Core Question

Is every crypto out there just trying to accomplish the same thing, or are there legitimate unique cryptos that serve a specific role?

Crypto Types

When it comes to crypto, there are 4 categories. You have stablecoins, memecoins, utility tokens, and crypto just for the money value. And, within each of these categories, we have hundreds, and even thousands of different cryptos.

Stablecoins

Stablecoins are a very important aspect of the crypto market. They allow users to move money around the blockchain without volatility and avoid off ramping through an exchange when they want to wait out the market after taking profits. The 2 biggest stablecoins are Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC. While they both stay pegged at $1, they serve different purposes and have different structures. USDT is the biggest stablecoin in market cap. USDT is backed by a more diverse portfolio comprising of T-Bills, cash, BTC, gold, and other assets, while USDC is more traditional with pretty much only T-Bills and cash. They also differ in reach. The most prominent is the EU MiCA regulation, which USDC is the only one to have complied. That doesn't mean it is illegal to have USDT in the EU, it is harder to get it, a little like XMR (Monero). So, while the idea is the same, they are slightly different in their accessibility and backing. 

Memecoins

Memecoins are, as the name suggests, memes (shocker, I know). The most common memecoins are SHIB (Shiba Inu) and DOGE ( Doge Coin). In terms of number of tokens, this category has the highest numbers. There are thousands created every day with just a few clicks of a button. However, this category is driven almost entirely by speculation. Memecoins are usually built on Base, SOL network, or ETH network like layer 2 and EVM. In this category, most cryptos do do the same thing, just a quick way to either 5x or more your money or lose your entire paycheck. 

Utility Tokens

Utility tokens are used in real world and everyday tasks. The top two are ETH (Ethereum) and SOL (Solana). These cryptos help in DeFi, dApps, and Web3. These cryptos offer smart contracts, low fees (layer 2 and EVM for Ethereum), and massive adoption. ETH is more favored for institutions and large transactions, while SOL is more for the everyday person. Utility tokens do have some things different such as the network (like speed, fees, and reliability), but they mostly do do the same thing. 

Store of Value Crypto 

The main purpose of these cryptos is to store value, the most common and known worldwide, even to people who don't follow crypto, is BTC (Bitcoin). These cryptos usually have a hard cap of tokens, which contributes to their scarcity. Another crypto is LTC (Litecoin), which has the same halving and hard cap mechanism as BTC, but with less market cap and faster and cheaper transactions. We could very well get rid of all the other cryptos that are not BTC, especially with the rise of BTC on LN (lightning). LN still needs some fixes, one of the biggest being node liquidity, meaning that nodes need enough BTC to move your transaction forward. That means that, say you wanted to send 1 BTC over LN, there are some chances that it could get rejected, although that is fading away with smart routing. But, yes, these cryptos do the same thing - store your value.

A side note: 

There are other specialized crypto, such as XMR (Monero) and BAT (Brave Attention Token). These types are definitely special, and no other crypto can really replace these, so these are really the most unique.  

Takeaway

The main takeaway is that a lot of cryptos do the same job. If you stick to the major ones such as BTC, ETH or SOL, and a stablecoin for your portfolio, you are pretty much set. Of course, you can diversify across other cryptos, but you don't strictly need to. Stick to the biggest one from each category, and you'll be ready to face any challenge that comes your way.