Link to Google Sheet with the list - http://bit.ly/AltcoinCategory

Many people are aware of the main digital currencies and blockchain solutions such as bitcoin, ethereum, ripple, however on coinmarketcap alone there are over 1400 different coins and tokens.

Most of the coins are attempting to solve a problem but it’s hard to identify what the problem they are trying to solve is. I went through the top 250 (as of End January 2018) and tried to categorise them into different industries and categories to give an overall picture of what they are trying to solve or disrupt.

Going through all the websites was painful, many of the sites reminded me of pharmaceutical adverts where medical terms were thrown in to obfuscate what they were trying to do. Lot’s of techno buzzwords used, but not many use cases or customer journeys for their practical application.

The purpose of this list is to help people to see where the trends of disruption may occur and also to be able to easily compare projects in related areas. The list below currently, does not contain blockchain projects that do not have an associated cryptocurrency or token.



This is a high level, quick effort attempt at categorisation of the main use of some of the altcoins. There will be errors and i will correct the information over time. Some coins/tokens will have multiple purposes, however for simplicity they have been grouped under a main category.

Feedback is welcome in the comments to correct errors, or add new categories.

A brief description of the categories-

Categorisation types:

Currency

Coins who predominant use is as a digital currency

Platform

Projects where the intention is to allow other developers to build applications on top of some of which will also enable the capability for developers to create their tokens on the blockchain

Finance

Projects working with on collaboration witht he finance industry, or providing financial services such as loans, remittances etc.

Asset Management

Storage of assets and management of assorted assets.

IOT

Tracking or interoperability with Internet of things technology

Privacy

Digital currencies focused on anonymity and privacy.

Content

This includes music, articles, documentation, reviews, Virtual Reality and Actual Reality focused applications.

Interoperability

Projects working on connecting blockhains or integration with non blockhain solutions

Supply Chain

Tracking of producer goods and supply chain management

Payments

Projects working on payment requests, payment gateways and transaction processing

Storage

Using blockchain as a method for distributed storage

Exhange/Funding

Exchanges, decentralised exchanges and crowdfunding projects.

Data

Data exchange, and the transfer or trade of data

Governance/ID

KYC projects, identity projects, voting and methods of governing communities and projects including quality control.

Advertising

Digital marketing, marketing attribution or advertising revenue generating alternatives

Cloud

Cloud computing services

Health / Insurance

Health and insurance focused projects

Gaming

Revenue generating, virtual currency replacements and gambling projects.

Energy

Power and energy trading

Telecoms

Mobile and wireless technologies including wireless data, data plans and mobile hardware

Loyalty/Rewards

Loyalty programs, interchange of rewards and loyalty

Marketplace

Platforms that provide a buyer and seller exchange for goods and services

AI/Prediction

Prediction and artifical intelligence focused projects

Adult

Adult related projects

Education

Education, teaching and learning related projects

Image credit : btc keychain