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The cryptocurrency market is known for its volatility and unpredictability. But it has also generated incredible gains for long-term investors. Crypto bulls believe the skys the limit for crypto prices.

Though thousands of cryptocurrencies are available today, bitcoin and ethereum still dominate the crypto world. Their market capitalizations comprise about 71% of the $2.57 trillion global crypto market.

Heres a list of the 10 largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, excluding stablecoins.

Price: $68,259.69

Market cap: $1.3 trillion

Year-over-year return: 144%

Since its inception in 2009, bitcoin has become the most popular and valuable cryptocurrency. It was created by an individual, or perhaps a group, operating under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.

Bitcoins blockchain-based, decentralized transaction verification and public ledger system revolutionized the world of digital security. But critics have raised environmental concerns about the energy-intensive, proof-of-work consensus mechanism. They also argue that bitcoin needs help scaling its current form. Plus, other cryptos have faster transaction speeds. These quicker speeds make their blockchains more functional than bitcoins. That said, bitcoin still dominates the crypto market, representing 52.33%.

Price: $3,892.34

Market cap: $467.6 billion

Year-over-year return: 104%

Ethereum is the most valuable altcoin. In crypto lingo, that means its an alternative to bitcoin. The leading altcoins blockchain was the first to integrate smart contracts, or code designed to run decentralized applications.

The ethereum network has more than 4,400 dApps. In late 2023, the popular crypto transitioned from a proof-of-work consensus mechanism to a less energy-intensive, proof-of-stake model. So ethereum is a greener crypto than bitcoin. Its blockchain functionality also stands out as a critical differentiator.

Price: $600.88

Market cap: $88.7 billion

Year-over-year return: 90%

BNB is the native token of Binance, one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges. The crypto was initially created on the ethereum network but now resides on Binances blockchain. Its used for a range of transactions and applications. The token even gives users discounted fees on the Binance platform.

Like other crypto exchanges, Binance has been caught in the global regulatory crypto crackdown in recent years. In 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Binance, accusing it of violating securities laws.

Price: $169.62

Market cap: $76.2 billion

Year-over-year return: 718%

Solana launched in March 2020. Like ethereum, its network supports dApps, smart contracts and nonfungible tokens. But solanas unique, hybrid proof-of-stake and proof-of-history verification system makes it faster and cheaper than ethereum.

Unfortunately, outages have plagued the network since it launched, undermining solanas credibility. In fact, it has suffered several major and partial outages since early 2022. Solana supporters see the crypto as a potential long-term threat to the ethereum network. But solanas stability must improve if it wants to live up to its hype as an ethereum killer.

Price: $0.53

Market cap: $29.4 billion

Year-over-year return: 10%

Ripple is a global payments network designed for institutional use. Its native cryptocurrency is XRP. The Ripple network offers an alternative to the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications. SWIFT is the traditional system used by banks and other financial institutions for international money transfers.

Ripple claims its network is superior to SWIFT because it facilitates faster, cheaper and more secure transactions. The crypto scored a partial court win over the SEC in 2023 when a judge ruled that XRP is not necessarily a security. But Ripple is still battling the SEC over a nearly $2 billion fine concerning alleged XRP sales to institutional clients.

Price: $0.17

Market cap: $23.9 billion

Year-over-year return: 126%

Dogecoin was created in 2013 as a parody of bitcoin. But dogecoin enthusiasts argue that the popular meme coin is a legitimate investment. The crypto has the backing of several high-profile supporters.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is among the cryptocurrencys most visible investors. By simply mentioning the crypto, he has triggered extreme volatility in dogecoin prices. Musk faces a lawsuit by dogecoin investors who allege he illegally manipulated prices. Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban is also a dogecoin supporter.

Another thing to note: DOGE has a valuable online brand and a famous Shiba Inu mascot.

Price: $6.42

Market cap: $22.3 billion

Year-over-year return: 235%

In 2018, the developers of the encrypted messaging company Telegram developed the layer 1 blockchain. The network behind TON is known for its smart contract capability and speed advantage over ethereum.

The blockchain speed for TON is a quick five seconds. But for the cryptocurrency to be competitive among crypto projects, it must attract more developers. Toncoin has generated impressive bullish momentum following recent reports that Telegram is considering an initial public offering.

Price: $0.46

Market cap: $16.4 billion

Year-over-year return: 21%

Cardano is a decentralized proof-of-stake blockchain created by ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson. The crypto launched in 2017 and was designed to be more efficient than other proof-of-work blockchains at the time.

Like ethereum, the cardano network was designed for functionality. Its blockchain aims to facilitate dApp development and verifiable smart contracts. ADA is the native cryptocurrency of the cardano network, which is used to run dApps. By staking ADA, cardano users can help verify and facilitate transactions. They earn ADA tokens as a reward.

Price: $0.000026

Market cap: $15.4 billion

Year-over-year return: 196%

Shiba Inu is a popular meme coin created in 2020 by an anonymous founder known as Ryoshi. Its name and mascot are an obvious response to the success of dogecoin. DOGE also has a Shiba Inu dog mascot.

Unlike dogecoin, shiba inu is built on ethereum and can run smart contracts and dApps. The meme coin has even advanced to become one of the most valuable cryptocurrencies in the world. It has also gained an online cult following. Active members of the SHIB community are known as the SHIBArmy.

Price: $37.12

Market cap: $14.6 billion

Year-over-year return: 153%

Avalanches mainnet went live in September 2020. Like many other cryptos, avalanche aims to become a fast, secure blockchain. The crypto is a contract platform developers can use to build dApps.

Avalanches chief competitor is the ethereum network. But AVAX has several unique features. For one, its capped at 720 million tokens.

The blockchains native token is used to manage governance and transaction fees. AVAX also has a unique consensus mechanism that involves a sufficient majority of validators to approve a transaction.

*Market caps and pricing are sourced from CoinMarketCap.com, current as of 8:07 a.m. ET on May 28, 2024.

Cryptocurrencies are private digital currencies. Theyre typically decentralized and secured via large computer networks.

In contrast, federal governments and central banks back the U.S. dollar and other fiat currencies. The decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies allows them to function on their own, based solely on their programming code. Cryptocurrency transactions are verified and recorded using blockchain technology on a transparent public ledger.

Crypto trading involves buying and selling cryptocurrencies to generate profits from the transactions. There are several strategies for crypto trading:

To be a good crypto trader, you must treat the endeavor as your primary job.

Because the crypto market is so volatile, the rewards from trading can be immense but so too are the risks, said Christian Quiver, CEO of League.Tech.

Crypto trading has risks and challenges you should understand before placing an order.

Here are several pros and cons of crypto trading:

Pros

Cons

Cryptocurrencies trade on exchanges like stocks and exchange-traded funds. But not all online brokerages allow cryptocurrency trading, particularly in cryptos other than bitcoin and ethereum.

The first step in buying cryptocurrency is identifying a broker or exchange offering crypto trading. Popular crypto brokers include Robinhood and SoFi. Leading cryptocurrency exchanges include Coinbase and Binance.

Once you find a cryptocurrency exchange, you can create and verify a trading account. The process may vary from platform to platform. But it will generally include the following steps:

Cryptocurrencies are run on blockchain technology and are open source, meaning the code behind them is fully public and visible to all. Creating a cryptocurrency can be as simple as copying and pasting an existing blockchain or changing the name.

Bitcoin, ethereum and other top cryptos have historically been good investments over the long term. But cryptocurrency doesnt yet have a proven track record as an investment over several decades. Its extremely volatile, so check to see if investing in crypto fits your risk profile.

The top cryptocurrencies by market cap are bitcoin and ethereum. They have long been entrenched among cryptocurrencies as No. 1 and No. 2. After that, a collection of cryptocurrencies jostle for position, including BNB, solana, XRP and dogecoin.

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Top 10 Cryptocurrencies in 2024 - USA TODAY