What is an altcoin?

An altcoin is any cryptocurrency other than bitcoin. The word is short for "alternative coin", and it covers everything from ether, the coin of the Ethereum network, to tokens created last week. It describes what an asset is not. It says nothing about what the asset does.

Where does the word come from?

Bitcoin launched in 2009 and had the field to itself for about two years. In 2011, programmers began copying its open-source code and changing the settings. Namecoin and Litecoin, both released that year, were among the first. People called them alternatives to bitcoin, and the name stuck.

The term is now so broad that some people use it more narrowly. They set ether apart as well, or leave out stablecoins, and use "altcoin" for the smaller and more speculative assets. There is no official definition.

What are the main kinds of altcoin?

• Smart-contract platforms. Coins such as ether and Solana's SOL pay for running programs on their networks.
• Stablecoins. Tokens such as USDT and USDC are designed to hold a value of one dollar. See what a stablecoin is.
• Payment coins. Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash and XRP were built mainly to move money.
• Meme coins. Dogecoin, Shiba Inu and many others trade on jokes and community attention.
• Privacy coins. Monero and Zcash hide transaction details. See what a privacy coin is.
• App and governance tokens. These give access to, or votes in, a particular service, such as a lending or trading app.

A separate guide explains the technical difference between a coin and a token. Both count as altcoins.

Why are altcoins seen as riskier than bitcoin?

Several reasons come up repeatedly. Most altcoins have smaller markets with fewer buyers and sellers, so a single large trade can move the price sharply. Supply is often concentrated, with founders and early backers holding a large share that they may be able to sell later. Many depend on one company or development team, and if that team stops work, the project can stall.

History supports the caution. Thousands of altcoins launched in earlier booms no longer trade in any meaningful volume, and some were frauds from the start. Critics argue that most altcoins exist chiefly to be traded.

Supporters answer that altcoins are where new ideas get tested. Smart contracts, stablecoins and faster ways of confirming transactions all arrived through networks other than bitcoin. Both points can be true at once: a few altcoins have become widely used, and most have not lasted.

What is altcoin season?

Traders use the phrase for stretches when altcoins as a group rise faster than bitcoin. These periods have tended to arrive late in market upswings and to reverse quickly. The guide to altcoin season explains how people measure it and why the pattern is not reliable.