Top 10 Altcoins Of 2024 With The Biggest Market Capitalisation

The altcoin’s definition has evolved with the world of crypto, back in time the term only included a few of the top crypto assets. Moreover, any coin other than Bitcoin was considered an altcoin. 

Nowadays, the crypto world has gained a whole lot of assets. Multiple tokens and coins have evolved from just mere competition to Bitcoin and have gone beyond the medium of exchange. However, the basic definition of altcoin is still any other crypto other than Bitcoin. During all this, a question that pops up is how to buy altcoins.  And where to get them?

Here you will find the top 10 trending altcoins by market capitalization. The list does not include stablecoins as they are built to maintain the same price and aren't considered a profitable investment. Without further delay let's dive into the list of best altcoins to buy now.

Market Capitalisation: $223.3 billion

Out of the $1.25 trillion of total market capitalisation containing beyond 26,000 cryptos today. Ethereum holds more than $200 billion of the market, making it one of the best altcoins to invest in the market. Bitcoin which is considered a decentralised currency, on the other hand, Ethereum allows the distribution of its computing network. Users can use the ETH blockchain to host their smart contracts and run their decentralised applications (dApps). Adding this feature lands Ethereum in the list of future altcoins to watch.

Vice president of Metaverse platform MetaTope, Walker Homes said, BTC holds the value while ETH serves as a playground for decentralised technological innovations to determine the future. Ethereum critics raise concerns over its higher transaction fees, however, with the numerous apps and other altcoins powered via its blockchain, Ethereum is set to dominate this landscape.

Market Capitalisation $9.4 billion

Built to boost the Decentralised apps and finances including the smart contracts. Solana works on a one-of-its-kind mechanism combining hybrid proof of history and proof of stake to operate transactions safely and securely. 

Solana is the fastest blockchain available in the market and has faced much criticism due to its decentralised nature; with very few nodes to validate on comparing with Ethereum. Holmes states Solana to be a scalable blockchain solution with quite low fees; on the contrary, the network has faced downtime and outages from time to time making critics strong in their remarks. 

Market Capitalisation: $36.2 billion

XRP is a native crypto of Ripple Labs. Ripple Labs facilitates exchanges with different types of currencies and digital payment processing technology. Although the altcoin has really small transaction fees, critics have raised concerns about its legal challenges. Ripple along with its two executives are in an SEC lawsuit stating Ripple should have registered XRP as a security while the company states it to be a currency.

Market Capitalisation: $6.4 billion

Polygon operates as an Ethereum-based scaling platform that allows developers to build dApps with lower transaction costs. Logvin states that the Polygon allows users to process transactions on the Ethereum Network, this solution allows enhanced efficiency and helps save huge on Gas fees (transaction fees). Gas fees are a type of transaction fee which are lower on Polygon as compared to Ethereum.

Market Capitalisation: $37.4 billion

Binance Coin serves as a utility token which can be used for paying trading fees and availing discounts over the Binance exchange. BNB also allows you to pay for stuff outside the crypto exchange like booking for travel arrangements. Critics believe BNB is not a decentralised crypto, another risk is its battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which states whether BNB was registered by Binance as a security at the time of its launch. 

Market Capitalisation: $10.6 billion

Cardano was launched as a proof of stake consensus mechanism which sped up the transaction process and removed the energy-intensive and competitive problem-solving of platforms like Bitcoin.

According to Holmes, Cardano is a leader in the industry that developed the path for proof of stake mechanism, as ADA offered blockchain solutions that delivered lower fees with higher security. However, blockchain network provider and consultancy LedgerByte CEO Daniel Logvin, said the altcoin promised much at its launch and yet has too much to deliver. The question is will it hike with the best altcoins for the next bull run?

Market Capitalisation: $6.9 billion

Tron made it to the market in 2017, and by December 2021 what began as a decentralised blockchain grew into a fully functioning decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO). As of today, Tron has crossed the barrier of 167 million accounts. 

With a price of $0.0025 at its launch, the crypto gained a value of around $0.082 by the middle of 2023. The coin saw an increase of 3,180%, turning Tron into the world’s fastest-growing crypto.

Market Capitalisation: $6.6 billion

Litecoin is stated as one of the original altcoins, which was built to upgrade certain aspects of Bitcoin’s shortcomings, like the mining monopolies and slower transaction processing speeds. LTC was built for everyday transactions while BTC has turned into more of a coin to be held for longer periods. 

Litecoin has also seen some notable differences from Bitcoin. Other than processing speeds, the issue is also with the supply of the coin. Bitcoin is fixed at a market supply of 21 million coins, while Litecoin has a max supply of 84 million coins. 

Market Capitalisation: $10.6 billion

Dogecoin laid the foundation for meme coins and made its debut as a joke in 2013. Backed by the creative memes and dedicated community the coin has become a major crypto. Modulus Global, a financial software company CEO, Richard Gardner said the DOGE has some big names behind its back but is still riskier than Bitcoin. 

However, the founder of  0VIX Protocol, a dApp allowing borrowing and lending crypto, Garry Krugljakow said that altcoins like DOGE have a tendency to rise and fall drastically and have high volatility. Due to this nature, they still have to prove their real-world values to the crypto market.

Market Capitalisation: $6.2 billion

DOT runs the Polkadot ecosystem, which allows developers to create blockchains for specific purposes as spokes and link them to the main Polkdat blockchain hub. The DOT is the Polkadot’s native token. According to the CEO of a crypto investment and blockchain firm Digital Finance Group, James Wo states that this coin has enhanced security and is a top performer in the developer activity and numerous projects. The progress of the project has been slow and it does not have the applications to help boost the ecosystem.

BlockDAG ecosystem offers one of its kind blockchain network that provides various income streams. The coin offers mining machines called the X-Series that allow users to earn anywhere between 125 and 25,000 BDAG daily. To make the community strong the coin also offers a 10% referral bonus, and a promise to give 10x returns on the coin’s launch. Making claims like never before the coin is rumoured to be backed by one of Silicon Valley’s investors. The rumours along with the coin’s success make it a potential crypto to land in the top 10 altcoins in the future. 

Here is a list of top altcoins you can invest in and earn as they grow. The list is competitive and keeps upgrading with time; so it is better to stay up to date with them.