Bitcoin’s Rise: Which Altcoins Will Survive the Test?
Among the prominent and well-established altcoins, XRP (CRYPTO: XRP), along with Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) and Solana (CRYPTO: SOL), exemplify meaningful use cases and investment reasoning that do not hinge on the next buyer being willing to pay a price higher than the purchase cost by the seller.
In contrast, other notable altcoins like Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE), Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA), and Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) still lack validation in terms of their use cases, and they may never attain it. Research by CoinGecko from early 2026 reveals that 53% of the tracked tokens from mid-2021 to 2025 have already failed. Thus, it’s essential to examine the basis for each altcoin against Bitcoin as a reference point.
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Market cap does not determine altcoin transaction costs
In the world of cryptocurrency, transaction fees attributed to a blockchain serve as a crucial parameter for assessing viable investments, as the fees individuals are willing to incur reflect the network’s demand. Generally, users are prepared to pay these fees only when they require the network’s services.
Bearing this in mind, let’s review this table illustrating the fee collection of several leading altcoins over the 30-day period concluding on October 14:
Data source: CoinGecko and DeFiLlama.
Now, let’s analyze this data to assess each coin’s primary thesis.
The premise behind XRP is that it will serve as a bridge currency for financial entities, acting as an intermediary asset temporarily held to facilitate international transfers that would normally incur currency conversion and transaction fees. Utilizing the XRP Ledger (XRPL)—the blockchain developed by Ripple, which engineered the cryptocurrency—XRP accounted for only $34,286 in fees. Ripple suggests that fiat currencies and stablecoins, including its own stablecoin, RLUSD, are the primary methods for money transfer using its services, rather than XRP itself.
This stablecoin generated $7.3 million in revenue from assets such as Treasury bills within the same 30-day timeframe. This data weakens the investment rationale, as Ripple is capturing the value instead of XRP holders.
Which other altcoins showcase genuine use cases?
For leading smart contract platforms such as Ethereum and Solana, a key premise is that decentralized finance (DeFi) will drive sustained demand for their networks.
Overall, this thesis remains solid.
There is $144.6 billion in stablecoins held on Ethereum, with an additional $50.2 billion locked in its DeFi applications, while Solana has $15.9 billion in stablecoins, along with $5.9 billion in value locked in its applications. Stablecoins are integral to these ecosystems, as each dollar in stablecoin liquidity enables buying, selling, lending, and investing in diverse services and projects.
While Cardano can also handle smart contracts and DeFi protocols like Ethereum and Solana, its current investment perspective largely revolves around anticipated adoption. It has only $64.9 million in value locked in its DeFi applications and a mere $71.1 million in stablecoin assets stored within its network. After years in the market, Cardano shows minimal signs of the thesis materializing.
This leads us to Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, both of which are meme coins inspired by canines.
In reality, neither of these coins presents a credible investment premise, and the majority of the arguments for purchasing them hinge on the expectation that someone else will pay a higher price, despite a lack of fundamental value. Shiba Inu’s Shibarium network generated merely $13.04 in fees over the 30-day timeframe, while all fees from Dogecoin are allocated to its miners and not retained.
It’s worth noting that Bitcoin’s valuation also depends on future buyers. Nevertheless, its primary function is to serve as a finite asset devoid of an issuer, and so far, this has been enough to continually entice more buyers over time. Consequently, Bitcoin should form the core of a well-diversified cryptocurrency portfolio, constituting about 50% of the total allocation, with Ethereum and Solana also being worthy of smaller investments. It would be prudent to steer clear of the others until tangible evidence supports their value.
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Alex Carchidi holds positions in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. The Motley Fool has positions in and suggests Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. For more details, refer to The Motley Fool’s disclosure policy.
