Tokens to watch in 2024

Written by Mel Gelderman

Posted on February 2nd, 2024

Mel Gelderman lays down the tokens projects and industry segments that have most potential to make an impact in the ecosystem this year.

2024 commenced strong with the ETF approval and is set to be an exciting year with many things set to happen in the token space. 

Token projects have gotten more mature (so have the teams behind them) and robust while the tech keeps improving.

This is our 2024 tokens to watch list: 

Avalanche

Despite criticism, the team behind AVAX has embraced “creator culture” going as far as setting up a fund called “Culture Catalyst” to purchase Meme Coins, NFTs and other similar digital assets. NFTs have enormous potential due to a vast array of real world applications while Meme Coins are here to stay. AVAX adoption of culturally significant  initiatives could bring unexpected surprises. 

<h1>Celestia </h1>

TIA allows the user to create a personalised blockchain in a matter of minutes. Its technology allows for better scalability, security and usability. This basically means that any company or token creator can mint their own tokens within their own chain, designed for their specific needs. 

Illuvium

We’ve heard the word metaverse over and over again. And yet no one seemed to get it right. But, perhaps Illuvium has. They offer an AAA gaming experience where players hold complete ownership of their creations and token gains. As of December 2023 Illuvium had over 40,000 players and an additional 1.5 million are on the waitlist. Bright days ahead for Illuvium! 

Render

Yes, gaming and killer 3D visuals are the future. Ever heard of Virtual Reality? Well, Render makes it all happen for you by taking decentralised global GPU power to get crisp, beautiful, high-level 3D images while powering AI computational needs. (We’re getting NVIDIA vibes here).  

If you have a knack for cloud computing, gaming, and AI, RNDR is for you! 

AAVE

Liquidity protocols are the core of the token space as they largely fuel the token economy. AAVE allows users to borrow and lend tokens through smart contracts. Fully decentralised and governed by the community through the DAO (Descentralised Autonomous Organization) structure. A staple brand in the token space.

To get a grasp of how strong the community control is, know that last year, they had a smart-contract glitch that was quickly voted to resolution and everything went back to normal after assuring that all funds were safe.  

MakerDAO

A lending platform that allows users to take loans in DAI –its native token pegged to the US dollar– and backing them using other tokens as collateral. Decision making is done in a decentralised manner (hence the name) which has proven fruitful but dramatic a few times. 

BitTensor

TAO has been making waves as of late. As it powers a blockchain-based machine learning open-source protocol. Some say it is of no coincidence for AI and Blockchain to have gained traction simultaneously. The transparency provided by the blockchain may be even more relevant for AI than any other industry. 

Immutable X

Born from powerful parents: Immutable and Starkware. IMX intends to solve the high-gas fees and congestion issues found in the Ethereum network that have somewhat prevented NFTs from gaining more mainstream traction.

And last but not least...
Bitcoin

The king of tokens, created by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto to revolutionise the financial system. It is believed that the first bitcoin trade involved 5,050 units, which were exchanged for 5.05USD – on PayPal. 

Fifteen years later, everything has changed; the same BTC amount would cost you over 217 million dollars, and Bitcoin is now part of Wall Street investment portfolios. The halving is just around the corner, and in the past this event has had positive effects on Bitcoin and many other tokens. 

Let’s see what the future holds for the king of tokens!

Ethereum

Created by 30 year old legend, Vitalik Buterin. ETH is the most active blockchain in the world; with a vast community of developers, projects and users. 2024 could also be the year when spot Ethereum exchange traded funds get approved. We cannot make any assumptions but, currently there are seven ETH spot ETF applications on the SEC’s desk. 

Solana

A close runner up to ETH. Solana started the year with bullish prices fueled by real life applications such as its smartphone. Meme coin developers favour the blockchain due to its super-high speed and low cost transactions. Market conditions will determine SOL’s movements but it's worth keeping an eye out!

Special mentions:
Meme Coins

Look, most token experts will tell you to stay away from meme coins, and we don’t disagree. However, meme coins are a very interesting social phenomenon where people invest large amounts of money on internet trends. Most of these meme coins have no technology, real funding, investment or teams behind them, however they do account for staggering gains and losses.  

Artificial Intelligence

The AI boom is just getting started and we are likely to see many AI tokens emerge. However, it’s difficult to evaluate such a profound technology that has only recently acquired massive amounts of attention. Well-functioning large language models take time to develop and require massive amounts of data processing power. For this reason our sight is set on projects backed by solid expertise such as: Singularity Net’s AGIX, Ocean Protocol and The Graph.  

A lot of money and attention is going into the AI world, it will be good to see what the industry surprises us with. 

The above list is just a summarised version of some of the tokens – or types of tokens – we believe are set to gain traction in 2024.

Of course anything can happen (and has happened in the past). Your investments are your own responsibility and this commentary in no way constitutes investment advice. 

We do believe however, that the world will become increasingly more tokenized; individuals will own hundreds or even thousands of tokens that represent distinct pieces of data utilised in day to day activities and transactions.

Tokenization is here to change the world.

Learn more about token.com here

Please note: Investing in cryptoassets is risky. Due to the volatile nature of the cryptocurrency market, investors run the risk of losing their funds when they make an investment. Returns from cryptoasset investing are not guaranteed, therefore users should always be aware of the risks.