Loved, hated, admired – Bitcoin has not ceased to capture our attention. Fear of missing out, or FOMO as we prefer to call it – is hitting hard the people who missed the train to the Bitcoin land are eagerly waiting for the next one. Or maybe expecting a new top cryptocurrency that’ll dethrone it.
The lesser-known players aren’t less in number in the crypto world, nor are they going to sit on the sidelines as Bitcoin continues to reign. Take Ethereum, for example. Trading at close to $100 in March 2020, it crossed $2000 just a year later. Now it’s not a cakewalk to choose from over 8,000+ altcoins – i.e. any cryptocurrency that isn’t Bitcoin, so we have for you a specially curated list.
1. Ethereum [ETH]
Ethereum is an open-source, blockchain-based, decentralized software utilized by Ether – its platform token. It facilitates smart contracts and Distributed Applications (DApps) to be assembled and operated without any outer impact. One of the large projects around Ethereum is Microsoft’s coalition with ConsenSys, the founding Ethereum team.
Ethereum asserts that it can be used to “codify, decentralize, secure, and trade just about anything.”
In other words, Ethereum is essentially a programming language (Turing complete) running on a blockchain to assist developers in the manufacture and circulate distributed applications. Ether is used extensively for two purposes: being traded as a digital currency exchange or inside Ethereum to run applications and monetize work.
Enduring a loss of over $50 million worth of DAO-raised funds in 2016, Ethereum split into two blockchains viz. Ethereum, and Ethereum Classic. Ethereum swats Bitcoin in the time taken to obtain (about 14 or 15 seconds to bitcoin’s near-uniform 10 minutes) along with additional units in circulation compared to Bitcoin. With Ethereum 2.0 coming, it’s a top cryptocurrency for sure.
Stats as of 25 March 2021
Market cap: $186,249,675,091.92
Circulating supply: 115,193,590 ETH
Performance in 2021: +123%
2. Chainlink [LINK]
Another top cryptocurrency, Chainlink is a tokenized oracle network delivering price and events data. The token incentivizes partakers to submit and use this data, compiled from on-chain and real-world sources. Chainlink does not employ its blockchain and can operate on assorted blockchains simultaneously.
Formulated by Sergey Nazarov and Steve Ellis in 2017, Chainlink attempts to solve the “oracle problem,” i.e. the capacity to get the off-chain data needed to operate several blockchain-based smart contracts.
LINK, the cryptocurrency native to Chainlink, is used to pay node operators. The node providers with a large amount of LINK can be rewarded with larger contracts, while failing to deliver accurate information leads to the token deduction.
LINK allows tokens to be received and processed by contracts within a single transaction. Following the 2017 $32 million LINK ICO with a total supply of 1 billion LINK tokens, 32 percent of LINK tokens were sent to node operators to incentivize the ecosystem, and 30 percent stayed within Chainlink for development (35 percent were sold in the public token sale). Chainlink’s partnerships are immense and broad, making it a top cryptocurrency in many eyes.
Stats as of 25 March 2021
Market cap: $10,581,523,669.92
Circulating supply: 414,509,556 LINK
Performance in 2021: +119%
3. VeChain [VET]
VeChain is a blockchain platform manufactured to strengthen supply chain management and business methods. Its goal is to simplify these processes and knowledge flow for complex supply chains through distributed ledger technology (DLT).
The Vechain platform includes two distinct tokens: VeChain Token (VET) and VeChainThor Energy (VTHO). Transactions on decentralized applications occurring on VeChain’s blockchain use VET.
VeChain intends to evolve into a major platform for initial coin offerings (ICOs) and administer transactions between the Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices.
The VeChain platform alleges to give a 360-degree perspective of necessary information correlated to a product and its business processes—such as storage, transportation, and supply—to legal stakeholders and establish bigger market transparency.
Stats as of 25 March 2021
Market cap: $5,265,687,658.44
Circulating supply: 64,315,576,989 VET
Performance in 2021: +336%
4. Cosmos [ATOM]
Cosmos is a network of blockchain networks, popularly known as the “Internet of Blockchains.” It has the objective to entitle separate blockchains to communicate with each other seamlessly. By encouraging any blockchain to communicate, share data, and transact with anyone, Cosmos has taken the market up a notch.
A top cryptocurrency both in terms of features and market cap, Cosmos incorporates a next-generation technology stack that arms developers to generate complicated blockchains within the Cosmos ecosystem in a week! Leaving behind the 2nd-generation blockchains that would take weeks for the same, Cosmos celebrates a growing Dapp community.
Stats as of 25 March 2021
Market cap: $3,747,454,894.82
Circulating supply: 212,003,141 ATOM
Performance in 2021: 244.5%
5. Algorand [ALGO]
Algorand Inc. invented the world’s first open-source, permissionless, pure proof-of-stake blockchain protocol for the next era of financial products. The Algorand protocol is the brainchild of Turing Award-winning cryptographer Silvio Micali.
A technology company devoted to eliminating friction from the financial exchange, Algorand Inc. is powering DeFi advancement by facilitating the innovation and trade of value, designing new financial tools and services, bringing assets on-chain, and contributing responsible privacy models. It’s why it figures frequently in several top cryptocurrency lists.
Stats as of 25 March 2021
Market cap: $2,762,728,285.11
Circulating supply: 2,601,739,818 ALGO
Performance in 2021: +221%
6. Tezos
Arthur Breitman jotted down the Tezos white paper, he composed his works under the pen name of L. M. Goodman. He asserted that one of Bitcoin’s massive failings was the absence of a governance procedure that asked for assistance from the community employing the network — along with the fact that new tokens couldn’t be handed out through this blockchain.
He and his wife Kathleen established a startup called Dynamic Ledger Solutions which was charged with writing the code to underpin the Tezos protocol. This company was thereafter bought by the Tezos Foundation to secure that it acquired all of the intellectual estate rights relating to the network.
With Tezos, participants can get involved with the network’s administration through “baking,” where they stake 8,000 XTZ. This establishes a monetary stimulus to behave honestly.
Bankers are then assigned voting on recommended alterations to the blockchain’s code in a four-step protocol taking nearly 23 days.
Tezos is also unusual because of its use by high-profile enterprises.
In September 2020, it was declared that the French banking giant Societe Generale planned to use this blockchain for experimenting with a central bank digital currency.
A token sale for Tezos was held back in July 2017 — and during this ICO, a total of 65,681 BTC and 361,122 ETH were raised. At the time, this was worth $232 million, ensuring its place as one of the enormous initial coin offerings ever held.
While 80% of this initial supply went to investors, 20% was split equally between the Tezos Foundation and Dynamic Ledger Solutions.
Tezos uses a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. Anyone can become a validator and contribute to the smooth running of the network by making a security deposit.
Stats as of 25 March 2021
Market cap: $3,096,643,327.23
Circulating supply: 764,290,232 XTZ
Performance in 2021: +101%
7. Zilliqa [ZIL]
Zilliqa is a high-performance, high-security blockchain platform for enterprises and next-generation applications.
Evolved through academic research and steered by a team of skilled scientists, engineers, venture creators, and leaders in economic services, Zilliqa deals with constraints in scalability and security, encouraging real-world usability across numerous industries, including finance, digital advertising, and gaming.
In 2019, Zilliqa became the first public blockchain platform created on sharded architecture, with smart contracts written in the platform’s secure-by-design programming language, Scilla.
For additional information, visit zilliqa.com.
Stats as of 25 March 2021
Market cap: $1,782,628,312.22
Circulating supply: 11,090,579,599 ZIL
Performance in 2021: +98.73%
8. Reserve Rights [RSR]
Reserve Rights is a dual-token stablecoin platform, launched in May 2019 after a profitable initial exchange offering (IEO) on the Huobi Prime platform. Nevin Freeman and Matt Elder co-founded Reserve Rights.
The Reserve Rights’ dual token setup includes a stablecoin known as the Reserve stablecoin (RSV) and the Reserve Rights token (RSR), used to keep the RSV stable at its $1.00 price target.
The Reserve Rights (RSR) token is volatile and helps maintain the stability of RSV. It can also be used to vote on governance proposals.
Unlike other stablecoins backed mainly by U.S. dollars (USD) held in reserve in a bank account controlled by the stablecoin issuer or a trusted custodian, Reserve stablecoins are supported by a basket of cryptocurrencies managed by smart contracts.
This basket originally comprises Ethereum stablecoin assets, including USD Coin (USDC), True USD (TUSD), and Paxos (PAX).
The funds produced by selling RSR tokens are used to restore the RSV collateral pool. In contrast, when RSV is valued at above $1, the extra collateral is used to buy and burn RSR from the secondary market.
Arbitrageurs can profit from this means when RSV is valued at above $1.00 by buying RSV at $1.00 from the Reserve smart contract using RSR and then peddling it at the existing market price to earn the difference as profit.
This option is only accessible to RSR holders and is currently one of the main drivers for holding RSR tokens.
Stats as of 25 March 2021
Market cap: $970,230,168.23
Circulating supply: 13,159,999,000 RSR
Performance in 2021: +315%
9. Nervos Network [CKB]
The Nervos Network is a blockchain application for widespread applications. It is here to decipher the problem of interoperability in the blockchain world. Their proof-of-work Nervos Common Knowledge Base (CKB) lets developers create multi-chain apps guilelessly. They strive for users to be able to disseminate assets from one network to another hassle-free.
Stats as of 25 March 2021
Market cap: $497,891,639.99
Circulating supply: 24,401,763,172 CKB
Performance in 2021: +496%
10. Origin Protocol [OGN]
Founded in 2017 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Origin is a protocol for building a sharing economy marketplace utilizing the Ethereum blockchain and IPFS.
It empowers developers and businesses to construct decentralized marketplaces on the blockchain. Its protocol makes it simple to build and organize listings for fractional usage of properties and services.
Origin enables buyers and sellers to discover each other, browse listings, make bookings, leave ratings and reviews, etc.
Stats as of 25 March 2021
Market cap: $224,540,026.39
Circulating supply: 265,989,961 OGN
Performance in 2021: +619.76%
Do check out our other curated lists as well:
The second part of the list of top altcoins to buy on Kucoin will be released soon. Join our discord, and telegram for quality altcoins signals based on technical analysis and fundamental research.
Disclaimer:
Altcoins listed in this article are based on the author’s research. The author is not holding any of these top altcoins. Always do your own research before investing in any cryptocurrency.
Hitesh Malviya is the Founder of ItsBlockchain. He is one of the most early adopters of blockchain & cryptocurrency enthusiast in India. After being into space for a few years, he started IBC in 2016 to help other early adopters learn about the technology.
Before IBC, Hitesh has founded 4 companies in the cyber security & IT space.
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