Vertcoin is a cryptocurrency with a strong emphasis on keeping the ecosystem as decentralized as possible. Vertcoin was designed with the goal of being easily mined by all users and to resist the centralizing tendency of specialized mining operations. Vertcoin has a Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism that is ASIC resistant, and uses the Lyra2RE mining algorithm.

Nimiq is a censorship-resistant cryptocurrency that is designed to run in the user's browser. Nimiq's focus is on usability and the browser first approach allows coin holders to participate in their payment network more easily. Nimiq uses a Merkle-based accumulator to store accounts and balances, and has a Non-Interactive Proofs of Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism.

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.