Top 10 Altcoins

By different calculations, there can be around 10,000 cryptocurrencies in circulation in 2024. Only a few of them will turn out to be successful in the long run. We wrote this article to help you understand which assets are worth your attention, from an investor’s position. Hopefully, our list will enable you to diversify your portfolio and make a handsome profit.

Criteria That We Relied on to Pick the Top 10 Altcoins in 2024

When comparing assets, we focused on their following parameters:

• Concept. Before investing in a coin, read its whitepaper. The altcoin should have a clear competitive edge – something that differentiates it from its competitors and attracts users.
• Economic indicators. Market capitalization is the key one – the higher it is, the less likely the altcoin will disappear from the market soon.
• Ease of purchase. The more exchanges list the asset and the larger its trading volume, the less effort you’ll need to put into buying and selling it.
• Adoption. The larger the user base of an asset, the better. In addition to holding the coin, people should actively trade it.
• Team. Ideally, an asset should have a team of committed professionals with previous experience in the industry. 
• Evolution. It’s essential that the collective behind the altcoin regularly improves and upgrades it to retain relevance and cope with challenges.

All the altcoins that we recommend have scored high on all the above-listed criteria.

Ethereum ETH

While Bitcoin was originally conceived as a means of payment, ETH brings much more to the table. It provides developers with a technological environment for building decentralized applications dApps. Plus, organizations and individuals can launch smart contracts on the basis of the Ethereum network to achieve their goals – such as selling properties or transferring intellectual rights to a new holder. 

This platform ensures that dApps and smart contracts will be functioning without a hitch. No third party will be able to interfere with them, use them for nefarious purposes or control them. The system is genuinely decentralized and absolutely anyone can benefit from it. The legislation of most states imposes multiple restrictions and limitations on citizens. Millions of people can’t get a loan or open an account in a conventional bank. Meanwhile, they can leverage the power of the Ethereum ecosystem right from their smartphones.

The ETH coin is used for crediting rewards to validators who ensure the network’s functioning. Besides, this asset is popular among traders and has a high speculative value.

Tether USDT

It’s a household brand in the niche of stablecoins. As its name suggests, its price is pegged to that of USD. In simple words, one USDT always costs one American dollar. Tiny fluctuations take place sometimes – but they have nothing in common with the dramatic changes in price that BTC undergoes systematically. To make it possible, the team behind the asset stores the required amount of USD. To be precise, it’s not 100% USD but a mix of different assets that together create a diversified portfolio, backing up the stablecoin’s value. Tether enables fast and smooth transactions that involve the American dollar and any cryptocurrency. People get a chance to conveniently use a strong fiat currency in the digital format.

USD Coin USDC

Just like the previous asset, this one is a stablecoin, pegged to USD. However, there are few meaningful differences between them. USDC has a much lower market cap. It’s regulated by the U.S. authorities – while Tether isn’t subject to regulations by any entity from the real world. The USDC reserves are stored exclusively in American dollars and several reputable financial institutions take care of them. Unlike Tether, USDC regularly accepts audits by Deloitte and makes their results publicly available – which makes it more transparent.

Ripple XRP

This one has been around for over a decade and is the oldest digital currency on our overview. It relies on a custom consensus protocol. The ledger servers accept and send transactions. They compare data transfers and decide whether the ledger should accept them or not. The server forwards the data transfer candidates to validators who record the ledger version if there is nothing wrong with the transfer.

Both this asset and some of its executives used to face legal issues – but now, they seem to have overcome them almost entirely. The transaction fees of XRP are low and it facilitates exchanges of different currency types. It’s promoted as a faster, more transparent and more affordable alternative to SWIFT – the system that conventional banking institutions employ to send funds among themselves. 

Binance Coin BNB

The native token of the well-known Binance crypto exchange serves two purposes. First, people can trade it. Second, if they hold it, they can enjoy various perks at Binance – the most significant of which seems to be reduced trading fees. It was launched on the ETH basis – and now, shares the blockchain with its parent trading platform. The team behind it came up with a smart deflationary mechanism. Excessive coins get burnt, which prevents the BNB price from plummeting.

Cardano ADA

The team behind this project consists of cryptography experts, mathematicians and engineers with a strong academic background. Instead of craving immediate profit, these professionals concentrate their efforts on research. They experiment intensively, ask their peers to review the results of their work and have published over 120 profile papers. On the one hand, such an approach slows down the development of Cardano. Unlike some of its competitors, it doesn’t release fundamental upgrades at a machine-gun speed. On the other hand, the emphasis on research confirms that Cardano is here to stay and is perfect for long-term investment. 

Its team has spilled the beans on their future plans. These include delivering solutions for legal contract tracing, voter fraud and chain interoperability as well as an ecosystem of DeFi products. 

Solana SOL

This project was launched as an advanced alternative to Ethereum. It helps blockchain technology make one step further by making it less energy intensive, better protected and easily scalable. Solana enables developers to build dApps and smart contracts. Compared to Ethereum, it accelerates data transfers and charges lower fees for them. Its team came up with the innovative proof of history concept. From the technological point of view, it’s a very promising project. 

Polygon MATIC

Just like Solana, Polygon was invented to address the challenges that are typical of Ethereum – such as slow transactions and prohibitive fees. Eventually, it evolved into a multi-chain system whose components can “collaborate” thanks to Ethereum’s virtual machine. The system comprises three layers that are in charge of, respectively, producing blocks, validating them and storing the data. Polygon allows developers to build dApps, smart contracts and other solutions.

Dogecoin DOGE

When this meme coin went live, hardly any industry expert would predict its success in the long term. It was conceived to mock cryptocurrencies. Against all odds, DOGE gained huge adoption and a decent price. It’s used for tipping content creators, buying goods, trading and investing. The power of this coin lies in its user base. Most likely, it will remain popular for as long as people find it funny and convenient.

Many other altcoins were launched following the DOGE model. The majority of them failed. Shiba Inu SHIB is one of the few lucky exceptions that can be worth your attention.

Tron TRX

This blockchain was built on the basis of Ethereum but evolved to become an independent one. It enables developers to build dApps and grants the creators of digital content maximum ownership rights thanks to tokenization and dApps. This project acquired BitTorrent, a well-known program for sharing files, and integrated it into its system. Tron boasts a strong development community and supports smart contracts. Its network is easily scalable and the data transfers in it are affordable. The TRX token serves two purposes: creation and validation of blocks within the network as well as trading and investing.

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, the information from this article came in handy for you! Of course, our list of top 10 altcoins is far from being exhaustive. There are other worthy assets on the market – such as for instance, Litecoin LTC or Polkadot DOT.

Our team diligently tracks market trends to deliver timely insights. Utilizing these insights we craft specialized ECOS indexes (Explore Here) that highlight cryptocurrencies with the greatest potential for profit.

You can leverage our indexes to maximize market movements and capture profitable opportunities, giving your investment portfolio a substantial lift.

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