The last bull run led to several altcoins surpassing the $100 billion mark, bringing investors a stellar fortune; but four years later, the blockchain landscape has changed. With innovative technology, expanding use cases, and increasing mainstream acceptance, some altcoins are on the verge of unlocking a $100 billion market potential. This new era promises to bring not only impressive returns to investors, but also a transformative impact on the financial landscape.
1. Altcoin – Shiba Inu (SHIB)
Shiba Inu is one of the hottest dog-themed altcoins in the space today, with hundreds of imitations and copycats. SHIB is trading at around $0.00001874 with a market cap of $11 billion. The Shiba Inu market cap chart shows that the total value of the asset is falling, with the next support level around $8.3 billion.
SHIB’s market cap reached an all-time high of $41.1 billion, the highest value ever achieved by any meme coin except Dogecoin. During that time, Shiba Inu was just a meme coin. But over time, developers built tangible technology, utility, and an ecosystem around the token, which could catalyze its market cap to $100 billion this time around.
Data shows that 40 protocols are built on the Shibarium network, 10 of which are liquidity staking protocols and 11 are decentralized exchanges. There are also 2 bridges and 5 wallets in the list, which makes Shiba Inu go from a meme coin to a serious blockchain competitor - perhaps even more serious than Dogecoin.
2. Tongbi (TON)
Toncoin is a layer 1 blockchain designed to support cross-chain interoperability. The blockchain is the brainchild of Telegram, a well-known messaging app with over 1 billion users worldwide. The TON Foundation was later formed and the development of the network was handed over to the organization.
For crypto newbies, TON is not a new altcoin. It has been around since 2021 and is trading at a very low price of less than $1. TON’s popularity has been growing over the past few months as the gaming ecosystem has moved to Telegram applets.
Toncoin’s peak market cap reached $25.2 billion in April 2024. This coincided with the launch of Notcoin (NOT), a Tap-to-Earn game on the network that attracted many users not only to the cryptocurrency but also to the TON blockchain.
As the Telegram mini-program ecosystem flourishes, many projects are expected to be launched on the TON network and the market cap is expected to increase. Toncoin will surely exceed $100 billion in the next bull run.
3. Ripple (XRP)
Ripple and XRP are the enigmas of the cryptocurrency space. XRP is the oldest cryptocurrency on this list, and while it hasn’t lost its top 10 spot like Litecoin (LTC), Monero (XMR), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH), the asset’s 5-year price suppression continues to puzzle us at XRPArmy.
Unlike other currencies on this list, XRP became an overnight sensation with a market cap of over $100 billion. Between January 2 and January 3, 2018, XRP jumped from $95 billion to $121 billion, ultimately ending the 2020-2021 bull run with a market cap of $131 billion on January 7.
XRP’s value plummeted during the bear market and has not recovered, even as other cryptocurrencies have recovered somewhat. The same thing happened during the mini bull season in March 2024, as the coin only managed to rise to $39 billion. XRP’s price has been largely suppressed by its ongoing battle with the SEC, which began in late 2020.
The recent settlement between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Terraform Labs (TFL), and the end of the investigation into Ethereum 2.0, has given XRPArmy hope that Ripple may soon receive similar relief. Ripple recently won a major victory in its lawsuit against the SEC, reducing its fine from $2 billion to $106 million. With this in mind, XRP could easily surpass $100 billion again if a bull run occurs.
4. Chainlink (LINK) is a good altcoin to buy
Chainlink is the hardworking but unsung child of the family. Founded by Sergey Nazarov, Chainlink built a TCP/IP protocol for blockchains, the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP). As of January 2023, more than 1,600 blockchain protocols have integrated Chainlink’s technology (and the CCIP mainnet has not yet launched). Since then, another 657 protocols have joined the ranks, with 148 of them set to launch in 2024.
Chainlink’s market cap is currently around $8.6 billion, down from its yearly high of $12.11 billion on March 11. Link’s highest market cap was $22 billion in May 2021 before retracing. Strong support is seen around the $8 billion market cap, which has been tested multiple times since November 2023.
Given that LINK’s price reached $22 billion with fewer customers and a relatively smaller bull run than the inbound bull run, you can expect this overlooked child to surprise many people when the full-blown bull run arrives.
Industry leaders expect the upcoming bull run to be the biggest in the history of cryptocurrencies. Regulators have approved two ETFs so far, and industry leaders are discussing whether more will be approved. The market capitalization of these altcoins could reach $100 billion or more.
