Bitcoin out of your league? Here are major altcoins to watch in 2022

Highlights

• The growing popularity of cryptos implies a great deal of potential for the cryptocurrency market in 2022.
• There are thousands of altcoins in existence, and the number is growing. Altcoins are alternative cryptos to Bitcoin.
• A portmanteau of "alternative" and "coin” – altcoins belong to the second and third generations of cryptocurrency, while Bitcoin is considered the first.

The growing popularity of cryptos implies a great deal of potential for the cryptocurrency market in 2022.

If you failed to buy Bitcoin during its early stage when it was trading below US$100, don’t despair, there are several altcoins out there. 

A portmanteau of "alternative" and "coin” – altcoins belong to the second and third generations of cryptocurrency, while Bitcoin is considered the first.

However, some altcoins are bridging the voids left by Bitcoin, so they are extremely valuable.

With so many altcoins available, it’s natural to wonder which one is the best to invest in. So, we shall explore several altcoins and their salient features in this article. 

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Bitcoin out of your league? Here are major altcoins to watch in 2022

Ethereum

Ethereum is an open-source, decentralised blockchain system with its own crypto, Ether. Ethereum is a peer-to-peer network that is more private, resistant to censorship and open to all.

Ethereum was formed by eight people, with Russian-Canadian Vitalik Buterin being the most well-known.

Ethereum is a platform for decentralised smart contracts execution and a range of various cryptocurrencies. Smart contracts are internet-based computer programs that automatically carry out the necessary steps to comply with an agreement between multiple parties.

Moreover, the goal of Ethereum is to develop an alternative protocol for creating decentralised applications, with a different set of tradeoffs that are suitable for a wide range of decentralised applications.

On 30th July 2015, the Ethereum Foundation introduced the blockchain as a prototype codenamed “Frontier.” By September 2021, around 117.5 million ETH coins were in circulation.

People started staking on the Ethereum 2.0 network shortly after the Ethereum 2.0 Beacon Chain (Phase 0) went live in early December 2020. An Ethereum stake is created when a user sends ETH to deposit a contract on Ethereum 2.0 (32 ETH is needed to activate validator software).

In addition, the EIP-1559 upgrade adds a mechanism to the Ethereum blockchain that alters how gas fees are calculated.

Solana

Solana is the world’s fastest-growing crypto ecosystem and blockchain with thousands of projects including Web3, DeFi, NFTs, etc. With a block time of 400 milliseconds, Solana is the quickest.

In March 2020, the Solana Foundation officially debuted Solana. Solana’s most important figure is Anatoly Yakovenko. The Solana Foundation has previously stated that a total of 489 million SOL tokens will be brought into circulation, with around 260 million presently in circulation.

Furthermore, Solana is not only inexpensive and ultra-fast, but it is also censorship-resistant. It implies that the network remains open to let apps run freely, and transactions would never be interrupted.

Solana assures users that they will not be startled by higher taxes and fees. However, the protocol is intended to have low transaction costs while still ensuring quick processing and scalability.

Solana is well-known in the crypto community due to the blockchain’s quick processing times. Because of Solana’s hybrid protocol, validation times for smart contract execution and transaction are significantly reduced.

In addition, the proof-of-history (PoH) is one of the most remarkable innovations Solana brings to the table. This notion permits the protocol to be more scalable, which enhances usability.

Cardano

Cardano is a proof-of-stake blockchain platform that empowers visionaries, innovators and changemakers who want to see the world changed for the better. Charles Hoskinson, a co-founder of the Ethereum network, invented Cardano in 2017.

Cardano introduced a new technology standard that is inclusive and open to disrupt the status quo, ushering in a new era of globally-dispersed and sustainable innovation. Cardano’s long-awaited Alonzo upgrade has also been launched. Thanks to the upgrade, the blockchain network can now support a wide range of crypto applications, including smart contracts and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Cardano is currently focused on building a smart contract platform with the intention of offering more advanced features than any prior protocol and serving as a safe and secure platform for the formation of enterprise-level dApps (decentralised apps).

Moreover, Cardano strives to restore trust in global systems by forming a more transparent, secure and long-lasting foundation for users to exchange and transact, systems to govern, and businesses to expand through science.

In addition, Cardano is the first blockchain to integrate Ouroboros, an environment-friendly and verifiably safe PoS (proof-of-stake) protocol. The Cardano network’s decentralisation is enabled via Ouroboros, which permits it to scale sustainably to global requirements while maintaining security.

Chainlink

Chainlink enables universal connections between smart contracts, leveraging blockchain abstraction. Sergey Nazarov founded Chainlink in 2017. Chainlink declared a total and maximum supply of 1,000,000,000 LINK tokens during the initial coin offering (ICO) for LINK in September 2017.

The PoS consensus mechanism secures Chainlink as an Ethereum-based ERC-20 token. A huge open-source community of security auditors, data providers, researchers, node operators, smart contract developers drives the Chainlink Network.

Chainlink enables smart contracts to access off-chain computation and real-world data while retaining reliability and safety. One of the first networks that permit off-chain data to be included in smart contracts is Chainlink.

Chainlink is a key player in the data processing field, with many reliable partners. Due to the integration of off-chain data, Chainlink has piqued the interest of a slew of reliable data providers, including Huobi, Alpha Vantage and Brave New Coin.

In addition, to support advanced smart contracts on any blockchain, Chainlink decentralised oracle networks offer tamper-proof outputs, inputs and computations.

Polygon

Polygon is a user-friendly, well-structured Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development platform. Polygon SDK, the framework’s basic component, is a modular, flexible framework that can be used to create various applications.

Polygon was co-founded by Anurag Arjun, Sandeep Nailwal, Jaynti Kanani in October 2017. There are presently over 4.8 billion tokens in circulation, with a maximum supply of 10 billion tokens. MATIC is the native crypto token powering the Polygon network. MATIC coins are ERC-20 tokens, based on Ethereum blockchain.

Moreover, Polygon is a full-fledged multi-chain system that combines the best of sovereign blockchains and Ethereum. Polygon is built on a Layer 2 scaling solution that Coinbase and Binance support. The project intends to boost crypto adoption by overcoming scalability issues on several blockchains.

Furthermore, Polygon integrates the proof-of-stake blockchain architecture and the Plasma Framework, facilitating the quick execution of scalable and autonomous smart contracts.

In addition, Polygon is a firm believer in ‘Web3 for everyone’ concept and is dedicated to promoting the evolution of Web3 apps by developing infrastructure.

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Last thoughts

There are thousands of altcoins in existence, and the number only keeps growing. Now, it will be interesting to see how far they can compete with Bitcoin in 2022. More interestingly, will any of these altcoins be able to dethrone the world’s largest crypto, Bitcoin? Only time will tell.

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