It’s been a landmark year for the cryptocurrency landscape. Following the acceptance of 11 spot Bitcoin (BTC-USD) ETFs, cryptocurrency has taken a major step toward mainstream adoption. This, coupled with Bitcoin’s long-awaited halving event in April, has brought plenty of optimism for the growth prospects of the entire crypto ecosystem, along with many overlooked cryptos.
Despite the good news, cryptocurrency markets have remained subdued in recent months. July has seen more volatility enter the fray, with the German government selling off some $75 million Bitcoin holdings. Additionally, fresh market jitters emerged as defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox began paying back its creditors.
Much like in the world of forex, market impact can be a significant factor in the cryptocurrency landscape. Heavy inflows and outflows will invariably impact prices if investors fail to take into account the impact of trades. This can offer short-term risks and opportunities for discovering new investment opportunities in crypto.
These events have seen the value of Bitcoin and the many other overlooked cryptos change significantly in 2024. After reaching an all-time high value of $73,737.94 in March, Bitcoin has since fallen more than 20% from its peak.
Market analysts still anticipate a crypto bull run later in the year, with historical trends pointing to market-wide rallies in the wake of Bitcoin halving events. But could Bitcoin’s recent volatility empower new overlooked cryptos to emerge as the world’s strongest crypto asset? These three overlooked coins could offer the functionality to outshine Bitcoin a little further down the line:
Solana (SOL-USD)
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When it comes to measuring the blockchain frameworks that support cryptocurrencies, Solana (SOL-USD) stands above the competition. Although its market capitalization is lower than Bitcoin’s, its functionality is immeasurably greater.
Solana’s high sentiment score of 77 in June illustrates its strong support and positive impression within the crypto market.
What makes Solana so great? It boasts the fastest proof-of-stake blockchain in the world. It has also successfully outpaced Ethereum (ETH-USD) for functionality with its own proof-of-history framework. This has helped Solana process transactions around 46 times faster than Ethereum and five times faster than its closest competitor, Polygon (MATIC-USD).
Solana’s market capitalization of around $65 billion places it in the world’s top five largest cryptocurrencies. However, its scale is still only around 5% that of Bitcoin. With far greater transaction speeds and the seamless ability to integrate Web 3.0 elements like NFTs within its framework, Solana has everything it takes to become bigger than Bitcoin one day. It may even begin making ground on its counterpart in the next bull run.
Avalanche (AVAX-USD)
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The global blockchain finance market is expected to reach a value of $80.02 billion by 2032 — CAGR of nearly 29%. This underlines the role that blockchain will play in the future of open finance, and Avalanche (AVAX-USD) is set to be a key component in this evolution.
Despite widespread cryptocurrency market volatility, whales have been busy buying AVAX in high volumes. Over one 24-hour period, as much as $139 million worth of AVAX was acquired by addresses linked to whales, representing the opportunity value among the market’s biggest players.
Crucially, Avalanche is a major name in the field of smart contracts — a key financial tool in the age of Web 3.0.
Smart contracts use blockchain technology to automatically execute transactions based on the fulfillment of predetermined requirements. This means that complex deals can be brokered between institutions without the need for middlemen and costly administrative processes.
As the age of open finance continues to grow, we can expect Avalanche to form the cornerstone for innovation within the sector and drive blockchain finance market growth long into the future.
Cardano (ADA-USD)
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Another option in overlooked cryptos is Cardano (ADA-USD), which is set to grow amid the open finance boom. Known for facilitating peer-to-peer transactions through its internal cryptocurrency, Cardano can help revolutionize the lending landscape in the age of Web 3.0.
To facilitate this further, the cryptocurrency will undergo its Chang Hard Fork update in the coming days. This signifies the project’s transition into its Voltaire era, which concludes with the construction of a fully decentralized blockchain ecosystem.
This illustrates the level of ambition showcased by Cardano and its viability as a fully functional cryptocurrency in an innovation-ripe ecosystem.
Although its market capitalization of $13 billion places the coin at just over 1% the size of Bitcoin, the realization of Cardano’s lofty ambition could see ADA rally at an exponential pace. As the Web 3.0 revolution looms, Cardano, like Solana and Avalanche, could reap the rewards of decentralized finance and launch a challenge to Bitcoin’s market dominance.
For investors, tracking these innovative assets should be imperative as the use cases of blockchain and cryptocurrency continue to grow ahead of the next bull run.
On the date of publication, Dmytro Spilka did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
On the date of publication, the responsible editor did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.