According to research published last year, Altcoins have been a significant driver of the burgeoning cryptocurrency sector, which briefly reached a $3 trillion capitalization in 2021, with Shiba Inu and others leading in value and popularity development.
Altcoins began to account for a larger percentage of the total crypto universe even during the wide crypto market sell-off, decreasing Bitcoin's "dominance" in industry parlance. Many "Ethereum killers," or competitors in the field of smart contract blockchains, such as Solana, with its SOL token, began to attract traders' attention. In July, the price of so-called layer 2 tokens, such as Polygon's MATIC, which aims to improve the efficiency of transactions on the Ethereum blockchain, roughly doubled. BrokerChooser, an international broker comparison website, in a report said:
"And while Bitcoin is undoubtedly still the king of cryptocurrencies, there are thousands of other coins and tokens, some of which have enjoyed greater surges in popularity and price than Bitcoin in the last twelve months.”
Many Altcoins aren't only cryptocurrencies; their technology can be applied to a variety of other applications. Blockchain technology paves the way for a wide range of applications in a variety of industries, including peer-to-peer financial platforms, automation, transaction trust, and increased credit availability. According to Clayton Gardner, co-founder, and co-CEO of Titan, a cryptocurrency investing platform, these use cases, which are unconnected to Bitcoin, are 'finally being recognized and (are) reaching real adoption.'
Therefore, if you are thinking of putting your money in crypto and looking for some best alternatives to Bitcoin, then this article is for you. As with any investment, there are risks associated with these other Altcoins, as evidenced by the recent 'Squid Game' crypto fraud, which saw the token in question rise to roughly $2,860 before falling to nearly zero. This Cryptoknowmics article will help you with the top 5 Altcoins for February 2022.
The weaknesses of Bitcoin can be exploited by Altcoins. Ethereum, for example, enables a variety of blockchain infrastructure functions, such as automation and more general network interaction. XRP, an Altcoin, mines its currency in a far more straightforward manner than Bitcoin. In comparison to Bitcoin and Ethereum, Solana was built to deliver more scalable and secure software at a lesser cost. According to experts, the emergence of new Altcoins that address the constraints of existing cryptocurrencies and blockchains would affect Bitcoin demand.
If you want to invest in crypto, you must do your research and understand the risks. You can read more about how to start trading crypto and how to select the right token. Read this article to know about the top Altcoins that are expected to explode this month.
Note: Altcoins are not given in any particular order, and the price and market cap of all the tokens are as per the research done for the article.
The token is trading at $117.02, with a global market cap of $37 billion. It is the 7th-largest cryptocurrency today in terms of market value, according to CoinMarketCap rankings. Solana is one of the most promising cryptocurrencies for 2022 growth. This competitor of Ethereum can execute more than 50,000 transactions per second. It is also known for providing smart contracts to crypto wallets. The market experienced a massive bull run in October 2021, thanks in large part to price increases in coins such as Bitcoin and Ether. SOL, on the other hand, outperformed them all, rising 41.89% in a month. Surprisingly, SOL's gains did not end at the end of October, as they did for several other large-cap coins. Although Bitcoin and Ether took a breather at the start of November, SOL has been on another tear.
The coin began trading in November at $198.93, and it quickly surpassed its previous high to reach a new zenith of $259.06 on November 6, 2021. With these results, there is little doubt that SOL will be the best performer among large-cap coins in November as well. If SOL's performance last year is any indication, the token appears to be in good shape. However, when you consider the number of Solana integrations that are currently taking place, things get even better.
The majority of long-term crypto investors seek out initiatives that will be valuable in the long run. Solana's creators are aware of this, and they've been forming alliances to ensure that the Solana blockchain remains operational in the long run.
Brave, the prominent privacy-focused and crypto-friendly browser revealed last year that it would connect with the Solana blockchain. As a result, the browser will be able to natively display DApps created on Solana. At the same time, Solana will encourage dApp creators and consumers to adopt Brave's Token BAT.
The developers of Solana have also made significant investments in the gaming industry. Solana Ventures teamed up with prominent crypto exchange FTX and venture capital company Lightspeed Venture Partners to launch a $100 million ecosystem fund devoted to Web3 gaming in November 2021.
The token is trading at $22.09, with a global market cap of $21 billion. The Polkadot Chain received a lot of attention and good news in October 2021. It has been on an upward trend (until the recent correction), since the news of its sale, with the first parachain of Polkadot going online on November 11, 2021. On November 4th, last year the asset reached a new ATH of $55. Polkadot led the entire market gain that week, with a price increase of around 24.8%.
The Polkadot blockchain benefited from the excitement, with Digital Finance Group, a crypto investment firm, allocating approximately 500,000 DOT to Acala, a DeFi platform built on the Polkadot blockchain, before its proposal for a parachain slot. Moonbeam and Acala Network had raised a total of $882 million to bid for a spot in Polkadot's para-chain auction.
Foundry, a mining subsidiary of the DCG, has developed a staking business for exchanges, hedge funds, and other financial institutions that want to stake DOT. The crypto market was in the red when the parachain auction began, with Dot leading the way. This can be linked to the initial drops after the ATH due to the 'sell news impact.' The DFG group, a worldwide blockchain investment business with a $1 billion AUM, has stated that it has donated 300,000 DOT tokens to support the Astar Network's para-chain proposal.
The DOT coin was launched in August 2020 and has shown incredible growth in a short period. Except for the drop in June and July, which is primarily attributable to the aftereffects of the May market meltdown and the asset trading in a very small range, the price has been quite constant. Since January, prices have increased by about 328%.
The token has seen significant gains over the last four months, reaching an all-time high of $55 in November.
The token is trading at $4.59, with a market cap of $4 billion. The value of Sandbox, a metaverse currency, soared last year as a result of Facebook's Meta rebranding. People can hang out in metaverses, which are virtual settings where they can do many of the same things they can in real life, spend money, work, and play. Metaverses, according to Cathie Wood of Ark Invest, will be worth trillions of dollars in the future, and she isn't alone. The Sandbox is the market's second-most valuable Metaverse coin, after Decentraland.
Grayscale, a large digital asset management company, is now analyzing SAND and may add it to its portfolio, which is potentially bullish for The Sandbox. Furthermore, the project's ecosystem is rapidly expanding, with land transactions, for example, fetching substantial sums regularly. Analysts believe The Sandbox will continue to do well this year and will rank among the best cryptocurrencies in 2022. The SAND price climbed by more than 16% last week as the team announced another LAND sale, which included over 550+ LANDs, eight ESTATE auctions, and Premium NFTs. The LAND sale is set for February 10th at 1 PM UTC, so mark your calendars if you want to buy some virtual land. Furthermore, The Sandbox has released a new LAND contract that addresses a flaw in the prior contract that was discovered on December 25th. Make sure to move LAND to the new contract if you have it. Keep in mind that The Sandbox will pay for your gas.
The Sandbox is one of the most anticipated ventures on the market, and their LAND economy is the most active cryptocurrency economy. Softbank was one of The Sandbox's first significant backers, investing more than $93 million in the Metaverse game. As a result, SAND is one of the safest Metaverse investments, especially when used in conjunction with LAND.
The token is trading at $1.78, with a global market cap of $13 billion. Matic is one of the many cryptocurrencies expected to become popular in 2022. It is a token with enormous potential to explode in 2022. Matic is powered by the Polygon network, which is quickly becoming one of the best Ethereum scaling solutions. The number of developers migrating to the polygon mainnet is rapidly increasing, which is why Matic is doing well.
Matic is showing all of the signs of bullish growth that Polygon is. Matic will continue to expand in response to rising demand for more Polygon scaling solutions. The crypto coin is currently green, but it may turn bullish in the coming days. The token had several projects one after the other last year.
Polygon Network announced the formation of a decentralized autonomous organization on August 19, 2021. (DAO). According to Polygon, the system intends to 'deliver DeFi to the next million users' by forming committees and facilitating conversations across projects such as Sushi, Aave, QuickSwap, and others. Polygon released its most recent user growth update on October 29. Polygon had '83.14% of the active addresses relative to Ethereum,' according to the company's data. Since October 1, Polygon has had more daily average users than Ethereum.
MATIC price is poised for a significant bullish reversal of the recent downtrend after Polygon's trend channel was broken to the downside. Bulls were able to stop and turn the drop at $1.40, pushing the price back towards the 200-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) at $1.63, thanks to that correction. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) bounced over the oversold border with that move, causing a bullish knee-jerk reaction.
The coin is trading at $3.27, with a global market cap of $5 billion. Another of the year's top new crypto initiatives is Decentraland. Simply put, Decentraland is a blockchain-based virtual world in which users can create their characters and buy in-game property plots. As the metaverse concept spreads in 2022, altcoins like Decentraland are anticipated to gain more traction, potentially resulting in massive price rises.
The 20-EMA and the 50-SMA are both trending up on the 4-hour chart, and the RSI is in the overbought zone. Bulls have the upper hand in this situation. The moving averages are expected to provide support if the price drops below the current level. The news of Steve Aoki's Australian Open metaverse party could be a catalyst for the MANA token to rise. The celebration took place this past weekend in the Decentraland metaverse and featured performances by a variety of performers. This is noteworthy since the Australian Open is one of the most popular yearly tennis tournaments, with hundreds of thousands of fans tuning in to watch. Decentraland now has a greater sense of legitimacy and reputability as a result of this.
The technical indicators for MANA reveal that the coin is performing well as well. The coin is currently trading above its 200-day moving average of $1.59, with the MACD line hovering near neutral. The RSI of 52 also indicates that it is now in the neutral zone. MANA is now trading at about $3.7 per coin as of this writing. According to WalletInvestor analysts, the token's price might rise by about 140% in 2022, with MANA trading around $8 by the end of the year.
The most common motivation for trading altcoins is the potential for a faster return on investment in the near term. However, experts argue that Altcoin investors can utilize tokens to limit risk because some low-cost coins or projects do not require a huge investment. With widespread acceptance, cryptocurrency has indeed become mainstream. However, everyone wants to know how to choose the correct coin within their budget to build a strong portfolio. It is not necessary to have a large sum of money to open a crypto account. All you need is a small amount of knowledge and a little bit of luck.