There’s no denying the fact that cryptocurrencies have managed to sky-rocket and establish their place at the top of the global financial industry. According to statistics, the number of crypto users has risen at a staggering rate in the past 3 years. In 2018, a total of 35 million crypto users were reported. That number rose to 101 million in 2020 and it doubled in 2021.
In 2021, these digital assets have reached their pinnacle, but as analysts state, this is just the beginning. Considering the fact that Bitcoin is by far the most valuable cryptocurrency on the market, as many as 80% of the traders are in possession of this crypto or are trading it frequently.
However, the crypto world is so much bigger than Bitcoin and that is exactly what we were looking to show you in this article. We are going to list the top 5 cryptocurrencies to invest in outside of Bitcoin. So, without any further ado, let’s start breaking down the details.
Ethereum (ETH)
Ethereum is not just a cryptocurrency – it is a whole decentralized blockchain network. You can trade countless cryptocurrencies and even NFTs thanks to this network. More importantly, Ethereum is powered by its digital asset that goes by the name Ether.
At the moment, the value of this cryptocurrency is over $3,800, which is the highest it has ever been. That makes it the second-most valuable crypto on the market besides Bitcoin and thanks to the fact that it provides you with massive trading flexibility, investing in it is a very smart decision. At the moment, the current number of Ethereum users is around half a million.
Cardano (ADA)
Cardano was co-founded by one of the initial founding members of Ethereum, Charles Hoskinson. This cryptocurrency was created with a research-based approach by various experts in cryptography, engineering, and mathematics. Cardano’s researchers have written upwards of 90 papers based on blockchain and this research is the spine of this cryptocurrency.
There are quite a few reasons why you should invest in Cardano. For starters, it is a fast-growing cryptocurrency that has been rising ever since its inception in 2017, it has high market capitalization, it is listed on regulated exchanges only, its scarcity makes it valuable, and if you are someone who is looking to diversify the portfolio, this is the perfect way to achieve that.
At the moment, Cardano’s value is a bit higher than $2.
Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
Bitcoin Cash is one of Bitcoin’s most successful hard forks. Hard forks are the result of disagreements between developers and miners and when these disagreements occur, the digital currency, in this case, Bitcoin, is sometimes split. Bitcoin Cash is the result of this type of split which occurred in 2017.
In 2021, Bitcoin Cash’s market capitalization is around $12 billion and the main difference between BTC (Bitcoin) and BCH (Bitcoin Cash) is the fact that Bitcoin Cash increased its block size to 8 MBs by claiming that the larger the blocks are, the more transactions can they hold and thus, the speed will be increased.
Currently, Bitcoin Cash’s value is around $600 and as statistics show, the average mining time is around 11 minutes.
Shiba Inu Coin (SHIB)
Our second-to-last cryptocurrency is one that may not be familiar to novice traders, which is why it is important to shed a bit of light on it. This token is supposed to be an Ethereum-based Dogecoin alternative. The main difference between Shiba and Bitcoin is the fact that, unlike Bitcoin, Shiba is abundant, rather than scarce.
Its circulating supply is somewhere around one quadrillion and thanks to the fact that it supports numerous tokens such as NFTs, it is among the biggest cryptocurrencies as it recorded a massive rise in the recent period. At the start of October 2021, this crypto recorded a 367% rise in just a week and its current price is around $0.0000277, making it the perfect choice for those that are starting their crypto journey.
Binance Coin (BNB)
Lastly, we have Binance Coin, a native cryptocurrency to one of the world’s most respected and most popular exchanges – Binance. If you are a registered trader on this platform, then you should consider using Binance Coin as it will provide you with tons of perks, one of which is extremely low fees. It also has a pretty decent value of around $350.
This digital asset is also at the core of the Binance Smart Chain and by using it, you can actually save a lot of money in the process. Not to mention the fact that it is fully optimized for use on Binance, meaning that you will be provided with extremely fast transactions.
Final Thoughts
In a world where Bitcoin continues to dominate, it is a good idea to look at other alternatives as they can be extremely profitable. All of the aforementioned suggestions are good examples and are worth taking a look at.
I certainly haven’t heard of Shiba Inu Coin. Sound like a Japanese organisation.
It’s interesting to know that NFT is linked to the whole cryptocurrency industry. I’ve seen some NFT arts and it still amazes me that many people are willing to pay so much money into this pixel/digital arts.
Many of the people I know are jumping into it, collecting NFTs and waiting for its value to go up and make a lot of money out of it. I’m not that brave to invest in it, lol.
Everyone I talk to about Cardano says that it isn’t safe because the FBI was able to track down someone through it who was doing criminal activities. Since then, I have questioned if it was really a good investment for me. I do have some but I am thinking of switching it to Ethereum just in case. Not sure though.
As someone who is not that familiar with crypto, only through your article do I understand that Bitcoin is not the only thing crypto has to offer. LOL. I thought it was all “invest in crypto = Bitcoin”. I will look into this more and see what other options are available. Thank you for the informative article though. It really opened my mind that crypto could be something to consider in terms of investing opportunities.
I’m really convinced that Shiba is not the coin to follow, there is too much of a false hype surrounding the crypto. Solana and Luna are definitely missing from this little list. They have proven to have a strong backbone, lots of followers, a great useability and remain fairly stable compared to other coins.
Dot and Link are also worth mentioning… And really it depends on what kind of investment you want to make. In the long run, I guess the above mentioned coins will do just fine, but if you are in it for a quick gain or for shorter period investments, than these are not quite the coins you should be looking into.
The most important thing is we have to think twice before starting to work with Cryptocurrencies and all. We don’t where the place we will fall actually. Should not be tracked by the government.