Looking back at the performance of the cryptocurrency market this week, the word "crazy" would not be an exaggeration. On Monday, Bitcoin (BTC) was still fluctuating between $89,000 and $92,000, but on Thursday (11/21) it reached a high of $98,000, and even broke through $99,000 today (11/22), just a step away from $100,000!
Bitcoin hits new highs, is the Altcoin season coming?
While Bitcoin's price has been soaring, the second-largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum (ETH), has been underperforming in comparison. Although it had a wave of increase following Bitcoin on the previous day (11/21), it has not yet broken its historical high. (It has even been jokingly referred to as the "Ethereum stablecoin" by netizens...)
However, have you noticed that people in the community have started saying: "The Altcoin season is about to begin!" This is because when looking at the past cryptocurrency bull market situations, it can be seen that after Bitcoin takes the lead, funds will start to flow into other mainstream currencies, and finally welcome the big explosion of Altcoins.
So what are Altcoins? Is it the same as buying counterfeit goods?
What are Altcoins?
When you hear the term "Altcoin", because of the word "counterfeit", you may associate it with fake goods, but its existence is of great significance to the cryptocurrency market. Simply put, Altcoins are cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin. The term "Altcoin" represents "alternative coin", that is, "alternative currencies". These coins usually have their own technical features and application scenarios, some try to solve the shortcomings of Bitcoin, and some focus on creating new functions and markets.
Let's get to know some of the Altcoins that have been performing well recently!
Litecoin (LTC)
Litecoin was launched in 2011, created by Charlie Lee, a former Google and Coinbase engineer. He hopes to develop a "lightweight" version of Bitcoin, so the development of Litecoin is based on improving the Bitcoin code, and it focuses more on transaction speed and lower fees compared to Bitcoin.
Litecoin's supply is more than four times that of Bitcoin, about 84 million coins, so it is also known as "digital silver". In the recent market performance on 11/21, under the lead of the Bitcoin surge, Litecoin also rose about 8% in the past day.
Optimism (OP)
Optimism is different from Litecoin, it is an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain. To simply explain Layer 2, it is a solution that has emerged to solve the problems of Ethereum transaction congestion and high gas fees. Therefore, the advantage of Optimism is that it can process more transactions at the same time, and the transaction cost is also very low.
Want to learn more about Layer 2? Recommended reading: What is Ethereum Layer2? A must-know for beginners! The Ethereum savior that reduces fees and speeds up transactions
And OP is its native token, used to pay transaction fees and for protocol governance. Since Ethereum finally caught up with the upward trend on 11/21, rising from $3,100 to break through $3,400, the various Layer 2 tokens also saw gains, with OP surging 22%!
XRP
XRP was developed by the American company Ripple Labs, mainly used to solve the efficiency problem of cross-border payments. Although its market capitalization is among the top ten cryptocurrencies, it is quite different from the cryptocurrencies we are familiar with. Its positioning is more like a financial tool than a typical decentralized cryptocurrency, as it does not have a "mining" mechanism, and most of the XRP is controlled by the issuer Ripple.
What is mining? Recommended reading: 【New User Series 2】 What are the "miners" digging in the blockchain? - Introduction to consensus mechanism and mining
Ripple has been sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which claimed that XRP should be considered a "security" and subject to securities laws. After a three-year lawsuit, it was finally ruled by the court last year that it is "not a security", allowing XRP to finally dispel the gloom.
Further reading: Ethereum is not a security! Why is it important whether cryptocurrencies are securities or commodities?
Yesterday (11/21), SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who has been unfriendly towards cryptocurrencies, announced that he will be leaving the chairman's position before Trump takes office, resigning early next year on 1/20. This caused the previously strong XRP under the Trump administration to surge another 25%, reaching a high of $1.43 in nearly three years!
On January 20, 2025 I will be stepping down as @SECGov Chair.
A thread 🧵⬇️
— Gary Gensler (@GaryGensler) November 21, 2024
The cryptocurrency market can be said to have thousands of Altcoins, not just the three Altcoins introduced above. Including Cardano, the founder of which is rumored to become Trump's cryptocurrency policy advisor, causing Cardano (ADA) to surge, becoming the hottest Altcoin recently.
However, the rise of Ether is really pitiful compared to Bitcoin, and there is also a view that altcoins in this bull market will be absent, replaced by meme coins, after all, the leading dog of meme coins, Doge, has already doubled in just a few weeks, with a remarkable rise. Let's wait and see what changes will take place in the cryptocurrency market this weekend, whether Bitcoin can reach $100,000, whether Ether can hit a new high, and whether the altcoin season will come.
Further reading:
Trump returns to the White House! Bitcoin surges to $76,400, will it reach $100,000 next year?
( * The content of this article does not constitute any form of investment advice. Any investment has risks, please research and consider carefully before deciding! )
〈Bitcoin hits new highs, ADA and XRP also soar! What are Altcoins?〉This article was first published on《NONE LAND》.
