Altcoins are cryptocurrencies inspired by Bitcoin. Because they oft offer little in terms of innovation, most altcoins are of little interest to serious investors. One notable difference between Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is the way in which coins are mined. While Proof of Work SHA2 runs bitcoin, different altcoins use scrypt or other solutions to solve this problem. Altcoins, although most often obscure, can make mainstream press headlines. When they do, they are oftentimes quickly forgotten. Below there are some examples of such coins, like Coinye and Dogecoin. On the other hand, as is the case of Litecoin’s solution to bitcoin’s block size, some altcoins enjoy success thanks to their innovation.
http://bitcoinist.net/five-ridiculous-cryptocurrencies/
