This week, we’ve seen new coins come, old ones go and, in between, a pump and dump or two.

Ups and downs aside, like every other week in alternative digital currency, it was a week that produced some interesting news. Read on for just a slice of the never-ending surprises coming out of the alt world today.

A mineable alt backed by bitcoin mining

Digital currencies backed up by some sort of asset aren’t necessarily new. There are several altcoins that are pegged to the value of gold, silver or other precious metals. Others buttress the market price through multipool arrangements — this is most commonly seen among proof-of-stake coins.

Virtualminingcoin goes straight to the source, leveraging gigahashes (GH/s) purchased on the mining commodities exchange CEX.io to generate bitcoin that is subsequently used to buy virtualminingcoins.

The Scrypt-N Adaptive coin debuted with an IPO, the proceeds from which were used to fund the initial GH/s investment on CEX.io. The virtualminingcoin team intends to reinvest in additional hashing power based on the future value of the coin and the overall profitability of mining BTC.

At press time, the virtualminingcoin team has purchased 1.6 Th/s in mining power, according to its website.

Vertcoin gets cooking

Looking to add a little zest to your next meal? Have some vertcoins sitting in your wallet?

If so, you’re in luck thanks to VTCal Sauce, a new offering from Pex Peppers, a purveyor of chili seeds, sauces and jellies based in Pennsylvania.

VTCal Sauce is billed as a way to “ignite all your tacos aflame”.

The sauce features jalapeno chilies, garlic, cumin and a dash of lime juice. Pex Peppers gives it a four-out-of-10 on the hot scale, meaning that you won’t singe your tongue to badly with this crypto-centered hot sauce.

The owner of Pex Peppers told CoinDesk that VTCal is designed to be an all-around great hot sauce reflecting the strengths behind digital currency technology, saying:

“The flavors are perfectly balanced, just like the block chain.”

VTCal isn’t Pex Pepper’s first crypto-themed sauce. It also sells a To The Moon Shibe Sauce, which the company dubs “every shibe’s dream sauce”.

The pump and dump blues

It sort of goes without saying that the alt world has seen its fair share of pumps and dumps. In the past week alone, riches have been made and many a bitcoin have been lost by traders chasing gains in some of the busiest markets.

Pump-and-dump events, for better or for worse, have driven interest and buying power around certain alts.

While these events don’t necessarily speak to the broader strengths and weaknesses of a particular altcoin, there’s no doubt that such a circumstance can lead to a deterioration in the perception — and long-term price health — of a coin.

Altcoin pump-and-dumps go wrong when well-meaning buyers find themselves holding a supply of coins that are far less valuable than they may have been several hours before. Traders who acquire a large amount of coins in relatively illiquid markets have the power to literally move markets. Once they exit, those left “holding the bag” face a great degree of difficulty in recouping the original value of the coins they bought.

For example, libertycoin (sign: XLB) had an impressive run this week on the MintPal digital currency exchange.

Just 24 hours before press time, the price of a single libertycoin hovered around 0.00005 BTC. Within hours, the price surged to a peak of 0.00018999 BTC, constituting more than 1,500 BTC in volume. Within two hours of the peak, the price declined to 0.0001 BTC before climbing slightly.

At press time, the price of a single libertycoin is roughly 0.00011 BTC.

Strange alt of the week

Feeling guilty about selling some coins? Wish you hadn’t spent all that money on a GPU?

If so, you can now confess to your sins – and pay for them – with a new altcoin.

Confessioncoin is built on the premise that users can submit their recent wrongdoings and then use the new proof-of-work scrypt coin to absolve themselves of their sin.

A new website, which has yet to be launched, is designed to interpret admissions of guilt and then decide how many confessioncoins need to be spent before the user is forgiven.

For creating a platform of guilt absolution and a currency to facilitate this forgiveness within a blockchain, confessioncoin has won this week’s Strange Alt of the Week award.

With a 70 million max supply limit, 45-second block time and 10-coin block reward, confessioncoin is pitched to those who want to wipe away their sins.

The developer wrote on the Bitcoin Talk forum:

“Peace of mind is surely worth the small price! In exchange for your penance, your confession will be stored anonymously in the block chain, immortalized forever.”

Confessioncoin is set for a 26th May launch. Whether or not this concept takes off remains to be seen, but in the words of one Bitcoin Talk user, the project is certainly interesting in that each confession will be “a secret only the blockchain knows”.

Disclaimer: This article should not be viewed as an endorsement. Please do your own extensive research before you consider investing in the altcoin space.