Beyond Bitcoin: 10 other cryptocurrencies you should know about

Bitcoin is pretty well-known since it’s the first cryptocurrency. It basically set the standard for digital money that isn’t controlled by a single organization. It has inspired many followers and similar products, making it the clear leader. But here’s the thing about cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin: they carry a lot of risk. Before you invest, it’s crucial to do your research. Bitcoin is the most well-known, but what else out there is actually doing well?

Experienced crypto fans often explore leading crypto exchanges, using their advanced tools and research to build a varied portfolio. We’re going to look at some cryptocurrencies that have stayed strong despite big changes in price.

A quick look at the essentials

• Bitcoin still reigns supreme in terms of market value, how many people use it, and overall buzz.
• Other digital currencies, like Ethereum, are actively building the foundation for a whole new world of decentralized finance (DeFi).
• Some of these “altcoins” (alternatives to Bitcoin) even boast newer, more advanced features – like processing more transactions per second or using different ways to secure their networks.
• The best crypto exchanges out there don’t just let you trade; they arm you with powerful tools, analytics, charts, research, and a treasure trove of educational content.

So, what exactly are cryptocurrencies (and altcoins)?

Before we dive into the specifics of these Bitcoin alternatives, let’s quickly clear up some terms:

• Cryptocurrency: Think of it as digital or virtual money, usually taking the form of “tokens” or “coins.”
• Altcoins: This is the umbrella term for cryptocurrencies that were created after Bitcoin. Many of them try to position themselves as enhanced or improved versions of Bitcoin.

The “crypto” in cryptocurrency refers to the super-secure cryptographic techniques used to create and manage these digital currencies. Most cryptocurrencies are based on the idea of decentralisation. This means that they are typically built by teams that embed specific rules for how they’re issued and controlled. The aim is to keep them free from government manipulation. They’ve become really popular, but some of the idea that they should be completely free from outside control has been tested as regulators get involved.

Different flavors of altcoins

Not all altcoins are created equal! They broadly fall into a couple of categories:

• Cryptocurrencies (as payments): Many are designed purely for payments, acting like digital cash to transmit value across a decentralized network. Most altcoins (that aren’t Bitcoin or sometimes Ethereum) fit this description.
• Tokens (for other purposes): Then there are blockchain-based tokens that serve a different role than just being money. For instance, a token might represent a stake in a blockchain project or a decentralized finance (DeFi) initiative, especially if it was issued during an initial coin offering (ICO). If these tokens are tied to the value of a company or project, they can be called “security tokens” (like owning a share in a company, not a safety feature). Other tokens have very specific uses – “utility tokens.” Think of Storj tokens, which let people share files on a decentralized network, or Namecoin, which provides a decentralized domain name service for web addresses.

While seasoned crypto users understand these distinctions, everyday traders or new investors might not notice the difference, as all these types of tokens usually trade side-by-side on crypto exchanges.

A Very Important Disclaimer: Investing in cryptocurrencies, Decentralized Finance (DeFi), and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) is incredibly risky and speculative. These markets are known for extreme volatility. Always, always consult with a qualified financial professional before making any financial decisions. This article isn’t financial advice, and we can’t guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information.

Now, let’s explore some of these fascinating alternatives! (All prices and market caps are as of October 1st, 2025.)

1. Ethereum (ETH)

Often the first crypto people learn about after Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH) is a powerhouse. It’s a decentralized software platform that lets developers build and run “smart contracts” and decentralized applications (dApps) without any downtime, fraud, or interference from a central authority. Ethereum’s big vision is to create a global suite of financial products accessible to anyone, anywhere, regardless of their background. This is a game-changer for people in regions with limited financial infrastructure, allowing them access to banking, loans, and insurance.

Ethereum’s own crypto, Ether (ETH), is used to pay validators who secure the network, for off-chain payments, and by speculators hoping for price gains.

Important update: Ethereum made a massive shift on September 15th 2022, moving to a “proof-of-stake” (PoS) validation method. This makes it far more energy-efficient, scalable, and generally faster than its previous setup.

Ether has consistently held the second spot by market capitalization after Bitcoin for years. While it’s still significantly smaller than Bitcoin, its market cap was around $522 billion (compared to Bitcoin’s $2.34 trillion), with one ETH trading around $4,327.

2. Tether (USDT)

Tether (USDT) is a pioneer in the world of “stablecoins.” These are cryptocurrencies designed to keep their market value pegged to a more stable asset, like a traditional currency, to reduce the wild price swings typical of other cryptos. Given how volatile even major digital currencies like Bitcoin can be, Tether and its stablecoin counterparts are designed to provide a more stable choice.

Tether’s value is directly tied to the U.S. dollar. The people behind it claim they hold one U.S. dollar (or an equivalent asset) for every USDT in circulation. This makes it much easier for users to move funds between other cryptocurrencies and a dollar-equivalent without the hassle of actually converting to fiat currency. Launched way back in 2014, Tether allows people to use blockchain tech for traditional currency transactions, cutting down on volatility and complexity.

As of October 1st, 2025, Tether was the fourth-largest cryptocurrency, boasting a market cap of over $175 billion, with each USDT valued at approximately $1.

3. Binance Coin (BNB)

Binance Coin (BNB) is a “utility token” at its core, primarily used to pay for transaction fees on the massive Binance Exchange. For those who use BNB for these fees, there’s a nice discount involved! Binance Coin holds the fifth-largest spot by market capitalization.

The Binance Exchange, founded by Changpeng Zhao and Yi He, is one of the world’s most popular crypto trading platforms. Interestingly, Binance Coin started as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain before launching its own mainnet and adopting a proof-of-stake consensus model.

On October 1st, 2025, BNB had a market capitalization exceeding $142 billion, with each coin trading around $1,20.73.

4. Solana (SOL)

Solana, born in 2017, is a high-performance blockchain platform that’s gained a reputation as a potential “Ethereum killer.” It’s built to support decentralized applications (dApps) and can handle significantly more transactions per second than Ethereum, all while charging much lower fees.

Both Solana and Ethereum are vital for cutting-edge applications like decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) because they can execute smart contracts. The native cryptocurrency of the Solana blockchain is also called Solana (SOL), and its price has seen incredible growth since its launch.

With a market capitalization over $119 billion, one SOL was worth about $219 on October 1st, 2025, making it the sixth-largest cryptocurrency.

5. USD Coin (USDC)

Another prominent stablecoin, USD Coin (USDC), also aims to maintain its price at $1 by backing each coin with fiat-collateralized reserves. This means that for every USDC in circulation, there’s an equivalent amount of fiat currency held in reserve. USDC was launched in 2018 by the Centre Consortium, which was initially a collaboration between Circle and Coinbase (though Coinbase is no longer directly involved). Because Circle is based in the U.S., USDC is considered a regulated stablecoin.

As of October 1st, 2025, USD Coin had a market cap exceeding $73 billion, with each coin priced at a steady $0.999.

6. XRP

XRP is the native digital asset of the XRP Ledger, which was created by Ripple in 2012 as a payment system specifically designed for fast, low-cost international transactions. The XRP Ledger uses a unique consensus mechanism called the XRP Ledger Consensus Protocol, which differs from both proof-of-work and proof-of-stake.

Here’s how it generally works: client applications sign and send transactions to the ledger servers. These servers then compare transactions and propose them as candidates for inclusion in the ledger. These candidates are then sent to validators, who collectively agree on the correct transaction order and record the ledger version.

On October 1st, 2025, XRP held a market cap of over $176 billion, with each token trading around $2.94.

7. Dogecoin (DOGE)

Dogecoin (DOGE), often seen as the original “memecoin,” burst into the spotlight in 2021 when its price skyrocketed, driven largely by internet culture and celebrity endorsements. Featuring the iconic Shiba Inu dog as its avatar, Dogecoin is now even accepted as a form of payment by some major companies.

It was initially created in 2013 by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, reportedly as a lighthearted joke to comment on the speculative nature of the cryptocurrency market.

As of October 1st, 2025, Dogecoin’s market capitalization was over $37 billion, with one DOGE valued at approximately $0.24, making it the eighth-largest cryptocurrency. (Its “memecoin” successor, Shiba Inu (SHIB), also briefly surpassed Dogecoin’s market cap in late 2021!)

8. Tron (TRX)

The TRON Foundation launched in 2017 with an ambitious goal: to give digital content creators full ownership rights over their work using tokenization and dApps. The idea was to empower developers to build these decentralized applications. In 2018, TRON acquired BitTorrent, the popular file-sharing program, integrating it into its blockchain. TRON has since evolved into a platform for decentralized financial applications.

TRON’s native token, TRX, is used to pay for transactions on the network and for payments on exchanges. Anyone who has TRX can also apply to become a “Super Representative”. These people are responsible for validating transactions and creating new blocks for the blockchain. TRON uses a different version of Ethereum’s proof-of-stake called “delegated proof-of-stake” (DPoS), where the network votes for these Super Representatives.

On October 1st, 2025, TRX had a value of about $0.34 per coin and a market cap exceeding $32 billion.

9. Toncoin (TON)

Toncoin (TON) is the native cryptocurrency for The Open Network, a project originally developed by the Telegram team. Telegram famously abandoned the project in 2020 after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed charges against it for an unregistered securities offering.

However, the project found new life! It was picked up by Dr. Nikoli Durov, brother of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, and development continued under the TON Foundation.

On October 1st, 2025, TON was trading around $2.77 per coin, with a market cap of over $6 billion.

10. Cardano (ADA)

Cardano (ADA) is a fascinating “Ouroboros proof-of-stake” cryptocurrency born from a rigorous, research-based approach involving engineers, mathematicians, and cryptography experts. One of its co-founders is Charles Hoskinson, who was also one of the five original founding members of Ethereum. He left Ethereum after disagreements about its future direction and went on to help create Cardano.

The team behind Cardano prides itself on building its blockchain through extensive experimentation and peer-reviewed academic research. The project’s researchers have published over 120 papers on various aspects of blockchain technology, forming the intellectual backbone of Cardano. This meticulous process helps Cardano stand out among other proof-of-stake cryptocurrencies. It’s even been dubbed another “Ethereum killer” due to its blockchain’s perceived superior capabilities.

Cardano aims to become the world’s financial operating system, creating DeFi products similar to Ethereum’s. It seeks to solve challenges like interoperability between different blockchains, voter fraud, and legal contract tracking. On October 1st, 2025, Cardano held the tenth-largest market capitalization at over $30 billion, with one ADA trading for approximately $0.84.

A few more worth mentioning

While we could only highlight ten above, the crypto world is vast, and many other important cryptocurrencies are constantly vying for attention, user bases, and market value. Here are a few more significant altcoins (as of Oct 1st, 2025):

• Polkadot (DOT): Price $4.10, Market Cap $6.6B. This is a “multichain protocol” that allows different blockchains to easily transfer data and tokens between each other.
• Shiba Inu (SHIB): Price $0.000012, Market Cap $7.2B. Another popular “memecoin” that took inspiration from Dogecoin itself.
• Avalanche (AVAX): Price $30.60, Market Cap $12.9B. Known for being an incredibly fast smart contract platform, measured by how quickly transactions are finalized, and boasting many validators securing its proof-of-stake network.
• Chainlink (LINK): Price $22.38, Market Cap $15.1B. This acts as a crucial “blockchain layer” that allows smart contracts to connect with real-world data and events, making them universally useful.

Burning questions about crypto

• Which crypto will “boom” next? That’s the million-dollar question, and frankly, it’s incredibly tough to predict! The market is flooded with new projects, and investor sentiment can swing wildly overnight.
• What crypto is in high demand? Bitcoin consistently remains in high demand, largely because of the impressive returns it has generated over its history.
• What is the most important crypto? Despite thousands of competitors popping up, Bitcoin – the original cryptocurrency – is still the dominant force in terms of both usage and overall economic value. Nothing else has matched its market cap and widespread recognition so far.

The bottom line

Bitcoin is still the most popular cryptocurrency. However, when it was first launched in 2009, it caused a lot of new ideas to appear, and many other companies copied it. This led to lots of new technologies that built on its ideas of decentralisation and blockchain. These alternative coins, also called altcoins, have many different uses. Sometimes they are just jokes, but sometimes they power big global computer systems. We don’t know what will happen in the future, but it seems likely that they will continue to change the way we think about money and finance.