Bitcoin and Ethereum have dominated crypto headlines for years, but Bitcoin has declined 22.4% year-to-date in 2026, while Ethereum has dropped 33.4% over the same period. Both show signs of exhaustion after their 2025 rallies. Three alternative cryptocurrencies have experienced different price movements than Bitcoin and Ethereum: XRP’s institutional payment infrastructure, Solana’s unmatched transaction speed, and Avalanche’s growing DeFi ecosystem.

5. Avalanche: The DeFi Specialist Trading at Deep Discounts

Avalanche has carved out a niche as a high-performance blockchain optimized for decentralized finance applications. The network’s subnet architecture allows developers…