15 Old-School Altcoins: Which Ones Have Potential for Explosive Gains?

2025.11.25

15 Old-School Altcoins: Which Ones Have Potential for Explosive Gains?

The market is chilly; perhaps brew a pot of aged wine and listen to tales of the old江湖.

2025.11.25 - 01:32:36

山寨币

Navigating Web3 tides with focused insights

The market is chilly; perhaps brew a pot of aged wine and listen to tales of the old江湖.

Author: Chain Revelation

In the chaotic world of cryptocurrency, legends about old-school altcoins never fade.

They're like forgotten martial arts masters in a corner of the江湖—quietly sipping wine, not competing, but once they act, their rise is breathtaking.

This issue presents our "Historical Review of Veteran Altcoins":

Why were they popular back then?
Are they still alive today?
Why haven't they died?
Is there still potential for explosive growth?

As market chills intensify, let's brew an old pot of wine and listen to tales from the past江湖.

If you're a seasoned veteran who has lived through multiple cycles and have held over half of the coins mentioned—forward this article to newcomers, reminding them to wear an extra layer.

The mountaintop is truly cold. But old hands understand:

No matter how long winter lasts, spring will return.

Chapter One: The Old Guard of Payment Coins

1. XRP: The Most Litigation-Savvy Veteran in Blockchain

Background

Born in 2012—older than Ethereum—created by Jed McCaleb (an early Bitcoin OG) and the Ripple Labs team.

The goal was clear:

Not to be another "crypto-native token," but to build a "cross-border clearing network for banks." Its ambition: replace SWIFT and reduce traditional international transfers from days to seconds.

It quickly secured partnerships with banks, financial institutions, and major payment companies, rising to become the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap during 2017–2018, trailing only BTC and ETH. Yes, XRP once genuinely played with bankers.

But in 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) struck hard: “You are a security—we’re fining you.”

Ripple: ?

XRP: ??

Investors: ????

After years of legal battles, XRP has become the most legally savvy coin in crypto. It possesses strength, technology, and bank partnerships—only awaiting improved regulatory sentiment. Ripple’s appeal against the SEC concluded in March 2025, and the case officially closed on August 7, confirming that XRP is not a security in secondary markets, with the fine reduced to $50 million (down from the original $125 million).

Technology & Features

Uses consensus mechanism Ripple Protocol Consensus Algorithm (RPCA)
Transaction speed is impressively fast: 3–5 seconds
Low fees + no mining required + primarily targets financial institutions and banks

Potential Growth Triggers

Approval of XRP ETFs
Global adoption by banks for cross-border payments
Explosive growth of RLUSD stablecoin ecosystem

XRP exemplifies the type of project that can “take off again once regulations ease.” Winning its lawsuit, securing ETF approval, and solidifying bank partnerships—the combination could transform XRP from a “repressed giant” into a “liberated beast.”

If global financial institutions suddenly decide they need faster cross-border settlements, XRP stands ready to rewrite its story.

2. LTC: Bitcoin’s Most Level-Headed “Little Silver Brother”

Background

Bitcoin too expensive and slow? Then use a lightweight version—LTC (Litecoin).

Created in 2011 by Charlie Lee, a former Google engineer, as a lighter alternative to Bitcoin.

LTC is a native fork of BTC, designed for faster and cheaper transactions. Upon launch, it was seen as Bitcoin’s silver (with BTC being gold), listed early on all major exchanges. In every bull market cycle, LTC delivers a sudden reminder: “I’m still here.”

The biggest controversy: the founder sold all his holdings at the peak. Yes, Charlie Lee sold all his LTC during the 2017 bull run, citing “avoiding conflicts of interest.”

Investors: ???

Market: ????

Price: ??????

Since then, LTC has entered a prolonged “low-key operation mode.” Latest update: in 2025, Canary Capital announced the launch of the Canary Litecoin ETF (Nasdaq: LTCC), the first spot Litecoin ETF approved by the SEC. Additionally, LitVM launched the first zero-knowledge Layer-2 network built using Polygon CDK, supporting EVM-compatible smart contracts and cross-chain interoperability with Bitcoin, Cardano, and Dogecoin.

Technical Features

Scrypt PoW consensus mechanism
Block time one-quarter of Bitcoin’s (2.5 minutes)
Focused on stability, speed, and micro-payments

Potential Growth Triggers

Ongoing momentum in payment and privacy narratives
Captured by capital flows when BTC ecosystem regains favor as a “veteran stable asset”
Positive market sentiment

LTC belongs to the “old soldiers never die, they just wait for the wind” category. It won’t surge 10x like new smart chains, nor will it collapse to zero like meme tokens.

Chapter Two: The Legitimate Schools of Smart Contracts—“We Also Want to Challenge Senior Brother Ethereum…”

3. ADA: The Academic Elite of Blockchain

Background

Cardano (ADA) was founded in 2015 by Charles Hoskinson, one of Ethereum’s co-founders, and officially launched in 2017.

The ambition was clear:

Don’t rush to market—instead, build the “most rigorous and scientific blockchain”; every upgrade must go through: paper → peer review → formal verification. This earned ADA the early reputation of being the “most academically sound blockchain system.”

With its founder coming from Ethereum’s founding team, ADA started with a “legitimate school” label, attracting many academic and institutional investors. Recent news: its quarterly report announced collaboration with Brazil’s PUC-Rio to establish Ada Labs, focusing on blockchain economics, DeFi, and renewable energy solutions.

Biggest drawback:

The market has limited patience for “writing papers.” dApp ecosystem remains weak, leading investors to joke: “The roadmap is strongest—not the ecosystem.”

Technology & Features

Uses Ouroboros PoS consensus (the first peer-reviewed PoS algorithm)
Layered architecture: settlement layer (CSL) + computation layer (CCL), enabling functional separation and enhanced flexibility
Plutus smart contract language: based on Haskell, supports formal verification
Emphasizes security, scalability, and sustainability

Potential Growth Triggers

On-chain governance fully implemented
Launch of major applications (finance/gaming/social)
Adoption by African nations (projects already underway)

ADA’s breakout logic resembles a “slow-burn revival.” The good news is that its ecosystem has been gradually growing in recent years.

But challenging Ethereum’s dominance remains as difficult as “becoming an academician right after getting a PhD.”

4. DOT: The Elegant Architect of Cross-Chain

Background

Polkadot (DOT) was founded in 2016 by Gavin Wood, former CTO of Ethereum and founder of Parity Technologies, with mainnet launching on May 26, 2020. With parachains, shared security, and slot auctions… its cross-chain model is nearly the most complete in the industry, directly rivaling Cosmos and forming one of the “two great cross-chain powers.”

In a recent PolkaWorld English livestream, officials announced that Polkadot was included in Hong Kong’s “Strategic Enterprise” program (managed by the OASES initiative under the Financial Secretary), making it one of the few blockchain projects to receive such official recognition. The stream also noted institutional investments entering the ecosystem, such as HIC (Harbor Industrial Capital) investing in Polkadot-based projects.

Why hasn’t it dominated?

The architecture is elegant but complex. High development difficulty and high setup costs for new chains have slowed ecosystem expansion beyond expectations.

Technology & Features

Relay chain + parachain architecture: relay chain handles security, parachains handle execution
Shared security: all parachains inherit the relay chain’s security without needing separate validators
XCM cross-chain messaging protocol: enables seamless communication between chains
Slot auction mechanism: projects bid for parachain slots by locking DOT

Potential Growth Triggers

Real explosion in cross-chain demand
More parachains going live
Emergence of a star application in the ecosystem

DOT represents “infrastructure-level value”—it won’t disappear, and if the cross-chain narrative returns, it still has takeoff potential.

5. NEAR: High-Performance Sharding Chain, King of Developer Experience

Background

NEAR Protocol was founded in 2018 by former Google engineers Illia Polosukhin and Alexander Skidanov, with mainnet launching in April 2020. The mission was clear: build the “high-performance public chain developers love most.” Builders consistently describe it as “comfortable”—a rare quality in the public chain space.

Why hasn’t it dominated? Because now every chain claims to be fast, cheap, and user-friendly. Competition is fierce, weakening NEAR’s edge. It remains strong—but less flashy. Latest update: OceanPal and the NEAR Foundation jointly announced a $120 million PIPE investment to launch SovereignAI, building blockchain-native confidential AI cloud infrastructure on NEAR powered by NVIDIA technology, supporting agent-based commerce.

Technology & Features

Nightshade sharding: dynamic sharding supporting infinite scalability
Rainbow Bridge: seamless cross-chain connection with Ethereum
Human-readable account names: no more long strings—just use names like alice.near
Developer-friendly: supports Rust and AssemblyScript, with mature tooling

Potential Growth Triggers

Launch of major social/AI applications
Strong user growth in ecosystem
Deep integration with trending narratives (AI/Web3 gaming)

NEAR is a “low-key powerhouse”—once the AI + Web3 narrative truly explodes, it will be in the first tier.

6. ICP: The Most Ambitious Public Chain Dreaming of “Rebuilding the Internet on Chain”

Background

Internet Computer (ICP) was created by the Swiss DFINITY Foundation, led by distributed systems expert Dominic Williams. The project began in 2016, with mainnet launching in May 2021.

ICP’s ambition is mind-blowing: it doesn’t aim to build just a blockchain, but an entire blockchain-based replacement for the internet itself.

Imagine chain-based versions of YouTube, TikTok, and cloud services. The vision is massive—even sci-fi-like—directly competing with AWS and Google Cloud, aiming to move all of Web 2.0 onto the blockchain.

Biggest flaw: unfavorable token unlock schedule at launch caused price to plummet at “reverse light speed,” falling from hundreds of dollars to single digits.

Technology & Features

Chain Key technology: allows smart contracts to interact directly with external systems—no oracles needed
Canister architecture: similar to smart contracts but more powerful
Network Nervous System (NNS): fully on-chain governance
Infinite scalability: supports large-scale dApps running directly on-chain

Potential Growth Triggers

Emergence of a major on-chain application
Trend toward migrating internet services on-chain
New cross-chain capabilities (progress already made)

If it ever runs a true “on-chain Instagram,” it could laugh its way back into the top ten. ICP is the type that “dreams too big, but the tech is genuinely impressive.”

7. ATOM: Father of the Interchain Ecosystem, Yet the Most “Zen-Like” Native Token

Background

Cosmos (ATOM) was founded in 2016 by Jae Kwon and Ethan Buchman, with mainnet launching in 2019.

Why did it explode initially? Because the Cosmos architecture (IBC + SDK) allowed countless projects to easily launch their own blockchains.

Many strong chains today—Osmosis, dYdX (new version), Celestia ecosystem—all bear Cosmos’ fingerprints. It didn’t offer just one public chain, but an entire “toolkit for building blockchains.”

Biggest issue: weak value capture for ATOM itself

The overall Cosmos ecosystem is robust, yet ATOM often underperforms compared to its child chains. Some jokingly call it: “father of the ecosystem, yet poorest himself.”

Current 2025 update: staking surges, annual yield stabilizes. According to institutional analysis, despite market volatility, ATOM staking increased by 15.7%, reaching a record high of 274.04 million ATOM. Cosmos staking yield stabilized at 16.34%, driven by proposal #996, which redirects 98% of inflation to stakers.

Technology & Features

IBC protocol: interchain communication standard, now an industry benchmark
Cosmos SDK: enables developers to rapidly build custom blockchains
Tendermint consensus: high-performance BFT mechanism
App-chain model: each app can have its own dedicated chain

Potential Growth Triggers

ATOM economic model upgrade (already underway in 2025)
Broader adoption of IBC
Explosion of ecosystem chains

ATOM belongs to the type where “value may be delayed but never absent”—the stronger the ecosystem grows, the more ATOM will eventually catch up. ATOM is the kind where “value may be delayed but never absent.”

Chapter Three: The Big Three of Decentralized Finance—“The Smartest Money Makers On-Chain”

8. AAVE: On-Chain Bank, Magician of Flash Loans

Background

Aave was founded in 2017 by Finnish entrepreneur Stani Kulechov (originally named ETHLend), rebranded as Aave and launched V1 in 2020. It was the first project to bring “flash loans” into mainstream awareness—a magical on-chain feature allowing users to borrow without collateral, perform operations, and repay—all within a single transaction.

Sounds like a “free money hack”? Indeed, but in reality it serves as:

An arbitrage tool
A liquidation tool
A core infrastructure piece in the DeFi Lego set

Additionally, it leads the DeFi lending sector, boasting the largest asset scale and highest security recognition. During DeFi Summer (2020–2021), Aave became synonymous with “on-chain banking.”

Technology & Features

Flash Loans: uncollateralized borrowing, must be repaid within the same transaction
Multi-chain deployment: available on ETH, Polygon, Avalanche, Base, Arbitrum, etc.
GHO stablecoin: Aave’s native over-collateralized stablecoin
Isolated markets mode: introduced in V3 to reduce contagion risk

Potential Growth Triggers

Recovery of the DeFi market
Expansion of multi-chain lending markets
Integration of new asset types (RWA - real-world assets)

Aave is one of the most stable “cash-flow protocols” in crypto—if DeFi survives, Aave is a printing press.

9. UNI: The Patriarch of AMMs, Eternal King of DEXs

Background

Uniswap was founded by Hayden Adams in 2018, launching V1 on the Ethereum mainnet in November 2018. It defined the AMM (Automated Market Maker) model, enabling anyone to instantly create trading pairs on-chain.

Before Uniswap, on-chain trading required order books and centralized matching. Uniswap rewrote the rules:

Permissionless
Anyone can provide liquidity
Any token can be listed

Uniswap’s emergence marked the beginning of DeFi; without Uniswap, there would have been no DeFi Summer. On January 31, 2025, Uniswap officially launched Uniswap v4—an upgrade dubbed the “New Era of DeFi.” v4 introduces greater customization and lower costs. The new “hooks” contracts allow developers to customize pools, fees, and LP behaviors, greatly enhancing protocol flexibility.

Technology & Features

AMM model: x * y = k constant product formula, pioneering a new era for DEXs
Permissionless: anyone can create trading pairs
V3 concentrated liquidity: LPs can provide liquidity within specific price ranges, improving capital efficiency
V4 Hooks: launched in 2025, enabling developers to customize AMM logic

The “weakness” of UNI:

UNI is primarily a governance token with no protocol revenue sharing, meaning its price isn’t tied to protocol income. This makes it seem “lackluster” much of the time.

Potential Growth Triggers

Protocol revenue model reform
Improved regulatory environment
DEX trading volume hits all-time highs
If UNI ever starts buybacks or dividends

Then it would explode spectacularly.

10. MKR: Guardian of the DAI Stablecoin

Background

MakerDAO (now announced to rebrand as Sky Protocol) was founded by Rune Christensen in 2014, officially launching the DAI stablecoin and MKR governance token in December 2017.

DAI is the largest decentralized stablecoin on-chain, while MKR governs and manages risk. MakerDAO peaked during DeFi Summer (2020–2021), serving as the cornerstone of the entire DeFi ecosystem—nearly every DeFi protocol relies on DAI as its stablecoin layer.

Key highlight: It’s a truly decentralized stablecoin, unlike USDT/USDC, which are backed by centralized entities.

Technology & Features

Over-collateralized stablecoin: users lock ETH and other assets to generate DAI
MKR governance: holders vote on key parameters like collateral ratios and stability fees
RWA (real-world assets): MakerDAO was among the first to bring real-world assets like government bonds on-chain
Sky Rebrand: renamed Sky in 2024, MKR converted to SKY

Current issue:

MakerDAO’s risk structure is complex, even managing real-world assets like treasury bonds. Increased complexity amplifies MKR’s volatility.

Potential Growth Triggers

RWA (real-world assets) igniting on-chain finance
Surge in demand for stablecoins
Organizational reforms within MakerDAO

As long as demand for stablecoins persists, MKR remains a super-core asset. It’s the “central bank” of DeFi—its position is unshakable.

Chapter Four: The Three Meme Gods—“Logic? Doesn’t Exist.”

11. DOGE: Canine Emperor of Crypto, Elon Musk’s Favorite Toy

Background

Dogecoin was created in December 2013 by Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, originally intended as satire of crypto speculation.

Its story is brutally simple:

A dog 🐕
A community 💪
Elon Musk 🚶

That’s enough.

DOGE doesn’t rely on technology—it thrives on internet culture, community power, and Elon Musk’s supernatural influence. From a joke to a top-ten cryptocurrency by market cap, DOGE itself is the greatest satire of “value investing”—yet it undeniably holds value because consensus is value. In November 2024, Donald Trump announced the creation of a new government agency called the “Department of Government Efficiency” (abbreviated DOGE), to be led by Elon Musk. This political-brand fusion isn’t just hype—it strengthens DOGE’s status as a “meme coin” and symbol of power.

Technology & Features

Built on Litecoin code, uses Scrypt algorithm
No supply cap: 5 billion new coins minted annually (inflationary design)
Fast transactions, low fees
Focused on micro-payments and tipping culture

Potential Growth Triggers

One tweet from Musk—or even just a photo of a dog—and DOGE surges.
Meme coin logic remains valid: internet culture + consensus = value
Technical upgrades unlock long-term potential: if ZKP or Libdogecoin materialize, DOGE could combine community heat with on-chain utility—no longer just a joke, but potentially infrastructure.

12. SHIB: From Meme to “Hardworking Hustler”

Background

Shiba Inu (SHIB) was created in August 2020 by anonymous founder Ryoshi, branding itself as the “Dogecoin Killer.” As DOGE’s younger brother, it boasts higher community activity. More importantly—it doesn’t just clown around like typical meme coins. It attempts to build:

ShibaSwap (DEX)
Metaverse (Shib The Metaverse)
NFTs
Games

Technology & Features

Built on Ethereum ERC-20
Shibarium: its own Layer-2 solution
Three-token ecosystem: SHIB (main token), LEASH (liquidity), BONE (governance)
Burning mechanism: continuously reduces supply to counter inflation

Potential Growth Triggers

Real ecosystem rollout (Shibarium, Metaverse)
Another wave of meme frenzy

SHIB is a hybrid player—“wanting both meme traffic and real products.” If Shibarium’s ecosystem takes off, it’ll be far more than just a meme.

13. PEPE / FLOKI: Emotion + Memes = Market Cap

Background

PEPE: Launched in April 2023, based on the iconic internet frog meme Pepe the Frog. The coin is purely a MEME revolution product, akin to Dogecoin and Shiba Inu. No official team claims long-term commercial plans or technical support—instead emphasizing “no tax, no presale, no team token allocation.” After listing on Binance, it officially joined the “Big Three Mainstream MEME Coins” (DOGE, SHIB, PEPE).

FLOKI: June 2021: Elon Musk tweeted “I’m naming my Shiba Inu Floki,” and the Floki Inu token instantly emerged and exploded in popularity. Like DOGE and SHIB, it initially relied on the “Musk effect” and meme virality; yet FLOKI is among the few meme projects actively developing real application ecosystems.

The intent behind both tokens is simple:

Community
Emotion
Virality
High-frequency trading

PEPE is a pure emblem of culture and emotion; FLOKI combines community culture, practical applications, and compliant investment value.

Technology & Features

PEPE:

Pure meme, no utility
Relies on social media virality
High volatility, highly speculative

FLOKI:

(1) Valhalla metaverse game
A Play-to-Earn game on-chain, using FLOKI as in-game currency.
(2) FlokiFi DeFi ecosystem
FlokiFi Locker: an asset lock-up protocol, claimed by the team to be used by multi-chain projects (locking millions in TVL).
Future plans include FlokiFi Bank, lending, and other services.
(3) Educational platform “Floki University”
A learning platform for Web3 users, offering beginner to advanced courses.

Potential Growth Triggers

Two words:

Emotion. Meme resurgence.

If you accept that “value comes from culture and emotion,” then Pepe is your playground.

If you believe “meme investing should consider fundamentals,” then FLOKI deserves attention—for it’s actually building utility 😂

Chapter Five: The Hard Men of Storage—“We’re Not Hottest, But We’re Most Essential”

14. FIL: The Millennium Project of Decentralized Storage

Background

Filecoin was proposed in 2014 by Juan Benet, founder of Protocol Labs, raised $257 million via ICO in 2017 (then the largest ICO in history), and launched mainnet in October 2020. Filecoin was the first project to turn “decentralized storage” into a real industry.

This isn’t storytelling—it’s about actually storing files:

Competes with centralized storage like AWS S3 and Google Cloud
Turns global idle hard drives into a distributed cloud storage network
From tech to business model, it embodies long-term thinking

Filecoin’s vision: rebuild the internet’s storage layer—ensuring data is stored permanently, securely, and decentrally on-chain.

Biggest highlight:

It’s the incentive layer for IPFS (InterPlanetary File System), the foundational protocol for Web3 storage. Filecoin provides the economic engine that powers IPFS.

Why is price so volatile? Due to its complex economic model and storage mining mechanism—miners sell large amounts of FIL, creating downward pressure. Miners must stake FIL to mine, but then sell mined FIL for cash, increasing sell-side pressure.

Technology & Features

Proof of Spacetime: proves data was stored continuously over time
Proof of Replication: proves data was physically replicated across storage nodes
FVM (Filecoin Virtual Machine): supports smart contracts, expanding Filecoin beyond just storage
Storage + retrieval markets: dual-market mechanism incentivizing miners to provide services

Potential Growth Triggers

Massive Web3 adoption of decentralized storage
AI data demand growth (training data, model storage)
Global trend toward decentralized storage markets

FIL is infrastructure-grade—so long as crypto exists, it has a place. Like building roads—not sexy, but someone must do it.

Investor: When will FIL rise? FIL: Oh, that’ll happen when Web3 finally explodes. Market: And when will that be… FIL: I said—millennium project.

Chapter Six: The Invisible Champions of On-Chain Infrastructure

15. LINK: The God of Oracles

Background

Chainlink was founded in 2017 by Sergey Nazarov and Steve Ellis, raised $32 million via ICO in September 2017, and launched mainnet the same year. At SmartCon 2025 (Chainlink’s own developer conference), Chainlink officially launched the Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE)—an orchestration layer for institutions to build end-to-end smart contracts, connecting off-chain data, enabling cross-chain functionality, and meeting compliance and privacy needs.

Chainlink’s importance: Without oracles, there is no DeFi. Without LINK, there are no oracles. Within the on-chain ecosystem, it plays the role of “blockchain weather station + data highway.”

Why so critical? Blockchains are closed systems—they cannot natively access external data (e.g., ETH price, weather, sports results).

Oracles are the bridge between on-chain and off-chain:

DeFi protocols need price data → LINK provides it
Insurance protocols need flight delay data → LINK provides it
Games need random numbers → LINK provides it

Technology & Features

Decentralized oracle network: multiple nodes deliver data, preventing single-point manipulation
CCIP (Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol): enables cross-chain communication
Chainlink Staking: staking mechanism to enhance network security
Price Feeds: deliver real-time pricing data to DeFi
VRF (Verifiable Random Function): verifiable randomness for games and NFTs

Why hasn’t it surged recently?

Because everyone chases “new narratives,” yet the entire industry uses LINK daily—just like you use water and electricity every day, but don’t think about the utility company’s stock.

Potential Growth Triggers

RWA asset integration (already exploding)
Explosion in off-chain data connectivity
Mass institutional adoption of on-chain finance

LINK belongs to the “quiet worker, explosive when needed” type—it’s not a celebrity, but it’s the water, electricity, and gas of the entire crypto world.