Altcoins

Crypto

It's best to trade and invest in altcoins to diversify your portfolio. Beyond ETH, here are some of the best altcoins you need to consider now!

Altcoins-_(1).jpg

Investing or trading cryptocurrency can be lucrative. In early 2021, the price for altcoins was indeed spectacular but the bulls are not evergreen. Still, we could not ignore the fact that more institutions and retail traders are jumping into the crypto bandwagon. In fact, the explosion of 

) and the use of smart contracts give rise to some of the altcoins’ value.

According to some crypto analysts, the best altcoins include LINK, ADA, DOT, UNI, and MATIC. But, there are also other alternative coins worth looking into.

In this guide, we highlight some of the prospects of these altcoins and help you better evaluate an altcoin before investing in it.

 or “alternative coins” refers to cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin. In other words, any cryptocurrency that are alternative to Bitcoin are classified as Altcoins. That includes Ethereum’s Ether and Ripple’s XRP. Altcoin deviates from the monopolization of Bitcoin and offers a cheaper alternative for digital transactions.

Bitcoin remains one of the largest digital assets with over 

 but altcoins are growing as corresponding to the rising demand of DeFi, including NFTs and DApps development. Among those, Ether (ETH) has around

Today, altcoins are accounted for more than 40% of the total cryptocurrency market, with over 10,000 cryptocurrencies and counting. Some of these include utility coins, stablecoins, security coins, and meme coins. Still, the highest altcoins by market cap remain to be Ether, Tether, Binance Coin, and even 

. One of the main drivers of value behind these altcoins is the project, platform, or blockchain it is connected that gives validity and utility to the real world.

A Retrospective Look: Altcoin Growth and Projections

, that along with the popularization of the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) model, saw many startups issue their 

of coins based on different standards blockchains.

Recently, altcoins and Bitcoin have seen a boost from a broad pool of investors. Many traditional banking and investment institutions have started acquiring extensive holdings of cryptocurrency. For example, Grayscale Investments, one of the world’s largest digital currency management firms, has crypto holdings worth $28 billion. Among the investment, over

 are in altcoins like ETH, ETC, LTC, and more.

Analysis of past performance, current growth trajectory, and future projections reveal that the altcoin market cap is in full-blown breakout mode in early 2021. However, in the present, digital currencies, including Bitcoin and altcoins, the downtrend continues amid inflation fears.

But the price on its own tells us very little information. There are plenty of other metrics to access the information and evaluate the true potential of an asset.

The Largest Altcoins by Market Capitalization

 of altcoins, excluding Bitcoin, is at a all-time high, according to CoinMarketCap, from March to May 2021. Before that, the previous peak was recorded at $142 billion on June 26, 2019, but it has rocketed past a mammoth $750 billion in April 2021.

By taking a closer look at the altcoins’ projections in general, some altcoins perform better than others. And are thus ranked according to their market cap (how much the coins in circulation are worth in non-virtual currency, e.g., US dollars).

The top 11 largest altcoins by market cap, in alphabetical order in June 2021, are:

Some of these altcoins can be considered competitors to Bitcoin in one way or another as they have solid technological backing of separate blockchains or platforms. Besides, it can potentially turn into highly lucrative investments.

While Bitcoin has been securing its position in the crypto space, several altcoins still demonstrate phenomenal growth and produce considerable returns.

BNB is a utility token primarily used to trade and pay fees on its cryptocurrency exchange. The token holder uses it as a form of payment at a discounted rate when trading on the platform. Although BNB was initially launched as an ERC-20 token but was then launched on the 

The max supply for BNB is capped at 170,532,785. However, BNB has entered its 15th times of 

 where the token is permanently removed from circulation to slowing down the inflation rates. refers to the process of permanently removing a crypto token from circulation.

From its launch to now (June 2021), the price of BNB has grown steadily, even reaching its all-time high. At the beginning of 2021, it was around the $30 mark. However, with the onset of the bull market, its price rocketed with an all-time high of over $690 on May 10. Following the BTC downtrend, BNB is currently hovering around $300.

With the rise of cryptocurrency exchanges, BNB is set to be used more and more in the coming years. It is being accepted by an increasing number of merchants, which is set to increase even more in the next few years. The Binance Smart Chain with low gas fees compared to the 

Price predictions for this coin in the coming years are generally bullish. 

 predicts it could reach $1,387 by 2027. Either way, it’s quite likely for BNB to surpass $1,000 as the exchange grows, corresponding to the demand.

Launched in September 2017 by Charles Hoskinson, 

 and many technological improvements over Ethereum and other blockchains.

Cardano is another DApps-building platform with its native currency— ADA. It focuses on solving three of the most pressing issues faced by 1st and 2nd generation blockchain projects— scalability, interoperability, and sustainability.

ADA is a relatively new altcoin compared to ETH or LTC, but it has grown its market capitalization to $42 billion in June 2021. It is popular among investors and developers because of its highly robust blockchain that offers advantages over Ethereum.

Cardano (ADA) price chart from Jan 2018 to June 2021. Image CC: CoinMarketCap

ADA grew from about $0.020 at its launch in October 2017 to $1.20 in January 2018. However, after that, it fell to relatively low levels again. In late 2020, it was trading at around $0.14. But, like the coin preceding this, its price exploded in the next few years. As of June, ADA hits its all-time high of $2.46 on May 16, 2021.

Cardano is one of the most prominent blockchains to use a 

 consensus mechanism successfully. In 2020, Cardano held a Shelley upgrade to make its blockchain 50 to 100 times more decentralized than other large blockchains. At the time, Hoskinson predicted that this would pave the way for hundreds of assets to run on its network.

Projections for the next few years are generally bullish. 

 predicts it may reach $6 by 2025 or $10 by 2030. 

 predicts it could be in the $5 to $10 range by 2025.

is a decentralized oracle network focus on creating smart contracts to help blockchains interact with external parties to provide real-world data through oracles. The native 

 (LINK) are used as a reward to incentivize oracles that provide accurate data.

LINK was one of the best-performed altcoins in 2020. The crypto LINK’s price exploded from a low of $1.76 to a peak of $30 in less than a year. Although the rise of Bitcoin has contributed to its price surge, the escalated demand for decentralized finance (DeFi) in smart contracts may also be the reason for its growth. In the last year, Chainlink’s price has surged over 1,200%. While May 10, 2020, was the highlight for LINK to reach its all-time high of $52.88. LINK is currently trading at $18.23 on June 28, 2021.

Chainlink (LINK) price chart from Jan 2018 to June 2021. Image CC:

Chainlink partners with all types of projects but a lot of the fresh excitement revolves around its oracle’s network. As a result, the crypto Chainlink’s project has aptly positioned itself to serve the ongoing DeFi demand surges.

Most recently, Chainlink also became the oracle provider for major rising blue-chip DeFi plays like Synthetix and Aave. The Chainlink 2.0 upgrades will further resolve the security and scalability issues through the hybrid smart contracts that allow easy access to off-chain data.

The growing trend of new addresses joining the network is even more apparent here, hitting an all-time high.

 is highly dependent on the overall crypto market. Overall, it is seen as one of the best altcoins to invest in or trade. The Chainlink crypto will remain bullish if the market sentiments persist. Since LINK has already surpassed the $50 range, market predictions pointing to a higher number might not be too unrealistic. For example, in the longer term, 

 is the blockchain, while Ether (ETH) is the token. Ether was the first cryptocurrency to introduce smart contracts, but the core focuses on running the programming code of any decentralized applications (DApps). With 

 on the move for its roll-out and the upcoming 

 roll-out, it’s only the future that can tell how quickly the Ether’s value will appreciate.

On top of it, the widely-recognized Ethereum standard for its utility tokens ERC-20 also became the most used by startups looking to launch Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). 

The price of ETH grew from just $9 in January 2017 to a high of $1,389 in January 2018. When analyzing its growth in terms of percentage, it yields a return of over 17,000%. Like most of the crypto space, however, its price fell off after that, but it started to recover handsomely in 2020.

On May 12, 2021, ETH’s price soared to a new high of $4,326. The Ethereum 2.0 upgrade from the 

 (PoW) mechanism to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) will only strengthen the position of Ethereum in the long term.

The Ethereum blockchain is currently anticipating the long-planned move from a Proof-of-Work mechanism to the more scalable Proof of Stake with the ETH 2.0 upgrade. With ETH 2.0 phase 0 rolling out, the ETH price may well dip in the short-term, but the future looks bright. Ether possesses a positive impression in the crypto market and provides the basis for further growth.

The Ethereum blockchain and altcoin’s flexibility, robustness, and utility make Ether attractive to both developers and investors. The market sentiment shows that ETH is looking rather neutral, however, the 

 to be rather bullish. However, price projections are generally bullish for the coming years. 

 predicts its price could reach $12,000 by 2025 and $30,000 by 2030. However, in short term, FxStreet’s prediction is rather conservative which ETH price is forecast to

 based on the 200-day SMA before the next wave arrives.

 (LTC) is one of the oldest altcoins but yet still one of the top ones. It was created in 2011 by an ex-Google employee, Charlie Lee. Like Bitcoin, Litecoin is just another peer-to-peer digital asset. Despite the similarities, especially the core code, Litecoin distinguishes itself from the little to near-zero payments worldwide and its fully decentralized network features. Ultimately, Litecoin aims to overcome Bitcoin’s shortcomings, primarily its slow transaction speed.

Litecoin has been in the market for nearly a decade. In that time, it earned the status of one of the best altcoins with a market capitalization of $14 billion—positioning itself for a long time just slightly behind Ethereum.

Litecoin (LTC) price chart from July 2020-2021. Image CC: CoinMarketCap

During the crypto boom in 2017, Litecoin is among the cryptocurrencies that received tremendous support from traders. In that year, Litecoin’s price grew from $4 in January 2017 to $350 in December 2017. That’s a whopping return of 8,000% within a year. Like many cryptos, though, it regressed from this in 2018. As of June 28, 2021, LTC is trading at $131.

After several development updates to Litecoin, namely the Segregated Witness (SegWit) protocol upgrade and the Lightning Network, Litecoin has attracted plenty of attention from crypto enthusiasts. However, in 2018, its creator Charlie Lee reportedly told Franklyn Richards, director of Litecoin Foundation, that “no one is interested in working on Litecoin protocol development work.” 

Litecoin has made considerable improvements in Bitcoin’s technology in increasing the speed of transactions. Due to Bitcoin’s scalability challenges, Litecoin attracted more users in 2017, driving its price up to new highs. However, it remains in Bitcoin’s shadow. Nevertheless, price predictions are fairly bullish. 

predicts its price could reach $1,200 by 2025.

 is a network protocol to allow arbitrary data to be transferred across the blockchain. It aims to improve communication between private and public blockchains without compromising scalability. Its native coin (DOT) helps to maintain and operate the blockchain on the network.

DOT is a relatively new coin launched in August 2020. Like several other cryptocurrencies on this list, its price remained relatively stable until early 2021, when it saw a big leap. After being around $7.50 at the end of 2020, it had shot up to around $20 by early February 2021.

Polkadot (DOT) price chart from July 2020-2021. Image CC:

It then hit an all-time high of $46.96 on May 15. DOT’s average 24 hours trading volume is around $1 billion. As of June 28, DOT is trading at $15.

11 Best Altcoins That Could Shoot To The Moon in 2022

Get your daily dose of crypto and trading info