A Comparative Analysis of Current Cryptocurrencies

Blockchain technology is having a deep impact on the financial and technical sectors providing a mechanism for the creation of decentralized currencies and a number of applications in different fields. At the core of the technology there is a consensus protocol enabling the maintenance of a distributed ledger. In general current systems are complex schemes that implement a combination of cryptographic algorithm, distributed techniques, and incentive driven behaviour. In this paper we focus on three of the most diffused platforms, i.e. Bitcoin, Ripple, and Ethereum, and provide a comparative analysis of their most important features such as the architecture, the scripting language, the economic and security properties.