I still remember the days back in 2016, when experts on the television were furiously debating about the then-new big thing called Bitcoin, and as an extension, other cryptocurrencies. It’s 2024 now and the crypto market accounts for over $2 trillion in market value.
To put things in perspective, that’s more than the SGDP of the states of New York, New Jersey, and California combined. Now, everyone is talking about where the cryptocurrencies are heading and how that redefines the concept of money.
In recent weeks, the crypto world (and probably the rest of the world) is eagerly awaiting the much anticipated 4th Bitcoin halving event. It is also the time of the year when everyone on the internet is posting lists of top ten stuff. So, we will talk about the top ten Cryptocurrencies for 2024.
In this article, I will discuss the parent chains of these digital coins and investigate their relevance in today’s technical landscape. I will also give you some numbers to get a feel of where these tokens are now. Let’s hop in.
1. Bitcoin (BTC)
Price: $66,674.20
You knew this one was coming. Bitcoin is the uncrowned king (or queen if you prefer) of cryptocurrencies. At a whopping $1.31 trillion in market capitalization, the value of Bitcoin is comparable to large corporations like Apple or countries like India.
Conceived as the now-famous Bitcoin white paper by the still-anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009, Bitcoin has since grown into a new financial system and part of popular culture.
The Bitcoin protocol uses what is known as the proof-of-work consensus mechanism for verifying transactions. This will allow the participants to carry out transactions without depending on a centralized authority.
Starting at a price of a few cents, Bitcoin has gone through some wild years and become what it is today. Being the first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin accounts for roughly half of all of the crypto market value.
2. Ether (ETH)
Price: $3,251.50
Though Ether has maintained its position as the second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, it has always remained in the shadow of its parent blockchain- Ethereum.
Co-founded by Vitalik Buterin in 2014 and is the first platform to introduce smart contracts. Due to the first-mover advantage, it is still the first choice of developers.
The project was launched as a solution that allows users to deploy software that will automatically execute complicated logic, which was revolutionary at the time. Ethereum is also a popular platform for minting Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).
Several layer-2 blockchains are built on top of Ethereum and adopt the ERC-20 token standard for their ICOs. Ether has experienced substantial growth since its initial listing. ETH has moved from $11 in 2016 to over $3500 last week.
3. Tether (USDT)
Price: $1.00
Judging a stablecoin by its price can be misleading. Unlike other cryptocurrencies, the price of stablecoins, including USDT, is maintained at or around $1. This is done by tweaking the token supply.
Tether is the largest stablecoin and the third largest cryptocurrency based on market capitalization. Tether is considered by most experts as a good option for risk-averse investors who want to get into crypto. The Tether team publishes a daily record of the assets and reserves they are holding.
The token is undoubtedly the most popular stablecoin out there and contributes to a large percentage of daily trading volume in the crypto market.
USDT is widely adopted across all major centralized exchanges, OTC desks, and wallets. It also forms the most liquid trading pair with the less popular cryptocurrencies and tokens.
4. Binance Coin (BNB)
Price: $578.59
At over $86 billion in market capitalization, Binance Coin is the 4th biggest cryptocurrency. Originally introduced as the native utility token of the Binance exchange, BNB is now more widely adopted. The token was introduced in 2017 as a default mode of payment on Binance.
BNB is now used for trading, payment processing, and shopping, among other uses. On the Binance platform, it is the preferred mode of exchange for obtaining other cryptocurrencies. Starting at a launch price of $0.10, BNB has become 5000 times that now.
5. Solana (SOL)
Price: $171.50
The Solana blockchain was introduced as a faster and more efficient alternative to Ethereum. Like Ethereum, Solana supports smart contracts and powers decentralized finance (DeFi) and decentralized apps (DApps). Solana uses a unique blend of proof-of-stake and proof-of-history mechanisms to verify the transactions on the chain. This allows blocks to be added in much less time without sacrificing on security.
Solana also allows all the nodes to have equal access to the information written on the blockchain. This is to prevent censorship on the platform and keep it decentralized. Sol is the native cryptocurrency of Solana. Debuted on exchanges in 2020 at $0.77, Solana is trading at over 200 times that now, making up a market capitalization of $76.3 billion.
6. USD Coin (USDC)
Price: $1.00
At a $32.9 billion market cap, USD Coin is the second-largest stablecoin and the sixth-largest cryptocurrency. The token’s value is pegged to the U.S. dollar. USDC was launched in 2018 by Centre, a joint venture of Circle and Coinbase, and is built on top of the Ethereum blockchain.
USD Coin is backed by real assets and has earned the title ‘fiat-collateralized stablecoin’. USDC is a popular choice as the bridging token for purchasing obscure cryptocurrencies.
7. XRP (XRP)
Price: $0.5764
XRP is more commonly known as Ripple. This is because XRP was developed and is now partly managed by the payment solutions company Ripple. XRP was launched in 2012 even before Ethereum. However, its creators, Ripple, have been moving its focus from XRP to its cross-border payment solution business.
XRP facilitates currency exchange and works with both fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies. When XRP debuted on the exchanges in 2017, its price was a measly $0.006. When I last checked, the XRP price was at $0.645. At a market cap of 31.6 billion, the token is now trading at over a hundred times that price.
8. Cardano (ADA)
Price: $0.5692
Cardano is one of the pioneers of the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) verification mechanism. It was an improvement over the traditional Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus in terms of speed and energy efficiency. Cardano also supports smart contracts and is widely used for creating decentralized applications (dApps), The native cryptocurrency of the platform is ADA.
If we compare ADA with the other big league players, the token is yet to witness explosive growth in value, which is exactly why it is at the top of the profit potential list. Cardana debuted the exchanges at $0.02. As of today, ADA has a market cap of $20.2 billion.
9. Avalanche (AVAX)
Price: $44.56
The Avalanche blockchain is synonymous with speed and it also offers a comparably affordable fee structure. The real point to notice about the Avalanche platform is the sheer amount of total value locked (TVL) deposited with it. These come in the form of staking, lending, and liquidity pools.
Avalanche protocol is a popular option among developers who are tired of the ridiculous gas fee in other major platforms. AVAX was launched in 2021 at around $5 and its market capitalization now stands at $16.8 billion. The token has appreciated by nearly 1000% in value.
10. Dogecoin (DOGE)
Price: $0.1727
When everyone thought that the crypto community had become mature, meme tokens, led by DOJE, have appeared as the largest growth drivers in the ongoing crypto bull rally. Dogecoin began as a (you guessed it) dog meme in 2013, trolling Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. However, the crypto community embraced the idea and the token has since evolved into a major cryptocurrency.
Dogecoin has attracted a loyal community and even celebrity attention. Starting in 2015, at $0.00029 DOJE’s prices skyrocket to $0.54 in 2021. The meme coin has a market capitalization of $24.8 billion.
Conclusion
Cryptocurrencies have come a long way from being speculative instruments to decentralized currencies. The most difficult part about understanding crypto assets is what else in the existing world of finance can it be compared to. As a means of exchange, cryptocurrencies resemble the US dollar or the Chinese Yuan.
As a storage of value, they are more like gold, appreciating during periods of high inflation. Maybe we were doing it wrong all along. Maybe, cryptocurrencies should be put in a separate category of their own. Only time will tell.
