The digital money payment systems are becoming popular among many spenders globally. If you are planning to invest in the digital money niche, it is important to know the crypto concepts that are similar to Ethereum and have the potential success in 2017 and beyond. most of these are up-coming and have more benefits than Ethereum.
Ethereum Classic
Ethereum Classic split from Ethereum and are promising to become a leading digital payment option in the near future. 
As much as the Ethereum Classic are similar to Ethereum, ETC is creating dedicated mining pools and users can personalize their website using ETC widgets to advertise and show support for the classic network.
By improving the system they inherited from the original Ethereum, Ethereum classic promises to be the leader in the cryptocurrency competing with Bitcoin, the market leader. They have a better user interface that is friendly and easy to work with as a miner. Their network upgrade accommodate more features translating in to more flexibility. The biggest companies are using the new blockchain that ETC provides. Their decentralized App and smart contracts are some features that have taken the blockchain technology to the next level.
Stratis
Stratis is another Crypto to watch since it is backed by a very powerful blockchain. They are also getting support from 
major companies including Microsoft. They are aiming at creating a single platform that will be blockchain as-a-service. As much as Stratis has borrowed heavily from Bitcoin, they have gone a step higher by offering developers to code C# opening up wider possibilities in the App niche.
Stratis goal is to be the market leader in cryptocurrency and they are in the final stages to launch their own wallet; Breeze. Breeze is more secure and has features that enhance your transaction privacy. If you compare digital currency prices today, Stratis is fast positioning itself to turn price wise.
Ripple
You should put Ripple (XRP) close since it is another success story. It has a unique technology that incorporates banks 
into their network; it does this without using a third party or a central point! Their XRP token appears to be disconnected and they currently do not have wallet of their own. However, plans are underway to iron out these two issues. Once done, they will become a force to reckon with in the digital money market.
Like Bitcoin, Ripple based on a math formulae and a limit on the units that can be mined. Ripple is peer-to-peer (P2P) platform that requires no third parties to deliver. The XRP securely protected by digital signatures to guard against fakes.
Ripple as an entity does not compete with Bitcoin rather works as a complement. When you visit their official website, there is a page dedicated Bitcoin users. on the other hand, to transfer XRP to Bitcoin is seamless. The same applies to other major currencies like Yen, USD Euro and Pounds making it easy to connect with major banks and financial institutions.
To make life easier for users, Ripple secures your data and makes your transactions fast and stable. Confirmation of transactions is real time thus saving you time. This is a feature that Ethereum uses albeit subtly.
Litecoin
Litecoin is a new in the digital currency niche; like Ethereum, it is a peer to peer platform. Their payments are instant and 
you are charged a small fee depending on the wallet provider host with. This is also a decentralized form of currency with central authority. The network is secured by complex math algorithms that enables users control their funds. It is faster than its competitor, Bitcoin due to its effective storage capabilities. Cryptocurrency enthusiasts argue that Litecoin does not compete with other currencies but complements it instead.
The Litecoin is its network can handle high transaction volumes without any congestion. This means it generates more block chains to speed up the transaction process. It has the capacity accommodate many miners and users as possible in future.
Litecoin wallet is encrypted to secure your digital wealth and offers you easy access to your entire history transactions. The wallet prompts you to enter your password before any transaction, a measure you should embrace to secure you from viruses and Trojans. Litecoin is user friendly and designed with beginners and experienced users in mind.
Siacoin
Another Crypto to watch is Siacoin that is similar to Ethereum in many aspects. Its blockchain operates on smart 
contracts that are compatible with several digital storages available in the market today. The network allow other partners to connect and fairly compete for users through their technology. Their future technology will be able to back Amazon AWS and Dropbox. The aim of this venture is to make some services like Amazon AWS hosting affordable to its users.
Like Ethereum, Siacoin seeks to go beyond the usual payment processing alone. It tries to create a platform that is a springboard of other developers. Their concept seeks to create opportunities for others to improve the way business processes are run. This is not a threat to Ethereum or other cryptocurrencies, it is a platform that not only offers cryptocurrency payment but goes beyond.
NEM
NEM over the years has steadily continued to grow its subscriber base and appears poised to be a success going forward. While Ethereum were going through the DAO war, NEM was being designed. This is a creation of several Japanese banks testing the possibility of a new blockchain payment structure.
NEM stands for New Economy Movement and the pioneers of Proof of Importance (PoI) concept in the digital currency industry. The idea behind the currency payment platform is to reward users who contributed to the initial NEM community.
The purpose of NEM is to addressing the runaway wealth inequality in the society; an area where others have neglected 
hence the idea of New Economy Movement (NEM). NEM program is written in java script and their unit XEM. The movement created an economic model in a decentralized environment for economic equality and financial freedom.
With NEM, there is nothing like mining; instead the harvest to create blocks. You get incentives when you harvest by earning a reward associated with blocks created. The amount stored on your wallet determines whether you can harvest or not; the higher your balance the more you earn from harvesting. This encourages more investing in the network.
With NEM, you need to keep vested and unvested XEM balance at all times. This is one measure of qualifying to harvest blocks. Each transaction you initiate from your wallets the more your incentives; this helps keep the XEM circulating, more harvesting and creation of new blocks so as to speed up processing transactions faster.
These are some crypto concepts similar with Ethereum that have potential success in 2017 and beyond. the digital currency is very dynamic and there are other entrants who might have better features and technologies to overshadow what existing currencies have achieved. The bottom line is maximum flexibility that results in consumer satisfaction.
