The Top 10 Cryptocurrencies Today: The following section provides a general overview of the field.
Introduction
Cryptocurrencies have gained a massive adoption in the last decade than they were previously. Using Bitcoin that started in 2009, the market today has over two thousand other digital currencies referred to as ‘altcoins’. The 10 largest digital currencies are those who own most of the market cap of the cryptocurrencies. For anyone who wants to invest in or use cryptocurrencies, it’s necessary to get acquainted with the existing environment of the most significant coins.
As such, it will be a brief introduction of the top 10 cryptocurrencies based on market capitalization. In this regard, the article will analyze the various properties, the extent of use, the historical development and future prospects of the coins. So if you are looking to invest in crypto or simply just find out more about what is going on in this space, this guide will set out the major players.
1: Bitcoin (BTC)
The idea of decentralization of electronic money appeared with Bitcoin – the means of electronic payment realized directly between users without intermediaries. Bitcoin was created in 2009 by a still unknown person using the alias Satoshi Nakamoto and is now the strandard bearer of the decentralised and transparent economy.
Even in the present days, traces of Bitcoin remains as the largest of all the existing crypto-assets; today the market value of Bitcoin is more than $300 billion. In conclusion, it is possible to say that, at the moment, nothing else will be able to guarantee such a high security level, decentralization, use and recognition as a brand name. The recent affairs include the recent one that has just come up El Salvador has made the Bitcoin as its official legal tender and it has gone further to even use it in its transactions describing it as a ‘digital gold’.
Bitcoin is argued to be scarce and a store of value, which makes many believe that 1 BTC could trades at over $100k in the coming years. But the development has been slow and the company struggles with environmental issues.
2: Ethereum (ETH)
Ethereum is also based on the blockchain technology just like Bitcoin but it also serves as a platform for deploying smart contracts and also developing applications. This created what we have today such as decentralized finance, non-fungible tokens, crypto-based games, and so on which are mostly developed on the Ethereum network.
Currently, ETH has a market capitalization of over $160 billion and is next to Bitcoin in terms of market capitalization. While high network fees have made adoption a problem in the recent past, a highly awaited upgrade that promises to reduce the size of Ethereum by a significant margin is imminent.
Hence, if Ethereum will accomplish the scaling solutions while retaining decentralization and security, it may well become the blockchain for Web3 and the digital economy.
3: The Binance Coin (BNB)
Binance coin or BNB is a token that is used for paying the fees charged on a particular exchange known as Binance and this is the largest exchange in the world. Developed by Binance in 2017, holding and using BNB gives a trader a, rebate on the trading fees.
Drawing from the success of Binance, BNB is the third largest coin by market capitalization in the world and with a total value of $44 billion. Some BNB criticisms are tied to Binance, and overvaluation relative to utility, or usefulness. But Binance Smart chain has made it possible for many DeFi and NFT projects to be developed.
However, if Binance can continue to grow its business with the consideration of such regulatory actions, BNB may still gain in market cap and usefulness.
4: Tether (USDT)
Tether is the most popular stablecoin, pegged and backed 1:1 to the US dollar whereas the current exchange rate for the Kenyan shilling falls at 101 to the U. S. dollar. Tether was launched in 2014 and it aims at utilizing the usage of block-chain technology without exposing itself to volatility. The largest Tether’s stablecoin by market capital of $68bn, USDT, has become the most used stable coin owing to the support that it has from any exchange or platform.
Unluckily, the stability of Tether has been in a debate about its capacity to support the numerous USDT in circulation. Despite the fact that Tether often causes controversy, it continues to assert itself as one of those that form the basis of cryptocurrencies in conducting business by giving traders the opportunity to use assets that are equivalent to one dollar.
5: Cardano (ADA)
Created by Charles Hoskinson among the founders of the Ethereum project in 2015, the target of Cardano titled it the “third-generation” blockchain for giving solutions to such as the problems of scalability, decentralization, and interconnection of blockchains.
IOHK, the company behind Cardano plans its peer-reviewed academic research partners equally and together to build a new base layer for payments, DFi & DeFi, supply chain, governance, and more applications.
The company looking at its today’s market capitalization of $16 billion has anchored it in the top 10 list. Nevertheless, the opposition asserts that funding based on the academic model is too sluggish to implement changes. However, Cardano has given some important updates regarding the roadmap recently which has made many investors conclude that ADA usage is about to begin.
6: Solana (SOL)
Also referred to as the Ethereum killer, Solana takes decentralization, transaction speeds, and scalability to the next level with 50,000 TPS. Solana was founded in 2017 by Anatoly Yakovenko, a former Qualcomm and Dropbox engineer It uses a combination of proof-of-history (PoH) and proof-of-stake (PoS) to counteract and minimize these attacks and bottlenecks and provide for finality.
With the help of substantial growth, Solana has earned the title of ‘the most performant blockchain,’ which attracts developers who create high-speed, low-fee DeFi and NFT projects. This growth has also seen SOL gain in price as it currently boasts a market capitalization of about $15 billion. Nevertheless, critics claimed that decentralization is the cost of speed and makes SOL overvalued.
7: Ripple (XRP)
For the company Ripple, it seeks to change the way payment is done across borders, in the financial sector. For payment on behalf of banks, payment providers, or businesses, it serves as an efficient and inexpensive network to process transactions among them and the XRP Ledger. The token utilized in Ripple is XRP, which is deployed to label value transfer as a bridge currency.
At the time of writing this report, it ranks only at #6 by market cap owing to a lawsuit by the SEC for selling Ripple as an unregistered security despite having a real-world utility of being a means of crossing borders for payments. In the event that XRP will triumph on this lawsuit, one should definitely anticipate that its values and application will skyrocket.
8: Polygon (MATIC)
As a Layer 2 scaling solution belonging to Ethereum, Polygon or previously, Matic Network relies on a Plasma sidechain solution to enhance the speed and affordability of the transactions. This assists in improving Ethereum-based DeFi & NFT applications to scale without compromising security, thus increasing the general adoption.
MATIC is the native token of Polygon and has strategically placed it as one of the leading 15 giants of the digital currencies market. Some of the critics have claimed that Polygon is under threat from competing scaling solutions and that there are some speculative elements. However, higher transaction rates and integrations, such as partnering with Disney for NFTs, make MATIC’s future look bright.
9: Dogecoin (DOGE)
Dogecoin was inspired by the meme-based altcoins industry in the year 2013 as a form of joking to the real cryptocurrencies such as the Bitcoins. Founded in 2013 by two software engineers – Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, its symbol is the Shiba Inu doge, internet meme.
Despite the odds, DOGE found itself among the top 10 cryptocurrencies mainly thanks to personalities such as Elon Musk and a zealous community. Since the beginning of year 2021, meme currency has surged to almost $90 billion based just on community pump and dump.
However, fundamental analysis and critics want you to know that DOGE has no advantage over other crypto assets; it also has no purpose, and therefore, overhyped and will continue shrinking in value.
10: Polkadot (DOT)
It was started by Robert Habermeier and managed by Gavin Wood, the co-founder of Ethereum, Polkadot is a multi-chain collaboration solution that aims for building of multiple application-specific blockchains.
Making use of a centralized relay chain with at most 100 parallel relay chains, or “parachains”, Polkadot facilitates interoperability between permissionless and capped chains. Currently, Polka dot’s native token known as DOT is used to vote in relays and plays a crucial role in the decision-making process of upgrades.
Polkadot is a blockchain project with a current market capitalization of $8 billion and occupies one of the top ten positions among the coins on the market; the project aims to create a decentralized internet of blockchains, although it faced multiple delays with the launch of parachains.
Conclusion
The cryptocurrencies mentioned above make up the current market top - with the total capitalization of more than 80%. Apart from Bitcoin dominating the market, it was smart contract platforms such as Ethereum that have opened a new realm of DeFi and Dapps.
However, some coins with no apparent purpose like Binance Coin or coins that do nothing but garner attention like Dogecoins have been launched. Every one of these top 10 crypto assets possesses certain abilities or momentum, attracting attention from investors, developers, and users in the continuously expanding crypto market.
However, the intensity of competition in the market is still very high. With future regulations and competitors’ project on the horizon, it is necessary to get to know the details of each protocol before investing. Looking to the future, use case, decentralization & security will become key determiners that describe long term stability.
Call to Action
That is why, we consider the above information as a fair and impartial outlook on what the market of the top cryptocurrencies by their market capitalization looks like today. Do remember to stay tuned to our blog for the more comprehensive posts and new updates as the crypto market progresses
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