Crypto · Guide
From Bitcoin to Shiba Inu: a plain-English guide to 15 cryptocurrencies
15 cryptocurrencies, grouped by what they actually do — store of value, smart contract platforms, payments, meme coins, and DeFi infrastructure.
Every cryptocurrency supported by this calculator falls into one of five categories below. None of these are recommendations — crypto assets are highly volatile and speculative. This is a plain explanation of what each one is and what it is generally used for, not investment advice.
Store of value
BTC (Bitcoin) is the original cryptocurrency and by far the largest by market value. It was designed as a decentralized, capped-supply alternative to traditional currency, and is often described as “digital gold” — something to hold rather than spend day to day. Most other cryptocurrencies are, directly or indirectly, compared against it.
Smart contract platforms
These are general-purpose blockchains built to run applications on top of them — not just transfer value, but host decentralized apps, lending platforms, and NFTs.
ETH (Ethereum) is the largest and most established of these, and the platform most others are compared against. SOL (Solana), ADA (Cardano), AVAX (Avalanche), and DOT (Polkadot) all serve a similar general purpose, competing primarily on transaction speed, cost, and technical design. BNB is tied to the Binance exchange ecosystem specifically, while TRX (TRON) has focused heavily on stablecoin transfers and content-related applications.
Payments-focused
These were built with fast, low-cost transfers as the primary goal, rather than as a general application platform.
XRP was designed specifically for fast cross-border payments and settlement, and is closely associated with the company Ripple. LTC (Litecoin) is one of the oldest cryptocurrencies, created as a lighter, faster-transacting counterpart to Bitcoin — often described as “silver to Bitcoin’s gold.” BCH (Bitcoin Cash) split off from Bitcoin itself in 2017, specifically to prioritize larger transaction capacity for everyday payments over Bitcoin’s store-of-value focus.
Meme coins
These began as internet jokes rather than projects solving a specific technical problem, and generally have little to no underlying utility beyond speculation and community attention.
DOGE (Dogecoin) was created in 2013 as a parody of cryptocurrency hype at the time, using the “Doge” internet meme as its branding. SHIB (Shiba Inu) launched later, explicitly describing itself as a Dogecoin alternative. Both have, at times, reached large market values despite this origin, but neither is backed by the kind of technical roadmap or real-world use case the other categories here are built around. Price moves in this category tend to be driven heavily by social media attention and speculation.
DeFi infrastructure
Rather than functioning as general currencies, these power specific decentralized finance (DeFi) services built on top of platforms like Ethereum.
LINK (Chainlink) is not a currency in the traditional sense — it is an “oracle” network, meaning it feeds real-world data (like asset prices) into blockchain applications that otherwise cannot access information outside their own network. AAVE is a decentralized lending protocol, letting users lend or borrow crypto assets without a traditional bank as an intermediary; its token is used for governance and platform fees within that system.
Try any of them
Every coin described above can be run through the calculator directly, using real historical closing prices — including weekends, since crypto trades every day.
This guide is for educational purposes only and is not personalized financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and speculative, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Always do your own research and consider your own risk tolerance before investing.