Misconception of Crypto Currency

[Agbe]

Different people understand crypto currency differently at the initial time.
When crypto currency is mentioned, the first thing that came to my mind was  Bitcoin, until recently, I noticed from Bitcointalk forum that, it is not only Bitcoin but other currencies are in the crypto space. Such as: Altcoins Shitcoins and Bitcoins. And this made to do some research and I found out that there are over 18,000 crypto currencies in existence as of March, 2022.
These currencies are classified into different categories.
1. Altcoins Crypto currencies:
A. Ethereum (ETH)
B. Litecoin (LTC)
C. Cardano (ADA)
D. Bitcoin Cash (BCLT)
E. Polkadot (DOT)
F. Stellar (XLM)
G. Dogecoin (DOGE)
H. Binance Coin (BNB)
I. Tether (USDT)
J. Monero (XMR)

https://www.investopedia.com/tech/most-important-cryptocurrencies-other-than-bitcoin/

Imagine all these currencies exist in the crypto space and I new only one (Bitcoin). But that is not withstanding. There is time for me to learn

[jackg]

Imo the only ones that are usable and useful are xmr and dot or eth and maybe ltc for lower fees. Everything else doesn't have much of a use case to it and is just another coin..

Afaik stellar probably can't do whst it wants to yet unless it's centralised, and even if it could its just a fancy dex (even if it did predate a few of the main ones now like uniswap).

[minairia3]

It seems you are not much familiar with this forum.
In this forum, there is a dedicated board for discussing alternative cryptocurrencies.
Altcoin Discussion: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=67.0
you must have to pay attention that board to know about altcoin and its functions.

It's really good that you got everything about altcoin by doing google, but keep in mind little learning is not good at all to take risks your money.
Try to read posts on altcoin discussion then you will be able to know how to invest in altcoin projects.
Hope one day you will become a legend here.

[BITCOIN4X]

There are several other categories that might also be misunderstood like privacy coins, stablecoins, payments, dapps, exchange tokens and so on.
As far as you need to know, the only best right now is bitcoin which belongs to the category of payments where you can enjoy its advantages like transaction speed, low fees, high security and decentralization.

[franky1]

what was mentioned was not categories.. but instead altcoins..
categories of crypto are things such as:
blockchain
-PoW
  -coins(mined)
  -tokens(just produced)
-PoS
  -coins(minted)
  -tokens(just produced)
-sidechains
  -iou's(pegged/backed by a coin or token)

smart contracts
-coins(minted/mined)
-tokens(just produced from nothing)
-iou's(pegged/backed by a coin or token)

there are many other categories, but i listed the main ones. have fun finding the rest

[verita1]

As OP mentions there are many coins in the crypto market.
How to learn about them?
I also asked myself the same question and luckily I learned about the Ethereum network, I interacted with some tokens and in the end I sold all my ETH for the high fees.
As a Binance user I have invested in their BNB token and learned about some projects on their BNB Chain network as well as interacting on BinanceDex.
Binance is also useful for many because it is one of the most important global exchanges with its P2P market where we can buy and sell crypto with our local currency.

At this moment we see a struggle of the blockchain networks that seek to occupy the best places in the rating. They are also called the killers of Ethereum (BNB Chain, Cardano, Terra, Solana, Polkadot, Avalanche y Polygon) they offer fast transactions, low fees, DeFi, NFT, Metaverse, GameFi.
Of which I have chosen the Avalanche network because it offers everything mentioned above and its native token is the AVAX.
Without forgetting bitcoin, which is the main coin in my portfolio. This way I can share how I started investing in some cryptocurrencies.

[decodx]

Imagine all these currencies exist in the crypto space and I new only one (Bitcoin). But that is not withstanding. There is time for me to learn

This forum was founded solely because of Bitcoin. Hence the name BITCOINtalk.org. All other coins are classified as Altcoins, or alternative coins. This forum is primarily aimed at those who have a passion for bitcoin and are looking to learn, discuss and get involved in the cryptocurrency space.

If you want to discuss altcoins, I suggest you go to the Alternate cryptocurrencies section for that.

[Jating]

It's not that bad to invest on altcoins in my opinion.

The only problem with them is that they are heavily manipulated and then the pump and dump schemes are prevalent specially those new projects, although the OP listed some solid ones, but still we can't discount the fact that it can still be done  by whales playing in the market.

So it's better for me to stick with BTC or just a handful of altcoins like the prime movers: ETH and BNB.

[WalkerIVIV]

Imagine all these currencies exist in the crypto space and I new only one (Bitcoin). But that is not withstanding. There is time for me to learn

That's not even a problem. So many ordinary people that newly know about cryptocurrency will always be doing the same thing like that. YOu can go to the beginner section and you will be seeing that somany newbies are still learning about crypto.
Learning about it is not something wrong these days. This is a small mistake that already made by so many people.
don't worry about that. I hope you can get more and more knowledge about crypto.

[Sled]

You had been surprised by its numbers but you can be more surprised to know how many of these coins/tokens are already dead because of no use in the market.
 * NFT's/ gaming platform
 * Defi projects
 * Metaverse
 *Altcoins
 * Bitcoin

The misconception that most newbies have is to fail to determine a good investment out of these thousands of crypto projects exists. Kinda be the thing to learn first, knowing more about the market helps us to understand. And for the sake of not bothering your mind, you can choose Bitcoin and the leading altcoins.

[vv181]

~ there are over 18,000 crypto currencies in existence as of March, 2022. ~

Imagine all these currencies exist in the crypto space and I new only one (Bitcoin). But that is not withstanding. There is time for me to learn

It should be better if you try to comprehend the basic concept first, like a few things mentioned above by @franky1. Truth be told, only an extremely small percentage of total cryptocurrenices that only worth figuring out. Bitcoin is undoubted should be the initial priority.

If you already know the fundamentals of how cryptocurrenices works, I'm sure you can generally separate which project has legit potency or not since the 18,00 numbers are majorly filled with shitcoins or simply scams.