Altcoins, or bitcoin’s rivals, are taking on the bruised cryptocurrency and eating into its market share of $2 trillion which has quickly fallen to $700 billion. Some like Dogecoin have no use beyond trading, but others like Ethereum aspire to become the backbone of the future financial system. Investors fuelling their rise don’t seem to be too bothered with utility and are just in for quick profit and to join Elon Musk for an entertaining ride. Whether you are in for a long haul or just a quick profit-booking, here are some cryptocurrencies worth taking a look at…
A month after hitting $60,000 bitcoin has taken a major beating as it dropped below $40,000 on Wednesday. The cryptocurrency’s market share has eroded from $2 trillion to $700 billion. Here are some altcoins (another name for alternate cryptocurrencies) that, in the meantime, are going up.
1. Ether: Ether, based on the Ethereum blockchain, is slowly but steadily catching up to Bitcoin’s now reduced market cap. It has soared over four times this year, with its market cap rising to $380 billion. Its popularity soared as other crypto lending platforms started using its blockchain. Its use in decentralised finance or DeFi (blockchain-based financial services that aim to bypass banks/brokerages) doesn’t hurt investor optimism either.
2. Dogecoin: Though Dogecoin began as a joke, it has surged over 10,000 percent this year. And as the data from CoinMarketCap tells us, it has become the fifth-biggest cryptocurrency, with its market cap being as high as $60 billion. Its growth, however, is not backed by growth in mainstream use for payments, or any other fundamental reason. Rather, Tesla boss Elon Musk has time and again given it wings to fly. Last week, the coin surged 25 percent after Musk said he was working with Doge developers to boost its efficiency.
3. Shiba Inu: Shiba Inu, Dogecoin’s spinoff, has surged over 2,000 percent in the four days (till May 11). While it is barely worth a fraction of a cent and it doesn’t have any practical value, the coin is surging, and that eventually translates into profits. The coin has a market cap of well over $5 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.
4. Cardano: Ethereum’s co-founder Charles Hoskinson created Cardano and like Ether, it gained momentum this year. Its value has skyrocketed 10 times YTD and last week, it touched an all-time high of $2.33. Its supporter base seems to have swelled after Elon Musk’s energy efficiency tweet. The cryptocurrency also claims to solve a number of issues with its proof-of-work consensus algorithms. It is the fifth most valuable cryptocurrency right now, according to the data from CoinMarketCap, with its market cap nearly touching $60 billion.
5. Internet Computer: After three days of launch, Internet Computer had clocked a market value of about $35.8 billion. It was launched last week and its market value skyrocketed to over $90 billion at a price of nearly $731. However, within minutes, investors rushed to book profits, taking its market cap down. The coin is not a joke though – it uses smart contracts, like Ethereum blockchain, that can be used to power a number of platforms and applications. It aspires high and its founders aim to make it a decentralised version of the internet. IT claims to run faster than Ethereum and is way less costly.
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