A piece of paper with a particular amount of money printed on it that can be exchanged in a shop for goods of that value.An action or a gift that expresses feelings or intentions.The Cambridge Dictionary defines token as: There are over a thousand altcoins, and the majority are a variation of Bitcoin, hence the name.Ī few examples of coins, besides Bitcoin, are: The coins that followed Bitcoin are called Altcoins. However, most of the coins that followed do not meet the requirements of a currency, some even having the characteristics of a token. The original crypto coin, Bitcoin, holds the characteristics of a legitimate currency, being a unit of account, a store of value, and a medium of exchange. The company or group that started it can decide on every aspect of the cryptocurrency, like consensus mechanism, fees, or transaction mechanism. By establishing its own protocol, the coin gets the highest level of independence and flexibility. The characteristic of being based on its own blockchain is significantly important for a coin. The conditions in which the data is passed and the ways the nodes communicate with each other are defined by a set of rules called a protocol.

The data represents the entries about how many currency units each address holds. The blockchain ledger works like a database that is passed around from one node to another. Traditionally, we define a coin as a piece of metal with an official stamp issued by the government and used as a currency.Īs for cryptocurrencies, the coin definition is that of a digital currency powered by its own blockchain, with no physical, real-world equivalent.

Token coinage