, passing through crypto exchanges and key people, understanding these fundamental players in the crypto space is your first step toward becoming a confident cryptocurrency holder.

But wait, in case you don’t know this already: the crypto world is BIG now. It’s not just Bitcoin anymore, there are over 1.8 million individual coins that have nothing to do with the first cryptocurrency [CMC]. They have their systems, prices, goals, and teams.

On the other hand, according to the research firm Golden, there are over 11,000 crypto companies and projects worldwide. They include exchanges, funds, marketplaces, market research, supply chain management, mining, payment ramps, investments, wallets, security, e-sports, gaming, Metaverses, trading, smart contracts, identity, and much more.

We can’t talk about everything here, but we can offer you an overview of the most important brands and their key people. Let’s start!

Exchanges

This one is a quite popular category in this industry. According to CMC, there are over 665 crypto exchanges worldwide, including centralized and decentralized. In the first case, there are companies behind, keeping custody of the funds. The top three by daily volume, trust rate, and CMC score are as follows.

Binance

Founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Binance is, as of 2023, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume. It originated in China, but it doesn’t have any official HQ by 2023. It offers 386 coins and has a daily trading volume of around $4.9 billion. Besides their trading activities, they’re also closely related to BNB Chain (a platform for smart contracts and Dapps) and own several other brands, including Trust Wallet, CoinMarketCap (CMC), and Swipe.

Coinbase

Launched in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam, Coinbase is a U.S.-based exchange that offers a user-friendly platform for buying, selling, and storing around 245 cryptocurrencies. They handle over $837 million in daily transactions. Besides, they have stakes or fully own brands like Earn.com, Cipher Browser, Neutrino, and BRD Wallet.

Kraken

This is one of the first crypto exchanges in existence, being founded in 2011 by Jesse Powell in the United States. It’s available to exchange around 239 different coins, and it’s shown a daily volume of over $570 million. However, it’s sadly known for its controversial work culture.

More popular exchanges

Other popular crypto exchanges include KuCoin (Hong Kong), Bybit (UAE), OKX (Seychelles), Bitstamp (Luxembourg), Bitfinex (Hong Kong), Gate.io (Cayman Islands), MEXC (Singapore), Nexo (Switzerland), Buda (Chile), and Bittrex Global (Liechtenstein). Despite their headquarters locations, they often serve globally, with few exceptions. For instance, you can exchange GBYTEs via Bittrex, but only outside the United States.

Stablecoins

A lot of users want to avoid the ever-present volatility in traditional cryptocurrencies or find other valuable assets (like gold) in a distributed ledger. That’s why stablecoins were created. They’re tokens pegged in a 1:1 ratio to another asset, generally considered more “stable” in price for the long-term. Now, remember that “stability” is a relative concept, but it implies certain mitigation of risk because of fewer and/or less drastic variations in price.

To do this, the entity issuing these tokens (company or organization) offers reserves of 1:1 of the pegged asset (USD or gold, for instance), or their team prepares an algorithmic system to keep the price stable without reserves. The first type is the most popular, though.

Tether (USDT)

Released in 2014 and pegged 1:1 to USD, this is the most used stablecoin as of 2023. It’s issued, backed, and fully controlled by Tether Limited, a brand owned by the Hong Kong-based company iFinex Inc., which also owns the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange. Unlike other cryptocurrencies, USDT is considered fully centralized and can freeze and censor its operations. Its market capitalization is now over $83.5 billion.

USD Coin (USDC)

It was released in September 2018 by Centre, a consortium led by Americans Circle and Coinbase. It’s also pegged 1:1 to USD, using the Circle reserves. They’re known for their regulatory compliance, therefore, USDC is fully centralized. By October 2023, it has a total market cap of $25.2 billion.

Dai (DAI)

DAI is a decentralized stablecoin launched in December 2017 by MakerDAO, an autonomous organization (DAO) composed of the owners of its governance token, MKR. It operates on the Ethereum network, maintaining its value as close as possible to 1 USD through collateralized assets and smart contracts. DAI's key feature is its decentralization compared to other stablecoins (it can’t be frozen or censored), making it a popular choice in the DeFi ecosystem. Currently, it has a market cap of over $5.3 billion.

More stablecoins

Other popular USD-pegged stablecoins include TrueUSD (by TrustToken), Pax Dollar (by Paxos), Frax Finance (Decentralized), USDD (Decentralized), and Binance USD (by Binance). Less popular than USD-stablecoins are the ones pegged to other assets, such as EUR, gold, or even BTC. Nevertheless, they’re available on different platforms. We can mention Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC –BTC-pegged), Pax Gold (PAXG – gold-pegged), Stasis Euro (EURS –Euro-pegged), and StraitsX Singapore Dollar (XSGD). Some of them have their issues, though. For instance, Binance is slowly phasing out support for its stablecoin.

Multi-chain Wallets

Decentralized crypto networks often offer complex full nodes or some light native app to store and handle your coins. However, if you want to handle several coins in one place, numerous companies and teams have developed apps to do so, with different degrees of control and security. We can mention some of them, without a particular order.

Blockchain.com

Released in 2012 by the homonymous company, this is a popular multi-chain hot wallet (online). It supports a wide range of digital assets, but it doesn’t offer private keys. It’s a custodial wallet, where the funds are handled by the company through its website. They also offer a DeFi non-custodial wallet, though. Meanwhile, their parent company is also widely known for its multi-chain blockchain explorer, the first one of its kind, available since 2011 —and previously blockchain.info.

Exodus

This is a non-custodial wallet released in 2015 by Daniel Castagnoli and JP Richardson. Unlike Blockchain.com, it’s an app for mobile, desktop, and hardware devices. It offers numerous assets and private keys to its users, making it more decentralized.

Trezor

Founded by Marek "Slush" Palatinus and Pavol Rusnák in 2013, this is a renowned hardware (cold) cryptocurrency wallet. It offers robust security by storing private keys offline, protecting users from hacking and theft. Trezor supports various cryptocurrencies and features a user-friendly interface.

More wallets

We can also mention the online options Freewallet and CoinPayments; non-custodial apps like Coinomi, TrustWallet, and imToken; and cold devices like Ledger, KeepKey, and SafePal.

Foundations

Many decentralized cryptocurrencies are led or supported by non-profit foundations worldwide. Bitcoin also had its foundation in the past, now dissolved for several reasons. Other prominent crypto projects and networks have this kind of support as well. Usually, foundations keep a percentage of the native tokens of their networks for funding purposes.

Litecoin Foundation

It was launched in 2011 by Charlie Lee, the creator of Litecoin (LTC). Registered in Singapore as a non-profit, its mission is to promote Litecoin and its technology through education, development of new projects, and advocacy. This one is likely the oldest crypto foundation worldwide that is still active.

Ethereum Foundation

Established in 2014 by Ethereum's co-founders, Vitalik Buterin, Gavin Wood, and Joseph Lubin, this is a non-profit registered in Switzerland. Its mission is to promote and advance this technology by investing in several initiatives and programs like events and grants. They have stated that the role of the foundation isn’t to “control or lead Ethereum,” only to support it.

Obyte Foundation

This is a non-profit legal entity registered in Liechtenstein and led by Alexander Lins, Lucas Martin Mair, and Anton Churymov (Obyte founder). Its purpose is to foster the development and adoption of the platform and distribute the undistributed bytes (Obyte’s native currency) to useful projects. One such way is through grants. If projects apply for funding, the Obyte Foundation's Grants Committee will vote on whether to award it or not.

In the next part, we’ll keep going with important development companies, crypto portals, Metaverses, NFT brands, and a blacklist. Don’t miss it!