Altcoin

An altcoin is any cryptocurrency that is not Bitcoin. The word is a contraction of "alternative coin". Bitcoin launched in 2009 and was the only coin for years. Everything that came after it needed a label, and this is the one that stuck.

It is a huge, mixed bag. There are thousands of them. Ethereum is technically an altcoin, despite being the second-largest crypto asset by value. So are stablecoins pegged to the dollar, meme coins with no real use, and tiny tokens that trade for a fraction of a penny. Grouping them under one term says nothing about quality.

Altcoins exist because Bitcoin was deliberately narrow. It does one job, moving value, and does it conservatively. Other projects wanted features Bitcoin never aimed for: programmable contracts, faster blocks, lower fees, privacy, or a flat price. Each new cryptocurrency is a bet that its particular design solves a problem worth solving.

The risk profile is wider than Bitcoin's. Smaller altcoins can be thinly traded, which means the price jumps on relatively small buys and sells. Many launched with great promise and faded to nothing. A handful grew into serious networks. Telling the two apart in advance is hard.

People often hear "altcoin season", the periods when smaller coins rise faster than Bitcoin. These swings cut both ways. They tend to be sharper than Bitcoin's own moves, and double-digit days in either direction are common. Banxa has run as a regulated on-ramp since 2014, letting people buy a range of established coins across 100-plus countries.