The total capitalisation of the cryptocurrency market grew by more than 100% in 2023 and continues to grow in 2024, rising from US$1.64 trillion in January 2024 to US$1.95 trillion in early July 2024. Some tokens have seen significant increases over the past year, such as Solana (+750%), Cardano (+140%), Chainlink (+180%) and Bitcoin (+130%). Most of these tokens will also perform well in 2024.
However, these are not the only cryptocurrencies of interest to crypto-investors. There are several other promising cryptocurrencies that could diversify a crypto-portfolio in 2024.
As a future crypto-investor, knowing how to answer the question, ‘What is defined as a promising cryptocurrency?’ is crucial to making the best cryptocurrency investment decisions.
A promising cryptocurrency is defined as a digital currency with unique features, innovative functionality and a specific purpose aimed at a buoyant market. These elements distinguish it from other digital currencies and suggest that it could have a prosperous future from which investors could benefit.
The DOT token can be considered a promising cryptocurrency. Each blockchain has its own features and protocols, often isolated from other blockchains. Interoperability is crucial to get more people to adopt blockchain technology and support the development of other projects in the world of digital assets.
Through ecosystems such as Polkadot, bridges can be built between these different blockchains, enabling greater interoperability. Specialised blockchains called Polkadot parachains are designed to meet specific needs and can be connected via a central hub called the Polkadot Relay Chain.
In June 2024, Polkadot launched Snowbridge, a decentralised bridge connecting Ethereum and Polkadot, enabling the seamless transfer of ETH and ERC20 assets. The DOT price rose by more than 92% in 2023, but is losing more than 27% since the start of 2024.
Launched in 2017 as Elrond, MultiversX aims to create a high-performance, fast, scalable and cost-effective blockchain infrastructure. Using secure proof-of-stake and adaptive state sharding technology, MultiversX has created an ecosystem for Web3 developers and players.
The partnership between MultiversX and SafePal, announced on 5 July 2024, gives SafePal users direct access to the MultiversX ecosystem. Despite a 117% increase in 2023, the EGLD token has lost more than 50% since the beginning of 2024.
Polygon lost more than 69% in 2022, but the MATIC token gained more than 28% in 2023. The Polygon network offers solutions similar to those of Solana and aims to address the scalability issues of blockchains such as Ethereum.
On 8 July 2024, Polygon surpassed Bitcoin and Ethereum in terms of daily active users, highlighting its potential as a scalable alternative to Ethereum.
The Fetch.ai platform uses blockchain and AI to automate common tasks such as booking flights or finding parking spaces. The FET token, up more than 74% since the start of 2024, will merge with the AGIX and OCEAN tokens from 1 July 2024 to form a new ASI token.
Since 2018, Hedera has been developing high-performance DApps for the decentralised economy. Its DAG architecture and Hashgraph protocol offer superior levels of performance and security. The HBAR token increased by 135% in 2023, but is losing more than 21% since the beginning of 2024.
Toncoin, integrated into Telegram, reached the top 10 cryptocurrencies in terms of capitalisation in April 2024. Since the beginning of the year, the price of the TON token has jumped by more than 213%, reaching $7.25.
The year 2023 has been good for cryptocurrencies and there are some interesting opportunities in 2024. Bitcoin cash ETFs could democratise Bitcoin and attract new investors. With the SEC giving the green light to Spot Ethereum ETFs, more Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs could emerge in 2024, further supporting the cryptocurrency market.
Find all our analysis on Summit Research
