Altcoin Author Altcoin Author

Although it appears to be semantics, it does make quite a big difference for a cryptocurrency as to whether it’s a coin or a token.

A “coin” has an entirely different blockchain from all the other coins that are out there while a “token” is built upon an existing blockchain project.

A “coin” is usually built using open-source blockchain code so what’s underpinning many of the coins that are out there is a very similar architecture. Many projects will add some unique features to build upon what’s open-source, but the foundation is mostly identical.

A “token,” these days, is most often built upon Ethereum, becoming an ERC-20 token. The web architecture of the Ethereum blockchain is robust and familiar, so developers often opt to use this to streamline their coin. One disadvantage is if the Ethereum network gets overloaded, the cost of interacting with a smart contract or sending your crypto from wallet to wallet is going to be relatively expensive.

It largely depends on how ambitious you want to be with your project and how it best fits your crypto's use case. It's important to remember too that what you started out as you don't have to stay forever. Your project can always fork over to become a new coin or a token on whatever blockchain your team believes makes the most sense.