Peercoin is the first Proof-of-Stake (PoS) cryptocurrency. It was created in 2012 and is one of the oldest and most reliable cryptocurrency networks in the crypto sector. The protocol was developed by Sunny King and Scott Nadel, both of whom are anonymous. Sunny King also created Primecoin and VEE.
Peercoin’s PoS consensus mechanism is now widely used in the blockchain space, and allows every network participant to be both a miner or an owner. The project is focused on creating a cryptocurrency platform that will be stable, secure, energy efficient, and distributed fairly.

Ripple is a real-time settlement and remittance network that is designed for the banking industry. Its settlement infrastructure technology has been adopted by a growing list of financial institutions looking to leverage the benefits of distributed ledgers. Ripple's real-time settlement network connects banks and enables cross border settlements and transactions in real-time. The current settlement infrastructure requires many intermediaries, and performing transactions take time and cost money. Ripple provides the underlying infrastructure for banks, and enables these transactions to be executed directly at almost no cost.

BitcoinDark is a fork of Bitcoin with a poorly defined purpose and use case. BitcoinDark is based on the InstantDEX protocol, a decentralized exchange for BitcoinDark and other cryptocurrencies supported by the project. The platform is also supposed to include a Pegged Asset Exchange (PAX) to allow users to buy and sell pegged assets – including fiat currencies, commodities, ETFs, and stocks.
BitcoinDark is a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) currency that has gained a significant market cap, but the project has failed to show how its vision will be implemented or how it will add value compared to other blockchain projects.