Best Altcoins To Buy In January 2025

We reviewed leading projects in the crypto space using reliable metrics to select some of the projects with the highest potential. The aim is to give readers insight into promising altcoins with chances of delivering significant positive return on investment (ROI). Here are the 10 best altcoins to buy right now

Solana is the best Altcoin to invest in as it is the top competitor to Ethereum. It is a high-throughput network for smart contract applications and has quickly grown into an iconic project in the blockchain space. Solana blockchain runs on the Proof of History (POH) consensus mechanism and uses the Solana virtual machine (SVM) to process smart contract agreements in the form of codebytes.

As detailed in the Solana Whitepaper, the Proof Of History consensus mechanism enables the network to scale horizontally and the Virtual Machine is designed for high performance. It can process transactions at a speed of over 2,600 TPS and charge a fraction of a cent for regular transactions and a few cents for smart contract transactions.

Over $5.9 Billion worth of crypto assets are locked in smart contracts of DeFi applications deployed on the platform. Solana developers are scaling blockchain adoption through the project and impressive attempts such as Solana Saga – A Smartphone powered by the Solana network, Solana blinks – A client for the Solana network that allows anyone to perform actions on the Solana blockchain directly on social media platforms.

SOL has maintained a relatively positive price performance in 2024, despite a side-ways swinging market. It is up over 35% from its opening price of $101 in January 2024.

Pepe is the breakout character from the famous comic book by American illustrator – Matt Furie. Matt Furie’s comic book features graphic representations of roommates of which Pepe is a part. Thanks to the success of the book, the comic character has gained a significant level of fame.

As the most popular character in the story, Pepe became a standout imagery and an iconic one for the meme culture. The Pepe memecoin was launched in 2023 on The Ethereum blockchain and rapidly became one of the best meme coin to buy. Many other characters from the book have also been referenced in different memecoins.

The Pepe community has grown impressively and has become the main force behind the project. Pepe has maintained a steep growth in value, thanks to community efforts, social media activities, and recognitions from key players in the industry and mainstream institutions. Like other memecoins, Pepe thrives on the imagery of the Pepe character and witty interaction by community members. It has grown to a market cap of over $5 Billion and several copies of the project have also been deployed on other blockchain networks.

Pepe has had quite a positive year amidst an undecided market. Since January 1, 2024, it has grown over 500% from its opening price. It has also benefitted greatly from the sustained memecoin narrative, making it one of the next bull run crypto. 

Kaspa Network adopts the ethos of Bitcoin but augments it with a relatively higher throughput network. The project’s whitepaper highlights how the network is built for P2P payment settlement for individuals and enterprises. It enables quick and verifiable payments.

Kaspa is a POW blockchain network that implements the GHOSTDAG protocol. It describes itself as the world’s first BlockDAG. While Kaspa runs on the same consensus as the Bitcoin blockchain, the GHOSTDAG protocol enables the network to process blocks in parallel, making for significant improvement in efficiency. Transactions on the Kaspa Network are instantly validated and cost significantly less than seen in other POW blockchain networks.

Kaspa was a fair launch altcoin in November 2021. The distribution structure copies that of Bitcoin with no pre-mines, team, or treasury allocation. The Kaspa blockchain project is pioneered by its community, with the development and marketing efforts are carried out through community actions. Since its launch, Kaspa has continued to climb the ranks and is currently ranked in the top 30 crypto projects.

KAS is one of the best-performing projects in the top 100 ranks in 2024. Since the opening day of the year, its price has increased by about 50% as the project continues to make giant strides. KAS is one to consider if you are looking for a project in this category to invest in.

Ripple is developing a blockchain network for holistic solutions to mainstream and crypto-native financial institutions. The network is designed to integrate diverse financial instruments and enable cross-border payment settlement, Flexible remittance, development of CBDCs, tokenization of real-world financial assets, and other utilities that cut across mainstream finance and the crypto space. Ripple has partnered with key players in both spaces and also offered its solution to sovereign nations. 

Ripple has spent the majority of the year battling a court case with the SEC. However, following positive results from the proceeding, the project is re-positioning itself as a leading project in the Decentralized finance space.

Thanks to the attempts at recovery and consistent progress, XRP has remained relatively stable. It is down about 15% from its opening price in the year 2024. However, the general market condition is a major factor. As the project continues to make progress, XRP could see a rebound in value and grow further.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the biggest narrative of 2024, and ASI is one of the top AI tokens in 2024. Mainstream AI-related projects like Nvidia have seen tremendous growth as developers around the world build products powered by AI algorithms. The crypto space has also seen similar events as AI projects rallied in the first quarter of the year. 

ASI comprises Singularity (AGIX) – A marketplace for AI-powered solutions, Fetch.ai (FET) – a platform that provides developers with toolkits to develop AI-powered solutions, and Ocean Protocol (OCEAN) – A decentralized marketplace for data. With the partnership, the three projects assume the ASI brand and ticker and hope to pool resources together and develop decentralized AI solutions for mainstream and native crypto consumption. The merger will see the three tokens condensed into one with the ASI ticker.

The first phase of the ASI partnership has already been completed with the conversion to FET and subsequently ASI in the next stage. Investors will consider ASI as one of the AI projects to look out for in 2024 and going forward. FET is up over 20% from the opening price in January 2024.

Render Network is a marketplace for idle GPU power. CPU and GPU power are the primary computing resources, GPU power is used to render graphics while CPU power processes other computing tasks. Both resources are well sought-after. Render Network hopes to tackle the scarcity of GPU power by creating a platform that enables device owners whose GPU power is underutilized to commit them for use by developers and content creators in different sectors.

On Render Network, developers can access an enormous GPU power on-demand to build high-level applications and render quality graphics. AI developers can also use the GPU power for developing and training their AI model. Render network uses a task-and-reward structure to allocate rendering tasks to GPU power providers on the network in turn for reward in the RENDER token.

Clients who process their tasks on the network also pay a fee. Render Network gives GPU power providers total leverage on their resources and rewards them significantly for their role on the network. It also makes Render a top DePIN Project this year. 

In 2023, Render Network deployed on the Solana network to expand its coverage and explore a more efficient network for its services. RENDER has maintained stable growth in 2024, it hit an ATH of $13.53 per token on March 17, 2024, but currently consolidates around the $5 level.

Ondo Finance is a promising RWA project built for the tokenization of real-world assets like treasury bills, government bonds, and ETFs (exchange-traded funds). Ondo was first deployed on the Ethereum blockchain in 2023 and subsequently on multiple blockchain networks. Ondo Finance enables users to mint a representation of traditional assets on the blockchain. 

To tokenize an asset on Ondo Finance, the client presents an equivalent amount of the asset they wish to mint, this is held in the custody of the issuer while Ondo Finance securely mints the tokenized version of these assets. Like commodity-backed stablecoins, the asset in custody can be redeemed at the request of the client.

Financial products available on Ondo Finance includes USDY – yield-bearing USD dollar backed by short-term US treasuries and bank demand deposits and OUSG (Ondo US Government Treasuries)

TVL on Ondo Finance is over $560 Million, this consist mainly of USDY and OUSG. ONDO has delivered impressive growth in 2024 with a 350% increase from its opening price of just over $0.2 per token.

Arweave enables anyone to obtain storage space on the internet where their data will be securely stored forever. It is a decentralized storage solution with the idea of a ‘permaweb’. Data stored on the network is held for over 200 years. Users on the network will only need to pay a one-time fee for their storage space using the AR token. Arweave source disk space from miners on the network; data is stored on the network. Miners use the Proof Of Access (POS) consensus algorithm to validate transaction blocks.

In addition to serving as a decentralized storage solution, Arweave is a smart contract blockchain capable of handling contracts from decentralized applications. The Arweave ecosystem is made up of applications that leverage the storage facility and the smart contract feature to offer utility.

AR has grown significantly in 2024. It is up 105% from its opening price of $10.14 in January 2024.

Immutable X is a decentralized network for game developers. Immutable X hopes to create a platform where game developers can deploy high-performance decentralized games, and gamers enjoy their games. Due to the high transaction fee and relatively slow transaction speed on Ethereum Blockchain, gamers’ experience is hampered by slow and failed transactions. Profitability is also affected by the high transaction fee. As a fix, Immutable X is building a layer-2 network built specifically for decentralized gaming technology.

Immutable X uses the Zero-knowledge rollup technology to improve the throughput of its execution environment. It verifies the validity of transaction data using the Zk validity proof and batches them for submission to the mainnet. The final validation occurs on the Ethereum mainnet. Transactions on the Immutable X network cost relatively less and are processed faster.

To improve developer experience, Immutable X developed SDKs that enable developers to implement back functions easily. Developers can now focus on building their games while the backend is handled automatically. Immutable X is optimized for gameFi operations like NFT minting.  TVL on Immutable X is over $107 Million.

Arbitrum is a layer-2 scaling solution for the Ethereum blockchain. Arbitrum uses rollup technology to submit data of transactions performed on its execution environment to the Ethereum mainnet for final validation. It hopes to reduce the cost of running transactions on the Ethereum network while improving the transaction speed without sacrificing the level of security obtainable on the mainnet.

Arbitrum uses an optimistic rollup model, therefore, transactions undergo an extra level of verification by the anti-data fraud committee before they are sent to the mainnet for validation. Since its launch on August 31, 2021, Arbitrum has grown into one of the biggest L-2 scaling networks. TVL on the network is over $2.9 Billion. Arbitrum also records one of the highest number of daily transactions among Layer-2 rollup networks.

ARB has lost about 50% of its value since the opening day of the year 2024. The torrid market conditions in the third quarter of the year are a huge contributor to this performance. The network have maintained significant adoption.

Altcoins are cryptocurrency projects other than Bitcoin that leverage decentralized protocols and algorithms to develop solutions. They spread across diverse sectors including finance, gaming, content creation and ownership, meme culture, and routine utility. While Bitcoin and Ethereum dominate the crypto space in terms of valuation and user base, altcoins also strive to develop decentralized alternatives to traditional solutions and drive the adoption of blockchain technology.  

Thanks to the progress made by many projects in the category, altcoins have become an industrial success and have penetrated some of the most important mainstream sectors. Notable individuals and mainstream firms like Google Cloud, Amazon AWS, Animoca Brands, and mainstream financial institutions have partnered with altcoin projects while merchants all over the world have integrated altcoins as a payment option on their platforms.

For cryptocurrency investors, altcoins are a favorable class of asset due to their affordability and potential for high returns. Altcoins are known to easily score gains in multiples. However, they are also known for a relatively higher volatility.

Some of the altcoins with the highest potential include RENDER, KAS, ONDO, PEPE, and Solana. Each project is a leader in key sectors and is experiencing high user and developer activity.

Ondo Finance is a leading tokenization project and has successfully created representations of US treasury bills worth over $200 Million and other financial assets on the blockchain. Render network is decentralizing the market for GPU power and offering lucrative income for idle GPU. Pepe remains the biggest memecoin from Matt Furie’s The Boys comic book and has gained immense followership. KAS is consistently growing its technology while Solana is the busiest blockchain network at the time of writing.

These progresses could materialize into significant growth in value. However, other projects not mentioned above could also hold good potential. Consider relevant factors while choosing an altcoin to buy.

Here are some factors to consider while choosing an altcoin to buy

Fundamentals And Narratives

Spot the major fundamentals for the project you wish to invest in. For blue-chip projects, consider the technology and the feasibility of the solutions they offer. The level of adoption and projected growth are important parameters to include in your research. Study the roadmap and the resources available to the teams. Also, consider the leading narrative and how relevant the project is, for the narrative. A key player in a major narrative is likely to grow in value.

Activeness

See if the project is still in active development, consolidation, or abandoned. If the project is in active development, the project team will be consistent in delivering new products and optimizing existing products. Marketing efforts will also be perceivable. Ensure that the project is not abandoned or led by a non-dedicated team before investing in it.

Availability

Ensure that the project you wish to invest in is easily tradable. Check for platforms where they are listed and the ease of purchasing them from the platform. For financial security, it is advised to purchase an altcoin that is actively tradable on centralized and decentralized exchanges. Also, ensure that the listings are reliable.

Market Viability

Metrics to use in estimating the market viability of an altcoin include the daily trading volume across exchanges where they are listed, the liquidity, the number of active holders, and (where available) the number of active traders. If the asset has a good market viability, the chances of price growth are increased. Moreover, sufficient liquidity protects traders from high slippage.

Personal Factors And Risk Tolerance

Alongside other general factors, consider personal factors as well before investing in an altcoin. Factors such as the duration you wish to hold the asset for, your risk tolerance, and starting capital. If you wish to hold the asset for long term, ensure that the fundamentals are strong enough and the team is committed to the project throughout this period. Crypto assets are volatile, therefore, ensure that you are able to bear the losses and adjust your investment to suit your risk tolerance level.

To invest in altcoins, you will need to purchase them from an exchange. You can trade altcoins on decentralized exchanges (if they are listed on any) and centralized exchanges that support their trading. Trading on decentralized exchanges like Jupiter, Uniswap, and PancakeSwap requires your crypto wallet only.

To invest in altcoins using centralized exchanges, you will need to create a trading account. Here’s a guide on how to trade altcoins on centralized exchanges;

Step 1: Create A Trading Account

Visit the official website of your desired crypto exchange to create a user account.

Step 2: Verify Your Account

Complete the basic KYC process as stipulated by the platform to enable your account for trading

Step 3: Deposit Fund

For crypto deposits, copy the wallet address of the asset you wish to deposit from your trading account and send your capital to the asset.

To deposit Fiat, follow the guidelines for Fiat and on-ramp purchases for the platform

Step 4: Find And Trade Assets

After creating your account and crediting your trading account, you are now ready to start trading cryptocurrencies. Here is how to buy a cryptocurrency

To place a buy order.

1. Visit the exchange you wish to purchase the asset on.

2. Navigate to the market section and find the crypto asset you wish to buy.

3. In the Buy section, set the price at which you wish to buy the asset and enter the amount you wish to purchase.

4. Click BUY [ASSET] to place your order

Note: If the set price is below the market price, the order will not be completed immediately but added to the order book.

You can track your order in the order area to see if it has been filled.

Render, Solana, and ASI are some of the altcoin projects with strong potentials. Render Network is offering developers and content creators a cheaper way to access GPU power while giving individuals and firms an avenue to turn their idle GPU power into a tangible stream of income. ASI also hopes to develop efficient decentralized AI solutions with the increased resources available to them after the merger. Solana is also growing as the favorite blockchain network for investors. Other altcoin projects discussed in the course of this article hold exciting potential as well.

However, keep in mind that these projects were selected based on statistical and estimated parameters, some of which we discussed earlier, it is important that you perform further research and consider factors that are personal to you before investing in a cryptocurrency project. Featured projects are not endorsed.