Altcoins, which is short for Alternative Coins are the other types of cryptocurrency we can use in the world of decentralized financial transactions. Altcoins were introduced much later after bitcoin, around 2013. Albeit built and working on the same framework by which bitcoins are recorded and transacted, their introduction as alternative cryptocurrency was meant to address discerned limitations of bitcoins, as a medium of exchange outside of financial institutions and regulations.
Hundreds of altcoins arrived, but not all remained or stayed long enough in the cryptocurrency market like Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, Dash, Cardano and ZCash, just to name a few. To have an idea if a certain type of alternative coin has chances of achieving growth and stability as a digital currency, it would be best to understand the significance of their respective market capitalization.
What is Cryptocurrency Market Capitalization?
Similar to investing in shares of stocks, the cryptocurrency market capitalization depends on the value per coin and the number of coins circulating in the cryptocurrency market, if more will invest and use a type of altcoin, the greater the market capitalization and potential for growth.
Cryptocurrency Market Capitalization = Price per Coin x Total Supply of Coins in Circulation
Now if there is an increase in the supply of a cryptocurrency, chances are there will also be an increase in the price of the token. Some investors may venture into buying a low-priced, small cap altcoin, which therefore increases the supply in circulation. In exactly the same way, if the supply in circulation decreases, the price per token and the market capitalization also goes down.
The upward or downward trend in market capitalization of an altcoin therefore, indicates whether there is growth or the opposite.
Let us cite Litecoin as example, being one of the most popular altcoins currently in use. This digital currency had a market capitalization of $3.32 billion and price per token of $57.37 in August 2018; denoting that at that time, 58, 207, 830 Litecoins were in circulation.
Now as of this writing (June 13, 2019) Litecoin has a market capitalization of 8.38 billion. The increase of $5.06 billion between August 2018 and June 2019), denotes that there were corresponding increases in the Litecoin supply in circulation during the period. The supply of Litecoin in circulation rose to 62,198,601. As the related demand for Litecoin increased, the price of this altcoin soared to $134.6123 per token.
Litecoin’s popularity and resulting growth is mainly due to its quicker-settlement attribute. As alternative cryptocurrency, a Litecoin transaction can be settled in 2 and ½ minutes, which in contrast to bitcoin takes 10 minutes.
