An altcoin (short for "alternative coin") is any cryptocurrency that is not Bitcoin. The term was coined early in the history of crypto when new digital currencies began appearing as alternatives to Bitcoin. Today there are thousands of altcoins, each with different use cases, technologies, and communities.
Altcoins can be broadly categorized into several types:
- Platform coins – Cryptocurrencies that power their own blockchains and support smart contracts, such as Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL).
- Utility tokens – Tokens that provide access to a specific product or service within a blockchain project.
- Stablecoins – Coins pegged to a stable asset like the US dollar. Learn more in our stablecoin guide.
- Meme coins – Community-driven tokens like Dogecoin or Shiba Inu, often created as jokes but sometimes gaining significant value.
- Governance tokens – Tokens that give holders voting rights in a project's decision-making process.
Altcoins offer investors more variety and potential upside than Bitcoin alone, but they also tend to be more volatile and riskier. Many altcoins fail or lose most of their value over time, so research is essential before investing.
You can trade altcoins on major exchanges like Binance, Bybit, and Coinbase. Always store your assets safely using a secure wallet.