How to Make Your Own Cryptocurrency?
Do you have a great idea? One that makes you want to start your own cryptocurrency? Maybe you don’t really know if it’s feasible, or what it entails? Well, creating a new digital currency is quite easy for someone with basic programming skills. But writing programs is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to getting your digital currency off the ground. Here we show you everything you need to know in order to create your own cryptocurrency.
Table of Contents
The Introduction of Altcoins
Altcoins are essential ‘alternatives’ to the well-known cryptocurrency coin – Bitcoin, the first blockchain-based digital currency. Most altcoins were created to improve on Bitcoin, or to focus on a specific use case. But don’t confuse altcoins with tokens, like EOS and TRON, who have a parent coin (Ethereum).
Some alternate currencies are made to solve particular problems – or for a particular use. There are coins which can be used for purchasing domains and hostings. There are coins which are meant only for the purchase of adult content, etc.
Some platforms like Ethereum are rather revolutionary and can possibly change the way the internet as we know it functions. However, there are others who seem rather purpose-less and are destined for failure.
Altcoins should ideally be created to solve a particular problem – not just to amass money and go the route of lets-see-how-it-goes like many of the coins are going. However, that aside, there have been many altcoins which have been doing exceptionally well in the markets such as Ether, Ripple, Neo, and others.
Some of the most popular ones are:
While Altcoins look like they are a tool for visionaries and entrepreneurs to build solutions to certain challenges. On most occasions, it is quite easy to create an Altcoin but very difficult to manage them. A large number of times, the coins do not live up to the hype end up disappointing the investors. People who invest in these coins end up making losses.
How Can I Create My Own Cryptocurrency?
It is not as difficult to make cryptocurrency as you might expect. Today, hundreds of digital currencies exist in the market. More and more alternatives to bitcoin are expected to come into play in the near future, as it is not rocket science to launch your own cryptocurrency.
Here is a quick guide to set up your own cryptocurrency:
If you are not a technical person, you can collaborate with a technical partner for maintaining coding tasks.
You have two choices:
- You can create a bitcoin fork.
- You can create a new cryptocurrency from scratch.
Choose the one which suits your requirements.
- New blockchain method
You can have full control over the code of the coin. You can also customize it and establish new and unique features. As you have full control over your coin, you can also set all the parameters of it. You will have your new and unique altcoin with cool and unique features as per your requirement. Also, you can set the maximum supply of coin, a rate of coin issue and the size of the chain.
- Bitcoin fork
In this method, you can rely on the open-source code for your cryptocurrency. You can make certain changes in the code later on to make your coin and its features unique. Also, such open-source codes are secure and reliable which will help to prevent hackers. It will save a lot of time as you don’t need to carry out coding and developing processes. Creating your coin in such a way will provide you with built-in exchanges from which people can trade your new cryptocurrency.
Once you know how to create a cryptocurrency and already have one, prepare for more challenges ahead. What can be more difficult is maintaining a currency you’ve created, especially if you’ve built it on your own. That may require further programming, a network of computers, and investments in marketing if you want your coin to become more widely known and used.
How to Get Started
- Use Community
When you think about creating a new digital currency it’s easy to assume the first step would be to begin coding your coin, but that’s the wrong place to start, according to Chris Ellis, a London entrepreneur and a community activist at Feathercoin. “The first step is to find a community and build a currency around them rather than building a currency and expecting everyone to show up,” Ellis says. “It has to be sensitive to their needs and be relevant to their cultural heritage and background.”
- Coding
Coding your cryptocurrency is usually the least time-intensive part of the process. That’s because virtually every cryptocurrency on the market today is based on the open source code of Bitcoin or Litecoin that is available on GitHub.
However, in coding, the most complex steps may be related to how complex you plan to have the individual parameters of the blockchain.
- Miners
Once you have developed your coin, you need to spread the word so people start mining it, which raises awareness of its existence and hopefully begins to gain some value in the eyes of its miners and users. This is where makers of cryptocurrencies need to stop thinking like coders and instead look into how human beings put trust (and value) in things.
- Marketing
The next step is marketing your currency so all the people mining it have a place to spend it. This is no small feat. After all, you need to convince individuals and merchants that these digital bits you’ve created hold value and can be traded for things, just like traditional, trusted money.
- Global Acceptance
The last step in your cryptocurrency journey is the world domination by your coin. But given that in over 5,000 years no single currency has dominated the globe, it’s very unlikely–no matter what Silicon Valley Bitcoin enthusiasts say–that anyone cryptocurrency ever will.
The Difference Between a Coin and a Token
Creating a coin (which requires building a blockchain from scratch) is very expensive and takes a lot of time. You also need an amazing team of developers!
However, if you don’t need your own blockchain, you can just create a token. This way, rather than building your own blockchain, you can just build an app that runs on an existing blockchain — like Ethereum or NEO.
A blockchain is a record of transactions made on and secured by a network. So while coins have their own independent transaction ledgers, tokens rely on the underlying network’s technology to verify and secure transactions and ownership. In general, coins are used to transfer wealth, while tokens can represent a “contract” for almost anything, from physical objects to event tickets to loyalty points.
| Coin | Token |
| Has its Own Blockchain | Built On An Existing Blockchain |
| Very Expensive | Not Expensive |
| Takes a Lot Of Time | Doesn’t Take a Lot Of Time |
Building Your Own Blockchain
If you are a self-expert when it comes to cryptocurrencies and coding who wishes to have full control over the coin code, this is the way to go. By creating your own altcoin from the very first step, you’ll be able to build new and unique features of your choice along with the unlimited ability to set all the parameter of your very own cryptocurrency.
The pros of using this method are:
- A variety of options are available for customizing your coin and making it stand out
- You can choose if you wish to have miners or minters based on the earnings according to proof of work or proof of stake rewards
- The choice of the block size, max coin supply limit and the rate for issuing new coins will always be yours
Crafting Your Own Altcoin or Fork
Though having control over everything sounds tempting, it can have certain drawbacks as well. Creating a Bitcoin fork allows you to use the already existing, reliable open-source code for your cryptocurrency. In order to make a unique coin for your purpose, you can choose to use the code of closest coin that has the features you need and make changes to it later on.
Pros of using this approach are:
- Launching your crypto coin with a secure blockchain secures you from being exposed to fraudulent attacks such as double spending attacks as there are many miners on the network securing it
- You will already have access to features like built-in decentralized exchanges that will allow people to trade your cryptocurrency for digital assets
- Since you don’t need to go through the pain of coding and developing, it saves a lot of time and effort on your end
ICOs & Token Sales
ICO stands for Initial Coin Offering and it is quite similar to an IPO. An Initial Public Offer is introduced by companies when they want to go public and gather money from investors. Once a company decides to go public, they would start promoting their offerings and going on various investor pitches to attract the right kind of people to back them up during their public offer.
This is one of the best ways to raise money for a company and most major names have gone Public over the years. Over the past decade, we saw names like Facebook, Alibaba, Twitter, and Snapchat all go public and raise money from investors who then become shareholders.
Similarly, in case of an ICO, the coin-maker would go on pitches and would promote their coin on various networks and platforms to gain enough backers. However, in the case of an ICO, there are some things which are different. Basically, a new ICO is out, you do not have to pay in fiat currency. Instead, you pay in existing cryptocurrencies. Almost all ICOs accept Bitcoins, some of them accept ether and other major altcoins too. In exchange for what you pay, you will get their newly introduced altcoins equivalent to the amount you have paid.
People who take part in Initial Coin Offerings do so in hopes that someday the currency they have invested in would surge and would give them good returns. The coin-maker hopes that they will generate enough currency to power what they had envisioned for when they first created their altcoin. It’s supposed to be a win-win situation for all the users.
Summary
If you think that it is the right time to create your own altcoin, this article will be helpful as it covers the basics of what you need to think about before investing your time and money in this new project.
