Bitcoin Forum

Could someone please put together a list of the "different" types of crypto currencies, for example we have POS, POW etc. Im confused to what each mean and how many there are, please provide a few examples of what coin falls into which category.
Thank You

Proof of Work means there is mathematical verification that energy (a unit of work in W=P*t) was expended to create the current block which verifies a transaction. Proof of Stake means that a wealthy person is trustworthy enough to verify a transaction. Hybrid coins try to balance them to minimize energy expenditure by allowing human trust. Derivative coins balance counterparty risk through a third party that  backs coins by registering the transaction metadata on a blockchain.

There are too many coins to list them, but if you have any one in particular in mind I can try to explain it.

lets try to group all these different coins.

POW

POS / DPOS

Scriptable coins  (ex. NXT or ethereum )

There are only two categories of cryptocoins that matter.

1. Bitcoin
2. Not Bitcoin

Here's why: http://trilema.com/2014/the-woes-of-altcoin-or-why-there-is-no-such-thing-as-cryptocurrencies/

I agree 90%. It's not enough to bother arguing about.

I'll give you a tip OP.. you wont get an unbiased answer here in the Bitcoin Discussion sub-forum of Bitcointalk. :)

there are probably more sites available out there but Coinwarz is a good site to get started with, it has a good profitability statistics and explains each coin. It also has a link to the coins main website, tell you the algorithm it uses and a lot of other links for each and every coin.

As far the work of the coin a simple google search can help you with that. just google POW coins or POS coins or whatever you are looking for, maybe even Define PoW coins. be careful googling just PoW is going to give you  a totally wrong answer because in Military terms PoW is defined as Prisoner of War.

I only say all this because to try and explain all the coins would be almost impossible and would be a 5 page post, there are just to many coins to try and explain each one. its better to use a site like coinwars and read the announcement thread for each coin you are interested in

For once I agree with CoinHoarder 100%.

If you have questions about altcoins, you should ask your question in the "Alternate cryptocurrencies (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=67.0)" sub-forum:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=67.0

You're likely to get a lot of answers that you don't want if you ask a question about all the other forms of cryptocurrencies in the "Bitcoin Discussion" sub-forum.  For example:


EDIT: It appears that this thread has been moved since I posted this.

different coin, different price

The algorithm controlling number of coins created over time and the method of initial distribution is also key. As is whether the protocol is open or closed source.

the POS/POW is purely about how coins are distributed.
POW distributes coins to the people that help secure the blockchain by doing the hard work of computing the blocks
POS distributes coins to the people that simply have coins (the more you hoard the more you'll receive)

now then, different types of coins
this can be which encryption scripting language is used (sha/scrypt)
this can be the purpose/utility of the coin (general tender/charitable tender/contractual logging/stocks&shares)
it can be the rarity of the coin

The only coins worth investing in begin with 'bit'

Everybody is biased towards their own holding.