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President Donald Trump has called himself a “Bitcoin reserve, and issued an Ethereum blockchain. Cloud computing giants like Google or Amazon own large centralized warehouses of servers that they rent out to developers. Buterin designed Ethereum as a decentralized cloud computing network that no one entity controls.

Rather than pay fees to a big tech goliath, developers pay a network of operators with Ether, Ethereum’s native cryptocurrency. The blockchain has gained popularity among banks and companies, which have adapted it for their own use. Ether is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization and is worth about $283 billion.

XRP

While Bitcoin and Ether are the most well-known cryptocurrencies, the first token Trump named in his two posts on Sunday was XRP. The currency is closely associated with the firm Ripple, whose CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently dined with the President, and which has been instrumental in helping the crypto industry win legal battles and political influence.

Launched in 2012, XRP is the native cryptocurrency for the XRP Ledger, a decentralized database designed to rival Bitcoin’s blockchain. It’s the third-largest cryptocurrency in value, worth about $150 billion by market capitalization.  Despite its large valuation, XRP is often labeled a “ghost chain” for its lack of activity. In 2024, only 23 full-time developers were active on the chain compared to almost 2,200 on Ethereum, according to a report issued by crypto venture capital firm Electric Capital.

Solana

A Silicon Valley favorite, especially of Trump’s AI and crypto czar David Sacks , Solana is the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. It’s worth more than $80 billion.

Launched in 2020, the cryptocurrency supports the Solana blockchain, which is designed to be a faster version of Ethereum. The token was closely associated with Sam Bankman-Fried and his crypto exchange FTX. Its price took a beating after FTX collapsed but has since rebounded to an all-time high in January.

Cardano

In 2017, Charles Hoskinson, a co-founder of Ethereum, helped launch Cardano, a blockchain that aims to challenge Ethereum.

Named after famed computer scientist Ada Lovelace, its native cryptocurrency, ADA, has since become one of crypto’s most valuable. It’s worth about $35 billion by market capitalization and is the eighth-most-valuable token in the industry. Like XRP, Cardano is often denigrated as a “ghost chain” for its lack of activity. In 2024, only 189 full-time developers worked on Cardano, according to Electric Capital.