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Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies

 & Chandra Steele Senior Features Writer

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The vaults of Mt. Gox are empty and there is dissension among its coinholders. As the world’s biggest Bitcoin exchange files for bankruptcy in Japan, there are still those who believe in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Part of their appeal lays in just what makes them risky. Cryptocurrencies are unregulated and instead of working for money, as is the case in a capitalist system, currency is generated and exchanged via cryptography. The currency is also untraceable, which made it great for illegal exchanges on the Silk Road, but also means that the $400 million or so that disappeared from Mt. Gox might never be recovered.

Mt. Gox is an object lesson in that while it can take a long time to mine a unit of a cryptocurrency, it doesn’t take long at all for an entire exchange to disappear. If you had MMM Coin, you probably don’t have enough of them to rub together to get so much as a cup of coffee. Some cryptocurrencies seemed decidedly more recreational, like Beertokens and Weeds. And while the name Mt. Gox instills a sense that physical Bitcoins just might be kept in some difficult-to-reach hollowed-out mountain vault, let’s remember that Mt. Gox stands for Magic the Gathering Online Exchange—that’s right, it was a trading-card exchange.

While you ponder that thousands of people had thousands of dollars tied up in an exchange that could just have easily started as a Pokémon swap site, here are a few cryptocurrencies aside from Bitcoin still extant. We’ve rounded up some that are named after hefty millionaires, beloved Libertarians, and Shiba Inus. So get out your mining gear and go through the gallery.

Dogecoin

An unsuspecting Shiba Inu living in Japan found himself the subject of a meme and then a cryptocurrency. Dogecoin seemed like a much awesome joke but managed to raise money for the Jamaican bobsled team. But it also was the victim of a heist. So ruff.

Feathercoin

“Remember Napster?" Feathercoin asks on the page that explains how the cryptocurrency works on a peer-to-peer network. That might not be the best way to instill confidence, is our advice.

RonPaulCoin

Libertarians love two things: the unregulated marketplace of cryptocurrency and Ron Paul. And now they’ve put them together with RonPaulCoin. Ron Paul did not support this message, um, cryptocurrency.

Litecoin

A day in the Bitcoin mines takes a lot of energy. The electricity needed to run a mining operation can be prohibitively expensive. That’s where Litecoin eases the burden by running on consumer-grade hardware.

Megacoin

Based in New Zealand, Megacoin is undoubtedly trying to capitalize on or is the product of its most famous resident, Kim Dotcom, he of Megaupload. Like all cryptocurrency, Megacoin is not limited by borders, even interstellar ones: “Anywhere there is internet, you can send or receive Megacoins. Even in outer space."

About Our Expert

Chandra Steele

Chandra Steele

Senior Features Writer

My Experience

My title is Senior Features Writer, which is a license to write about absolutely anything if I can connect it to technology (I can). I’ve been at PCMag since 2011 and have covered the surveillance state, vaccination cards, ghost guns, voting, ISIS, art, fashion, film, design, gender bias, and more. You might have seen me on TV talking about these topics or heard me on your commute home on the radio or a podcast. Or maybe you’ve just seen my Bernie meme

I strive to explain topics that you might come across in the news but not fully understand, such as NFTs and meme stocks. I’ve had the pleasure of talking tech with Jeff Goldblum, Ang Lee, and other celebrities who have brought a different perspective to it. I put great care into writing gift guides and am always touched by the notes I get from people who’ve used them to choose presents that have been well-received. Though I love that I get to write about the tech industry every day, it’s touched by gender, racial, and socioeconomic inequality and I try to bring these topics to light. 

Outside of PCMag, I write fiction, poetry, humor, and essays on culture.

My Areas of Expertise

  • Making incomprehensible tech news easy to understand
  • Expanding the boundaries of topics covered in the industry
  • Figuring out tips and tricks in apps and on devices and letting you know about them
  • Putting together gift guides for everyone in your life 

The Technology I Use

All that gadgets is gold for me: my iPhone 11 Pro, my fifth-generation iPad that I use only for streaming videos and music, my iPad mini 4 that I like to take with me whenever I carry a bag that can fit it, and my MacBook Pro. Why are they all different shades of gold, though? What’s going on, Apple? 

None of them quite live up to my two past loves: my LG Lotus LX600 phone and my Sony Walkman NW-E005 MP3 player. 

I've never given up wired earbuds so I was ahead of all those trend pieces. I use a Mangotek Lightning-to-3.5mm headphone jack adapter to connect them to my phone. 

I have had so many ebook readers, but I prefer paper to them all. Still, my Kindle Paperwhite is perfect for traveling or when I’m too impatient to wait for a book to be released in paperback.

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