Altcoins are virtual currency projects that replace Bitcoin. Although they were born after Bitcoin and have many advantages over Bitcoin, investing in Altcoins also has certain risks. Among thousands of Altcoins, there are currently many potential Altcoins, widely used by the community, high liquidity and many other outstanding features.
- Risks when investing in Altcoins
ICO scams
Fake ICOs are considered one of the most popular forms of cryptocurrency scams. According to a study by Bloomberg, more than 80% of ICOs are scams.
Newly launched Altcoins are often very cheap, creating attractive profit opportunities for new investors, especially when Bitcoin and major Altcoins have gone through a period of strong development. However, many ICOs appear without any real value, just empty promises from individuals who lack experience in technology and this field.
Specifically, Ifan and Pincoin – two cryptocurrency startups originating from Singapore and Dubai – were discovered to be Ponzi schemes run by Vietnam-based Modern Tech. These companies defrauded about 32,000 investors who bought tokens, resulting in a total loss of $660 million in 2018.
Altcoin Pump and Dump
Pump and Dump is a common practice on exchanges, especially with new Altcoins whose true value is not yet widely known
This tactic occurs when a group of fraudulent investors, often referred to as “whales”, simultaneously buy an Altcoin and hype it up with positive information. This stimulates the fear of missing out (Fomo) in other investors, causing the price of the Altcoin to skyrocket. However, when the price reaches a high enough level, the group will sell off en masse, taking profits and leaving the market in a state of collapse.
- Potential Altcoins 2024
Ethereum (ETH)
Ethereum (ETH) is the second largest cryptocurrency token by market capitalization, thanks to its introduction of smart contract functionality and exploration of the decentralized finance (DeFi) and decentralized applications (Dapp) industries. It operates on an open-source blockchain platform, using Ether (ETH) to pay network transaction fees and gas fees.
Ethereum has also experienced significant growth. From April 2016 to January 1, 2024, its price increased from around $11 to around $2.28, an increase of about 204 times.
Cardano (ADA)
It is one of the largest blockchain networks that successfully implemented the PoS consensus mechanism, which is more energy-efficient than the Proof-of-Work (PoW) blockchain network.
Cardano supports smart contracts and its native cryptocurrency token ADA, which allows users to participate in the network’s operations.
Cardano’s ADA token has seen relatively modest growth compared to other major cryptocurrencies. The price of ADA increased from $0.02 in 2017 to $0.63 in 2024, a 31-fold increase.
Binance Coin (BNB)
Binance Coin is a cryptocurrency that can be used for trading and paying fees on the Binance cryptocurrency exchange issued by the Binance exchange and traded under the symbol BNB.
As of June 2021, Binance Exchange is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, supporting over 1.4 million transactions per second.
Solana (SOL)
The Solana network was launched in 2020 and is seen as a rival to Ethereum with its fast transaction processing speed.
It can process around 65,000 transactions per second, making it one of the fastest transaction processing networks in the industry.
With its network scalability, low fees, and high speed, the platform has become the top choice for many NFT-based decentralized applications (dApps), as well as decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystems and blockchain-based digital payment ecosystems.
SOL’s price increased from $0.77 in 2020 to $102 in 2024, a 132-fold increase.
Doge coin (DOGE)
Dogecoin started as a joke in 2013 but quickly grew into a prominent cryptocurrency thanks to its community and creative memes. The unique thing about Dogecoin is that there is no limit to the number of coins that can be created. However, this makes it vulnerable to devaluation as the supply increases.
From $0.0002 in 2017, its price increased to $0.092 in January 2024, a 4,550x increase.
Litecoin (LTC)
Litecoin is a widely accepted coin, with over 2,000 points of sale around the world accepting LTC as payment. It is based on the Bitcoin protocol, but differs in algorithm, total supply, and transaction time.
Litecoin has a fast block generation time (2.5 minutes) and low transaction fees, suitable for everyday payments.
Litecoin price increased by 7.40% over the past year, currently at $70.51. The expected Bitcoin Halving event could have a positive impact on the value of Litecoin, based on its historical correlation with Bitcoin.
Thus, Altcoin also has its own advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, investors should consider carefully before investing in this currency.
