$XRP Or $HBAR? The Altcoins That Outperformed Crypto King Bitcoin In 2024

Bitcoin has been, and always will be, the King of all cryptocurrency due to its first-mover status and its massive market cap that no other digital currency or digital asset has eclipsed, but when it comes to performance, some altcoins have proven their own worth.

This year was a revolutionary year for Bitcoin and the broader crypto space – spot BTC exchange-traded funds (ETFs), filings for other crypto ETFs, institutional adoption, and many more highlights.

Before anything else, it is worth noting that BTC had its own shining days throughout the year, but nothing prepared the retail market, especially new holders, for Bitcoin's new all-time high above $108,000, which was achieved earlier this month. So far in the year, BTC is up by a stellar 124%.

But outside BTC's glory, some alternative coins with nearly the same utility or similar usefulness as Bitcoin have made a mark in 2024. In terms of performance, they were Bitcoin's biggest rivals this year – which coins are these?

$XRP – Comeback of the Year

Bitcoin basked in the glory of its fame through the years, while many other altcoins were beaten to the red line due to regulatory restraints and lawsuits filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). One of which was XRP, the native token of the XRP Ledger that is closely tied to fintech firm Ripple.

Following a four-year legal bout with the SEC over its sales of the XRP coin, Ripple saw relief after a 2023 ruling that stated XRP is not a security when sold on exchanges. The entry of a new White House regime has also triggered more hopes for XRP and other crypto assets to get more regulatory clarity.

Since then, the XRP Army has been celebrating, and optimism around the altcoin reached unprecedented highs. The positive hopes for XRP's future propelled the token's price above $1 and then above $2 – a number close to its glory days when it was the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value.

Ripple has also released its very own stablecoin, the RLUSD, which is expected to pump XRP prices further.

XRP is up by a massive 248% gain so far in 2024. The token is down in the week, as with Bitcoin and other crypto assets, but its year-to-date performance cannot be minimized.

$HBAR – A Tale of Winning in Silence

The Hedera network appears to have been forgotten by the crypto space in the last few years, but it hit a significant milestone early this month, joining the Top 20 coins rankings for the first time since its launch.

Trading volumes around HBAR, the Hedera chain's native token, spiked above 300% when news of the milestone spread across crypto communities.

The token gained much attention in November after Canary Capital filed to issue the world's first HBAR ETF, increasing the enthusiasm of long-time HBAR holders who didn't sell their coins even when Hedera was all but being outshined by XRP.

This year, HBAR is up by over 220% and gained more than 100% in the last month.

$TON – Riding on TON Chain's Waves

Toncoin (TON), the native asset of The Open Network chain, is one of the more volatile crypto tokens out there, but it has been on a 168% spike this year, eclipsing BTC's performance by double digits.

The coin's surge is linked to the TON network's apparent popularity in the crypto space. It has secured multiple partnerships with prominent crypto firms, and activity around the blockchain has also been on the rise.

$TRX – A 7-Year ATH Story

TRX, the TRON blockchain's native cryptocurrency, broke its all-time high this year after nearly seven years of stagnation, raising hopes that the token will continue to climb in the coming year.

The token had not been moving significantly in the past years, as did many other "dino" coins, or crypto tokens that have been in the market for quite some time now.

A lot of attention was thrown into TRX's path in recent months, fueled by talks around the TRON blockchain's founder, Justin Sun, who was selected as an advisor of the World Liberty Financial (WLFI) DeFi project.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump backs the said project, and TRON invested millions into the project.

This year, the TRX token increased by nearly 150% and the digital coin is up by 3.2% in the last seven days, even as the broader crypto space is still in the red.

Several other altcoins saw double-digit spikes in the past 12 months, but the above digital currencies truly made a mark in the crypto space this year, coming out of Bitcoin's shadow and cementing their names in the list of cryptocurrencies that can weather the storms of a volatile market.