Understanding Cryptocurrency Trends in 2024

Cryptocurrency is booming. Well, some of them are booming, at any rate.

Last year saw cryptocurrencies explode in value, with Bitcoin leading the charge hitting an all-time high of $68,000 back in November.

Since then, interest in cryptocurrencies has only grown, with a rapid uptick in crypto adoption from traditional financial institutions, and mainstream brands adapting to the blockchain future.

But, after the market crash earlier this year, the cryptocurrency landscape has changed dramatically. So, let’s break down the state of play of the five most popular cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, XRP, and Litecoin; and explore their trends for 2024.

Bitcoin (BTC)

Undoubtedly, Bitcoin is the king of cryptocurrencies. Often considered as an investment asset rather than “real” currency, Bitcoin has surged in value in recent years, culminating in an all-time high in November 2022.

Since its inception, Bitcoin has been widely touted as an alternative to fiat currencies, namely due to its strictly limited supply of 21 million coins. The idea being that inflation couldn’t reduce the value of Bitcoin because there simply isn’t enough to go around forever.

Limited supply is only part of the battle, though. For Bitcoin to become a widely accepted form of currency, it has to be both scalable and affordable.

At the moment, Bitcoin can only handle around 7 transactions per second, compared to thousands for Visa. That puts it almost laughably behind fiat payment channels in terms of practicality.

This is something that’s being worked on and developers are currently working on the Lightning Network upgrade, which will make BTC a more practical daily currency. But whether that will make much difference in the next couple of years remains to be seen.

In terms of price, Bitcoin is currently (January 2024) sitting at around $22k, down from its all-time high, but still enormously ahead of where it was a few years ago.

The future looks bright for Bitcoin, but don’t expect to see it as an affordable medium of exchange any time soon. It’s more likely to become a vehicle for investment and wealth storage rather than an everyday currency.

Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum is quite different from Bitcoin, not least because it’s meant to be a blockchain for smart contracts rather than just a currency.

The concept of smart contracts relies on the Ethereum blockchain to enforce the rules set out in a contract, allowing for the automation of certain transactions.

This makes Ethereum much more adaptable and brings countless use cases, from supply chain management to healthcare, to arts authentication.

In 2022, The Ethereum network had a major upgrade to transition from a proof of work (PoW) to a proof of stake (PoS) consensus algorithm. This was done to make the network more energy-efficient, and scalable going forward. known as “The Merge”.

Since this upgrade, the Ethereum network has become thousands of times faster and more energy efficient, setting the stage for future growth and development in the ecosystem.

The upgrade also means that Ethereum is no longer deflationary, in contrast to Bitcoin, but there are plans in place to burn a percentage of transaction fees to mitigate this.

At the time of writing (January 2024), Ethereum is priced at around $1,200, down from its all-time high of $2,000-$2,500 range back in 2021. Whether it will regain those highs in the next couple of years is questionable, but the upgrade puts ETH in a strong position to at least see moderate growth.

Cardano (ADA)

Cardano has often been referred to as an “Ethereum killer,” although that moniker is somewhat misplaced nowadays.

Cardano and Ethereum do share a lot of similarities as they are both blockchains that support smart contracts. But, Cardano has always prided itself on being faster, cheaper, and more efficient than Ethereum.

Back in 2021, Cardano went through its biggest development milestone, known as “Allegra”, which brought smart contract functionality to the blockchain. Since then, however, uptake has been slow with only a fraction of the activity seen on Ethereum.

One of the biggest hurdles for Cardano is its lack of decentralization. In order to become truly decentralized, it has to attract more users and developers to build applications on the blockchain.

In terms of pricing, Cardano is currently (January 2024) at around $0.40, way down from its all-time high of $3 back in 2021. Whether it will ever reach those heights again is anyone’s guess, but there’s still a lot of work to do before Cardano becomes a serious contender among cryptocurrencies.

XRP (XRP)

XRP is a unique case among cryptocurrencies.

It’s currently the seventh largest cryptocurrency by market cap, but it has no founder, and it hasn’t been designed as a tradable coin, per se.

XRP is a digital token created by Ripple, a US-based technology company, and it’s primarily designed to facilitate cross-border payments for banks and other financial institutions.

In late 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs, alleging that they had sold XRP as an unregistered security offering.

This suit cast a dark shadow over XRP, and it’s still unclear what the outcome will be, or when it will conclude. Some major exchanges have delisted XRP for the time being, and the lawsuit, whatever the outcome, will likely hamstring Ripple’s plans to expand into new markets.

At the same time, XRP remains popular with investors who are betting on an eventual conclusion to the case and a thawing in the company’s relationship with US financial authorities.

At the time of writing (January 2024), XRP is trading at around $0.33, down from its all-time high of around $3.50.

Litecoin (LTC)

Litecoin was created in 2011, with the aim of being a faster, cheaper, and more efficient version of Bitcoin.

Using a similar codebase to BTC, Litecoin is a peer-to-peer digital currency that’s designed for everyday transactions, so it’s much more like Bitcoin than Ethereum, Ripple, or Cardano.

Litecoin has garnered quite a following over the years, and it’s increasingly being considered as a solid alternative to Bitcoin. In recent years, LTC has enjoyed substantial growth, hitting an all-time high of $412 back in 2021.

At the time of writing (January 2024), Litecoin is priced at around $104, down from its all-time high, but still showing as one of the more stable cryptocurrencies.

The future of Litecoin looks promising, especially if it can maintain its position as a trusted alternative to Bitcoin. Once the Bitcoin Lightning Network upgrades are complete, it will be interesting to see how Litecoin adapts to the changing landscape.

Conclusion

The cryptocurrency market is dynamic and ever-changing.

In this article, we’ve explored the five most popular cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, XRP, and Litecoin and investigated their trends for 2024.

As we’ve seen, each cryptocurrency has its unique trajectory and potential, from Bitcoin’s store of value appeal to Ethereum’s evolving smart contract capabilities, and from Cardano’s scalability concerns to XRP’s legal wranglings.

The future of these cryptocurrencies is uncertain, but their popularity and potential impact on the financial landscape warrant keeping a close eye on them.

For investors and cryptocurrency enthusiasts, these five coins are likely to be at the top of their watchlists for some time to come.

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