The last bull market resulted in several altcoins surpassing the $100 billion mark, but four years later, the blockchain landscape has changed. With innovative technologies, expanding use cases, and increasing mainstream acceptance, some altcoins are on the brink of unlocking a $100 billion market potential. This new era promises not just substantial returns but also transformative impacts on the financial landscape. Here are 4 altcoins that may hit a $100 billion market cap in the next bull run.

1. Altcoins – Shiba Inu (SHIB)

Shiba Inu is one of the top dog-themed altcoins in the space today, with hundreds of replicas and wannabes. Trading around $0.00001874, SHIB has a market cap of $11 billion. The Shiba Inu market cap chart indicates that the total value of the asset is decreasing with the next support level around the $8.3 billion mark.

At an all-time high, SHIB hit a market cap of $41.1 billion, the highest any meme coin (apart from Dogecoin) has ever achieved. During that run, Shiba Inu was just a meme coin. But over time, the developers have built a tangible technology, utility, and ecosystem around the token that may catalyze the run-up to $100 billion this time around.

Data shows there are 40 protocols built on the Shibarium network, with 10 of them being liquid staking protocols and 11 of them being decentralized exchanges. There are also 2 bridges and 5 wallets in the list, which transforms Shiba Inu from being just a meme coin to a serious blockchain competitor—maybe even more serious than Dogecoin.

2. Toncoin (TON) 

Toncoin is a layer 1 blockchain specifically designed to support cross-chain interoperability. The blockchain is the brainchild of Telegram, the famous messaging app with over 1 billion users worldwide. TON Foundation was later created and the development of the network was handed over to this organization.

For crypto newbies, TON is not a new altcoin. It has been around since 2021, trading at very low sub $1 prices. The popularity of TON has grown in the past few months as the gaming ecosystem shifted to Telegram mini apps.

The highest market cap Toncoin has ever hit was $25.2 billion in April 2024. This coincides with the launch of Notcoin (NOT), the Tap-to-Earn game that launched on the network and onboarded many users, not only to crypto but to the TON blockchain.

This market cap is expected to increase as the Telegram mini-apps ecosystem has blown up since then, with many of the projects promising to launch on the TON network. Toncoin is sure to surpass $100 billion in the next bull run. 

3. XRP (XRP)

Ripple and XRP are enigmas in the crypto arena. XRP is the oldest cryptocurrency on this list, and while, like Litecoin (LTC), Monero (XMR), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) it hasn’t lost its place in the top 10, the 5-year price suppression of the asset continues to boggle the minds of the XRPArmy.

Unlike the others on the list, XRP has tasted heaven with its over $100 billion market cap. Between January 2 and January 3, 2018, XRP jumped from $95 billion to $121 billion, finally culminating the 2020–2021 bull run at $131 billion on January 7.

The value of XRP crashed in the bear market and did not recover, even as other cryptos recovered. The same thing happened in the March 2024 mini-bull season, as the token only managed to rise to $39 billion. XRP price has largely been suppressed by its ongoing battle against the SEC, which started in late 2020. 

The recent settlement between the SEC and Terraform Labs (TFL), along with the dropping of investigations into Ethereum 2.0, raised hopes among the XRPArmy that Ripple may soon receive similar relief. Ripple recently achieved a significant victory against the SEC, reducing their penalties from $2 billion to $106 million. Having this in mind, XRP can easily surpass the $100 billion again, if a bull run scenario plays.

4. Altcoins to buy – Chainlink (LINK)

Chainlink is the industrious but unnoticed kid in the family. Founded by Sergey Nazarov, Chainlink has built the TCP/IP protocol of the blockchain, the Cross Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP). By January 2023, over 1600 blockchain protocols had integrated Chainlink’s technology (and the CCIP mainnet had not launched yet). Since then, 657 more protocols have joined the ranks, with 148 of them happening in 2024.

Chainlink’s market cap currently sits around $8.6 billion, down from a yearly high of $12.11 billion on March 11. The highest market cap Link has ever hit was $22 billion in May 2021 before it started retracing. Strong support lies around the $8 billion market and has been tested multiple times since November 2023.

Given that LINK price value hit $22 billion with fewer customers and a relatively smaller bull run than the inbound one, you can expect this ignored kid to surprise many when the full-blown bull run kicks in.

Conclusion

Industry leaders expect the coming bull run to be the largest in the history of crypto. So far, regulators have approved two ETFs, and there is talk among industry leaders about the possibility of more. These altcoins may likely hit a $100 billion market cap or higher.

The post Here’s Altcoins’ Next $100 Billion Opportunity appeared first on CoinGape.

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Filed under: News - @ June 20, 2024 11:23 am