It’s been an exciting year for cryptocurrency investors, especially for those interested to go beyond Bitcoin and invest in smaller altcoins. This trend will continue in 2024 and there are a lot of smaller cryptocurrencies that have found a niche market and that are worth investing in.
In this article, we’ll discuss what altcoins to invest in and what makes them a good investment. We’re especially focused on the unique features the altcoins provide.
These unique tech innovations and their applications are attracting a user base and making cryptocurrency an interesting investment. Investors should especially pay attention to how quickly the industry is adapting to new cryptocurrencies. For instance, BNB casinos are already in use, while SPCT is an interesting project, but still mostly a theoretical one.
Ethereum
Ethereum was considered to be the second most important most profitable cryptocurrency from the get-go. It still holds this position today and it’s the most used cryptocurrency besides Bitcoin. It has a market capitalization of $228 billion. The third highest market cap belongs to Theter at “only” $83 billion.
The biggest advantage Ethereum has is in its blockchain network. It’s moved fully from the Proof of Work to the Proof of Stake consensus mechanism. This provides it with a great variety of advantages compared to other cryptocurrencies. The most important of which is that it makes Ethereum more scalable than any other crypto.
Investing in Ethereum in 2024 means betting on its numerous applications with smart contracts and open code that the users can take advantage of. It will have an impact on online gambling, online retail, as well as various forms of insurance.
BNB
BNB (once known as Binance) has been around since 2017. It’s been a steady alternative to both Bitcoin and Ethereum ever since. BNB was launched by a Binance platform but later it evolved a life of its own and it’s now used as a cryptocurrency in itself.
BNB gambling will probably expand a lot in 2024 and that’s why so many investors are looking into BNB and casino platforms. It’s a very scalable blockchain network meaning that it can easily expand to more BNB casinos and accept more players as the interest in BNB keeps growing. This is one of the most important features of cryptocurrencies looking to find new applications and replace Bitcoin.
It’s important to note here that the BNB network has made some compromises with its decentralization policies to improve performance. The trade-off seems to work and the users are happy with it. The value of BNB is also interestingly tied to the value of Bitcoin and as one rises or falls in value so does the other.
Arbitrum
Arbitrum isn’t a cryptocurrency per se, instead, it’s one of the most popular layer 2 scaling solutions for Ethereum. It still uses the main network used by Ethereum but offers unique tech innovations of its own. It has a TVL (total value locked) of $5.63 billion, while the next closest competitor, Optimism, has a TVL of $2.60 billion.
Arbitrum handles 6.8 transactions per second. The transactions made with Arbitrum are much faster than those users could get with any other cryptocurrency. This is the most important reason investors are looking into it since the speed of transactions can have countless practical applications.
The projected Arbitrum token will have a market cap of $1.07 billion. This would make it the 37 largest crypto coin in the world. However, this doesn’t mean that it will stop there, Arbitrum investments may lead to advancement in market cap.
Solana
Solana is often considered to be one of the fastest blockchain platforms. That’s what makes it an interesting investment for 2024 as speed is a sought-after feature for cryptocurrencies. Over the years the platform has gone through a few setbacks – most of them technical in nature. However, the network is still alive and kicking and very much used.
As an investment SOL coin is now operating at more than 90 percent down from its highest recorded value. Buy low, sell high remains the most important principle in any investment and that’s the case with cryptocurrency coins as well.
The Solana network is home to many other projects beyond the SOL coin itself. This includes Stepn, Helium, Magic Eden, and Orca. Given that it’s now proven that Solana has good long-term potential and can withstand downturns – it’s an investment for those playing the long game.
Cardano (ADA)
Many are considering the Cardano blockchain network and its ADA coin as one of the best long-term investments. Cardano uses Proof of Stake technology similar to that of Ethereum and it, therefore, provides many of the same benefits it does.
Presently, ADA has a fully diluted market cap (FDMC) of $12.3b and a price per coin of $0.24. To reach $10,000 a coin it would need to do 37,037x if it’s current price. One of the most important selling points for Cardano is that it consumes much less energy than its competitors.
Cardano also has some unique downsides. It’s focusing on research too much since it’s its strong suit. There’s nothing wrong with this approach on its own, but it also allows the competitors to acquire larger market sharers. This is noticeable in the fact that it took Cardano four years of research to implement smart contracts when others have already beaten them to it.
VC Spectra (SPCT)
SPCT is a promising player in the crypto sector even though it’s still in the early stages of development. During the public preliminary sale, it made $2.4 million. It offers some of the expected services to investors and users associated with cryptocurrencies. These include exchange, decentralized trading, asset management, and payment of transaction fees.
Investors could buy SPCT at a price of $0.008 and they had 450 percent growth. During the second stage of investments, the coin grew an additional 300 percent. Currently, at stage 3 SPCT is worth $0.08.
SPCT isn’t like other picks on our list since it’s still in the very early stages of its development. However, many believe that it’s worth the investment as it can soon become one of the best cryptocurrencies out there. The biggest obstacle SPCT will have to face is in the marketing department, as it’s very difficult to compare to already established cryptocurrencies.
Dogecoin
Many investors don’t like to see Dogecoin on these lists, since Dogcoin was once known as a meme only. It is how this cryptocurrency became popular, and especially so when Ellon Musk mentioned it, but now it’s a legitimate investment to consider.
In the past month, Dogecoin has grown 15 percent and in the past year, it’s up 3 percent meaning that it’s now a safe cryptocurrency to buy and forget about while it generates profit. Analysts predict that Dogecoin will continue to grow in 2024 and potentially overcome its bad marketing.
Market cap for Dogecoin is now at about $8 billion making it one of the best cryptocurrencies in the world. When it comes to practical application Dogecoin can be used just as any other currency to store value, make purchases, or hold parties to agreements.
Many altcoins show promise as 2024 investments. Some of them are brand new and others have been around for a while. Altcoins we mentioned here already have practical application and BNB casinos and Ethereum smart contracts have been on the rise for a while now.
The best way to go is to diversify your investment, as is common for more traditional ventures such as stocks, bonds, or foreign currencies. That way the investors can hedge their bets if one of the casino investments doesn’t pay out.