This article will focus on presenting 10 cryptocurrencies worth buying in 2024 with detailed analysis of each asset, its well thought technology, potential applications and reasons that will result in the given cryptocurrency performing better than expectations. Investors, developers, or even a layman having an interest in blockchain, this booklet helps one to understand the dynamics and forecasts in the cryptocurrency space which will be witnessed in the next year.
1. Bitcoin (BTC)
More often than not, Bitcoin is called the ‘mother’ of all cryptocurrencies. It is the most popular currency in the world currently thanks to its introduction in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto who has remained a mystery to this day. Till today, Bitcoin remains the most recognized, and valuable currency with a market capitalization of over 500 billion dollars in 2024. It is used widely, mainly as an asset that can be used as a hedge against inflation.
Why Bitcoin in 2024?
Over the years, Bitcoin has undergone tremendous price changes, but its bottom-line problems still exist. Bitcoin’s decentralization, scarcity-it can never exceed 21 million BTC, and broad support from trusted investors make it appropriate for assets of any common cryptocurrency portfolio. Due to the fact that global economic uncertainty is predictable to rise in the future, the term ‘digital gold’ appears particularly relevant to Bitcoin.
Key Developments to Watch:
Institutional Adoption: Several financial institutions including J.P. Morgan, Fidelity and Goldman Sachs have continued to hold Bitcoin in their portfolios, in approval of its potential.
Halving Event: There will be lower rewards on mining new blocks due to Bitcoin’s next halving event which is expected to take place in 2024 hence lowering supply and increasing the prices.
Bitcoin ETFs: Bitcoin could also draw billions of dollars more in institutional and retail investment with the possible future approval of Bitcoin-backed ETF’s.
2. Ethereum (ETH)
Ethereum is not merely a cryptocurrency, rather it is an entire decentralized network for developing smart contracts and decentralized apps (Dapps). It is on the Ethereum Blockchain that the facility of smart contracts has first been created, which is a self-executable contract containing the terms of the agreement directly written into the code. Such technology has paved the way for many of the existent DeFi applications and NFTs.
Why Ethereum in 2024?
There has been a recent upgrade of Ethereum to ETH 2.0 (or Ethereum 2.0) whereby the mechanism used shifts from proof of work to PoS; this upgrade-maintained scalability and improved energy efficiency. The value of Ethereum is expected to increase as its principles remain to be the basis for many of the forthcoming DeFi projects, NFTs and Web3 applications.
Key Developments to Watch:
Sharding: In 2024, Ethereum will implement sharding that will lower gas fees and make transactions more efficient prompting developers to flock towards its usage as a blockchain.
Ethereum 2.0: The more the ETH gets staked, the better will the sybil resistance and the transaction throughput improving the offerings of all the decentralized applications.
DeFi Growth: Ethereum is the prime host for DeFi applications, and with the decentralized economy continuing to grow, it cannot be overstated the importance of Ethereum in the whole ecosystem.
3. Solana (SOL)
Solana is a very advanced blockchain that is able to cater fast and cheap transactions keeping in mind the user experience. Solana uses Proof of History (PoH) which is its own consensus mechanism enabling it to complete thousand transactions every second (TPS), making it one of the fastest blockchains in the industry.
Why Solana in 2024?
Solana in 2024 is offering the utmost competition to Ethereum being very cost effective and with great scalability focused on terms of Solana’s advantages against Ethereum. Solana’s ecosystem is rapidly evolving with new Dapps, Defi projects and NFTs marketplaces sprouting all over its blockchain.
Key Developments to Watch:
Ecosystem Growth: With Solana’s increasing ecosystem that has new projects in DeFi, NFTs and Web3. They will spur the need for SOL tokens and boost its market into dominance.
Transaction Fees: This will be the case mainly because as more dApps are coming into the Solana ecosystem – the ability to contain the low transaction fee and fast speeds will guarantee many users and developers.
Cross-Chain Interoperability: Enhancing the Solana network by integrating it with other blockchains can boost cross-chain apps and maximize network effects.
4. Cardano (ADA)
Cardano is designed as a blockchain platform oriented on sustainability, scalability, and security. Cardano implements PoS which permit energy-efficient and scalable transactions. It is Cardano’s objective to provide a more secure, scalable and horizontal dispatch alternative to the existing blockchain platforms.
Why Cardano in 2024?
Cardano has always been known for its academic appreciation of blockchain technology and development. In 2024, the network is still advancing its infrastructure by adding much-needed updates such as smart contract capabilities and DeFi applications that were non-existent in the past.
Key Developments to Watch:
Hydra Scaling: Cardano’s strategic step is Hydra, recently developed, which will increase the network responsiveness of the remaining resources by enabling off-chain processing. This could position Cardano as one of the most scalable blockchains on the market.
Smart Contracts: With improvements being made on Cardano’s smart contract capabilities and in the process of DeFi applications springing up, Cardano may be a strong contender in the space.
Adoption of Blockchains: The expanding partnerships of Cardano with several entities and governments, most specifically in the African region, helps extend its target market as a blockchain platform.
5. Polka Dot (DOT)
Polka dot is a multi-chain framework designed to interlink different blockchains into functional relationships. It hopes to address the issue of fragmentation of the blockchain network by providing secure links between various chains for sharing information and communications.
Why Polka dot in 2024?
The fact that Polka dot can link different blockchains and also facilitate cross-chain communication, makes it a great candidate for adoption come the year 2024. With the increasing need for blockchain interoperability, Polka dot’s technology, can hope to address one of the major weaknesses in the cryptocurrency industry.
Key Developments to Watch:
Para chains: The Unique design of Polka dots Para chains facilitates the communication between multiple standalone blockchains, creating more scalable options for developers while still holding a high level of flexibility.
Interoperability: Due to the fact that many more blockchains and projects will seek to integrate, Polka dot’ focus on cross-chain interoperability and collaborative security will become manifestly more important.
Ecosystem Growth: Polka dot’s ecosystem is expanding further as Polkadot has seen the rise of more projects coming to the network especially those in the De Fi, NFTs and Web 3.0 space
6. Avalanche (AVAX
Avalanche is a blockchain platform focusing on building diverse types of applications and networks. It is recognized for providing high throughput, low latency, and cheap transactions. Overall, Avalanche has a distinct consensus approach known as Avalanche Consensus which contributes to its scalability and speed.
Why Avalanche in 2024?
Due to its solid technical architecture and expanding ecosystem, Avalanche is among the top blockchains to watch in the year 2024. In addition, due to the rapid growth in DeFi and NFT, there is a high demand for Avalanche’s fast and effective network by many developers.
Key Developments to Watch:
Ecosystem Expansion: As Avalanche’s ecosystem continues to grow in terms of DeFi, NFT, or enterprise applications, the AVAX token value will further appreciate.
Cross-Chain Interoperability: In 2024, Avalanche’s cross-chain infrastructure access might grow further cementing its place as on of the top blockchain network.
Enterprise Adoption: Since it is scalable and fast, Avalanche is starting to market itself as a blockchain network for developers interested in working on decentralized applications.
7. Chain-link (LINK)
Chain-link provides a decentralized oracle network which connects smart contracts to off-chain information. Smart contracts can be integrated with external data providing services by using Chain-link. This allows Chain-link to work effectively and add features to an application built on a decentralized network.
Why Chain link in 2024?
The need to secure and provide reliable data feeds for decentralized applications continues to grow as the DeFi ecosystem expands. Chain-link will become an important player in 2024 because of its unique capability to enable smart contracts to connect with external data.
Key Developments to Watch:
Increased Adoption: Since many new and existing projects in DeFi and others will have a need for secure data oracles, any such growth in these projects would increase Chain Link’s adoption.
Cross-Chain Oracles: Chain Link’s cross-chain capabilities would allow it to maintain its position as one of the leading decentralized oracle providers in the market.
Partnerships and Integrations: Chain-link should remain valuable and useful as its partnership network with major blockchain projects and enterprises expands.
8. Tezos (XTZ)
Tzeos is a blockchain that operates on proof of stake (Poos) to create a trustless and decentralized infrastructure for applications. One of its main selling points is that it can change and update itself without initiating a hard fork, which shows how the network self-amends itself.
Why Tzeos in 2024?
Tzeos’ emphasis on governance, ease of expansion and security makes it ready for adoption in an ecosystem that continues to see the proliferation of blockchains. There will be increasing demand for scalable and flexible platforms as the number of dApps and DeFi projects grow. In this sense, Tezos is a great choice.
Key Developments to Watch:
Governance Upgrades: The self-updating aspect of Tezos enables regular addition of changes without causing disruption to the network. This feature may very well make it developers’ favorite platform.
DeFi Adoption: With the growth in the Tezos ecosystem, the number of decentralized finance applications that are expected to come online as well as the level of demand for the XTZ tokens will correspond.
Partnerships: The couplings of Tezos with the big enterprises including great sporting enterprises may help in the penetration both in the business and consumer transactions.
9. Litecoin (LTC)
Litecoin is popularly called the “silver to bitcoin’s gold”. It is a cryptocurrency which is completely p2p. It was invented by Charlie Lee in 2011 mainly as a lightweight and faster version of bitcoin. Due to its speed of transactions and low charges, its usage in day-to-day transactions is becoming popular.
Why Litecoin in 2024?
Litecoin for quite some time already has been considered as a reliable and fast option in the place of bitcoin. It is rather hard to believe that Litecoins role in the cryptoeconomy is going to decrease in the year 2024. All factors tell us about the greatness of this cryptocurrency: loyal user community, regular network enhancements or upgrades and an increase in the number of users.
Key developments to watch:
MimbleWimble Upgrade: The very fact that Litecoin’s are considering integrating this privacy protection platform won’t excite a quiet number of investors. The rationale behind it is quite simple as better security and fast transactions grow the likelihood of acquiring new users and investors.
Network Upgrades: The consistent enhancement of Litecoin’s network could lead to increased speed, enhanced security, and transaction efficiency.
Growing Adoption: With more companies deciding to use cryptocurrency as a mode of payment, the characteristics of Litecoin in terms of speed and fees will definitely make it an appealing means of payment.
10. Polygon (MATIC)
Polygon is a multi-chain scaling solution for Ethereum which aims to provide quicker and cheaper transactions without risking security. Its sidechains and Layer 2 solutions make Polygon improve the scalability and efficiency of Ethereum.
Why Polygon in 2024?
Given that Ethereum is already suffering from congestion along with high gas fees, Polygon offers a more scalable and cost-effective option for users and developers to interact with Ethereum. As more and more projects are using polygon to scale their applications, MATIC will become a bigger player in the ecosystem.
Key Developments to Watch:
Scalability of Ethereum over the long-term: As polygon gets integrated with more and more of Ethereum, it can become the go to platform for Dapps and NFTs which require faster and cheaper transaction processing.
Ecosystem growth: Such expansion in demand is expected to be driven by the growth of the polygon ecosystem of DeFi and NFT projects in 2024.
FAQs
What is the best cryptocurrency to invest in for 2024
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. The best cryptocurrency for you to invest in depends on your risk tolerance, investment goals, and interest in the project’s underlying technology. Some top contenders for 2024 include Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and Polkadot (DOT).
Why is Bitcoin still a top cryptocurrency in 2024
Bitcoin remains the most widely recognized and trusted cryptocurrency, serving as a store of value and a hedge against inflation. Its robust network, limited supply, and increasing institutional adoption make it a top asset in 2024.
Will Ethereum overtake Bitcoin in 2024
While Ethereum’s transition to ETH 2.0 and its growing ecosystem make it a formidable competitor, Bitcoin’s first-mover advantage and its position as a store of value make it unlikely to be overtaken in the short term. However, Ethereum’s dominance in smart contracts and DeFi could continue to grow.
What is the potential of Solana in 2024
Solana’s high throughput, low fees, and expanding ecosystem make it a strong contender in 2024. If the network continues to scale efficiently, it could capture a significant share of the DeFi and NFT markets.
