6 Important Cryptocurrencies Other Than Bitcoin

Since the advent of Bitcoin, crypto popularity has grown rapidly and there are now over 20,000 cryptocurrencies living on several blockchain networks. Bitcoin, though, is the leading crypto and the entire market moves according to its price action. Since Bitcoin was the early version of crypto, it has several limitations like TPS (Transactions Per Second) and scalability. Other projects like Ethereum offered more efficient options and soon became an attraction for people looking to invest other than Bitcoin.

Choosing the right project to invest in from a list of 20,000+ cryptocurrency coins and tokens can be exhausting and require a lot of fundamental and technical analysis.

1. Ethereum:

Bitcoin opened a new world of possibility defining a whole new level of democratized assets in a shared environment. The of "people’s money" concept was given through Bitcoin's decentralized nature where minors validate the transactions over a distributed network. There is no single entity controlling it and no government can control the way the Bitcoin network worked.

Initially, people used the open-source code of Bitcoin to create their own versions of crypto tokens, but things began to change when people utilized the decentralized nature of blockchain technology to offer other products like NFTs, DeFi, DAOs, and Web3. Ethereum was the first chain to explore this arena. Ethereum also offered developers the tools to develop their own applications on the Ethereum blockchain using Ethereum Virtual Machine or EVM.

Since then, Ethereum has become home to thousands of ecosystems, NFT projects, tokens, NFTs, DAOs, P2E games, and other Web3 applications. Ethereum’s native token Ethereum is the 2nd largest cryptocurrency in terms of marketcap and even beats Bitcoin with respect to developer activity and the number of projects working on top of it.

Ethereum is a layer1 chain that now offers fairly high scalability as compared to its older version, the Proof of Work model, and the Bitcoin network. This has helped to protect the environment. As of today, Ethereum has a marketcap of $192 billion with one ETH valued at around $1570.

Had you invested in Bitcoin when crypto's popularity peaked in 2018, the ROI (Return on Investment) would be 121%, while in the case of Ethereum, as of today, your ROI would be 1129%.

Why Ethereum is better than Bitcoin:

1. Smart Contract functionality
2. More diverse use cases
3. Faster transaction times
4. Lower transaction fees
5. More decentralized
6. Continuous development

2. Binance Coin: BNB

Binance coin is the utility coin of the Binance ecosystem which
is basically used to collect fees on Binance Smart Chain, BSC. BNB first was an
ERC-721
token of the Ethereum network which then migrated to its native chain. BNB
has become one of the most promising coins offered by any centralized exchange.
One of the reasons BNB enjoys the limelight among cryptocurrencies is
that CZ, the Binance CEO, is very influential in the crypto space.

The entire crypto market has had a hard time for recently, but
the FUDs really got the centralized exchange coins like BNB. Due to Luna's
fall, the investors were recovering their trust in crypto but then the FTX crash
changed everything.

FTX exchange was illegally using investors' funds to buy
real estate. When the news came out, it was a nightmare for the exchange
tokens. Binance introduced the Proof of Reserves mechanism, but that response was not enough to win back trust.

Nevertheless, BNB is one of the strongest coins, belonging to
one of the largest crypto ecosystems. As of today, BNB has a marketcap of $45
billion with one BNB valued at $290.

Had you invested in BNB in 2018, the ROI (Return on Investment) would be over 2000% as of today.

Why BNB is better than Bitcoin:

1. Lower transaction fees.
2. Faster transaction times.
3. More use cases.
4. Company-owned Coin

3. XRP

Ranked 6th
on Coinmarketcap, XRP is the native token of the XRP ledger created by Ripple
in 2021. The XRP Ledger is a system that records and verifies transactions
involving the cryptocurrency XRP. Instead of using traditional methods like
proof-of-work or proof-of-stake for verification, it uses a mechanism called
the XRP Ledger Consensus Protocol.

Here's how it works: Users send their transactions to ledger
servers, which compare them to other transactions to ensure they're valid. If
the servers agree that a transaction is valid, they send it to validators who
then double-check that the transaction is correct. Once validators reach a
consensus, the transaction is recorded in the ledger. This process helps ensure
that the ledger is accurate and secure without the need for energy-intensive
mining processes.

As of today, XRP has a marketcap of $19 billion with one XRP
valued at $.370.

Had you invested in BNB in 2018, the ROI (Return on Investment) would be over 96% as of today.

Why XRP is better than Bitcoin:

1. Faster Transactions
2. Lower transaction fees
3. Designed for financial institutions
4. XRP's ledger is a more energy-efficient consensus model

4. ADA

ADA, the 4th coin on our list, is the
in-house token of the Cardano ecosystem. Environmentalists have several
concerns over the Bitcoin Proof of Work mechanism which consumes a great amount of energy
and leaves a large carbon footprint. Cardano uses a special kind of Proof of Stake mechanism called the Ouroboros proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm.

Ouroboros is a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm that
is used in the Cardano blockchain. Unlike proof-of-work (PoW) algorithms, which
rely on miners solving complex mathematical problems to validate transactions
and create new blocks, PoS algorithms rely on validators who hold a certain
amount of cryptocurrency to verify transactions and create new blocks.

Ouroboros also uses a mechanism called "epochal
selection" to randomly select a group of validators to contribute to block
creation during each epoch. This ensures that no single group or individual has
too much control over the network. Overall, Ouroboros is a PoS algorithm that
can support a decentralized blockchain ecosystem and is both safe and scalable
– making ADA a more scalable and secure coin.

As of today, XRP has a marketcap of $19 billion with one XRP
valued around $.370.

If you had invested in ADA back in 2018, your portfolio would be up 953%
today. ADA has touched a high of $3.09 on September 2021. At its all-time
high, ADA could give you a 9380% ROI.

WHY ADA Cardano is better than Bitcoin:

1. Faster Transactions
2. Environment Friendly
3. Lower Price per coin

5. Dogecoin

Dogecoin comes from another category, the ‘meme coin’ – a coin which cannot be justified through fundamental reasoning. Dogecoin was first created to make fun of Bitcoin but then started to accumulate marketcap. Somehow the coin successfully got the attention of eccentric billionaire Elon Musk. He would tweet every now and then about dogecoin and the coin would pump even several 100 percent.

Elon Musk now owns Twitter and the only thing that has changed is, the coin does [not?] respond to his Tweets as it used to. Elon Musk's Twitter takeover can benefit the dogecoin bulls as this meme coin is the hot favorite of the billionaire. Musk has been manipulating crypto prices sending the entire market up and down since January 2021.
Apparently, this eccentric billionaire loves the power and influence he has on the crypto market. The attention he gets from the crypto community is unprecedented. Musk started influencing the market on January 2021, and he was the one who brought the market out of the worst bearish cycle.

Ranking 9th, Dogecoin has a marketcap of over $10 billion and a value of $0.07 as of today.

Your ROI (Return on Investment), if you had invested in Dogecoin in 2018, would be greater than 4000% at this time.

Why Dogecoin is better than Bitcoin

1. Lower transaction fees.
2. Faster transaction times.
3. Community-driven and fun culture.
4. Less intimidating for beginners.
5. More accessible due to the lower value per coin.

6. Shiba Inu

Shiba Inu, ranked 14th, is yet another meme coin inspired by
the success of Dogecoin. Shiba Inu and Dogecoin have gained attention from Elon
Musk, who has tweeted about both cryptocurrencies on multiple occasions. Musk has
shown support for both coins and has even referred to himself as the
"Dogefather". However, it is important to note that his tweets and
comments do not necessarily indicate a long-term investment strategy or
endorsement of the coins.

With a marketcap of
$6.2 billion, each Shiba Inu is valued at $0.00001142 as of today.

Since Shiba Inu was created on August 2020, we cannot calculate the ROI if you had invested in 2018. Therefore, suppose you invested in January 2021, your ROI would be 62%.

Why Shiba Inu is better than Bitcoin:

• Much lower price per coin
• Larger total supply
• Community-driven development model, with a decentralized team of volunteers working on its development and promotion.
• A unique branding and marketing strategy

Conclusion:

The above list of top 6 coins alternatives to Bitcoin is based on their growth and marketcap. The list is a combination of the coins which are strong based on either their fundaments and utilities or have a strong community to help them grow.