The Rise Of The Altcoins

Solana, Terra and Algorand outperformed Bitcoin and Ethereum in the past weeks as large cryptos dropped in price.

Large cryptos fall as markets lose 1.5%

Several of the largest cryptocurrencies fell in value as global cryptocurrency markets lost 1.5 percent of their market capitalization overnight. However, this week’s overnight drops have not wiped out the overall gains made by altcoins such as Solana, Terra, and Algorand. 

Cosmos also made noise. The “internet of blockchains” went from $15 to $30 in less than a month.

Solana is up 27.56 percent from last week at this time. Investors are benefiting , as it now trades for $179. 

Solana was worth $39 at the end of last month. 

A runaway freight train

Solana’s performance recently is nothing new. Last month, the Ethereum rival was not even in the top ten cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization. Solana blew past Dogecoin at the start of the month to move up to seventh place. It had flipped XRP for sixth place by Tuesday this week.

Algorand: The next Solana?

Solana isn’t the only currency on a smart contract blockchain experiencing wild price fluctuations. Algorand is up 5% today and up 77 percent from last week, trading for $2.15. Algorand was trading at $0.88 cents only a month ago. The currency’s value has more than tripled in that time.

On August 31, Algorand announced a collaboration agreement with Latin American blockchain fintech company Koibanx to build El Salvador’s blockchain infrastructure on the Algorand blockchain.

Terra has also fared well in today’s slump. It is currently trading at $39, up 5% from yesterday and 21.2 percent from this time last week.

Terra Autumn

Terra’s rally may be bolstered by expectations for certain network developments in Q4. These developments are dubbed “Terra Autumn” by José Maria Macedo, a founding partner at research firm Delphi Digital.

The deployment of the Columbus-5 mainnet this month will be the most notable upgrade. Col-5 was supposed to be released on Thursday, but the Terra team has announced that it will be delayed by three weeks.

Terra and Cosmos

Terra can interact with other blockchains thanks to Col-5’s integration with Cosmos’ Inter Blockchain Communication protocol. Other benefits include simplified stablecoin swapping and burning, as well as the ability for LUNA stakeholders to receive swap fees.

Final thoughts

This week, the two market leaders, Bitcoin and Ethereum, have seen significant depreciation in value. Bitcoin has fallen 9.3 percent in seven days to $45,600, while Ethereum has fallen 15.2 percent to $3,322.