As they say, Bitcoin is the only real coin and others are altcoins". But I take Ethereum as another real coin because of the dominance it has on the market cap. So for me, apart from Bitcoin and Ethereum all other coins are altcoins and merely speculations, call them sh**tcoins or whatever you like.

That's a bitter truth that most altcoins won’t survive the next few years and only a select few with real promise of transformation for how we live and do business, would be alive. But for now the challenge is about figuring out which ones will be the coins to survive. The crypto market is overflowing with tons of altcoins emerging and decaying on a daily basis.

Do you know how many cryptocurrencies are there? Or do you actually need all of them? Are all of them speculative be nature or some have a real power within? The answer to these questions might surprise you as the number is more than the days since Bitcoin was born. The number of altcoins is far more than the Smart Contracts applied on the Ethereum Chain. The ever growing list of cryptocurrencies seems endless and if we finalise a number today, there are tens of coins already in the queue, albeit with zero use case.

It all started with the rise of Bitcoin in 2009. However the initial ride of Bitcoin was bumpy and there was a lot of hesitation among the investors and startups to adopt blockchain and Crypto-currency model for their business. But after 2013 and till now it seems that every new fintech startup has a success plan that starts with the launch of a new crypto coin. However most of these coins can't even come to top 1000 for many reasons.

Bitcoin and Ethereum, which came in 2015, have proven they’re here to stay and the combined dominance of both has remained about 70%. The remaining 30% constitutes the thousands of other altcoins out there. In this 30% market share , no coin has ever dominated with 10% even.  

For better understanding, why all other coins than Bitcoin and Ethereum are merely speculation, let's first take the market share for top 5 coins. Bitcoin at 50%, followed by Ethereum's 20%, there is a stable coin USDT with 8% and then we have Binance and XRP with 3.3% and 2.4% respectively. So this takes the ratio to 83.7% combined. Rest of the coins have a share inside 16.3% or so and the number that they have is over 20000. While more than 15000 are dead, if we share 16 billion market cap into 5000 coins, the average share for each coin comes down to merely $32000000 market cap per coin.

Now let's take top 10 into consideration and see what result we get. There is another stablecoin 'USDC' with almost the same market cap as does XRP with 2.3%, plus we have ADA, DOGE and Solana with a share of 0.8% each. This adds another 4.7% and the combined share of market cap for the top ten coins rise 88.4% now. Now the average share for rest of the coins comes down to nearly $22000000.

The coins sitting at 11 to 20 on market cap share about 6.5% dominance together. So this makes top 20 coins' share in market cap around 95%. And the other coins could only share an average market cap of $1000000, which is quite low for anything to buy and sell at a macro level.

Now with that analysis being over, would you still think outside of top 20 coins on the market cap? If yes, write in the comments why you feel that would not prove to be a gamble.

After this eye opener do you go with what’s popular and buy some Bitcoin or Ethereum? Or do you take a chance on a lesser-known altcoin in hopes of huge gains? It’s a not a tricky question with no easy answer.

There are many reasons why I feel that most altcoins are speculations and have no real use case. Also there are reasons when I say that Bitcoin and Ethereum have surpassed that speculation nature. Let's take a look at the reasons below.

While Bitcoin and Ethereum seem poised to continue their rise and are generally not that volatile, most altcoins remain speculative. Coins like Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, and Solana are highly volatile and risky, with value based mostly on hype and social media buzz. Most of the altcoins face extreme volatility, often fluctuating 50-90% in a matter of days. This makes them prime targets for "pump and dump" scams where people hype and bid up the price before selling off their coins for a profit, leaving others with worthless tokens.

Unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum which have attracted mainstream interest, most altcoins have little to no real-world adoption. They aren't accepted as payment, have no practical use, and often don't even have a working product. Until an altcoin gains real utility and users, it's merely speculation.

There are thousands of altcoins, but only a handful are likely to survive long-term. Bitcoin and Ethereum has dominated the market for years and they are improving day by day. The lightning network on Bitcoin and the merge on Ethereum are prime examples that show we don't need another chain or coin if we can improve the king and the queen. So altcoins are in danger as most of them promise to improve either Bitcoin or Ethereum. 

In short Bitcoin and Ethereum, IMO, would suffice for the Successful implementation of what Blockchain Technology promises. We don't need tons of coins with better yet false use cases. Most importantly the overbrimming market with lots of coins has negatively affecting the growth of crypto space. 

As always Thanks for Reading

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