While Bitcoin remains the best-known cryptocurrency, thousands of alternative coins, commonly called altcoins, now serve a wide range of purposes. Understanding the main categories helps you judge which projects have real substance.

Ethereum popularised smart contracts: programs that run on the blockchain and power decentralised applications. Stablecoins such as USDT and USDC are pegged to traditional currencies and are widely used for payments and trading. Utility tokens grant access to specific services, while governance tokens let holders vote on the future of a protocol.

Altcoins can offer higher growth potential than established assets, but they also carry higher risk: lower liquidity, smaller communities and unproven technology. Always research the team, the tokenomics and the actual problem a project solves before investing.

A balanced portfolio usually combines established assets with a smaller, carefully chosen share of promising altcoins.