Bitcoin to Dogecoin: The top performing cryptocurrencies you need to know about

Little-known cryptocurrencies that didn’t exist only a few years ago are doubling in value every week and by more than 18,000 per cent in a year.

During the past year some cryptocurrencies, including one created as a protest, have multiplied in value by 186 times.

By comparison the Australian share market surged by a mere 47 per cent from its Covid low of March 2020 as Sydney house prices have risen by an annual pace of 11.2 per cent to new record highs.

BTC Markets chief executive Caroline Bowler said investors using her platform were increasingly viewing cryptocurrencies as a longer-term investment and not just a get-rich-quick scheme.

‘More than half intend to hold it for over a year,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.

Little-known cryptocurrencies that didn’t exist only a few years ago are surging by as much as 137 per cent in just one week and by more than 18,000 per cent in a year

Recent cryptocurrency movements 

Bitcoin: $70,088, up 10.7 per cent in one week; 423 per cent in a year. Supply restricted to 21million units

Ethereum: $4,286, up 49.7 per cent in one week, up 1,385 per cent in a year. Supply unlimited

Binance Coin: $815.62, up 28.6 per cent in one week, up 3,384 per cent in a year. Supply restricted to 170,533,651

Dogecoin: 70.78 cents, up 137.1 per cent in one week, up 18,526 per cent in one year. Supply unlimited

XRP: $1.88, up 38.88 per cent in one week, up 605.37 per cent in a year. Supply restricted to 100billion

Tether: $1.29, flat in one week, down 15.7 per cent in a year. Supply restricted to 53billion

Cardano: $1.69, up 23 per cent in one week, up 2,218 per cent in a year. Supply restricted to 45billion

Litecoin: $421.50, up 49.43 per cent in a week, up 550 per cent in a year. Supply restricted to 84million

Source: Cryptocurrency movements in Australian dollars comparing April 25, 2021 with May 5, 2021 and May 4, 2020 with May 5, 2021; Finder

‘People aren’t necessarily looking to sell out, the investor communities are looking at holding on to cryptocurrencies for the longer term.

‘This idea that it’s a quick in-and-out day trading kind of behaviour, that’s not necessarily the behaviour that we’re seeing.’ 

Bitcoin is the market leader but Ethereum is catching up, as an alternative banking system, while Dogecoin has been fuelled by a social media campaign.

XRP and Tether are both challenging mainstream currency exchanges. 

While currencies like the Australian dollar will continue to exist, investors are increasingly turning to alternative transactions, based on blockchain technology. 

Bitcoin 

Bitcoin is the most well-known alternative digital currency with billionaire Tesla founder Elon Musk a well-known evangelist now accepting it as payment for his electric cars.

While Bitcoin has climbed in 2021, it is off its peak after reaching $A80,000 or about $US60,000 in April to be worth $A70,000 on Wednesday.

Nonetheless, it has climbed 423 per cent in a year and it worth more than $1trillion.

Bitcoin is now so expensive many investors are forced to buy only fractions of a coin, with its price multiplying by five times during the past year.

The decade-old cryptocurrency can be used a store of value and for transactions.

The alternative is to buy much more affordable but volatile cryptocurrencies, as a whole.

Bitcoin has a 46 per cent share of the global cryptocurrency market, CoinGecko data showed.

But Finder cryptocurrency expert James Edwards said Bitcoin was facing a challenge on a number of fronts.

‘Bitcoin’s domination of the cryptocurrency market is declining as its closest rival Ethereum catches up,’ he told Daily Mail Australia. 

While Bitcoin has climbed in 2021, it is off its peak after reaching $A80,000 or about $US60,000 in April to be worth $A70,000 on Wednesday. Nonetheless it has climbed 423 per cent in a year

While Bitcoin has climbed in 2021, it is off its peak after reaching $A80,000 or about $US60,000 in April to be worth $A70,000 on Wednesday. Nonetheless it has climbed 423 per cent in a year

BTC Markets chief executive Caroline Bowler said investors using her platform were increasingly viewing cryptocurrencies as a longer-term investment and not just a get-rich-quick scheme

BTC Markets chief executive Caroline Bowler said investors using her platform were increasingly viewing cryptocurrencies as a longer-term investment and not just a get-rich-quick scheme

These other cryptocurrencies have been soaring in value – in Australian dollars.

Despite the surge in the alternative cryptocurrencies, Finder’s panel of cryptocurrency experts expected it to reach up to $100,000 by the end of 2021.

Dogecoin 

Dogecoin has had a dramatic increase just one week, soaring by 137.1 per cent from 29.85 cents on April 25 to 70.78 cents on Wednesday.

During the past year, its price has surged by an astronomical 18,526 per cent or 186 times. 

While Dogecoin’s price has more than doubled in a matter of days, some cryptocurrency experts are urging investors to be wary of its as a long-term investment.

Unlike Bitcoin, the supply of Dogecoin is not limited and this cryptocurrency was created as a protest against digital currencies.

Ms Bowler said Dogecoin, co-created by Australian Jackson Palmer in late 2017, didn’t have a specific purpose and was only popular because of social media.

‘Dogecoin started out as a joke. It was never intended to be taken seriously,’ she said.

‘It’s very much been driven by social media.’

Ethereum has surged from just $2,862.57 on April 25 to $4,286.29 on Wednesday - a 49.7 per cent surge in just one week

Ethereum has surged from just $2,862.57 on April 25 to $4,286.29 on Wednesday – a 49.7 per cent surge in just one week

Despite that surge, Ms Bowler said investors needed to avoid Dogecoin and instead consider cryptocurrencies that had a specific purpose or restricted supply.

‘Now that investors are piling in, they need to be made aware that there is no cap or limit on the number of coins, meaning it can inflate – effectively devalue their holdings –  at the will of the creators,’ she said.

Ethereum 

Another surging cryptocurrency Ethereum can be used by businesses as a store of capital as part of an alternative banking system, known as decentralised finance or ‘DeFi’.

‘They’re trading, basically, an alternative to the mainstream banking service providers,’ Ms Bowler said. 

‘Instead, you’re going to get banking and financial services on blockchain technology.’

Investors can buy good and services from a business like a voucher system.

Ethereum tokens are spent within a Ether ecosystem. 

By comparison the Australian share market surged by a mere 47 per cent from its Covid low of March 2020 as Sydney house prices have risen by an annual pace of 11.2 per cent

By comparison the Australian share market surged by a mere 47 per cent from its Covid low of March 2020 as Sydney house prices have risen by an annual pace of 11.2 per cent

Bitcoin predictions

A Finder panel of nine cryptocurrency players predicted Bitcoin would peak at $107,484 on average in 2021

Three of them, including Digital Capital Markets managing director Ben Ritchie, saw Bitcoin reaching $120,000

YAP Global founder and chief executive Samantha Yap predicted Bitcoin would hit $500,000 by the end of 2025, adding a $1 million valuation was possible

‘Bitcoin maximalists claim that BTC will reach $1M in price,’ she told Finder

‘It used to be outrageous to claim that Bitcoin will reach $100,000 a year ago

‘But with what we’ve seen this year, it’s not impossible to think that it could reach $1M.’

Half the panel thought Bitcoin was still undervalued, while a quarter said it was overvalued

Ethereum has surged from just $2,862.57 on April 25 to $4,286.29 on Wednesday – a 49.7 per cent surge in just one week.

In one year, its share price has multiplied almost 15 times or by 1,385 per cent.

This cryptocurrency has soared by more in just a week than the Australian share market’s benchmark S&P/ASX200 has managed in little more than a year, climbing by 47 per cent since the Covid low of March 2020.

By comparison, Sydney house prices have managed to grow by 10.4 per cent during the past year but the $1.147million price, in CoreLogic’s April series, is beyond the reach of most young investors.

Other top ten cryptocurrencies

XRP is used so traders can have a holding cryptocurrency as an intermediary token to exchange one mainstream currency for another and has seen its value soar by 605 per cent in one year to $1.88.

Litecoin is modelling on the Bitcoin model of being a store of value but it is a faster version where up to 57 transactions can be processed every month.

Tether is a stable coin cryptocurrency tied directly to the US dollar and is challenging traditional money transfers.

During the past year, however, its value has fallen by 15.7 per cent to $1.29 making it only major cryptocurrency by market capitalisation to have fallen.

Two other cryptocurrencies that didn’t even exist a year ago are in the top ten globally for market capitalisation. 

Polkadot in one week saw it price surge by 38.6 per cent to $53.44, making it the eighth biggest cryptocurrency enough though it only debuted in August 2020.

Uniswap, the ninth biggest cryptocurrency by value, has climbed by 43 per cent to $57.50 in one week.

Laws targeting cryptocurrencies

Liberal senator Andrew Bragg, the chairman of a parliamentary committee on regulating financial technology, in April month said blockchain platforms needed to be regulated but admitted he didn’t know exactly how.

‘A driver of the problem is that blockchain is a new form of property right,’ he said.

‘It is not, of itself, a security, a share, a bond, personal property, or a contract.’

Ms Bowler is expecting new laws within a year that will explicitly make cryptocurrency investors pay tax on their capital gains. 

‘We don’t recommend people avoid paying tax,’ she said.

‘You do now have to pay tax but they’re looking at how it’s structured.’ 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk