Creator - Vinced

Date launched - April 2011

Algorithm - (identical to Bitcoin)

Namecoin, the first fork of Bitcoin, is an information transfer and protection system which uses namecoins (NMC) as its currency. The technology was developed in order for actual data to be stored on the blockchain as opposed to simple transactions.  In contrast to Bitcoin, a set amount of 0.01 NMC is destroyed in initial operations, decreasing the total 21 million NMC which was originally available.