The Altcoin Label Covers Crypto With Different Roles and Uses

Altcoin is a broad market label for cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin (BTC). It identifies assets outside Bitcoin but does not describe their technology or purpose. The category includes assets with different roles, including Ether on Ethereum and stablecoins designed to track fiat currencies.

Bitcoin’s original model focused on sending payments between people without a financial institution. Ethereum supports applications built with smart contracts, which are software programs that operate on its blockchain. Ether (ETH) pays transaction fees and helps secure Ethereum.

Stablecoins serve another function. Tether’s USD₮ is designed to track the U.S. dollar at a 1-to-1 peg. It therefore has a different role from Ether, even though both fit the broad altcoin label.

The label alone does not show what a token does or what role it plays. It groups assets with different uses, so understanding a particular cryptocurrency requires more than knowing it is an altcoin.

Market capitalization calculations depend on which assets are counted. A market-cap methodology may exclude crypto-backed wrapped, bridged and staked tokens to avoid double-counting. That choice affects which assets are represented in the total.