Top 4 Cryptocurrencies to Invest in December 2021- Apart from Bitcoin & Ethereum

The two most popular cryptocurrencies are Bitcoin and Ethereum. Newer investors, on the other hand, are sprouting up with the promise of cheaper transactions, lower energy use, and faster transactions. These newcomers are known as altcoins, or alternative cryptocurrencies to Bitcoin.

Ethereum is likely the most valuable altcoin on the market, but there is debate over whether it truly qualifies as one because its market cap of $557 billion dwarfs that of any other cryptocurrency. We’ve left Ethereum out of the equation for the sake of this analysis and instead concentrated on cryptocurrencies that haven’t been around as long.

The cryptocurrency market experienced a bull run in October, which spilt over into November, prompting many to declare that altcoin season has arrived. Smaller cryptocurrencies gained even more in percentage since they were underpriced compared to Bitcoin and Ethereum. These altcoins are attracting investors because they have greater room for growth, resulting in more earnings.

Here are the top 4 cryptocurrencies in the market to keep an eye on, along with why they show promise and what could go wrong:

Solana (SOL)

Solana took off in 2020, thanks to its blockchain, the ability to integrate with tokens from other networks, and lightning-fast transaction speeds — at least when compared to Ethereum, which was quickly becoming the go-to cryptocurrency for developers looking to create smart contracts such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralised finance (DeFi) apps.

Solana is viewed as a good fit for high-throughput decentralised finance (DeFi) systems, as it consumes less processing power than Ethereum. As a result, it was dubbed an “Ethereum Killer” by the crypto community, even though Solana’s network meltdown took away some of the lustre and recent upgrades enhanced Ethereum’s capacity.

Independent developers have built over 500 dApps on Solana, the majority of which are related to finance, such as lending and borrowing. DeFi services, NFT trade, play-to-earn (P2E) games like Star Atlas, and dating services are all examples of these uses. And they all require Solana tokens to transact, explaining its 100-fold increase in value this year, landing it among the world’s top ten most valuable cryptocurrencies.

Ripple (XRP)

Some financial institutions, such as Axis Bank and Yes Bank, use Ripple’s XRP, also known as OpenCoin, to move payments across borders faster and cheaper than existing methods, such as NEFT, RTGS, or the most widely used SWIFT. The blockchain network is known as XRP Ledger, the coin is known as XRP, and the firm that makes it all possible is known as Ripple.

The XRP Ledger claims to be more scalable than Ethereum, meaning it can execute more transactions per second for less money.

Ripple has invested in the NFT marketplace Mintable and announced a $250 million creators fund for innovation to allow artists to sell their NFTs on the XRP Ledger, in addition to XRP. Ripple has stated that they are looking forward to developing CBDCs that are interoperable. However, because of its impact on fiat currencies, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has begun to scrutinise XRP, which has made deep inroads into the financial system. And it doesn’t appear that they’re any closer to making a final choice.

Polkadot (DOT)

Another ‘Ethereum Killer,’ this initiative from a Swiss research foundation aims for interoperability, scalability, and security via ‘parachains.’ Transacting with DOT is so cheaper and faster compared with other cryptocurrencies. Polkadot’s maximum supply allocation is presently 1 billion DOT tokens.

Polkadot is a blockchain communication protocol that is presently used by 511 projects. Transactions and banking are common use cases, but there are also more unusual ones like file storage and identity verification. The Polkadot blockchain is anticipated to add more features shortly, and its valuations have reached all-time highs this week.

Dogecoin (DOGE)

The Dogecoin payment system, which was launched in 2013, was conceived as a joke by its creators. It turns out that a Shiba Inu meme, attractive dogs, and cryptocurrency were all potent enough to catch the attention of tech millionaire Elon Musk in the end. He enjoyed it, so did his followers, and the rest is history.

Dogecoin had been used for tipping on internet forums and donations for many years before that. When it was first developed, it was similar to Bitcoin and Litecoin, with a few key differences, such as no limit on the number of coins that can be mined, thereby making supply limitless over time. Its value has increased 45-fold so far this year, and investors will have to decide whether volatility will drive this coin up or down.