Bitcoin Forum

Could someone please explain to me what is the difference between an Altcoin and a Token.
I'm a newbie, so please don't mind me asking.

I took part in some airdrop recently and now I was told that it is a token and not a coin. What does that mean ? What can I do with it ?
Can I trade tokens ?
What's the point of having tokens ?

Tokens are usually issued on ICOs. You can't mine them and they are being traded on relatively small number of exchanges. Altcoins are, well, all coins that are not Bitcoin  :)

Well, altcoin is an alternative coin to bitcoin and a token you can see it like a share like the one from stock markets.
If i'm wrong please correct me.

An altcoin is an altcoin.

A token is an altcoin; but an altcoin isn't a token.

Tokens are altcoins that run on the Ethereum chain.

What is the difference between a "Coin" and a "Token" on the site?

A Coin is a cryptocurrency that can operate independently.

A Token is a cryptocurrency that depends on another cryptocurrency as a platform to operate. Check out the crypto tokens listings to view a list of tokens and their respective platforms.

This above information is taken from Coinmarketcap guidelines. Cheers!

A coin relies on its own network. A token uses the Ethereum or other smart-contract capable network.

Ethereum is a platform, with it’s own blockchain and Ethereum’s “coin” or better put currency is Ether. Ethereum is similar to Bitcoin in that Bitcoin also uses a blockchain data structure but has it’s own currency called Bitcoin.
A “token” by definition is a representation any fungible tradible good such as currency, loyalty points, gold certificates, in game items and more.

The idea of a token itself is niether exclusive to Ethereum nor any other platform. A token is really an abstraction. It represents that I own a underlying tradable asset.

Currently the Ethereum space is very hot with ICOs which are really token offerings. These tokens represent an exchange medium within the project. For example, Golem Project pays app developers who publish on the platform and CPU renters in GNT

Because GNT represents the internal medium of exchange in the golem project, people who want to participate in this ecosystem must have GNT.

If someone wants to buy GNT but only has ETH, they can offer to trade their currency ETH for my GNT at a price say 0.5ETH / GNT.

In a more real life example. You pay $2 at a pinball machine effectively exchanging your currency for 3 pin balls (tokens) to be used to play within the pinball game.


This is what i get from blockgeek. Easy to understand.

A coin (or altcoin) is a variation of Bitcoin's open source code. (Litecoin, Dogecoin, etc.)
A token is a secondary asset for dapps within a blockchain ecosystem - usually Ethereum. Each dapp uses tokens to run.

The main difference:

-Altcoins possess their own independent blockchain, where transactions relating to their native coins occur in.

-Tokens are a representation of a particular asset or utility, that usually resides on top of another blockchain.
 For exemples : ERC20 Tokens works on etherum blockchain, and they are much easy to create.

Altcoin

Alternative crypto currency coins are also called altcoins or simply “coins”. They’re often used interchangeably. Altcoins simply refers to coins that are an alternative to Bitcoin.

Tokens

Tokens are a representation of a particular asset or utility, that usually resides on top of another blockchain. Tokens can represent basically any assets that are fungible and tradeable, from commodities to loyalty points to even other cryptocurrencies!

Coins are separate currencies with their own separate blockchain whereas Tokens operate on top of a blockchain and are created and distributed to the through ICO's.

A coin has its own blockchain, while a token rely on a pre- existent blockchain. The most known tokens are based on ETH or Waves. You may find a list of tokens here: https://coinmarketcap.com/tokens/views/all/ (https://coinmarketcap.com/tokens/views/all/)

as I suggest evrytime in this forum, the best way to learn is studying

So your question is not so simple but you can try to resolve going thorougly in the argument:

1 go to coinmarketcap and switch to TOKENS
2 choose a token
3 go in their website
4 switch again to the general list and choose a coin, for example Litecoin
5 go in their website
6 find out the differences

A token is like a crypto stock a coin is more like a currency but it is not so simple....find out by yourself is the best way!

Now I know the difference of an altcoin to a token, then can someone tell me who knows how to make a token change or trade into an altcoin or bitcoin?

hi the difference between altcoin and token. Altcoin is a crypto currency we can called also a alternative coins this coins is exist and it's already in the market while token is the decentralize applications or just on a project.

I thinks its funny to find out that you are a member rank but you don't know the differences between altcoin and token. The main differences of them are
their structure which is altcoins was separate currency with their own separate blockchain. And tokens on the top that has services to the creation of decentralized application.

Tokens are part of the ethereum network but Altcoins have their own blockchain.

But can we trade tokens? And how? I also want an answer too since I'm having trouble finding an answer in the web and I know someone in the forum like you might know.

Yes. You can trade them exactly the same way as you would trade normal altcoins. They don't operate any differently then "normal" altcoins, other then that they might be merge mined etc.

For Ethereum issued tokens you can use a site such as https://etherdelta.com/, which lists 100s of tokens.

If it doesn't has the token you're looking for, you should just use https://coinmarketcap.com/tokens/ and see where the token is traded most frequently. so for GAS/(Tether) etc you can use something like https://www.binance.com/

Not true. Altcoins issued based/on the ethereum blockchain are ethereum-issued tokens, but tokens in general aren't/don't have to be related to the ethereum network/blockchain to be called a token...

Yes! Thank you! this is the explanation I've been looking for. I just want to have the knowledge regarding this purpose of tokens and how they must be used to. I wish I have some merits to give to you as a token of appreciation.  ;D