In January 2024, many people were asking which crypto was the best to buy. The crypto market has long been a hotbed of new ideas, with fresh chances and fresh risks. Whether you are an experienced trader or new to digital assets, it pays to stay up to date.
This article first listed 10 cryptocurrencies that stood out as promising picks for January 2024. Each one has its own features and its own story. The list mixes established giants with rising stars.
We have now updated each entry with what has happened since. Prices below come from CoinGecko on November 3, 2026, and from daily closes on January 9, 2024.
| Coin | Price on Jan 9, 2024 | Price on Nov 3, 2026 | Change | Rank on Nov 3, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin (BTC) | About $46,110 | About $77,650 | Up about 68% | 1 |
| Ethereum (ETH) | About $2,344 | About $2,282 | Down about 3% | 2 |
| Arbitrum (ARB) | About $1.84 | About $0.157 | Down about 91% | 72 |
| Solana (SOL) | About $99.36 | About $93.18 | Down about 6% | 7 |
| XRP | About $0.567 | About $1.28 | Up about 126% | 5 |
| BNB | About $301 | About $697.50 | Up about 132% | 4 |
| Cosmos (ATOM) | About $9.67 | About $1.41 | Down about 85% | 83 |
| Litecoin (LTC) | About $66.99 | About $54.15 | Down about 19% | 26 |
| Shiba Inu (SHIB) | About $0.00000967 | About $0.00000461 | Down about 52% | 36 |
| Uniswap (UNI) | About $6.01 | About $7.20 | Up about 20% | 25 |
Past results do not predict future returns. Crypto prices can swing sharply in both directions.
1. Bitcoin (BTC)
Bitcoin is a decentralized, peer-to-peer cryptocurrency. It was first described in 2008 and launched in early 2009. Its creator, known as Satoshi Nakamoto, has never been identified. Bitcoin introduced the idea of a blockchain, a secure and fully decentralized record of payments.
Bitcoin uses Proof-of-Work to protect its transaction history. This makes it very hard to fake or double-spend coins. Miners secure the network and earn BTC as a reward for adding new blocks.
Many coins and blockchains have followed Bitcoin. Still, BTC remains the largest cryptocurrency by market value.
What happened in January 2024
At the time, reports said BlackRock expected the SEC to approve its spot Bitcoin ETF on Wednesday, January 10. Other ETF applicants were also hopeful and had shared the fees they planned to charge. Bitcoin’s BTC price was climbing toward $47,000.
What happened since
- The SEC approved the first U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs on January 10, 2024.
- Bitcoin set an all-time high of about $126,080 on October 6, 2025.
- On November 3, 2026, BTC traded near $77,650. That is about 68% above its January 9, 2024 price but well below its peak.
2. Ethereum (ETH)
Ethereum is a blockchain built for smart contracts. A smart contract is code that runs by itself when set conditions are met. Ethereum powers apps such as lending platforms and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Vitalik Buterin published its whitepaper in late 2013, and the network launched in July 2015.
Ethereum hosts a busy ecosystem of decentralized apps, including:
- Decentralized finance (DeFi) services
- NFT marketplaces
- Publishing platforms
- Decentralized exchanges
ETH is the network’s native coin. Users stake it to help secure the network. Ethereum moved from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake in September 2022.
What happened in January 2024
Developers set January 17, 2024, as the targeted date for testing the Dencun upgrade on the Goerli testnet, at epoch 231680. Tim Beiko of the Ethereum Foundation said client software for the test would be ready around January 10.
Dencun bundled several Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs). It was the first major mainnet upgrade since Shapella. Shapella went live in April 2023 and let users withdraw staked ETH.
What happened since
- Dencun went live on the Ethereum mainnet on March 13, 2024. It cut data costs for layer-2 networks.
- Ethereum set an all-time high of about $4,946 on August 24, 2025.
- On November 3, 2026, ETH traded near $2,282, close to its January 9, 2024 price.
3. Arbitrum (ARB)
Arbitrum is a layer-2 network for Ethereum. A layer 2 is a separate network that processes transactions off Ethereum’s main chain, then settles them back on it. Arbitrum uses optimistic rollups to make transactions faster and cheaper while relying on Ethereum’s security. It quickly became a major player in DeFi.
What happened in January 2024
At the time, Arbitrum held 49.8% of the Ethereum layer-2 market, as reported by the tracker L2Beat. Its total value locked (TVL) was $9.79 billion. TVL is the value of crypto deposited in a network’s apps.
Arbitrum also let projects using Arbitrum Orbit chains use custom gas tokens. Early users included XAI, Caldera, AltLayer and Conduit. The second phase of the Arbitrum Foundation’s grant program also began. It funded projects in gaming, decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN), NFTs and social media. ARB had gained 46.60% over the prior 30 days.
Arbitrum has also become a base for Layer 3 projects, such as Syndr Chain, which Syndr Protocol launched in 2023 for decentralized trading.
What happened since
- ARB peaked at about $2.39 on January 12, 2024, just days after this list was published.
- On November 3, 2026, ARB traded near $0.157, down about 91% from January 9, 2024. It ranked 72nd by market value.
4. Solana (SOL)
Solana is a smart contract platform built for speed. It can handle thousands of transactions per second at very low cost. It combines a Proof-of-History clock with Proof-of-Stake. Fees are often less than $0.001 per transaction.
What happened in January 2024
Solana fell hard in the 2022 bear market but kept one of the strongest ecosystems in crypto. In early January 2024:
- SOL had gained 32.59% over the prior 30 days.
- Solana’s decentralized exchanges handled $10.1 billion in trades over 7 days. That beat Ethereum’s $8.8 billion, even though SOL’s market value was about eight times smaller than ETH’s.
- SOL had passed XRP to become the 5th largest cryptocurrency and was close to BNB.
- Trezor, a hardware wallet maker, added support for SOL and SPL tokens. SPL is Solana’s token standard.
What happened since
- SOL set an all-time high of about $293 on January 19, 2025.
- On November 3, 2026, SOL traded near $93, about 6% below its January 9, 2024 price. It ranked 7th by market value.
5. XRP
XRP is built for fast, low-cost transfers, which suits uses such as sending money abroad. It does not use Proof-of-Work or Proof-of-Stake. Instead, it uses the XRP Ledger Consensus Protocol. Each participant chooses a set of validators it trusts. Ripple uses XRP in its products, including On-Demand Liquidity (ODL), which helps move money across borders through crypto exchanges.
What happened in January 2024
XRP had gained 26% in a week. It hit its highest price since July and passed BNB in market value. Several positive events lay behind the rally:
- In October 2023, the SEC dropped its claims against Ripple executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen. The case against Ripple itself was still open.
- Ripple partnered with the National Bank of Georgia on a central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot called Digital Lari.
- The Dubai Financial Services Authority recognized XRP for use in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).
What happened since
- In August 2025, Ripple and the SEC dropped their appeals, ending the case. Ripple paid a $125 million penalty.
- XRP set an all-time high of about $3.65 on July 17, 2025.
- On November 3, 2026, XRP traded near $1.28, about 126% above its January 9, 2024 price.
6. BNB
The Binance exchange created BNB in 2017. The token has two main roles. First, holders get perks on Binance, such as lower trading fees and access to Launchpad and Launchpool. Second, BNB is the native coin of BNB Chain. This blockchain is compatible with Ethereum apps and has much lower fees. BNB was formerly called Binance Coin.
What happened in January 2024
BNB was the only non-stablecoin accepted for Launchpool staking. Launchpool lets users stake BNB to earn new project tokens and unstake at any time. New Launchpool projects boosted demand, and BNB rose 25.07% over 30 days.
What happened since
- BNB set an all-time high of about $1,370 on October 13, 2025.
- On November 3, 2026, BNB traded near $697.50, about 132% above its January 9, 2024 price. It ranked 4th by market value.
7. Cosmos (ATOM)
Cosmos is a network built to help different blockchains work together. At its center is the Cosmos Hub, a Proof-of-Stake chain. It connects blockchains inside the Cosmos ecosystem and outside it, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Blockchains in Cosmos talk to each other using IBC (Inter-Blockchain Communication). ATOM is the network’s native token. Holders can stake ATOM to help secure the network and earn rewards and a share of fees. To learn more about how chains connect, see our guide to blockchain interoperability.
What happened in January 2024
The Cosmos community had approved a proposal to cap ATOM’s yearly inflation at 10%, down from a 20% cap. Inflation was then around 14%. The change meant fewer new tokens, but it also cut staking rewards from about 19% to about 13.4% a year. Supporters argued the Hub was overspending on security.
What happened since
- On November 3, 2026, ATOM traded near $1.41, down about 85% from January 9, 2024. It ranked 83rd by market value.
8. Litecoin (LTC)
Litecoin launched in October 2011 and is one of the oldest “altcoins.” It started as a modified copy of Bitcoin’s code. Key differences include:
- A maximum supply of 84 million coins, four times Bitcoin’s cap
- A 2.5-minute block time, four times faster than Bitcoin
- The scrypt hashing method instead of Bitcoin’s SHA-256
Like Bitcoin, it uses Proof-of-Work.
What happened in January 2024
LTC had risen 38% over 2023 and ranked as the 11th largest cryptocurrency. Interest from big investors was growing as firms such as BlackRock and Fidelity applied for spot Bitcoin ETFs. LTC also gained visibility as one of four coins listed on EDX Markets.
What happened since
- On November 3, 2026, LTC traded near $54, about 19% below its January 9, 2024 price. It ranked 26th by market value.
9. Shiba Inu (SHIB)
Shiba Inu is a meme coin launched in 2020 by someone using the name “Ryoshi.” It was inspired by Dogecoin (DOGE) and uses the Shiba Inu dog breed as its mascot. Unlike Dogecoin, which runs on its own blockchain, SHIB is an ERC-20 token on Ethereum.
In 2021, SHIB became the second-largest meme coin by market value, behind only Dogecoin.
What happened in January 2024
The Shiba Inu team was working with Web3 domain project D3 to secure a .shib top-level domain (TLD). A TLD is the ending of a web address, such as .com or .org. A .shib domain could allow websites, usernames and even email addresses ending in .shib. The team was also improving SHIB’s token burn system, which removes tokens from supply. See the latest SHIB price.
What happened since
- On November 3, 2026, SHIB traded near $0.00000461, down about 52% from January 9, 2024. It ranked 36th by market value.
10. Uniswap (UNI)
Uniswap is a decentralized exchange. It pioneered the automated market maker (AMM) model. Instead of an order book, an AMM uses pools of tokens that users trade against directly, with no middleman.
UNI holders govern Uniswap by proposing and voting on changes. UNI was airdropped to past users in 2020 and trades on many exchanges.
In March 2023, Uniswap hit a record $11.84 billion in daily trading volume. That was nearly double its previous high. Traders rushed to swap USDC after Silicon Valley Bank failed. Circle, the issuer of USDC, said about $3.3 billion of the roughly $40 billion backing USDC was held at that bank. The surge showed Uniswap could handle heavy volume in turbulent markets.
What happened since
- On November 3, 2026, UNI traded near $7.20, about 20% above its January 9, 2024 price. It ranked 25th by market value.
Conclusion
In January 2024, the crypto market offered many options. This list ranged from leaders like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) to newer players like Arbitrum (ARB) and Solana (SOL).
The results since then show how unpredictable crypto can be. BNB, XRP and Bitcoin rose strongly. Arbitrum, Cosmos and Shiba Inu fell sharply.
Crypto is volatile, so take a careful approach:
- Do your own research before buying.
- Keep up with market news.
- Match your choices to your goals and how much risk you can take.
- Never invest more than you can afford to lose.
For the latest prices and moves, see our crypto market today page.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the best crypto to buy right now?
There is no single best crypto to buy now for everyone. The right choice depends on your goals, your budget and how much risk you can take. Many investors start with large, well-known coins such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). Smaller coins can rise faster, but they can also fall much harder. Always do your own research and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
About the author
Mushumir Butt is a seasoned crypto journalist with over three years of experience reporting on the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency. At Blockchain Reporter, he delivers insightful news, in‐depth project reviews, and precise price analysis and predictions. With a strong background in SEO and digital marketing, Mushumir excels at breaking down complex trends into clear, accessible content, ensuring readers stay ahead in the fast‐paced crypto space.
