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Altcoin
The term “altcoin” is short for “alternative coin” and is used to describe any cryptocurrency that is not Bitcoin. There are thousands of altcoins in existence, with new ones being created all the time.
Altcoins can be based on Bitcoin’s open-source code or on an entirely new one. Many are created as a result of a hard fork of the Bitcoin blockchain, but other are made from scratch outside of Bitcoin.
Altcoins can be used for a wide variety of purposes, such as enabling anonymous transactions, providing faster transaction speeds, or introducing new features or technologies.