Which Altcoins Are Challenging the Bear Market?

Altcoins have been experiencing a bear market for over two years. The Terra crash, the bankruptcy of FTX, and the subsequent banking crisis in the US were the main developments that caused unease. In this article, we examine the five most innovative crypto-linked projects during the current 2023 bear market, and why these projects may emerge victorious in the upcoming bull run.

These altcoins have managed to defy the harsh crypto winter

Lido Finance (LDO)

Lido Finance is a liquid staking solution for proof-of-stake (PoS) cryptocurrencies. Since its emergence at the height of the DeFi bull run in 2020, little has been known about the platform despite its massive growth in 2022. According to DeFi Llama, it gained traction in Lido Finance after the Capella and Shanghai upgrades on Ethereum earlier this year. As a result, it has become the largest decentralized finance (DeFi) platform.

The protocol also supports other layer 1 networks such as Polygon, Kusama, Solana, and Polkadot. Simply put, liquid staking services reduce barriers to entry for users in PoS networks. Users can stake any amount of altcoins in exchange for block rewards.

This innovative solution has pushed Lido into the top 30 cryptocurrencies with a market cap of $1.5 billion. Lido Finance’s TVL has risen 110% since the start of 2023, according to data from DeFi Llama. It currently stands at $12.6 billion.

Binance

One of the companies on the list, Binance, was one of the most reviewed crypto exchanges of 2023. Binance.US and its CEO, CZ, faced SEC and CFTC lawsuits. Additionally, Binance has seen numerous developments and innovations powered by its team, improving user experience and increasing crypto adoption.

One of these innovations is the NFT Loans service. NFT Loans is a new development available to Binance Global users. It allows users to borrow crypto using their blue-chip NFT as collateral.

The exchange also launched Bicasso in March, when it was at the height of the artificial intelligence craze. Bicasso allows users to create NFT profile pictures, bringing their creativity and genius to life. The creator was limited to 10,000 NFT copies in total. Users can join a waiting list to generate future NFTs.

While the news has gone unnoticed, Binance has also added an Airdrops portal that provides information on all the airdrops it supports. The portal provides users with relevant information such as current status, snapshot duration and airdrop period.

Bitcoin (BTC)

Bitcoin is the most important cryptocurrency to watch in this bear market. Not surprisingly, it currently dominates 52% of the market. A large increase or decrease in BTC price will affect the crypto market positively and negatively, respectively.

While the altcoin market has had a fierce six months, BTC has seen a healthy rise since January 2023. It is currently trading around $30,200. In March, Bitcoin rose over 21% among macroeconomic factors. This proves that it is an asset that gains value in times of crisis.

However, the BTC price dropped below $25,000 in the following months. It maintained this range until Blackrock announced its spot Bitcoin ETF implementation. A spot Bitcoin ETF tracks the price of BTC. It also allows institutional investors to invest in BTC without buying directly. Following the announcement, the price of Bitcoin surged from $25,000 to over $30,000 in less than three days. As Kriptokoin.com, we have included the details of the development in this article.

Polygon (MATIC)

The final choice is Polygon (or MATIC), an Ethereum-based Layer 2 Blockchain. Polygon’s leading development team, Polygon Labs, recently entered into a partnership with Google Cloud. The partnership will see Google Cloud integrate the Blockchain Node Engine into Polygon.

The announcement did not affect the MATIC price much. Still, it can have far-reaching effects in the long run. Integration of Google Cloud’s node service provides an exponential increase in transaction throughput, making it easy for gaming, decentralized finance, NFTs, etc. can lead to the development of new applications in the fields.