Cryptocurrency, often referred to as crypto, has been popular online for the past few years. It’s a form of digital currency that’s lauded as highly secure and reliable. Currently, the most well-known cryptocurrency is Bitcoin.
However, after Bitcoin’s monumental surge in popularity, other individuals and organizations started to develop their own cryptocurrency. And these new cryptocurrencies have become more known as altcoins—given that they’re considered an alternative to Bitcoin, the crypto that started it all.
Currently, there are more than 20,000 altcoins in the world. Each and one of them was created and developed for various reasons.
Aside from being used as a currency for payment, altcoins are now used as an avenue for investment and trade as well. And you’re probably here because you’re interested in using altcoins for that purpose. To help you out, here are the top altcoins you should invest in.
1. Ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) is currently considered one of the altcoins that stands next to Bitcoin in terms of popularity and size. Currently, its market capitalization is around USD$160 billion and is estimated to be around 20% of the market for cryptocurrency. And when it comes to investments, it’s a good choice as it was able to hold its own despite recent bearish trends in the crypto market. Many people are monitoring Ethereum for this reason alone.
Note: market capitalization or market cap is the total dollar market value of a company, or, in this case, the altcoin. The bigger the market capitalization, the better, as it indicates good financial performance – making it a safe bet in the market.
2. Ripple
Ripple (XRP) was developed primarily to be used for payments online. Currently, it hovers around a somewhat favorable exchange rate of USD$0.50 a coin and has a market capitalization of around USD$20 billion. Yet some fear that the XRP will have difficulty pulling itself up after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged the organization behind Ripple with a lawsuit, which still needs to be solved.
3. Binance Coin
Binance Coin (BNB) is an altcoin developed by Binance, one of the world’s leading and biggest crypto exchanges. As of now, it’s considered the third-biggest crypto in the world. One BNB can be traded for around USD$250, with a market capitalization of more than USD$40 billion.
Also read: Cryptocurrency Investing Tips and Tricks to Secure a Profit
4. Cardano
Cardano (ADA) was developed by one of Ethereum’s key development team members. As of this writing, the exchange rate for ADA is around USD$0.30, with a market capitalization of around USD$10 billion. While it’s seemingly a good altcoin for investments, some don’t have strong faith in its stability and reliability, given that most of its intended functions were not delivered or became available on time.
5. Solana
Once you’re over with the top three or four altcoins, then you’ll have Solana (SOL). It’s one of the open-source coins out there with smart contracts, and it’s lauded to be one of the most secure and stable, price-wise, safe cryptocurrencies out there.
And if you’re into NFTs and don’t want to deal with Ethereum, then Solana is the perfect crypto. Nonetheless, the only problem with SOL is its reported frequent downtimes.
6. Dogecoin
Despite its meme status on the web, Dogecoin (DOGE) is nothing to scoff at. It’s one of the top ten biggest altcoins out there, and it’s safe to invest in this one despite it being a meme coin. It also helps that it was adopted recently by the tech giant Elon Musk. Currently, its market capitalization is around USD$7 billion and you can trade it for USD$0.06.
7. Polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) is one of the newest popular altcoins in the market. One of its key features is parachain, which enables communication and exchange between blockchains. As of now, it’s as valuable as Dogecoin and has a trade price of USD$6.20.
Notable Mentions
Aside from the initial seven altcoins, other popular and stable coins are out there. While they didn’t enter the list, they deserve to be mentioned as they’re slowly growing steadily in the market and can be part of your investment considerations. Some of the notable altcoins besides the ones mentioned here are the following:
- Tronix (TRX): Tron is one of the leading decentralized altcoins in this list. It’s primarily used as a medium currency. Its total market cap is around USD$4 billion, and its global rank is 17th as of this writing. Tronix price is around USD$0.05.
- Shiba Inu (SHIB): If you like Dogecoin and want to find an alternative to it, you can choose to have SHIB. The doge meme is a Shiba Inu dog, after all. Anyway, its price is currently low as of now: USD$0.00000915. Nevertheless, that’s not the full story, as its market cap is already around USD$5 billion.
- Polygon (MATIC): If you’re planning to avoid Ethereum, Polygon might be the best choice for you. Unlike ETH, it scales well and is a perfect side chain, meaning that you don’t worry about having more users using this altcoin. Its market cap is around USD$7.6 billion, which isn’t bad for an ETH alternative. Its price is around USD$0.86. However, there’s still uncertainty with Polygon, as when Ethereum fixes its issues, it’s possible that current MATIC investors will come back to ETH.
Conclusion
Those are the top seven altcoins in the market right now. More and more people are starting to invest in these, and you should take a closer look at each one of them. Of course, despite the positive reviews, always practice caution when investing in cryptocurrency. After all, the cryptocurrency market can still be volatile at times.
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