Cryptocurrencies you can buy and trade with on Deriv

In our ‘Trading with crypto: Top 3 myths’ blog post, we discussed how to buy crypto on Deriv and how to start trading with it. However, which cryptocurrency should you choose? There are thousands of digital coins on the market, and each one has its own features. 

At Deriv, we've narrowed down the list of cryptocurrencies available to fund your cryptocurrency account to five major and popular cryptocurrencies. Let's take a closer look at their unique characteristics.

1. Bitcoin (BTC)

Bitcoin is the most well-known and accepted cryptocurrency in the world. The unique features of this digital coin have turned it from being just another coin to exchange into a store of value with high purchasing power — an equivalent of gold in the crypto world.

Just like the famous precious metal, Bitcoin has a limited supply (21 million coins only), and it is also decentralised. The limited supply provides protection from inflation, while the decentralisation protects from the control and influence of governments.

The BTC transaction specifications are:

• Transaction processing time: approximately 30 minutes 
• Amount of confirmations: 3 (3x10 minutes each = about 30 minutes)
• Transaction fees: high

2. Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum was created as an open-source blockchain platform to create, release, and monetise apps, where Ether token served as a payment method. Due to its popularity, it eventually became accepted as a payment currency by merchants and service providers outside the platform. 

Today, Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation. However, experts believe that the value of this digital coin is still underestimated and should be much higher.

The specifications for Ethereum transactions are as follows:

• Transaction processing time: from 1 to 15 minutes
• Amount of confirmations: 6 (6x10 seconds = 1 minute)
• Transaction fees: vary – from very low to very high, depending on network congestion

3. Litecoin (LTC)

Litecoin is widely considered to be the silver to Bitcoin’s gold. It was indeed created to complement Bitcoin as a more accessible and more affordable cryptocurrency. As a result, Litecoin has quickly become a new medium of exchange — used for payments, while Bitcoin transformed into a store of value — an asset that will have purchasing power in the future. 

Litecoin has a much larger but still limited supply of 84 million coins and significantly lower transaction fees, which made it the most inexpensive option for cryptocurrency transfers.

The specifications of LTC transactions are:

• Transaction processing time: approximately 30 minutes 
• Amount of confirmations: 12 (12x2.5 min each = about 30 minutes)
• Transaction fees: very low

Stablecoins: USDT (OMNI & ERC-20) and USDC

A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency that is tied to an asset like USD or gold to stabilise its price. Generally speaking, stablecoin is a digital representation of fiat money. 

4. Tether (USDT) OMNI 

Tether is by far the largest stablecoin by market cap. Each unit of Tether is backed by the USD with a 1:1 equivalent. However, unlike other cryptocurrencies, Tether is issued and regulated by Tether Limited, which makes it a fully centralised cryptocurrency.

The ‘omni’ part of this digital coin means that Deriv accepts USDT transactions that are proceeded via omnilayer – a software built on top of Bitcoin’s blockchain. 

While the ‘erc-20’ part means that the USDT transactions are also processed via the new transport layer based on the Ethereum blockchain.

It gives Tether the security of Bitcoin or Ethereum while letting it operate as an independent cryptocurrency. 

The USDT OMNI transaction specifications are:

• Transaction processing time: from 1 to 15 minutes
• Amount of confirmations: 6 (6x10 seconds = 1 minute)
• Transaction fees: vary – from very low to very high (depending on network congestion)

The specifications for ERC-20 (eUSDT) transactions are as follows:

• Transaction processing time: from 1 to 15 minutes
• Amount of confirmations: 6 (6x10 seconds = 1 minute)
• Transaction fees: vary – from very low to very high, depending on network congestion

5. USD Coin (USDC) 

The USD Coin is the second-largest stablecoin that is also tied to the USD with a 1:1 ratio but is powered by Ethereum’s blockchain. This coin is also centralised and held by a group of three companies that maintain full reserves of the equivalent fiat currency. USDC is currently the most transparent stablecoin in the crypto world, and it is accepted by hundreds of companies worldwide.

The USDC transaction specifications are:

• Transaction processing time: approximately 30 minutes 
• Amount of confirmations: 3 (3x10 min each = about 30 minutes)
• Transaction fees: vary – from very low to very high, depending on network congestion

Now that you know the main differences between these cryptocurrencies, all you have to do is choose your preferred one to fund your Deriv crypto account. Ready to make your choice? Create your cryptocurrency account, buy crypto, and start trading!