Cryptocurrencies are fast becoming a buzzword, so are they becoming the new dotcom? There can’t be many of us who haven’t by now heard of Bitcoin…but what about Namecoin, Novacoin or Quarkcoin? Each of the three were up 120%, 185% and 230% respectively last week. And, the biggest mover? That was Craftcoin, up 1,557.8% in one day!

And now, there’s Worldcoin, but they’re currently only worth about 6 pence, so who knows if they’ll catch on? But then again, Worldcoin was only up 21% last week. Its market cap - the worth of the entire currency – is now $3.87m, with about 32.5 million of the coins in existence.

Bitcoin’s market cap meanwhile is about $10.7bn. They’re trading near $900 a piece and there are 12 million of them. It is currently the dominant cryptocurrency, having the first-mover advantage. But you would assume that better cryptocurrencies are bound to come along, ones that copy Bitcoin’s strengths and improve on its shortcomings. How do you know which are the good ones that will thrive? Some will have their own unique selling points. Primecoin helps discover long chains of prime numbers as a by-product of its computing. Namecoin’s supposed to reduce internet censorship. Litecoin is the next biggest after Bitcoin and Feathercoin’s had a lot of publicity.

So, where do you put your money? Cryptocurrencies, as we have previously reported, are exciting but extremely risky. Governments are a potential problem. If cryptocurrencies start to present a threat to ‘real’ currencies, you can be sure governments will fight them through regulation and taxation.

A bigger issue is that while cryptocurrencies remain anonymous, there is no customer protection or deposit insurance. Another worry is the old-fashioned pump and dump. There are more than 90 different cryptocurrencies in existence and anyone can start a currency. Once they exist, users promote them repeatedly. You often don’t know who’s behind a coin so if someone decides to pull the plug and turn the website off, there’s not a lot you can do.

Companies like Google and Facebook came after the dotcom bust. AOL was the leader before - where are they now? Could Bitcoin be the next AOL? Does the Google of cryptocurrencies even exist yet? So, what would you do with your cryptocurrency profits? Buy gold maybe?