What Are Coins?
Cryptocurrencies known as coins run on separate blockchains and are unrelated to other coins. Such a cryptocurrency's single unit is also known as a coin. The phrase serves to separate token-based cryptocurrencies like Ethereum (ETH) from autonomous cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC).
Bitcoin (BTC), which was first released in January 2009, was the first coin available on the cryptocurrency market. It makes sure that no one can create new currencies other than through the computationally costly process of mining by using a decentralized, globally dispersed ledger known as the blockchain to keep track of all transactions that occur on its network.
Following that, a large number of new coins have emerged, some based on their own blockchains created from scratch and others, known as forks, based on the blockchain of another, pre-existing coin. For instance, the blockchains for Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin Gold (BTG), two forks of Bitcoin, were identical at the time of their formation.
Because their blockchains continued to function in total segregation from Bitcoin's after the fork, they are still regarded as coins and distinct cryptocurrencies.
On the other hand, certain platforms, like Ethereum and EOS (EOS), let users create tokens, which are cryptocurrencies whose use is totally dependent on the functionality of the parent platform's blockchain and would cease to exist if that platform ever went down.