While CoinMarketCap reports over 2.4 million cryptocurrencies as of May 2024, the top 10 cryptos account for over 86% of the total crypto market capitalization, not including non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Find out which cryptos comprise the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap—from bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) to meme coins like dogecoin (DOGE) and US dollar-pegged stablecoins like tether (USDT) and USD coin (USDC)—and the purpose each coin serves.
These are the top 10 cryptos by market cap. Market cap information is accurate as of April 25, 2024.
Bitcoin (BTC) was the world’s first cryptocurrency (or digital currency) to exist on a blockchain.(1) Brought to market in 2009 by the anonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin enabled users to transact peer-to-peer over the internet without requiring a third party like a bank or credit card provider.
The network is governed by a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism that requires computers to solve cryptographic puzzles to mine BTC, verify transactions and secure the network.
Fidelity considers BTC the only true monetary good in the crypto world and believes the asset is a store of value, given its supply is limited to 21 million.(2)
At the start of 2010, BTC traded for less than a cent, while it trades for just under US$65,000 at the time of writing.(3) No other asset in history has seen such explosive growth in such a short period.
In January 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the first 11 spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which boosted BTC’s price to a new all-time high.(4)
Ethereum went live in July 2015 as a blockchain on which decentralized apps (dapps) could be built using smart contracts.
One year before the network launch, Ethereum developers pre-sold ether (ETH)—the native currency of Ethereum—for about US$0.31 via an initial coin offering (ICO).(5) The price of ETH has since increased exponentially to roughly US$3,100.
ETH has become more valuable as decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols like Uniswap, Compound, Aave and over 1,000 others have been built on top of it. The rise in popularity of NFTs in 2021 also increased the number of Ethereum network users and therefore the price of ETH.
While Ethereum was originally governed by a PoW consensus mechanism similar to Bitcoin’s, it changed to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism in which Ethereum stakers validate transactions on the network in September 2022. This was colloquially called “The Merge.”
Tether (USDT) is a stablecoin whose issuers aim to keep pegged to US$1. The asset runs on various blockchains and is preferred by those who want to hold and use a cryptocurrency that doesn’t have the volatility inherent in most crypto assets.
It was created in July 2014 and is collateralized with actual US dollars, financial instruments and bearer assets like US Treasury Bills, bitcoin and gold.(6)(7)
While major news outlets like Bloomberg have reported that Tether may not have full reserves for USDT, Tether undergoes quarterly attestations that illustrate what’s in its treasury.(8)(9)
USDT has traded significantly off its peg at points, but these events have been fleeting, and its price has always returned to US$1 throughout the token’s nine-plus years of existence.(10)
Binance Coin (BNB) came into existence in July 2017. It was first issued on Ethereum and was initially created as a utility token that investors could use to pay for trades on Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume.(11)
In September 2020, Binance launched Binance Smart Chain (BSC)—now called BNB Chain—on which BNB is used to fuel transactions and bestow voting rights for the blockchain’s governance.(12)
BNB sold for about US$0.10 at its ICO and traded for as high as about US$700 in 2021.(13) It’s since come back down to under US$625.
In February 2024, a federal judge approved a plea deal by Binance that required the crypto exchange to pay more than US$4.3 billion in fines and restitution. This came after the company and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, pled guilty late in 2023 to breaking anti-money laundering laws and violating sanctions.(14)
Solana (SOL) was surrounded by a lot of hype in 2021, as many believed it would be an “Ethereum killer.”(15)
Like Ethereum, Solana is a smart contract platform home to many DeFi protocols and NFT communities. The network is governed by both PoS and Proof of History (PoH) consensus mechanisms. (16)
Transactions on the network are notably cheap compared to those on Ethereum, although the network isn’t as decentralized and therefore isn’t as secure as Ethereum. Plus, Solana is prone to outages, which hurts the blockchain’s credibility.
SOL skyrocketed from US$1.33 in December 2020 to over US$250 in November 2021 before crashing down to about US$9 in December 2022. It trades at just over US$145 as of the time of writing.
US Dollar Coin (USDC) is the other US dollar stablecoin in the top 10 cryptos.
Like USDT, the asset’s issuers aim to keep its peg at US$1. Also, like USDT, USDC is backed by actual US dollars and financial products like US Treasury bills. It also runs on multiple blockchains.
However, USDC differs from USDT in some notable ways. For one, USDC’s parent company, Circle, is more transparent than USDT’s parent company, Tether. Circle goes through a monthly attestation process and a yearly audit for the assets that collateralize USDC. Tether undergoes a quarterly attestation process and doesn’t ever undergo an audit for the assets that back USDT.
Also, USDC has traded off its peg at points, but not as much as or as frequently as USDT.(17)
XRP came to market in June 2012.(18) Ripple, the company that created XRP, touted XRP as a better alternative to Bitcoin because it could be used to facilitate cross-border remittance payments more quickly and cheaply than Bitcoin. Ripple also believes that XRP could replace the SWIFT system.(19)
The asset became more well-known in 2017 when its price skyrocketed from less than US$0.01 to over US$3, an all-time high to which it has yet to return.
XRP’s price remained suppressed in part because the SEC sued its parent company, Ripple, in December 2020 for selling XRP as an unregistered security, forcing crypto exchanges in the US to delist the asset.(20)
After almost a three-year court battle between the SEC and Ripple, a US District Judge ruled in July 2023 that XRP isn’t a security when sold on secondary markets like crypto exchanges.(21) US-based crypto exchanges like Coinbase, Gemini and Kraken instantly relisted XRP, as its price soared almost 75% in the days following the ruling.
DOGE is the one meme coin in the top 10 cryptocurrencies. It started as a joke in 2013, and, like all meme coins, it has no intrinsic value and only exists for speculative purposes. It’s easiest to think of DOGE like a gambling chip.
The price of DOGE tends to rise and fall in tandem with the number of DOGE memes that the asset’s supporters share on social media. Speaking of the DOGE supporters, Elon Musk is well-known for promoting DOGE—so much so that DOGE investors are currently suing Musk for manipulating its price.(22)
In 2013, DOGE traded for a fraction of a cent—US$0.0005—and while it currently trades at just over US$0.15, its price is down from its US$0.73 all-time high, which it reached three years ago.
Founded by Telegram founders Nikolai and Pavel Durov, Toncoin (TON) was launched in 2018 originally as a Telegram Open Network.(23) It’s the native cryptocurrency of the TON decentralized ecosystem and is used for network operations, transactions, games or collectibles built on the network.
In June 2020, Telegram settled with the SEC and agreed to pay an US$18.5 million penalty and return US$1.2 billion to investors to resolve charges that Telegram’s unregistered offering of digital tokens (called “Grams”) violated the federal securities laws.(24)
Cardano (ADA) was founded by Charles Hoskinson, one of the original team members behind Ethereum.
Like Ethereum, Cardano is a PoS blockchain on which dapps can be built, although developers on Cardano haven’t delivered as much product as those on Ethereum.
However, transaction fees on Cardano are cheaper than those on Ethereum, and the native wallets for Cardano, including Daedalus and Yoroi, make staking ADA quite convenient.
ADA sold for as little as US$0.0024 per coin during its ICO process from 2015 to 2017.(25) It trades at just over US$0.45 at the time of writing.
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We don’t know which crypto—if any—will boom in 2024. This is very difficult to predict. However, bitcoin’s rise in price in 2024 has lifted the overall market. Be careful betting on the price movements of crypto assets. Crypto tends to lose value even more quickly than gaining it.
When deciding which crypto is best to invest in, consider your risk tolerance. If you’re looking to invest now and are new to the market, you might start by investing in bitcoin (BTC). It is one of the least volatile crypto assets aside from stablecoins because of its large market cap. However, BTC is still incredibly volatile compared to most traditional assets, so invest carefully.
We don’t know what the next big cryptocurrency is. Some say that a network like Solana is an “Ethereum killer,” which means that SOL—the native asset of Solana—may be the next big cryptocurrency. However, this is far from definite, so invest carefully.
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