Ethereum, Solana, Polkadot and other cryptocurrencies hit fresh all-time-highs as altcoin season kicks in

• At least ten different cryptocurrencies hit fresh all-time-highs (ATHs) during the long Diwali weekend as altcoin season kicked in.
• The crypto bull run of ‘Upvember’ is lifting all boats, including Ethereum, Solana, Polkadot and others.
• Some of the largest profits seen were in lesser known ‘altcoins’ that have only recently launched into the crypto universe, many betting on blockchain gaming and decentralised finance (DeFi).

The bull run of cryptocurrencies — which includes leading players like Ethereum, Dogecoin, Solana and others — continued over the long Diwali weekend, marking new all-time-high (ATH) values yet again. Analysts predict that the momentum seen in October will continue through November and December as well.

In the overall crypto market, the combined value of all the cryptocurrencies in the world rose from $2.6 trillion on October 27 to nearly $3 trillion for a short while today, according to Coinmarketcap. Most of this gain was due to rising value of altcoins, cryptocurrencies that lay outside the ambit of Bitcoin and Ether — the native token of the Ethereum blockchain.

In fact, the two biggest cryptocurrency — Bitcoin and Ether — account for only 63% of the total global crypto market capitalisation. There are over 10,000 cryptocurrencies in existence today, and a fair proportion of profits seen last week were in the lesser known currencies.

Note: These all-time high (ATH) values were seen for a short period on 8 November 2021.
Source: CoinMarketCap

Here’s a quick look at ten cryptocurrencies who have hit an all-time-high during alt season as ‘Upvember’ kicked in during the long Diwali weekend:

Polkadot (DOT)

Seen as an ‘Ethereum Killer’, this token began trading in 2017, using ‘parachains’ to take aim at interoperability, scalability, and security. That makes transacting with DOT cheaper and faster than older cryptocurrencies like Ether.Built to communicate across blockchain networks, over 511 projects currently use Polkadot. Use cases range from the ordinary such as transactions and finance, to exotic ones like file storage and identity verification. Polkadot currently has a maximum supply allocation of 1 billion DOT tokens.

Terra (LUNA)

LUNA is the native token of the Terra blockchain, and began trading in mid-2019. Terra, the company behind the LUNA token, wants to use blockchain to create a better digital financial system. LUNA allows smart contracts and builds DApps on top of the Terra network, including DeFi protocols such as Anchor and Mirror. They also partner with payment and e-commerce platforms to drive usage of their currency.

Terra uses LUNA to maintain price stability of its ‘stablecoins’ pegged to USD/EUR – similar to how Tether uses the US Dollar as a peg to create the USDT cryptocurrency.

Solana (SOL)

The SOL token began trading in 2020 with its own blockchain, the ability to integrate with tokens from other networks, and fast transaction speed. These attributes are seen to be well-suited for high-throughput decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions.

Over 500 dApps are built upon Solana by independent developers, most being related to finance such as lending/borrowing. These applications that provide DeFi services, trade NFT tokens or even find a dating partner, need Solana tokens to transact.

Ethereum (ETH)

The ETH token began trading in 2015 with its own blockchain, and introduced innovations to blockchain security and usage, with its ‘smart contracts’ becoming a platform for other applications. Other billion-dollar crypto ‘tokens’ — cryptocurrencies based on existing blockchains — such as Tether (USDT) and even a few tokens mentioned in this story are based on Ethereum technology.

You need Ether or other tokens derived from it to take part in high-value trades including non-fungible tokens (NFT), decentralised finance (DeFi) and decentralised applications (DApps).

Avalanche (AVAX)

AVAX is the native token of the Avalanche blockchain, and has seen a 23x rise in value year-to-date. It is a rival of Ethereum with a blockchain that supports smart contracts for an ecosystem of DApps and DeFi. Just last week, the Avalanche Foundation launched a $230 million crypto growth fund called ‘Blizzard’ targeting these two sectors.

Its design claims to achieve the holy grail of cryptocurrencies – being scalable with fast transactions, decentralised, and low transaction fees.

Avalanche “is way faster than ethereum and it wants to be even faster, which is great because I think that’s very important when it comes to finance and DeFi projects and applications,” Tally Greenberg, head of business development at Allnodes, told Insider, “It’s a promising technology that basically does more for less.

GameFi (GAFI)

The GameFi token began trading in September 2021 as a smart contract residing on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC). It is an NFT platform, with a ‘play to earn’ (P2E) business model supporting a blockchain-based in-game metaverse economy. Simply put, players can earn cryptocurrency as they play the game and, in turn, exchange those tokens for fiat money or other cryptocurrencies.

To explain with a Super Mario game analogy, you as a player could pick up coins, mushrooms and bombs to consume while playing or hold as an investor – or to turn around and sell it in the game’s marketplace in exchange for GAFI tokens from other players.

Realm (REALM)

The REALM token became available for trade in September 2021, as a smart contract residing on Ethereum and BSC.

Realm is a play to earn metaverse-based game, for players to create and explore worlds virtually. The token is used for transactions that can range from minting, discovering and exhibiting NFTs to earning or breeding pets called Realmies, and purchasing virtual real estate to throw parties for friends and fans.

Warena (RENA)

The RENA token became available in October 2021, for trade as a smart contract residing on the BSC. It is used for transactions in Warena, a play to earn, metaverse game with NFTs that can be used for trade or battle between players.

Warena is currently in its first phase, as a 2D tower defense game that requires the player to survive against an onrush of zombies. The second phase launching in 2022 is expected to unlock player-versus-player features.

Clearpool (CPOOL)

The CPOOL token began trading in October 2021, as a smart contract residing on the Ethereum blockchain. It is the utility and governance token for the Clearpool protocol.

Clearpool is part of the decentralised finance (DeFi) ecosystem thatm among other things, allows for institutional borrowing/lending at a profit. Significantly, Clearpool allows for unsecured loans at a dynamic interest rate.

Seedify.fund (SFUND)

The SFUND token began trade in March 2021, as a BSC smart contract. As the name indicates, it is used to fund the initial stages of games that use the blockchain and a ‘play to earn’ gaming model.In proportion to their holdings, token holders can vote on the projects they want to be funded.

In sum, the trend makes it clear that the ‘crypto winter’ that some feared is not here yet. However, we do recommend doing your own research (DYOR), before making any investment.

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