Side by side
| Coin | Public record | Block time | Funds in | Fees | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monero XMR | None produced | about 2 minutes | 10 to 20 minutes | Low and stable | Fewer exchanges |
| Bitcoin BTC | Permanent | about 10 minutes | 20 to 60 minutes | Varies with demand | Listed everywhere |
| Litecoin LTC | Permanent | about 2.5 minutes | 10 to 15 minutes | Low and stable | Widely listed |
| Ethereum ETH | Permanent | about 12 seconds | 5 to 10 minutes | Highly variable | Listed everywhere |
How to read this table
Four of the six columns describe convenience. Block time, funding delay, fee behaviour and availability all measure how annoying a payment is to make, and every one of those annoyances is over within an hour of sending. They are worth knowing and they are not the decision.
The public record column is the decision. It describes what remains readable after the order is finished, the package has arrived and the market has been forgotten. Three of these coins write the amount and both addresses to a ledger that anybody can inspect indefinitely, and the entry becomes more useful to a reader over time rather than less, as other data accumulates to correlate against it.
The honest summary
If the purchase is something you would be relaxed about appearing in a permanent public record, pick on speed and use what you already hold. If it is not, there is one option in this table and the extra effort of acquiring it is the entire price of the difference. That is the whole comparison, and the individual coin pages exist for people who want the reasoning rather than the conclusion.
What none of them change
Escrow, dispute handling and the address verification that keeps you off a cloned login page all work identically whichever coin you use. The coin decides what the payment records. It does not decide whether the order goes well.
Verified addresses
anubisqdpukalgiyxlb7rtcya3u6grun2mcozonmb57c54qrt7sqh7qd.onionanubisqe2yramasw5yvlnipaknraza5rzb5uxb7zqhxuxroobvvm6aid.onionanubisqocgruji655mqys7fpafawiy2g56pjqrtecfdikhh5q4zqmfqd.onionBefore you sign in. Open these in Tor Browser only, then compare the onion printed on the login screen against your browser address bar. If they do not match, close the tab.