Altcoins to Watch: The Top 5

While Bitcoin is the big boy of the crypto world, many other coins, known as "altcoins," have emerged in recent years. But which are the altcoins to watch?

Finding the most outstanding altcoins can be difficult due to the many options available, but it's well worth it because these currencies can often yield triple-digit returns.

We've conducted research and put together some of the most interesting altcoins to watch closely in 2022, in no particular order. But first, we need to understand what an altcoin is.

What are Altcoins?

The term "altcoin" is made up of two words: "alt" and "coin," where alt means "alternative" and coin means "cryptocurrency". They denote a type of cryptocurrency alternative to the digital Bitcoin currency when used together. Following Bitcoin's success, a slew of alternative peer-to-peer digital currencies sprung up to compete.

Top Altcoins in 2022

Litecoin: Litecoin (LTC) is a cryptocurrency that was founded in 2011 as a result of a fork in the Bitcoin blockchain. It was created in response to developer worries that Bitcoin was becoming too centralised and making it more difficult for large-scale mining companies to obtain an advantage in mining. For example, a Bitcoin block takes roughly 10 minutes to mine, but a Litecoin block only takes two and a half minutes. The supply of Litecoin is set at 84 million, and the current reward for mining a block is 12 and a half Litecoins, which will be cut in half in 2023.

NEO: NEO is a Chinese-based blockchain platform, cryptocurrency, and network for decentralised programmes, or dApps. It was influenced by networks like Ethereum, but with a few significant technological changes.

According to its designers, NEO was created for the "Smart Economy", which combines digital assets, digital identities, and smart contracts into one seamless environment. The goal of NEO was never to destabilise China's fiat currency but rather to assist the country's economy is transitioning to the blockchain era. Despite the Chinese government's crackdown on ICOs and cryptocurrencies, NEO has been able to raise the funding necessary to develop and launch its initiatives, fueling concerns about a possible link between the business and Chinese officials.

STELLAR (XLM): Stellar is a decentralised network that allows users to generate, send, and trade various cryptocurrencies. It was founded in 2014 and debuted in 2015 with the goal of connecting the world's financial systems into a single network.

Like other blockchain-based decentralised platforms and exchanges, Stellar is distributed across numerous servers. This means that a single entity does not supervise the behavior on Stellar. Stripe, one of the major payment gateways in the world, stated plans to replace Bitcoin with XLM in early 2018. As a result of this news, Stellar's price increased by 20% due to this announcement, cementing the coin's position as a Bitcoin alternative.

ETHER (ETH): The cryptocurrency utilised on the Ethereum blockchain network is called Ether. Ether is known to be the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world, after bitcoin, in terms of market capitalisation. Hence it might be called the largest of the 'altcoins.'

Vitalik Buterin, a programmer, introduced Ethereum as a platform in 2013, and the network went online in 2015. It's mostly used as a decentralised finance platform, but it's also been used to assist with developing other altcoins via initial coin offerings.

DOGECOIN (DOGE): Dogecoin is the final altcoin we'll discuss in this article, and it's one of the most recent to get mainstream notice. This interest is partly due to celebrity endorsements like Elon Musk, Snoop Dogg, and Gene Simmons on social media.

Dogecoin began as a parody of cryptocurrencies, but it has since grown in market value and popularity. Dogecoin is a digital asset based on a fork of the Litecoin code that serves as an accessible entry point for crypto newcomers. It is based on a division of the Litecoin code. Since its inception in 2013, Dogecoin's popularity has sparked the development of a slew of copycat memecoins, which have grown into their industry of fun digital assets that demonstrate the market worth of internet culture in the digital economy.

Conclusion

Some people see this low-price phase as an opportunity to increase their crypto holdings before prices rise again. However, much depends on your financial situation and expectations for how crypto will perform in the long run.

Buying crypto may make sense if you only invest money you can afford to lose and have other financial goals, such as retirement savings and an emergency fund.

These altcoins may be interesting in July for various reasons, but don't buy them hoping for a quick profit. Furthermore, don't buy something just because the price appears low; it could go lower. Instead, take time, thoroughly investigate the topic, and maintain a long-term perspective.