Top 10 Cryptocurrencies Apart From Bitcoin For 2022

The mainstream society has now come to know the sudden rise of crypto assets in the past few years. Even the laymen among us have heard terms like cryptocurrencies, bitcoin, blockchain, and so on. Bitcoin is one such name that almost everyone has heard of or read about. It has been the pioneer of cryptocurrency and contributed to a complex yet quite secure network of traders, investors, and miners. But do you know about some cryptocurrencies apart from bitcoin which are quite strong in the market?

Let’s understand the basics of what is a cryptocurrency, what are altcoins, and finally, we can have a look at the top 10 cryptocurrencies apart from bitcoin

What is a cryptocurrency in a few simple words?
What Are Altcoins?
Top 10 Altcoin apart from Bitcoin
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What Is A Cryptocurrency In A Few Simple Words?

A cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual money without any physical existence. Although there are some cryptocurrencies with associations with credit cards that can be thought of as a physical medium the largest market is still under a digital space.

As per the above pointers, a bitcoin as a cryptocurrency is nothing but a simple digital code that is decentralized and holds a digital monetary value: similar to the normal currency which we use as issued by the government. The cryptocurrencies are, however, built to be free from government and other associations. The cryptocurrency is secured using cryptography and a technology called “blockchain”.

What Are Altcoins?

There are some cryptocurrencies that are built on the design, structure, and features of bitcoin. We call them “Altcoins”. They can be thought of as modified or in some cases improved versions of bitcoins.

Let’s now take a look at the top 10 cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin or should I say the top 10 “altcoins”. As of December 2021, there are more than 8000 cryptocurrencies across the globe. Thus, any list for altcoins cannot be a comprehensive list. We have included a list of those coins which are highly traded and have seen a great amount of security along with the potential to grow in the coming years.

Top 10 Altcoin Apart From Bitcoin

1. Ether (ETH)

Maybe the most popular crypto platform succeeding bitcoin. It is an open blockchain platform that is decentralized and also supports smart contracts. Ether is a cryptocurrency that has been developed using Ethereum as a platform. It has the next largest market cap evaluation to bitcoin. Vitalik Buterin, a Canadian computer programmer, is one of the co-founders of Ethereum.

Despite the recent volatility and downturns, Ethereum has been able to improve and has gained 900% more than the past year. Moreover, it is the second most popular crypto after bitcoin in terms of market evaluation and security.

2. Cardano (ADA)

It was founded by Charles Hoskinson in 2015 who was one of the co-founders of Ethereum. It is a decentralized blockchain platform that is built using proof of stake. Cardano is the blockchain platform and ADA is the cryptocurrency token that is developed using it.

It aims to improve upon the scalability and global network issues of Bitcoin and Ethereum respectively. In many instances, experts have claimed it to be an “Ethereum Killer”. As of December 2021, it has around a $42 billion market cap which evaluates to being the sixth-largest.

3. Litecoin (LTC)

Developed by Charlie Lee, an MIT graduate back in 2011. LTC is peer-to-peer platform that was released under an open license. Comes out to be nearly identical to bitcoin in many ways but also differs in a few significant technicalities which makes it unique.

It has a faster block generation rate which is every block around 2.5 minutes as compared to 10 minutes in bitcoin. It uses a script which is a password-based key derivation function in its proof-of-work algorithm.

4. Polkadot (DOT)

The then CTO of Ethereum – Gavin Wood founded this platform in 2016. Proof Of Stake algorithm is implemented to secure the entire platform and its transactions. It is a chain of blockchain networks that allows you to scale efficiently. It can handle transactions parallel instead of a single transaction.

The future for Polkadot is quite promising owing to its latest announcement on parachains. They are short for parallelized chains that aim to provide interoperability between numerous blockchains.

5. Tether (USDT)

It is developed by a crypto company Tether based on the bitcoin standards. It is the world’s first stablecoin as it is backed by an equivalent amount of US Dollar. The token USDT is developed to remain precisely at $1.

Despite being a stable coin, it is still exposed to fluctuations in those fiat currencies to which it is pegged. However, comparing it with other cryptocurrencies, less volatility has been observed throughout USDT. As of today, it holds a market cap of around $70 billion.

6. Binance Coin (BNB)

Developed by the largest crypto exchange in the world, Binance. It was earlier used for trading and payment of fees on the Binance platform. However, due to advancements, it is now being used for trading, payment processing, or even booking other arrangements requiring digital currency. This coin can also be used for exchanging with other coins like Ethereum and Bitcoin.

It was initially an ERC-20 token based on Ethereum but had its own platform launched recently. It uses a Pos (Proof Of Stake) consensus model for transactions. The current market cap of Binance is valued at around $90 billion.

7. Solana (SOL)

It was founded in 2017 as a decentralized blockchain platform with the aim of supporting scalable applications. The cryptocurrency under this platform is also named Solana (SOLUSD). It is currently the 5th largest cryptocurrency and is valued at around $66 billion as of December 2021. It is often compared to ethereum in terms of transactions and scalability. However, Solana can process more transactions and with low transaction fees as compared to Ethereum.

Moreover, Ethereum works on the Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm whereas Solana is developed on Proof-Of-Stake and Proof-Of-History algorithms. The verification process used by Solana is quite energy-efficient making it a better and a greener option as compared to other tokens.

8. Stellar (XLM)

It’s a payment protocol blockchain platform that is developed for digital currency to fiat currency transactions. It is an open-source and community-owned platform. It allows cross-border transactions and that too at a minimal transaction cost.

The digital cryptocurrency developed under this platform is Stellar Lumen (XLM). XLM has gained quite a popularity recently and is yet to grow even bigger. It works on a Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP) and is quite fast. It supports thousands of transactions with around 3-5 seconds per transaction.

9. Ripple (XRP)

This is developed as a money transfer, payment settlement, and currency exchange platform. It supports transactions in fiat currencies, cryptocurrencies, and even gold.
The cryptocurrency under this platform is XRP which is becoming quite popular and is currently valued at $42 billion.

XRP supports quite fast transactions which may take at most 4-5 seconds. Moreover, the transaction cost is too low which is set at 0.00001 XRP. Being a financially reliable platform, it is even used by many financial institutes such as Yes Bank, Axis Bank, and a few more.

10. Avalanche (AVAX)

It is a blockchain platform developed and designed by Ava Labs. The cryptocurrency developed under this platform is AVAX. It is currently the 10th largest cryptocurrency as of December 2021 with a market cap of around $26 billion.

Avalanche is one of the fastest smart contracts blockchain platforms. It has a transactional finality of fewer than 2 seconds and works on a Proof Of Stake algorithm.

All the above-mentioned cryptocurrencies apart from bitcoin are somewhat promising in terms of security, applications, and in their network. Being familiar with Bitcoin and even Ethereum to a large extent, the coming years would surely see a tremendous increase in the valuation of such altcoins. Who knows the next big crypto revolution may emerge from these tokens!

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