3 Ethereum Competitors That Could Outperform Ether in 2022

While Ethereum is still one of the top blockchains that exists, here are three cryptocurrencies that could outperform Ethereum’s native token, Ether.

Daniel Da Costa

Daniel joined the Motley Fool Canada team in 2019 with years of experience in banking and investing. Growing up the son of a proprietary stock trader and educator, Daniel’s always found joy in helping Canadians to improve their financial situations. With the Motley Fool, Daniel sees an even more rewarding way to impact Canadians positively. A student and great admirer of Warren Buffett, he’s always looking for investments offering growth at a reasonable price. Outside of finance, Daniel enjoys spending his time with family, sailing, and watching Formula One.

Published December 23, 2021 5:45 pm EST

There’s no doubt that Ethereum revolutionized the blockchain industry, and its native token Ether is one of the best investments you can make.

However, the drawbacks of Ethereum’s network are well documented, and while there are changes and upgrades on the way, they are not slated to be released until sometime in 2022.

In the meantime, several Ethereum competitors have been gaining popularity and continue to be some of the best cryptocurrencies you can buy not just for 2022 but to hold long term.

So, if you’re looking for some of the top cryptocurrencies to buy today, here are three Ethereum competitors that could outperform Ether in 2022.

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Cardano is getting the most attention from investors who are looking for an alternative to Ethereum

Cardano is the first blockchain network to consider, as it’s the closest to Ether in terms of market value and continues to generate a tonne of optimism from investors and users. To gain exposure to Cardano or to even use its blockchain at all, investors will need to own its native token ADA.

Cardano was created to allow much faster as well as cheaper transactions than Ethereum. And while there has been some strong development so far, it’s taken quite a bit of time, which has allowed several other competitors to catch up.

In addition, another drawback of Cardano is that it’s not compatible with Ethereum. Many of the blockchains that are competing with Ethereum are compatible, meaning that the developers can launch their apps on several networks, which is what’s been allowing the growth of many different blockchains.

Nevertheless, Cardano is still one of the best opportunities for investors. It’s currently the sixth most valuable cryptocurrency with a market cap north of US$45 billion. However, it’s still more than 10 times less than Ether’s market cap, which currently stands at US$470 billion.

AVAX, the native token of Avalanche, could severely outperform Ether in 2022

Another competitor to Ethereum that has been gaining in value considerably lately and should continue this performance into 2022 is Avalanche, which has the native token AVAX.

The blockchain network is a lot like Cardano. It was created to improve upon Ethereum’s drawbacks, namely faster and cheaper transactions. And so far, it’s been successful.

Avalanche’s network only launched in September 2020, and, already, the project has raised several investment rounds from crypto venture capital firms. Its native token AVAX has also skyrocketed in value, massively outperforming Ether and bringing Avalanche to the top 10 of all cryptocurrencies by market cap with a current value of more than US$28 billion.

The one major difference between Avalanche and Cardano, and one of the reasons why AVAX has been able to rally so rapidly, is due to the fact that Avalanche is compatible with Ethereum. Therefore, its ecosystem has been able to grow a lot faster, as developers move their applications onto the network.

So, if there was only one competitor I could choose to bet on over Ethereum, Avalanche would be my pick.

Fantom is one of the networks with the most potential for growth

Lastly is one of the best opportunities for investors, Fantom. Fantom’s native token, FTM, is currently just the 41st most valuable cryptocurrency, well off other competitors like AVAX and ADA, which are both currently among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market value.

Not only that, but currently, Fantom’s market cap sits at just US$4.3 billion, so it’s currently worth less than 1% of what Ethereum is worth.

Fantom is an exciting investment, not because it’s cheap, but it’s another Ethereum-compatible layer one blockchain that offers faster and cheaper transactions.

The network does have potential, but it also faces stiff competition from other blockchain networks, which are also trying to dethrone Ethereum. So, it’s by no means a sure thing, but it certainly offers a significant opportunity. And if it can manage to differentiate itself and create a unique ecosystem that will attract more users, Fantom could be one of the best projects to consider today.