Next Crypto to Explode in May 2024: These 17 Coins Show Bullish Promise

Finding a cryptocurrency that is guaranteed to have a robust market outing in 2024 is borderline impossible. Such selections always hinge upon a great deal of luck and speculation. However, that doesn’t mean that certain crypto projects have a better chance of succeeding than others and that trying to identify the next big crypto is futile.Our selection of the next cryptos that could explode includes a healthy mix of smaller and relatively new projects next to several market staples that have a lot of room to grow in the coming months. The task of finding the next cryptocurrency to have a stellar year is difficult – it involves carefully examining the upside potential of each project, finding out the availability of the project’s digital assets on crypto exchanges, determining the extent of social media presence, and more.With that in mind, here are 17 blockchain projects we believe could explode in value in 2024.Solana is a smart contracts platform with a unique architecture that allows it to process thousands of transactions per second while keeping costs extremely low. Solana achieves this by utilizing a unique Proof-of-History algorithm and a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism. SOL is among the cheapest cryptos to transfer on the market, as users pay less than $0.001 per transaction on average.Solana was founded in 2018 by Anatoly Yakovenko. The platform’s mainnet launched in March 2020, and saw a huge boost in adoption in 2021. While SOL has lost a lot of its value in the 2022 bear market, Solana still has one of the most impressive ecosystems in the cryptocurrency sector.Solana has been seeing plenty of positive news lately and could be positioned very well if the cryptocurrency market takes a significantly bullish turn. For example, financial services giant Visa is using the Solana blockchain to pilot a stablecoin settlement solution. Visa cited the Solana blockchain’s scalability and cost-effectiveness as the reasons it’s exploring the platform for stablecoin payment settlement.Other bullish news for Solana includes integration of Solana Pay with the e-commerce platform Shopify, as well as Maker founder Rune Christensen suggesting that the Solana codebase should be used to build MakerDAO’s new blockchain. Even though it’s ranked in the 5th spot among all cryptocurrencies, Solana is down over 49% from its all-time high, which makes it an interesting proposition at the moment.Avalanche is a highly scalable blockchain platform that supports smart contracts. The Avalanche mainnet first went live in September of 2020. One of the most unique features of Avalanche is that it supports Subnets, which are customizable networks that benefit from the security offered by Avalanche validators. A Subnet can consist of one or several blockchains.Avalanche’s Primary Network (which is a special kind of Subnet) consists of three blockchains: The P-Chain (staking and validation), C-Chain (smart contracts and decentralized applications), and X-Chain (sending and receiving funds). Notably, Avalanche’s C-Chain is compatible with EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine). This means that it’s relatively easy for developers who are used to working with Ethereum to port their apps over to Avalanche, and they can use the popular development tools that are available in the Ethereum ecosystem.The huge price increase of Solana’s native asset SOL has shown that there’s a lot of interest in credible competitors to Ethereum. Avalanche, which has a market capitalization of about one-third of Solana’s at the moment, could be the next blockchain to benefit as crypto investors look to back highly scalable platforms for smart contracts.Avalanche is also seeing some impressive adoption – for example, banking giants JPMorgan and Apollo recently developed a proof of concept for real-world asset tokenization utilizing the Avalanche blockchain. The platform, called Onyx, is designed to demonstrate how portfolio management could be transformed with the use of smart contracts and blockchain. Of course, as with any competitor to Ethereum that’s trying to distinguish itself with superior scalability, it will be important to monitor the progress of layer 2 projects building on top of Ethereum. If Ethereum’s layer 2 tech develops far enough, it’s possible that many Ethereum competitors could become obsolete.Dogecoin (DOGE), the original meme coin launched in 2013 as a joke, is another contender on our list of projects to keep an eye on in 2023. Dogecoin lacks some of the bells and whistles of other projects included in our selection but excels as a value transfer tool for the digital realm.In 2021, the price of Dogecoin reached an all-time high of nearly $0.74, which cemented the meme coin in the esteemed group of the top 10 largest market-cap coins. While DOGE lost over 70% of its value since its all-time high, the currency could quickly recover once the bear cycle ends. In November 2022, Tesla CEO and the new owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, shared an image of his dog (of Shiba Inu breed, just like the logo of Dogecoin) in a shirt with a Twitter logo, which sparked considerable bullish activity in the DOGE markets.Continued support from tech billionaire Elon Musk, a potential X (formerly Twitter) integration, and a potential transition from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS), which would make the network much more energy efficient, are just some of the reasons why Dogecoin could explode in 2024. Not to mention a strong community, which could end up being a crucial factor in helping Dogecoin reach $1.In the past 3 months Dogecoin showed impressive price performance, gaining more than 75% in the time period, 20th most in the cryptocurrency top 100. If the trend keeps up, Dogecoin could be one of the coins that could hit $1 in 2024.Pikamoon (PIKA) is a gaming metaverse based on MOBA mechanics (think League of Legends) where players battle against one another and NPCs with their Pikamoon creatures. Each Pikamooon is an NFT character with its own unique abilities and powers, designed to thrive in Pikaverse, an open metaverse split into six regions (fire, water, electric, rock, air, and earth).A unique aspect of the Pikamoon game is the ability for players to compete for PIKA token rewards, which can be earned by completing in-game missions. PIKA can be used to purchase various items and upgrade Pikamoons. The Pikamoon game is available for all iOS and Android devices.The popularity of MOBA games like League of Legends and DOTA is a good indication of where Pikamoon could be heading next. The ability to have fun playing your favorite gaming genre while simultaneously earning real money rewards via the PIKA token is certainly an enticing proposition for many players. Additionally, the game’s availability on iOS and Android, the two most widespread mobile ecosystems, should provide Pikamoon with a degree of exposure that traditional, mostly desktop-focused MOBAs don’t get.Sei can handle 20,000 transactions per second and achieve finality in less than half a second. The Sei blockchain is specialized for trading and implements a number of features to reduce latency and increase the network’s throughput.One of the biggest distinctive features of Sei is Twin-Turbo consensus, which significantly optimizes the blockchain validation process and improves the speed at which transactions are validated.Sei developers are certainly not resting on their laurels. The Sei community is currently looking forward to Sei v2, a proposed upgrade that will make all of the benefits of the Sei blockchain easily accessible to Ethereum developers. According to the Sei team, Sei v2 will provide the best of Solana and Ethereum by offering a highly optimized execution layer that’s also compatible with the tools used by Ethereum developers. The Sei v2 upgrade saw a public testnet launch in the first quarter of this year and is expected to be deployed on the Sei mainnet in the first half of 2024. In late April, the Sei team announced that the “v2” of the platform successfully passed an audit conducted by Zellic.Immutable X is a scalable platform that’s designed to power NFT functionality for games, allowing players to have true digital ownership of their assets. The Immutable X platform is a layer 2 solution built on top of the Ethereum blockchain. This allows the platform to offer low fees and fast transactions for NFT transfers while still benefiting from the immense security provided by the Ethereum network. Immutable X utilizes zero-knowledge roll-up technology from StarkEX, allowing the platform to achieve up to 9,000 transactions per second. The Immutable X ecosystem already contains a number of notable blockchain gaming titles, including the likes of Gods Unchained, Illuvium, Guild of Guardians, Embersword and Kiraverse. If the blockchain gaming sector picks up steam like it did in 2021, we could easily see Immutable X become of the biggest gainers in the next bull run (which could be just around the corner due to the recent Bitcoin halving, and its connection to past market bull runs).Mina Protocol (MINA) leverages the power of zero-knowledge proofs to create a blockchain that is only 22 kb in size, regardless of the total amount of transactions that are taking place in the network. For context, Ethereum expanded to over 200 GB in 2021. The small size of the Mina Protocol chain allows everyone to run a full node, even on mobile devices that have considerably less computing power than desktop computers or dedicated servers. Thanks to the lightweight blockchain architecture, Mina Protocol features a high degree of decentralization. After stellar market performance after its launch in 2021, Mina Protocol faced considerable bearish pressure that wiped out more than 90% of its value over the course of the 2022 bear cycle. However, in the past year, MINA has already gained over +25%. If the positive trend persists, MINA could hold a massive rally. A similar thing happened between July and September 2021, when MINA gained over 500% in the span of just a couple of months. XRP (XRP) is the native token of the XRP network (RippleNet), which was initially launched in June 2012 by OpenCoin, and later renamed to Ripple. XRP provides very fast and low-cost transactions, which makes the coin of the best remittance-focused solutions in the market. Given its long track record and a high degree of adoption, XRP offers one of the most accessible ways to invest in crypto.Contrary to most other blockchain projects, the XRP network relies on neither Proof-of-Work nor Proof-of-Stake but on the unique XRP Ledger Consensus Protocol. Ripple has more than 100 partnerships with financial institutions across the world, including Santander, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Unicredit, and National Bank of Abu Dhabi, to name a few. In November 2022, Ripple partnered with MFS Africa (the largest fintech in Africa) to streamline mobile payment across 35 countries, which was one of the largest such partnerships to date.Since late 2020, Ripple has been embroiled in a high-profile court case with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the allegedly unregistered sale of XRP tokens. Many believe that a positive resolution of the XRP lawsuit, expected sometime in 2024, could help XRP mount a market rally that could see it revisit the $4 ATH from early 2018.Another potential bullish catalyst for XPR is Ripple’s announcement of a USD-pegged stablecoin. The company plans to expand its business operation to compete in the stablecoin market dominated by USDC issuer Circle and the company behind USDT, Tether. If Ripple’s new stablecoin succeeds, XRP could see significant a market boost.Aptos (APT) is an enterprise-grade layer 1 blockchain developed by former Meta employees who worked on the Diem (initially called Libra) stablecoin project. The Aptos team’s goal is to build a blockchain network capable of facilitating the Internet’s transition from Web2 to Web3.Aptos is capable of processing up to 100,000 transactions per second (TPS), which is drastically more than some of its blockchain peers, including Bitcoin (7 TPS), Ethereum (15 TPS), and Avalanche (4,500 TPS), and more than the largest traditional networks such as Mastercard (5,000 TPS) and Visa (24,000 TPS). This makes it one of the most promising new cryptocurrencies on the market today.If successful in reaching its goals of becoming the leading layer 1 blockchain, housing thousands of decentralized applications (dApps), Aptos could easily become the next big thing in crypto. In addition to innovative blockchain technology carried over from the Diem project, Aptos enjoys support from the largest investors in the crypto space, including Binance Labs and Jump Crypto.Given the success of other layer 1 chains, like BNB Chain, Solana, Avalanche, and other “Ethereum killers,” Aptos could easily replicate this success and even unseat some of its larger and more established counterpats.2023 has undoubtedly been the year of artificial intelligence (AI) breakthroughs. We witnessed the explosive rise of Generative AI with ChatGPT, image-generating products and services, and more. Crypto space has also been a home for projects leveraging the power of AI for unique use cases, with Render Token (RNDR) arguably leading the way.Render Network is a decentralized platform that connects users needing GPU rendering with those who possess idle GPUs. It provides easier access to GPU rendering for users while allowing hardware owners to earn from their unused resources. Although Render Network doesn’t have a specific focus on AI, it can contribute to the increasing demand for AI by offering GPU computing power, which is crucial for technologies like ChatGPT. Render Network already supports generating images using deep learning models like Stable Diffusion. Render Token has demonstrated strong performance in 2023, gaining over 400% throughout the year, which was aligned with the growing enthusiasm for AI, fueled by ChatGPT and other AI tools. Also, Render Token is actively working on expanding its team and making its Tier 1 and Enterprise Tier services more broadly available. The team is also adding new render engines (including Arnold) and bringing multiple Octane version support to the Render Network, which could cement the project as the leading GPU cloud provider in the space.Shiba Inu (SHIB) started out as an “experiment in decentralized community building” in August 2020. What followed was one of the most impressive market runs in the history of crypto – the price of SHIB increased by millions of percent, propelling Shiba Inu among the most successful crypto projects in the world.The Shiba Inu ecosystem consists of several core features, including the native ShibaSwap decentralized exchange (DEX) platform, SHIB Burning Portal, as well as NFT and metaverse offerings. The ecosystem is powered by a trio of tokens, including SHIB, LEASH, and BONE. The so-called “Shib Army,” the project’s over a million-strong social media following, and the Shiba Inu development, are managed by Shytoshi Kusama, a volunteer project lead.There are several reasons why Shiba Inu could succeed in pulling off another massive market rally in 2024. The growing use of Shibarium, a layer 2 solution for Shiba Inu, could see the cost of transactions drop and the speed of transactions increase. In addition, the effect of SHIB burning could lead to a massive drop in the circulating supply of SHIB, which could help the token reach 1 cent, or even the 1 USD milestone, in the long term.Filecoin (FIL) is arguably the most unique project on our list. Made by Protocol Labs, the Filecoin platform aims to decentralize computer storage by allowing anyone to provide their empty disk space to store files. The peer-to-peer network features built-in economic incentives that ensure that files are stored securely and retrievable over time.Filecoin, which uses a combination of proof-of-replication and proof-of-spacetime to reach a consensus on the state of the ledger, exploded from $30 to an all-time high of $236 in the first half of 2021, only to retrace by more than 98% in the months that followed. If Filecoin reaches critical mass and becomes a direct competitor to centralized cloud solutions like Google Drive and Microsoft Azure, the price of FIL could see a massive move to the top. As a part of its 2024 roadmap, the Filecoin team plans to launch specialized smart contracts that would be able to tap into decentralized data to enable internet-scale operations. If successful, FIL could easily become the next big cryptocurrency project, capable of revolutionizing both Web3 and the traditional cloud computing space.One of the biggest news stories in crypto in 2022 was Ethereum’s transition from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to over 99% more efficient Proof-of-Stake (PoS). Rocket Pool (RPL) is the first of its kind decentralized Ethereum staking pool, allowing users to earn staking rewards by depositing as little as 0.01 ETH into staking pools.In addition, Rocket Pool allows users to run an Ethereum node with 16 ETH, which is exactly half of what’s required when staking ETH directly via the Ethereum 2.0 smart contract. The platform’s native token is used for incentives, insurance, and community governance.Given the widespread interest in ETH staking, many crypto investors are looking for ways to generate passive returns with ETH. As a result, we’ve seen services like Lido and centralized solutions by exchanges such as Binance, grow in popularity. If this trend keeps up, Rocket Pool could easily become one of the best-performing crypto assets in 2024. In fact, RPL has nearly doubled in price in the past 6 months, confirming that crypto investors are very keen on ETH staking and the services that enable it.One of the biggest barriers to greater adoption of decentralized finance (DeFi) is the high gas fees on Ethereum. Polygon (MATIC) looks to solve this problem by moving some of the transaction processes away from the Ethereum blockchain onto a dedicated layer-2. In October 2022, Polygon launched the zkEVM public testnet, the first Zero Knowledge open-source rollup L2 solution with full EVM compatibility. The beta integration with Ethereum Mainnet followed in Q1 2023.In the past couple of years, Polygon emerged as the leading Ethereum layer 2 solution, facilitating various payment, non-fungible token (NFT), and DeFi-focused services. In addition, the project penned a number of partnerships with some of the largest companies in the world, including Reddit, Disney, and even Waren Buffett-owned digital bank NuBank.Polygon is currently 20th on the list of largest cryptos in terms of market cap, and it could easily climb even higher on the list if it continues to innovate. While some worry that L2s solutions might become obsolete as Ethereum’s scalability increases, Vitalik Buterin himself recently said that L2s are a crucial part of the Ethereum ecosystem and are here to stay.The TON Blockchain is a Proof-of-Stake blockchain platform that implements several scaling technologies to be able to support mass adoption. The native asset of the TON Blockchain is called Toncoin. The Proof-of-Stake consensus in TON Blockchain is conducted by validator nodes. While becoming a validator is accessible to anyone, it does require a large amount of Toncoin. Toncoin holders can serve as nominators and delegate their coins to a validator to help them reach the required amount.Even though TON Blockchain now uses Proof-of-Stake, the initial distribution of TON was conducted through mining to ensure a fair launch.Toncoin is based on the work done by the team behind the private messaging app Telegram, which created a blockchain called The Open Network, but were forced to stop development due to regulatory issues. Even though Toncoin is now a community-led effort and no longer developed by Telegram, the Telegram messenger is still integrating it into the app.The team behind the Telegram messenger is collaborating with the TON Foundation to integrate Toncoin with the Telegram app. For example, those who have installed the Toncoin wallet can now access their wallet directly From the Telegram menu. The TON Foundation also has the ambitious goal of attracting 30% of Telegram’s user base to Toncoin by the year 2028.If Telegram integrates Toncoin even further, we could see TON becoming one of the best-performing cryptocurrencies, as Telegram has a global userbase of 900 million monthly active users. However, it’s important to keep in mind that Toncoin’s upside could be limited by the fact that it already has a market capitalization of $18 billion as of April 2024 and it’s also the 11th largest crypto asset on the market. Celestia is a layer 1 blockchain platform with a modular approach that launched in October 2023. Celestia enables developers to easily create new blockchains and its architecture supports parallel consensus across chains, verified through fraud and data availability proofs. It addresses the challenge of data verification in large blocks by using modular chains and data availability sampling.Celestia also facilitates rollups, a type of blockchain that offloads some work to Celestia, providing added security. These rollups, called sovereign rollups, combine the convenience of layer 2s with layer 1 sovereignty.In contrast to the competitive nature of traditional Layer 1 ecosystems, Celestia promotes collaboration through a modular blockchain approach.Celestia was one of the most highly anticipated blockchain projects to launch in 2023. Despite its mainnet launch only coming towards the end of October of 2023, Celestia’s native token already commands a market capitalization north of $1.7 billion and is on the cusp of entering the crypto top 50. With data availability poised to become an increasingly important topic when it comes to scaling blockchains, Celestia could be positioned very well in the future. With the ability to provide extremely cheap and fast data availability, Celestia could become the go-to solution for mainstream-oriented blockchain apps that need to handle large amounts of transactions cheaply.Loopring (LRC) is a scaling solution that utilizes its technology on the second layer of Ethereum. It leverages a system called ZK-Rollups, which helps to move the majority of ETH transactions from the main chain to the layer-2 solution.In 2022, Loopring entered a high-profile partnership with the leading video retailer GameStop, which saw Loopring provide infrastructure to facilitate GameStop NFT transactions.By leveraging zero-knowledge proofs, Loopring allows anyone to build non-custodial, order book-based exchange on the Ethereum platform. Since transactions can be settled off-chain, Loopring claims its DEXs can offer faster and lower-cost transactions than competitors that don’t use ZK-Rollups. Meanwhile, LRC tokens can be staked and used to accrue a share of the 70% protocol fees collected by Loopring-based exchanges. The LRC token has gained over +30% in Q1 2024, hinting at its bullish potential.As mentioned in the opening paragraphs, finding the next cryptocurrency to have strong market performance involves a great deal of speculation and, ultimately, luck. The cryptocurrencies we’ve featured on our list each have a strong chance of posting robust price performances once bears release their grip and, more importantly, feature unique properties and utility prospects that will help ensure they rally once the next crypto bull run starts. For additional investment ideas, you can check out our list of the best cryptocurrencies to buy right now. If you are interested in investing in cryptocurrencies that could post robust gains in the aftermath of the 2024 Bitcoin halving, check the video below.Disclaimer: The content of this article should not be considered as investment advice. Always do your own research before deciding to buy, sell or transfer any crypto assets.