2020 is finally coming to an end. It has been a dreadful year for almost all of us, but people from the world of digital currencies will have a different take on this. With Bitcoin hitting <a href="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/news/bitcoin-rally-continues-hits-another-all-time-high-at-28000/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$28,000,</a> (during the time of writing this article)and business going decentralized, the crypto space was a clear winner this year. Cryptocurrencies and the blockchain industry have flourished immensely during the pandemic outbreak. Now that Bitcoin hit the all-time new high of $28,000, not only did it open doors for more investments in the crypto space but also increased the demand and popularity of various other altcoins. 
<h2>Time for Altcoins to Gain Momentum</h2>
Past happenings in the crypto world show that the Bitcoin surge is good news for the top altcoins. Investors started with the world’s largest cryptocurrency later moved towards other altcoins for trading. Therefore, we can expect that 2021 will have a lot to give to the world of altcoins. Some top altcoins will become the ultimate buzz of 2021, and sweep the crypto space. 

But before we jump into the top 10 altcoins of 2021, that will captivate the crypto market, let us first have a brief idea about how Altcoin as an entire concept has a bright future. 

The main purpose of Altcoin is to leverage technology to keep out the middlemen in financial transactions. It makes buying, selling, and trading cheaper and more efficient. Cryptocurrencies lift this concept and hold up the capability to verify these transactions without needing any central oversight. 

When we talk about Bitcoin, then it is compared to Gold in the crypto space. It is something that traders want to hold for its benefits. But if you want to trade in cryptocurrencies, then altcoins are a smarter choice.
<h2>Top 10 Altcoins for 2021</h2>
Even though Bitcoin is having its cakewalk towards the $30,000 mark in 2020, the milestone achieved by Ethereum is far more if we compare it to the success of Bitcoin. With business going DeFi, Ethereum gave them a platform to flourish and make things possible one could have never imagined otherwise. This made the price of Etherum to rise high in 2020. This is a clear indication of why altcoins will be on the top of their game for the years to come. 

Having said that, let us take a look at the top 10 altcoins to watch out for in 2021. Try and keep a close eye on these 10 explosive altcoins in 2021. Please note that they are not given in any particular order. 
<h3>Binance Coin (BNB)</h3>
Binance Coin is the cryptocurrency of one of the leading crypto exchange Binance. Despite being exposed to market volatility, Binance Coin (BNB), has gained the attention of a lot of investors in 2020. Its price has reached $38.43 (which is more than the predictions made) and is expected to touch $40 very soon. 

Amun’s Managing Director and Head of ETFs, Laurent Kssis, <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/institutions-are-showing-interest-in-etp-tied-to-binance-coin-amun-says" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">said</a>, “it has received significant institutional interest in its exchange-traded product (ETP) tied to the Binance Coin (BNB) exchange token.”

[caption id="attachment_184485" align="alignnone" width="698"]<img class="wp-image-184485 size-full" src="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/bnb.png" alt="BNB Price Chart" width="698" height="501" /> Binance Coin Price. Source: Coin Market Cap[/caption]

Recently, DeFi farming protocol PancakeSwap <a href="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/news/pancakeswap-launches-new-liquidity-farms-to-earn-staked-binance-coin/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">announced that</a> they would add new liquidity pools for yield farmers to earn on staked Binance Coin. It gives them a big opportunity to earn big by staking BNB tokens. Therefore, with investments increasing and prices touching new heights, the BNB token will be one of the altcoins that will get your attention in 2021.

<a href="https://twitter.com/PancakeSwap/status/1315866391283597312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1315871260883087360%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cryptoknowmics.com%2Fnews%2Fpancakeswap-launches-new-liquidity-farms-to-earn-staked-binance-coin%2F" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"><img class="alignnone wp-image-184487 size-full" src="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Pancake-Swap.png" alt="Pancake Swap" width="433" height="471" /></a>
<h3>Aave</h3>
This crypto coin has been gaining a lot of support in the world of Twitter. It is evolving as one of the most trusted altcoins investments for the years to come, with the price of the coin reaching <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/aave/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">$79.57</a>. It is expected to do quite well in the year 2021, with its price prediction reaching $156.9 in January 2021, itself.

[caption id="attachment_184490" align="alignnone" width="672"]<a href="https://digitalcoinprice.com/forecast/aave/2021" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"><img class="wp-image-184490 size-full" src="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Screenshot-1.png" alt="Aave Price Prediction" width="672" height="290" /></a> Aave Price Prediction for 2021. Source: Digital Coin[/caption]

This positive price prediction is one of the reasons why Twitteratis are all gaga over the crypto token. Aave is one of the largest DeFi projects, and it recently announced that it had raised $25 million from investors like Blockchain Capital, Standard Crypto, and Blockchain.com Ventures. <a href="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/news/everipedia-announces-aaves-investment-in-aavegotchi-nft-game/">Aave</a> is also one of the providers of decentralized lending and borrowing. This vividly shows the faith this cryptocurrency has won in the crypto space. 
<h3>Maker</h3>
Another Altcoin that is expected to do well and is carrying a lot of hopes of crypto traders is Maker. It has reached a price of <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/maker/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">$576.77</a> and is soon expected to hit $700. Many on-chains metrics have turned bullish towards this crypto coin aiming for $700. One of the top reasons why this token is holding a lot of potentials is the number of new addresses joining the <a href="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/news/lite-report-on-makerdao/">MakerDAO</a> network is increasing. This rise suggests that investors are interested in this digital token. 

[caption id="attachment_184491" align="alignnone" width="759"]<a href="https://www.fxstreet.com/cryptocurrencies/news/maker-price-analysis-mkr-on-chain-metrics-says-the-price-is-ready-to-shoot-202010201222" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"><img class="wp-image-184491 size-full" src="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Screenshot-2.png" alt="MKR: Daily active addresses" width="759" height="322" /></a> MKR: Daily active addresses. Source: FXSTREET[/caption]

The chart above shows the increase in the number of active addresses in the Dao Network. Moreover, Maker’s market cap broke a market capitalization of $1 billion this November. The MakerDAO Foundation confirmed that supply increased by $30 million around that time. With the numbers going up high, this altcoin is expected to make it big in 2021.
<h3>Basic Attention Token (BAT)</h3>
This will be one of the most interesting altcoins that might explode in 2021. Brave is the company behind the crypto. The price for BAT is $0.205919 currently. It is an ERC20 token. BAT and its market environment have been in a bullish circle for the past year. Over time the number of users and coverage is expected to increase rapidly. 

As an ERC20 token is easy to deploy, it can take advantage of Ethereum’s robust security. 

Crypto Ground, one of the major market analysts, predicted that in 5 years, BAT might reach $0.9139. During the bearish trends, BAT was one of the least affected coins. And this gives faith to the investors that its price won’t fall in heavy turbulence. 

<img class="alignnone wp-image-184493 size-full" src="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Screenshot-3.png" alt="BAT" width="680" height="460" />
<h3>Polkadot</h3>
With its price at $7.62 currently, this cryptocurrency should have your close attention in 2021, and years to come. Currently, it is on the 6th rank. However, analysts expect it to take over the 5th position by the end of 2020 or early 2021. The price of Polkadot surged recently after the most popular crypto exchange Binance announced that it would fund $10 million to support projects on Polkadot. The acceleration in the price started on December 23rd this month. According to the data by <a href="https://messari.io/asset/polkadot" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Messari,</a> the price of DOT was up 41.36% in the past seven days.

[caption id="attachment_184494" align="alignnone" width="941"]<a href="https://messari.io/asset/polkadot" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"><img class="wp-image-184494 size-full" src="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Screenshot-4.png" alt="Polkadot Price Chart" width="941" height="515" /></a> Polkadot Price Chart. Source: Messari[/caption]

People noticed on Twitter that the Ether/Binance USD (BUSD) pair on Binance's homepage was replaced by the DOT/BUSD pair, and this was the time when DOT finally took off. This gave a lot of exposure, and hence people from the crypto space are putting a lot of faith in this token. The price of DOT is expected to surge $8 by the middle of 2021, and it may even cross $10 by the end of 2021. 
<h3>Ripple (XRP)</h3>
This Altcoin is expected to reach places in 2021. One of the plus points of this Altcoin is the low exchange rate and instant confirmation for your transfers.  Even took the 3rd rank on the crypto price chart for a long time and only recently it came down to the 4th due to the allegations against it by the <a href="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/news/ripples-version-of-reality-vs-manipulative-allegations-by-the-sec/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SEC</a>. However, the XRP community has stated that they will confidently go through the introspection process and prove all the allegations to be false. 

Despite all these hassles, 2020 has been a year for Ripple’s XRP token because, in 2020,  the Ripple blockchain has expanded to more than 300 providers across 40 countries, including Banco Santander (SAN) and American Express (AXP), JP Morgan (JPM) and HSBC Holdings (HSBA). In India, HDFC Bank Limited (HDB), India’s largest bank, is one of the top RippleNet’s supporters. 

OMFIF (the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum), Reports state, Ripple has distributed ledger technology (DLT), and could “position itself as an alternative to SWIFT”, solving the five major issues: security, speed, traceability, cost, transparency, and risk management.

<img class="alignnone wp-image-184496 size-full" src="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Brad-garlinghouse.png" alt="Top 10 Altcoins" width="616" height="523" />
<h3></h3>
<h3>Cosmos</h3>
One of the hottest projects of time was the cosmos and its ATOM coin. The exceptionally ambitious project is the ecosystem of blockchains that interoperate with each other. Cosmos was built to bridge the gap of scalability among blockchains. ATOM enables network users to vote, validate and delegate transactions, and pay for transaction fees, which describes its potential at many levels.

<img class="alignnone wp-image-184497 size-full" src="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Screenshot-5.png" alt="Cosmos Price Chart" width="754" height="514" />

Launched in March 2019, Atom has shown a significant surge in just a matter of one year. Having a price of $5.4816 at the time of writing, Atom is on the 26th rank according to Coinmarketcap.  
<h3>Cardano (ADA)</h3>
This Altcoin is based on the proof-of-stake algorithm and, has the potential to exceed $1.50 by the end of 2020. Currently, it is at $0.180486. This Altcoin is carrying a lot of hopes in 2021. Its vivid growth depends on the release of Hydra. Hydra is a scalability solution, which will make the Cardano process over 1 million transactions per second. The market cap of this token was $3,192,136,382, in November 2020, but has reached $5,679,798,523 now. 

<img class="alignnone wp-image-184498 size-full" src="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Screenshot-6.png" alt="Cardano Market Cap" width="850" height="533" />

With such a huge gain in momentum, Cardano is one of the tokens that should have your attention in 2021. It will be one of the best cryptos to invest in 2021. 
<h3>Chainlink</h3>
This will be one of the hottest cryptocurrencies in 2021. Matt MacCall recommended Chainlink in early January at $2.09. Today, it is at $11.67. And this change is just within 11 months. This is the reason Chainlink has remained red hot this year. Moreover, it leverages blockchain technology to create smart contracts. Matt exclaimed that even though many businesses have not taken up smart contract technology yet, Chainlink has the potential to solve the biggest problems holding back global business adoption of smart contracts and blockchain technologies. Therefore, with business going DeFi, this token will have speedy growth in 2021. 

<img class="alignnone wp-image-184499 size-full" src="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Screenshot-7.png" alt="Chainlink Price Chart" width="831" height="607" />
<h3></h3>
<h3>Ethereum</h3>
This Altcoin can rightly be called the crypto that achieved the most in 2020. It has an incredibly strong market cap of $84,014,603,651. During the challenging year of 2020, it emerged as the king of DeFi. It started the year at $125 and climbed up to around $700, which is a huge surge within 12 months. 

In 2020, after business shifted to DeFi, the amount of value locked in DeFi applications surpassed $1 billion in 2020. Financial institutions started investing and making investments that will run with anonymity on computers and are free to access, with the help of DeFi. Ethereum benefited the most from this, and this, made the price of Etherum go for a rocket run. The total value of DeFi projects is more than <a href="https://defipulse.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">$14 billion</a>. 

<img class="alignnone wp-image-184500 size-full" src="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/eth-outperform-btc-tweet.png" alt="Top 10 Altcoins" width="635" height="517" />

With Etherum reaching milestones like these, it looks like it is only the tip of an iceberg. Etherum should be on the top among your serious contenders if you are looking for the best altcoins in 2021. Moreover, the launch of Ethereum 2.O in 2021 will take Altcoin to places in the years to come. 
<h2>It’s going to be an interesting time for the crypto world with these top 10 altcoins in 2021</h2>
Of course, predictions are just predictions, and a lot can change in 2021. However, these top 10 altcoins have been quite promising in 2020 and are expected to do a lot more in 2021. Investments from major financial institutions increased rapidly in 2020. This shows that the crypto space will have a promising future. Although one should not expect cryptocurrencies to become the world’s payment method right now, it is undeniable that the industry is developing fast and becoming widespread. 

The demand for DeFi and Dapps is also growing. This has made a lot of crypto experts say that 2021 will be the world of crypto. Even though Bitcoin will have good attention in 2021, crypto traders prefer to turn to altcoins when it comes to trading. Therefore, if you are finally thinking of stepping into the world of crypto, then this is the right time, and Altcoins should be your choice. So let us wait for all the fireworks that are stored in the crypto space for 2021.

Top 10 Altcoins You Must Own  in 2021

These top 10 altcoins will give crypto enthusiasts and investors ample opportunities to score big on their investment in 2021.

Meghna is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Journalism &amp; New Media specializing in  Print Journalism. She is currently working as a content writer for Agio Support Solutions Pvt. Ltd. She aims to provide quality content and strategy in the field of cryptocurrency and work with digital marketing platforms to deliver brand-specific strategies.

Top 10 Altcoins You Must Own in 2021

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