가상화폐란 말은 사이버 상으로 거래되는 전자 화폐라는 의미이다. 영어로 직역하면 Virtual Currency가 된다.
문제는 가상화폐라고 하면 온라인상에서 거래되는 모든 화폐가 모두 포함된다는 것이다. 네이버 페이나 사이월드 도토리 등도 전형적인 가상화폐이다. 각종 컴퓨터 게임 프로그램에서 구매권도 가상화폐의 범주에 포함된다.
이런 상황에서 비트코인을 가상화폐로 부르면 다른 가상화폐와 혼선이 일어날 수 있다. 미국등 영어권에서는 일반적인 가상화폐와의 차이를 부각시키기 위해 이더리움 이나 비트코인등을 가상화폐란 의미의 Virtual Currency로 부르지 않는다. 비트코인과 이더리움등 이 암호체계로 작동되고 있다는 점을 부각하여 암호화폐라고 명명하고 있다.
암호화폐에 해당하는 영어단어는 Cryptocurrency 이다. 암호를 이용하여 새로운 코인을 만들거나 거래를 진행할 수 있도록 해주는 화폐라는 뜻이다. 최초의 암호화폐는 비트코인이다. 비트코인은 2009년 처음 출발할 때부터 암호화폐 즉 Cryptocurrency 로 불렸다. 이후 이더리움과 라이트코인 그리고 리플, ACOIN, 대시, 보스코인 등이 나올 때도 암호화폐라는 이름을 사용했다. 비트코인 이후 지금까지 수천 개의 암호화폐가 출현했다.
암호화폐의 가장 큰 특징은 암호이다. 암호화폐의 암호는 크게 두 가지로 나뉜다. 시장의 암호와 개인의 암호가 그것이다. 이 두 가지가 모두 맞아야 거래할 수 있다. 암호가 실제로 맞느냐를 가려내는 이른바 사실여부 판정은 블록체인에 맡겨져 있다. 여러 컴퓨터에 분산 저장되어 있어 본인이 아니고서는 알아내기가 원천적으로 어렵다. 이 같은 익명성 때문에 암호화폐는 마약이나 밀수 등 신원이 밝혀지기를 원하지 않는 비정상적인 거래에 주로 사용된다.
만약 이 암호가 풀리면 암호화폐는 문자 그대로 휴지가 될 수 있다. 해커들이 노리는 것도 바로 이 암호이다.
다음은 암호화폐 시가총액 100위까지 랭킹
1 Bitcoin $296,188,872,325 $17,644.60 $18,618,800,000 16,786,375 BTC 1.62% sparkline
2 Ripple $119,929,032,009 $3.10 $3,024,040,000 38,739,144,847 XRP * 3.18% sparkline
3 Ethereum $101,281,378,215 $1,046.13 $4,777,720,000 96,815,289 ETH 6.04% sparkline
4 Bitcoin Cash $46,533,371,199 $2,753.90 $1,637,670,000 16,897,263 BCH 6.92% sparkline
5 Cardano $26,789,923,446 $1.03 $312,472,000 25,927,070,538 ADA * 6.09% sparkline
6 Litecoin $16,257,804,015 $297.52 $2,264,020,000 54,644,958 LTC 18.24% sparkline
7 NEM $15,095,069,998 $1.68 $104,835,000 8,999,999,999 XEM * 5.77% sparkline
8 Stellar $12,654,448,453 $0.707830 $448,129,000 17,877,807,459 XLM * 7.41% sparkline
9 IOTA $11,030,593,723 $3.97 $163,205,000 2,779,530,283 MIOTA * 5.58% sparkline
10 TRON $10,549,757,720 $0.160457 $2,271,860,000 65,748,192,476 TRX * -25.74% sparkline
11 Dash $9,964,214,811 $1,277.05 $220,250,000 7,802,525 DASH 8.76% sparkline
12 Monero $6,740,616,111 $432.89 $219,452,000 15,571,306 XMR 10.83% sparkline
13 EOS $6,714,518,587 $11.44 $576,186,000 586,861,624 EOS * 8.34% sparkline
14 NEO $6,509,360,000 $100.14 $197,964,000 65,000,000 NEO * 8.04% sparkline
15 Qtum $6,081,188,907 $82.41 $1,684,900,000 73,788,568 QTUM * 30.25% sparkline
16 Bitcoin Gold $4,824,579,103 $288.05 $154,522,000 16,749,161 BTG 2.72% sparkline
17 RaiBlocks $3,919,684,975 $29.42 $52,453,000 133,248,289 XRB * -8.32% sparkline
18 Ethereum Classic $3,759,343,281 $38.00 $357,664,000 98,927,483 ETC 3.61% sparkline
19 Lisk $3,699,608,039 $31.69 $201,363,000 116,728,972 LSK * 26.66% sparkline
20 Siacoin $3,093,308,441 $0.098525 $670,465,000 31,396,146,174 SC 53.46% sparkline
21 Bytecoin $3,024,434,661 $0.016504 $76,684,400 183,253,534,612 BCN 16.88% sparkline
22 ICON $2,890,917,920 $7.64 $149,357,000 378,545,005 ICX * 13.24% sparkline
23 BitConnect $2,776,161,628 $449.95 $25,724,000 6,169,975 BCC 10.50% sparkline
24 Verge $2,530,360,243 $0.174415 $344,182,000 14,507,698,550 XVG -3.43% sparkline
25 BitShares $2,282,379,064 $0.875565 $69,812,300 2,606,750,000 BTS * 14.12% sparkline
26 Zcash $2,206,661,277 $735.49 $278,613,000 3,000,244 ZEC 23.84% sparkline
27 Binance Coin $2,185,040,952 $22.07 $638,093,000 99,014,000 BNB * 45.17% sparkline
28 OmiseGO $2,007,401,487 $19.67 $103,101,000 102,042,552 OMG * 6.11% sparkline
29 Ardor $1,841,435,789 $1.84 $5,971,100 998,999,495 ARDR * 14.47% sparkline
30 Status $1,785,723,551 $0.514546 $98,114,500 3,470,483,788 SNT * 4.04% sparkline
31 Dogecoin $1,725,730,122 $0.015318 $307,883,000 112,662,483,414 DOGE 37.46% sparkline
32 Steem $1,679,740,052 $6.83 $30,908,900 246,115,037 STEEM * 17.00% sparkline
33 Stratis $1,599,229,271 $16.20 $43,085,900 98,690,442 STRAT * 7.34% sparkline
34 Populous $1,597,045,696 $43.16 $2,753,320 37,004,027 PPT * 3.10% sparkline
35 Tether $1,481,346,688 $1.01 $2,646,370,000 1,468,089,837 USDT * 0.93% sparkline
36 Waves $1,285,340,000 $12.85 $61,573,300 100,000,000 WAVES * 6.09% sparkline
37 VeChain $1,278,606,661 $4.61 $178,046,000 277,162,633 VEN * 25.93% sparkline
38 KuCoin Shares $1,240,471,015 $13.63 $30,720,600 91,043,076 KCS * 85.01% sparkline
39 DigiByte $1,198,997,015 $0.124127 $181,065,000 9,659,437,632 DGB 13.67% sparkline
40 Kin $1,014,304,878 $0.001342 $16,777,700 756,097,560,976 KIN * 59.69% sparkline
41 Hshare $1,009,975,049 $23.78 $239,232,000 42,465,010 HSR 2.98% sparkline
42 Dragonchain $966,853,420 $4.06 $12,839,300 238,421,940 DRGN * 29.34% sparkline
43 Komodo $955,593,596 $9.20 $17,915,600 103,912,693 KMD 8.36% sparkline
44 Electroneum $953,024,674 $0.190700 $47,265,500 4,997,507,466 ETN 65.10% sparkline
45 Golem $874,006,242 $1.05 $32,525,600 834,262,000 GNT * 9.51% sparkline
46 Experience Po... $873,026,624 $0.004154 $30,574,300 210,140,504,434 XP -20.53% sparkline
47 Augur $854,562,500 $77.69 $13,612,600 11,000,000 REP * 3.53% sparkline
48 Dent $828,336,671 $0.078036 $48,152,100 10,614,760,961 DENT * -8.27% sparkline
49 PACcoin $793,658,405 $0.000316 $17,753,600 2,514,274,505,890 PAC 52.00% sparkline
50 Veritaseum $767,764,415 $376.98 $501,259 2,036,645 VERI * 2.72% sparkline
51 ReddCoin $766,726,491 $0.026700 $81,795,700 28,716,347,981 RDD * 41.17% sparkline
52 Ark $764,912,449 $7.81 $17,584,900 97,981,284 ARK * 14.48% sparkline
53 QASH $760,725,000 $2.17 $64,377,900 350,000,000 QASH * 39.80% sparkline
54 Decred $755,210,365 $116.09 $3,335,950 6,505,275 DCR 6.13% sparkline
55 FunFair $728,169,096 $0.171339 $48,920,800 4,249,873,622 FUN * 2.66% sparkline
56 Nexus $713,173,736 $13.00 $28,009,000 54,851,501 NXS 6.08% sparkline
57 SALT $687,707,521 $12.62 $42,292,400 54,507,718 SALT * 11.44% sparkline
58 Ethos $677,657,794 $8.99 $15,258,400 75,401,962 ETHOS * -2.71% sparkline
59 Basic Attenti... $674,035,000 $0.674035 $52,023,900 1,000,000,000 BAT * 20.36% sparkline
60 0x $662,028,894 $1.38 $36,585,200 479,519,121 ZRX * 23.34% sparkline
61 DigitalNote $651,516,958 $0.094619 $154,568,000 6,885,695,758 XDN 80.19% sparkline
62 Request Network $648,253,618 $1.01 $91,721,500 640,788,433 REQ * 40.46% sparkline
63 Dentacoin $641,652,325 $0.001973 $11,595,200 325,190,215,376 DCN * 106.41% sparkline
64 PIVX $621,417,522 $11.24 $5,778,070 55,288,224 PIVX * 10.42% sparkline
65 Power Ledger $596,760,480 $1.66 $54,784,400 360,482,334 POWR * 17.87% sparkline
66 Bytom $585,966,108 $0.593684 $49,013,600 987,000,000 BTM * 13.39% sparkline
67 Factom $579,251,945 $66.24 $28,854,000 8,745,102 FCT * 7.01% sparkline
68 Nxt $565,266,135 $0.565832 $68,987,300 998,999,942 NXT * 8.46% sparkline
69 Byteball Bytes $563,329,180 $873.08 $2,349,960 645,222 GBYTE * 8.04% sparkline
70 Aeternity $560,849,984 $2.41 $4,250,620 233,020,472 AE * 13.59% sparkline
71 Substratum $551,292,345 $2.44 $40,182,900 226,091,449 SUB * 36.96% sparkline
72 Aion $536,392,742 $8.75 $29,180,400 61,299,856 AION * 13.38% sparkline
73 Kyber Network $524,352,880 $3.91 $34,175,000 134,132,697 KNC * 23.43% sparkline
74 aelf $523,637,500 $2.09 $142,792,000 250,000,000 ELF * 27.45% sparkline
75 Gas $517,063,773 $56.59 $53,087,800 9,137,582 GAS * 54.14% sparkline
76 MonaCoin $508,169,791 $8.99 $12,799,200 56,537,500 MONA 8.83% sparkline
77 WAX $494,541,851 $1.00 $7,345,690 492,954,537 WAX * 4.26% sparkline
78 BitcoinDark $487,777,627 $378.46 $972,505 1,288,862 BTCD 10.98% sparkline
79 MaidSafeCoin $474,709,378 $1.05 $8,682,960 452,552,412 MAID * 5.24% sparkline
80 Santiment Net... $459,875,167 $7.60 $9,790,250 60,522,871 SAN * 2.47% sparkline
81 Gnosis $452,094,327 $409.29 $12,973,200 1,104,590 GNO * -3.99% sparkline
82 Po.et $443,315,935 $0.201819 $78,490,200 2,196,601,583 POE * -4.95% sparkline
83 Iconomi $432,198,157 $4.33 $12,129,200 99,788,314 ICN * 16.43% sparkline
84 Civic $430,557,956 $1.26 $40,682,000 342,699,966 CVC * 14.44% sparkline
85 Enigma $430,344,653 $5.75 $48,391,600 74,836,171 ENG * 14.24% sparkline
86 Syscoin $425,968,515 $0.803618 $11,526,000 530,063,432 SYS 15.06% sparkline
87 RChain $421,120,897 $2.30 $3,083,800 182,963,195 RHOC * -9.99% sparkline
88 ZCoin $415,903,911 $108.70 $14,204,200 3,826,233 XZC 3.31% sparkline
89 TenX $414,953,836 $3.96 $32,685,000 104,661,310 PAY * 1.37% sparkline
90 GXShares $398,151,320 $9.83 $26,553,800 40,510,000 GXS * 35.54% sparkline
91 Walton $387,941,001 $15.58 $62,873,600 24,898,178 WTC * 54.92% sparkline
92 Quantstamp $371,684,245 $0.602099 $39,431,500 617,314,171 QSP * 27.69% sparkline
93 DigixDAO $369,234,000 $184.62 $14,151,400 2,000,000 DGD * -7.16% sparkline
94 Storm $363,940,689 $0.149793 $7,668,530 2,429,624,141 STORM * -21.19% sparkline
95 ChainLink $363,559,000 $1.04 $16,468,200 350,000,000 LINK * 14.50% sparkline
96 Time New Bank $348,397,480 $0.216716 $51,043,800 1,607,622,325 TNB * -6.53% sparkline
97 Raiden Networ... $345,202,207 $6.88 $41,711,300 50,148,936 RDN * 17.40% sparkline
98 ZClassic $343,306,391 $189.69 $68,324,200 1,809,800 ZCL 56.04% sparkline
99 BLOCKv $332,126,450 $0.246180 $25,854,200 1,349,120,359 VEE * 74.14% sparkline
100 GameCredits $322,623,033 $5.01 $10,266,600 64,355,352 GAME 9.56%
김대호 기자 yoonsk828@g-enews.com