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The 16 Best ERC-20 Cryptos to Buy in 2024

By Onose Enaholo - Updated 29 August 2024
Fact Checked

ERC-20 tokens are cryptocurrencies which run on the Ethereum blockchain. Because Ethereum remains by far and away the biggest blockchain in terms of usage and total value locked in, ERC-20 cryptos are the most common kind of virtual currency in the crypto industry, representing tens of billions of dollars in market value.

However, the sheer number of ERC-20 tokens can make it hard for the average investor to pick the best. While the biggest ERC-20 cryptos have become familiar names in the crypto community, the vast majority are smaller and less unknown, with many of them being of very low quality. Fortunately, we’ve exhaustively researched the Ethereum ecosystem to write this list of the best ERC-20 cryptos to buy, with its healthy mix of established ERC-20 tokens and up-and-coming altcoins helping traders pick the most promising investments.

Best ERC-20 Tokens to Buy in 2024

  1. Bitcoin Dogs ($0DOG)Best Bitcoin BRC-20 Token
  2. Memeinator (MMTR) – Best New ERC-20 Token
  3. BitBot ($BitBot) – Best New Crypto Trading Bot
  4. Shiba Memu (SHMU) – Best AI-Powered Marketing Coin
  5. Chancer (CHANCER) – Best ERC-20 Peer-to-Peer Betting Coin
  6. Alt Signals (ASI) – Best Trading Signals Utility Token
  7. Metacade (MCADE) – Best ERC-20 Web3 Gaming Coin
  8. Ethereum (ETH) – Best High-Market Cap Token
  9. Polygon (MATIC) – Best ERC-20 Layer-Two Coin
  10. Uniswap (UNI) – Best DEX Coin
  11. Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) – ERC-20 Token that Tracks Bitcoin Price
  12. Decentraland (MANA) – Best Metaverse Coin
  13.  Shiba Inu (SHIB) – Best ERC-20 Meme Token
  14. Pepe (PEPE) – Best Coin Under $1
  15. Aave (AAVE) – Best DeFi Token
  16.  Lido DAO (LDO) – Best ERC-20 Governance Token

Comparing the Best ERC-20 Cryptos

Name

Product/Service

Minimum Investment

Market Cap

Buy Now

Bitcoin Dogs ($0DOG)

Gaming

$?

n/a (presale)

Buy $0DOG

Memeinator

Community

$?

n/a (presale)

Buy MMTR

BitBot (BITBOT)

Utility

$?

n/a (presale)

Buy BITBOT

Shiba Memu

AI-marketed meme token

$?

n/a (presale)

Buy SHMU

Chancer

Predictive markets

$?

n/a (presale)

Buy CHANCER

Alt Signals

Trading signals

$?

n/a (presale)

Buy ASI

Metacade

Gaming

None

$25 million

Buy MCADE

Ethereum

Smart contracts, DApps

None

$230 billion

Buy ETH

Polygon

Layer-two scaling

None

$7.2 billion

Buy MATIC

Uniswap

DEX

None

$4.4 billion

Buy UNI

Wrapped Bitcoin

Bitcoin price tracking

None

$4.7 billion

Buy WBTC

Decentraland

Metaverse

None

$758 million

Buy MANA

Shiba Inu

Meme token

None

$4.6 billion

Buy SHIB

Pepe

Meme token

None

$660 million

Buy PEPE

Aave

Lending

None

$1 billion

Buy AAVE

Lido DAO

Staking

None

$1.8 billion

Buy LDO

Reviewing the Top 16 ERC-20 Tokens to Buy Now

Bitcoin Dogs ($0DOG) – Best Bitcoin BRC-20 Token

Bitcoin Dogs’ native token, $0DOG, will launch as the first-ever ICO on the Bitcoin blockchain. Thanks to cutting-edge Bitcoin Ordinal technology, Bitcoin Dogs is pushing the boundary of what is being built on the Bitcoin network.

By combining memecoins, NFTs, and Ordinals, this project aims to go where none has gone before along with all who dare to run ahead of the pack. Given the industry’s love for breaking new milestones, this project will attract the interest of people within and outside the Bitcoin community.

Why invest in Bitcoin Dogs?

Bitcoin Dogs keys into strong crypto narratives like BRC-20 and the Bitcoin halving that could place it in investors’ sights, and allow for innovation and significant upside; several BRC-20 projects that have launched have garnered traction from investors and Bitcoin enthusiasts.

Bitcoin Dogs has gone further than most other projects to build the first Bitcoin-native gaming ecosystem with tokens, a planned NFT collection, and even games further down the line.

Bitcoin on-chain metrics data from Dune Analytics show a significant increase in transaction count on the blockchain that started close to the end of January 2023, when Ordinals was launched.

Higher volumes combined with the Bitcoin halving in April 2024 could catalyze significant growth for the network and its most promising projects, like Bitcoin Dogs.

Risks in Investing in Bitcoin Dogs

Bitcoin Dogs is a new project attempting a feat that has never been done before. As such, there are bound to be obstacles that are novel to this project, and a history of token launches shows that plans are hardly ever without hiccups.

$0DOG will be the native token of the Bitcoin Dog ecosystem. It has a maximum supply of 900 million units, 90% of which is allocated to the presale. This means that investors will get the bulk of tokens, making this as close to a fair launch project as possible.

To join this project early, head over to the Bitcoin Dogs website.

Memeinator (MMTR) – Best New ERC-20 Token

meminaator crypto coin

Memeinator is a memecoin with a twist. While other memecoins adopt an animal theme, either a dog or frog, Memeinator has chosen to adopt themes from the wildly popular Terminator series. It features terminator dogs that have traveled back in time to dominate the meme market.

Why invest in Memeinator?

In the memecoin space, virality is the difference between success and failure. Memeinator has employed innovative marketing strategies, an engaging story, and an upcoming suite of products to keep its growing community engaged.

Despite the uncertainty of the memecoin space, Memeinator has displayed the potential to create a community of loyal supporters by offering innovative rewards. One of which is a trip to space on the Virgin Galactic, worth a whopping $250,000.

In the future, the MMTR token will be the key to unlocking the ecosystem which will include exclusive NFTs and an action game.

Risks in investing in Memeinator

Big plans and hype are common tools that memecoins employ to get people onboard, and while Memeinator is making strides, it is still untested. Most memecoins fail, and there is a possibility that Memeinator will as well.

MMTR has a maximum supply of 1 billion tokens, 62.5% of which is on offer in the presale which is currently ongoing. This is suitable as most of the supply will be in the hands of the public, making it less prone to manipulation.

To join the presale, head over to the Memeinator site.

Bitbot (BITBOT) – Best Crypto Trading Bot

bitbot crypto trading bot website homepage

Bitbot is a crypto trading bot that allows you to trade cryptos on-chain using simple text instructions on Telegram. The bot is part of a rising trend of people using bots with instant execution speeds to keep up with institutional traders.

These bots are usually integrated with the Telegram messaging platform, allowing users to control their trading activities using simple commands. Because of their ease, efficiency, and speed, traders can use them to uncover and buy tokens before they launch on major exchanges.

Why invest in Bitbot?

Bitbot offers features that place it ahead of other trading bots. The most pertinent is its emphasis on decentralization. Most Telegram bots hold on to their users’ private keys, creating an attack vector.

We saw this happen with popular bots like Unibot which was hacked in October 2023. The attacker could drain funds from connected wallets because the platform stored its users’ private keys.

Bitbot uses a completely decentralized structure to ensure users are always in charge of their tokens.

Risks in investing in Bitbot

While the bot has utility, the success of its token depends on the company’s ability to attract and retain users, which is usually easier to accomplish during a bull market than a bearish one.

2024 is expected to be bullish thanks to Bitcoin’s halving, however, interest beyond the bull season is yet to be determined.

Bitbot has a total supply of 1 billion tokens, 30% of which will be sold in an upcoming presale event. This presale includes a competition that will reward participants with up to $100,000. To stay current on the presale, visit the Bitbot website.

Shiba Memu (SHMU) – Best AI-Powered Marketing Coin

shiba-memu

Shiba Memu is an exciting new meme token to the crypto market that will use generative AI in order to autonomously market itself online. This will enable it to maintain visibility and exposure at a time when many of its rival meme coins may struggle to keep the market interested.

Why Invest In Shiba Memu?

Due to list its native SHMU token on exchanges in Q3 2023, Shiba Memu’s AI-powered marketing dashboard will go live by the end of the year. It’s this dashboard that will display all of the token’s self-generated marketing activity, enabling holders to see social media posts promoting the token, as well as press releases, blogs and other online material.

Interestingly, Shiba Memu will harness a combination of natural language processing (NLP), sentiment analysis and image recognition in order to generate its promotional content. Yet it will also use such technologies to adapt the content it produces in response to what people are saying about it online, with the token’s algorithms able to use NLP to scan posts that mention it, for instance.

At a time when the market has been inundated with junk meme tokens that offer nothing new whatsoever (and that often rip off previous meme coins), it’s very refreshing to see a crypto project such as Shiba Memu emerge. More importantly, its self-promotional ability may enable it to generate an online following more quickly than other similar coins, something which in turn could help boost its price more quickly.

SHMU is currently available through its ongoing presale at a price of $0.014275 , with the token having a total maximum supply of 1 billion. 85% of this has been set aside for the presale, making it a very decentralized meme coin compared to many of its rivals.

Risks Of Investing In Shiba Memu

As a meme token, Shiba Memu may be more exposed to volatility than certain other cryptocurrencies. This can be a positive during periods of growth and bullishness, but losses can be amplified, even if the project’s AI-based promotional features are designed to counteract this.

Buy Shiba Memu Here

Chancer (CHANCER) – Best ERC-20 Peer-To-Peer Betting Coin

chancer

Chancer is an innovative new predictive markets platform that allows users to bet amongst their peers in the crypto space. Operating on BNB Chain, it enables the creation of betting markets spanning various domains, from sports to politics, all executed through smart contracts in a way that ensures seamless and timely payments for users.

Why Invest In Chancer?

Chancer has taken an important step towards bringing decentralization and transparency to the Bitcoin gambling industry, providing users with the chance to create and profit from their own personalized betting markets. Any event that has a quantifiable or binary outcome can become the subject for a predictive market on Chancer, with users able to invite their friends and contacts to participate in the markets they create.

Users are also able to determine the odds, rules, and payouts for their predictive markets, with Chancer enabling them to live stream updates, developments and outcomes as they happen. This all helps users to grow communities around the markets they create, which in turn drives usage and adoption of Chancer itself.

As a central part of the Chancer ecosystem, the native CHANCER token is used to place bets and for payouts. Holders of the token also receive discounts on platform fees, as well as the ability to stake the coin and thereby receive a passive yield.

Chancer is due to launch by the end of Q3 2023, with investors having the chance to buy CHANCER via the token’s presale. One (1) CHANCER token is now available for 0.01 BUSD, with the presale being allocated 65% of the altcoin’s total maximum supply of 1.5 billion.

Risks of Investing in Chancer

While Chancer is a rare example of a new top altcoin with a compelling use case and solid fundamentals, there’s always the risk that it doesn’t attract the level of adoption it would prefer. That said, buying these new tokens as early as possible during its presale – when its price is still low – is one way of mitigating risk.

Buy Chancer Here

Alt Signals (ASI) – Best Trading Signals Utility Token

After launching back in 2017 to provide trading signals and analytical tools, Alt Signals is now in the process of launching a range of AI-powered features that could help crypto traders stay one step ahead of the market.

Why Invest In Alt Signals?

Alt Signals’ new AI-based features will be released in beta form in the fourth quarter of the year, with these features based around a mix of machine learning, natural language processing (NLP) and sentiment analysis. Together, they’ll provide crypto investors with buys-sell signals, trading patterns and sentiment analysis, while the use of reinforcement learning will enable the algorithms driving such features to improve with time.

At the heart of this platform is Alt Signals’ native token, ASI, which will be used to pay for subscriptions that enables users access the above features. There will be three subscription tiers, with the presale for ASI set to finish by the end of Q3 2023.

This ongoing  presale is currently selling ASI at a price of $0.01875, with just over 52% of its allocation having already been sold. This gives investors only a limited window of opportunity in which to get their hands on the token, which could really surge once Alt Signals’ new AI-powered features are launched to the crypto market.

Risks Of Investing In Alt Signals

Alt Signals has some really strong fundamentals, yet it should be noted that it has several rivals in the market analysis and trading signals sector, something which could potentially limit this digital assets growth.

Buy Alt Signals Here

Metacade (MCADE) – Best ERC-20 Web3 Gaming Coin

metacade

Metacade is a one-stop hub for play-to-earn video games, with its platform offering a growing selection of classic games and indie titles, while also providing social features that promise to turn it into an online community for gamers.

Why Invest In Metacade?

Having gone live in Q2 2023, Metacade’s platform already supports a wide roster of video games, with players able to earn community rewards for playing. These rewards are paid out in one of the best gaming cryptos in the form of the platform’s native token, MCADE, with players potentially earning more depending on where they rank on community leaderboards.

Metacade is also targeted at developers, who will be able to share alpha versions of their games with the platform’s users, who in turn will be able to provide early reviews and feedback. By allowing input from gamers in the development of titles, Metacade promises to raise the overall quality of games released through its channels.

The platform’s presale has already come to an end, with MCADE now widely available to trade on platforms such as Uniswap and Coinbase. The token can also be staked, something which could make playing video games doubly profitable.

Risks of Investing In Metacade

As a new, smaller cap token, Metacade is likely to be exposed to greater volatility than bigger cryptocurrencies. Of course, this could end up working in the coin’s favor, yet traders should be aware of any potential downside.

Buy Metacade

Ethereum (ETH) – Best High-Market Cap Token

The first and arguably still the best ERC-20 crypto, Ethereum (ETH) is the second-biggest cryptocurrency in the market in terms of its cap, second only to Bitcoin (BTC).

Why Invest In Ethereum?

Unveiled in 2014 and launched in 2015, Ethereum is a smart contracts platform that serves as the underlying base layer and token standard for a whole ecosystem of decentralized applications and other networks. It enjoys first-mover advantages and serious network effects in comparison to many of its rivals, with its total value locked in accounting for roughly 58% of the entire cryptocurrency sector.

Because Ethereum remains the go-to smart contract platform for app developers, ETH tokens remain in high demand as an ERC-20 crypto. The token is needed to pay for transaction fees on the Ethereum blockchain network, meaning that the more Ethereum grows, the higher ETH should rise in price and the potential to earn rewards.

Recent upgrades to Ethereum should help push ETH’s price even higher in the longer term. In particular, Ethereum successfully made the shift to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism in 2022, something which has resulted in more ETH being taken out of circulation (to stake it) and less new ETH being minted with each new block.

Combined with 2021’s EIP-1559 upgrade (which burns fees), these changes mean that ETH has now become deflationary during periods of peak traffic. Such factors should mean that it appreciates significantly in the future for token holders.

Risks Of Investing In Ethereum

While Ethereum is one of the safest cryptocurrencies in the market to invest in, it too is subject to price volatility. Such volatility can be caused by macroeconomic factors that dampen investor confidence, while they can also be caused by factors (e.g. regulatory, legal, commercial) that can drag the cryptocurrency market down as a whole.

You can Buy Ethereum on exchanges like eToro

Polygon (MATIC) – Best ERC-20 Layer-Two Coin

Polygon cryptocurrency website homepage showing options to build stake and use polygon

Polygon is the biggest layer-two network for Ethereum in terms of traffic and total value locked in, making its native MATIC token one of the best ERC-20 tokens to buy as an investment.

Why Invest In Polygon?

Polygon has established itself as one of the biggest layer-two networks for Ethereum in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, with the crypto project platform first launched in 2017 as the Matic Network. It has since grown to account for around $1 billion in total value locked in, making it bigger and more popular than many layer-one blockchain crypto projects.

As a layer-two network, Polygon provides Ethereum-based apps and users with cheaper and faster transactions. It’s actually the fourth-biggest platform in the crypto ecosystem with regards to NFT sales volumes, again outperforming most layer-one blockchains.

Polygon has also celebrated a number of significant launches and partnerships over the years. One of the most recent was with German telecoms giant Deutsche Telekom, who became one of Polygon’s 100 validators in July 2023.

Given such success, MATIC stands as a very good ERC-20 crypto to buy. As with many other ERC-20 coins, it will become more in-demand and more valuable in parallel with the growth of its native platform, potentially putting this crypto project in line for big gains over the longer term for token holders.

Risks Of Investing In Polygon

Because Polygon and Ethereum count as two of the most popular networks in the crypto market and ecosystem, there are relatively few risks related to investing in Polygon. However, Polygon has been affected by a small number of outages in its recent history, which have affected its price.

You can buy Polygon on crypto exchanges like eToro

Uniswap (UNI) – Best DEX Coin

uniswap

Uniswap is the biggest decentralized exchange (DEX) in the crypto ecosystem, with its growth helping to boost the price of its native UNI token, which is an ERC-20 crypto token standard.

Why Invest In Uniswap?

Uniswap has been the biggest DEX in crypto for several years now, with the platform comfortably outperforming its nearest rivals in relation to 24-hour trading volume. It enables investors to trade a vast majority of crypto projects with just over 900 tokens at last count, with its native UNI token currently ranking 17th in the market for capitalization.

Launched in 2018 by a former mechanical engineer at Siemens, Uniswap is a decentralized exchange in the sense that there’s no centralized entity or company that’s responsible for holding the assets of users and executing trades. Instead, users retain full self-custody of their cryptocurrencies in their crypto wallet, which they can trade by the use of user-generated liquidity pools and smart contracts.

What’s bullish about Uniswap is that centralized exchanges have increasingly come under regulatory fire in recent months, as witnessed with Coinbase and Binance in the United States, for example. Because of their decentralization, DEXes have so far escaped regulatory scrutiny, something which may help Uniswap and others to grow at the expense of their centralized counterparts.

Risks Of Investing In Uniswap

The main risk related to Uniswap is that, as a Decentralized platform, it can be subject to hacks, crypto scams and technical issues. This was evident in July 2022, when a liquidity provider on the platform lost $8 million in a phishing attack.

You can buy Uniswap on crypto exchanges like eToro

Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) – ERC-20 Token That Tracks Bitcoin Price

wrapped

Wrapped Bitcoin is an ERC-20 token that’s used for trading on DeFi platforms and that tracks the price of Bitcoin (BTC), making it potentially valuable if the latter experiences rallies.

Why Invest In Wrapped Bitcoin?

Wrapped Bitcoin is one of the best ERC-20 cryptos simply by virtue of it tracking the price of Bitcoin, which remains the biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Launched in 2019, it’s a wrapped token most commonly used on Ethereum blockchain network-based decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, often for lending or crypto staking purposes.

Wrapped Bitcoin is overseen by a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that’s responsible for its management and for adding custodians to its network. There’s currently more than $4.7 billion in WBTC in circulation, with the token’s DAO maintaining a proof-of-assets ledger which demonstrates that all WBTC in circulation is backed 1:1 by real Bitcoin.

This makes WBTC a secure ERC-20 crypto, yet what makes it profitable compared to other tokens is the fact that it has to track the price of Bitcoin. Because BTC remains one of the most reliably profitable tokens in the market, this makes WBTC profitable for passive income by default. And when you add the possibility to stake and lend Wrapped Bitcoin in order to earn additional passive income, WBTC becomes a very attractive token for the virtual world.

Risks Of Investing In Wrapped Bitcoin

While the system on which Wrapped Bitcoin is generally secure and sound with network security, there remains a distant risk of WBTC becoming unpegged from Bitcoin itself. This happened briefly in November 2022, when it emerged that now-bankrupt exchange FTX was the largest issuer of Wrapped Bitcoin.

You can Buy Wrapped Bitcoin on crypto exchanges like Coinbase

Decentraland (MANA) – Best Metaverse Coin

decentraland

Decentraland is one of the earliest and biggest Metaverse crypto platforms in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, making its native MANA token one of the best ERC-20 cryptos in the market.

Why Invest In Decentraland?

The Metaverse has been a hot topic ever since Facebook pivoted into the sector in late 2021, yet Decentraland has been building its own presence in virtual reality for several years now. It launched to the public in December 2020, and has since expanded to include multiple districts and areas of virtual land that can be purchased using its native token, MANA.

Since launching, Decentraland has seen multiple brands establish presences in its virtual world, including Samsung, Coca-Cola, Nike Adidas and Louis Vuitton. Such partnerships have enabled Decentraland to stay ahead of most of its rivals, ensuring that MANA is likely to remain a valuable investment for years to come.

Because MANA has multiple uses within Decentraland’s ecosystem (e.g. creating tokens for buying land and in-game items), it’s likely to continue growing as Decentraland attracts more users. And with Facebook/Meta still working hard to popularize the idea of the Metaverse, Decentraland may only become more popular in the future for the best Metaverse crypto holders and investors.

Risks Of Investing In Decentraland

The only real risk of investing in Decentraland is that, despite Facebook’s best efforts, the real world data suggests that the public may not go for the Metaverse in a big way, meaning that the platform never reaches truly significant usage figures. There’s also a chance that it may be outperformed by some of its biggest rivals, such as the Sandbox (SAND).

You can Buy Decentraland on crypto exchanges like eToro

Shiba Inu (SHIB) – Best ERC-20 Meme Token

shiba-inu

Shiba Inu is, aside from Dogecoin (DOGE), the most popular meme token in the cryptocurrency market, making it the most popular Ethereum network ERC-20 meme token by default.

Why Invest In Shiba Inu?

Astonishingly, SHIB has risen in value by more than 13,000,000% since launching in November 2020, making it the most profitable major cryptocurrency since this date. Its premise is very simple: it’s a meme token with a cute Shiba Inu dog as its mascot, and with a loyal fanbase and community ready to support meme token’s price.

That’s about it, yet Shiba Inu has actually been expanding its ecosystem in recent months, all with the aim of giving it enough wider utility to make it more sustainable as an investment.

For example, developers are in the process of rolling out its own layer-two network, Shbarium, which is currently live in beta form and due in the next few months. It has also recently unveiled its own NFT series, Shibacals, which will be tied to real-world objects via the use of near-field communication tags.

And with developers also working on SHIB: The Metaverse, Shiba Inu could be a very good bet for the longer term.

Risks Of Investing In Shiba Inu

The main risk of investing in Shiba Inu stems from the possibility that its planned launches – such as for Shibarium and Shibacals – fail to attract more users. Also, now that SHIB has gained by more than 13,000,000% since its launch, it’s arguable that it will no longer experience any really massive gains.

You can Buy Shiba Inu on crypto exchanges like Coinbase

Pepe (PEPE) – Best Coin Under $1

pepe

Pepe is one of the biggest success stories of 2023, with the new ERC-20 meme token wildly outperforming the market en route to entering the Top-100 coins by market capitalization.

Why Invest In Pepe?

While the first half of 2023 wasn’t a great period for the cryptocurrency market as a whole, it did witness the emergence of a new wave of top meme tokens, with many comfortably outperforming established coins as investors sought big returns. The best-performing of these was Pepe (PEPE), which has already separated itself from 99% of other new meme tokens by virtue of having more staying power.

As a meme token, PEPE lacks real fundamentals and utility, yet it has been able to attract a sizable community of holders and supporters. This has been the key to its success in comparison to other new meme coins, with its community helping to support the token and attract new buyers.

On top of this, PEPE has been able to secure a number of listings from high-profile exchanges, including Binance, OKX, KuCoin, Crypto.com and Huobi. This puts it in a good position to continue growing into the future, with more listings potentially pushing its price even higher.

Risks Of Investing In Pepe

Because PEPE is a relatively new meme coin with no discernible fundamentals, its price could easily suffer a terminal decline. As such, traders should do their research and look at wider demand for the token (particularly from whales) before investing.

You can Buy PEPE on crypto exchanges like Binance

Aave (AAVE) – Best DeFi Token

aave

Aave is one of the biggest DeFi platforms in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, enabling users to borrow and lend tokens, as well as earn interest on holdings with your crypto wallet.

Why Invest In Aave?

Launched in 2017 as ETHLend, Aave is a decentralized peer-to-peer lending platform that has also branched out in more recent years to enable its users to earn interest on deposits. DappRadar currently ranks it as the third-biggest and best DeFi app in terms of a combination of factors,  with a 30-day transaction volume of around $900 million.

Its native token, AAVE, functions as a governance token, enabling holders to vote on a range of proposals and potential upgrades. Importantly, the platform also has its own algorithmic stablecoin, Dai (DAI), which is over-collateralized with other cryptocurrencies (e.g. Ethereum) in order to maintain its peg with the US dollar.

The decentralization of Dai contrasts favorably with the centralized and somewhat opaque nature of stablecoins such as Tether (USDT) and USDC, which has struggled in recent months to recover from a number of banking/exchange collapses. Because centralized stablecoins have fallen out of favor to a degree, decentralized alternatives such as Dai have grown, helping AAVE to grow in turn.

Risks of Investing in Aave

The biggest risk to Aave is that its related stablecoin, Dai, de-pegs from the US dollar. However, because Dai is overcollateralized, this risk is fairly remote.

You can Buy AAVE on crypto exchanges like eToro

Lido DAO (LDO) – Best ERC-20 Governance Token

lida

Lido DAO is the governance token of Lido, which is the biggest staking-as-a-service platform for staking Ethereum.

Why Invest In Lido DAO?

Lido launched in December 2020, a few weeks after Ethereum began its process of transitioning to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. Its platform enables users to stake their ETH, even if they don’t hold the 32 ETH necessary stake independently.

While there are other Ethereum staking platforms in the ecosystem (e.g. Rocket Pool), Lido is comfortably the largest. It currently accounts for 32% of all staked Ethereum (which amounts to 24 million ETH), with its next-biggest rival – Coinbase – standing at 10%.

Given the size and success of Lido, its native LDO token has quickly become one of the biggest cryptocurrencies in the market, and currently stands at 32nd in terms of market cap. LDO serves as a governance token for Lido’s DAO, granting holders the right to vote on proposals.

Risks Of Investing In Lido DAO

LDO is a relatively safe coin to invest in, yet one remote risk relates to the possibility of a hack affecting Lido, even if no such hack has happened to date.

You can Buy Lido DAO on crypto exchanges like Coinbase

What are ERC-20 Tokens?

ERC-20 coins are cryptocurrencies which operate on Ethereum, the biggest blockchain in the crypto ecosystem in terms of traffic and total value locked in. ERC-20 is a technical standard which describes how ERC-20 cryptos function, with such coins designed to operate with smart contracts.

ERC-20 coins are also designed to be fungible, meaning that 1 unit of the same ERC-20 token is identical in value to another unit of the same token. This distinguishes them from ERC-21 tokens, which are Ethereum-based tokens designed to be non-fungible (e.g. NFTs and digital collectibles).

What are the Benefits of Investing in ERC-20 Cryptos?

There are a variety of benefits to investing in ERC-20 coins, most of which relate to Ethereum and its status as the leading layer-one smart contract blockchain.

Reliability

As one of the longest-running and biggest blockchain networks, the Ethereum blockchain provides ERC-20 cryptos with the advantage of reliability. Unlike some of its rivals, Ethereum has never experienced significant downtime or outages, meaning that investors can rest assured that their ability to buy, sell or use an ERC-20 will not likely ever be affected by technical issues.

Profitability

The fact that ERC-20 tokens run on Ethereum blockchain arguably provides them with more visibility and accessibility than they’d receive from running on a rival chain. That is, more investors have other ERC-20 coins (such as ETH) that they can use to buy newer ERC-20 assets, which thereby are exposed to a bigger potential market as a result. Likewise, exchanges may be more willing to list ERC-20 tokens.

Are ERC-20 Tokens Safe to Buy?

While ERC-20 tokens are mostly safe to buy from a technical perspective, they carry the same market risks as most other cryptocurrencies. This means they can be subject to volatility, with negative events and developments often having a disproportionate impact on prices.

In addition, using ERC-20 coins on DeFi platforms and decentralized exchanges can occasionally expose traders to the risk of hacks and other exploits. For example, 2022 witnessed thefts from DeFi platforms worth more than $750 million. Traders should therefore use due diligence when picking which DeFi platforms to trade ERC-20 tokens with.

How are ERC-20 Tokens and the Ethereum Blockchain Connected?

ERC-20 tokens are based and operate on the Ethereum blockchain. They are essentially lines of code written in Ethereum blocks, with Ethereum ERC-20 token standard defining how they function and behave.

While ERC-20 cryptos themselves can be used only with the Ethereum blockchain, there are bridges and protocols which can create substitute versions of ERC-20 tokens to be used with other blockchains. An example of this is the stablecoin Tether (USDT), which operates not only as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum blockchain, but also on such other blockchains as Tron, Solana and Avalanche.

How to Buy ERC-20 Cryptos

Buying ERC-20 tokens can usually be done in one of two ways, depending on whether you’re using a centralized exchange (CEX) or a decentralized exchange alternative. eToro is a good choice as an exchange.

If you’re using a CEX, buying an ERC-20 involves the following simple steps:

1. Open an Account

Sign up for an account with the exchange of your choice, if you haven’t done so already.

2. Verify your Account

Next, verify your account by completing your profile and submitting KYC data like a valid ID and a proof of address document like a utility bill.

3. Make a Deposit

Log into your exchange account and deposit fiat currency into it. This can usually be done by going to the ‘funding’ page.

4. Buy Crypto

Once you have fiat currency, use it to buy your ERC-20 token of choice. If there isn’t a trading pair for the token you’d like and your fiat currency, first buy Ethereum, and then trade the ETH for the desired ERC-20 token.

Where to Buy New Coins

However, if you’re looking to buy an ERC-20 token that isn’t widely listed on centralized exchanges, you will likely need to follow a different process. This is particularly the case if the token in question is holding its presale and you will need a crypto wallet, or if it has only just been listed on a few decentralized trading platforms.

Here’s an example involving the purchase of Chancer (CHANCER), which is currently in the middle of its presale.

  1. Download a software wallet, such as MetaMask, Trust Wallet or WalletConnect. These can be downloaded for your computer’s browser by going to their respective websites.
  2. Buy some ETH on a centralized exchange and then send it to your software wallet.
  3. To buy CHANCER, go to Chancer’s website and connect your software wallet. This can be done by clicking the ‘Connect Your Wallet’ in the top-right corner of the project’s homepage.
  4. Lastly, choose the amount of CHANCER you’d like to buy and click ‘Buy.’

The Latest ERC-20 Token News

  • Chancer presale raises more than $800,000 in only a few weeks, in a sign of investor appetite for peer-to-peer predictive market platforms.
  • Ethereum has been outperforming Bitcoin since the Merge, with the altcoin’s circulating supply actually declining since last September.
  • Shiba Memu presale raises $1 million as investors warm to concept of self-marketed meme token.
  • Shiba Inu has rallied since the unveiling of Shibacals, which are NFTs tied to real-world physical collectibles.

Final Thoughts on the Best ERC-20 Cryptos

ERC-20 tokens are cryptocurrencies which run on the Ethereum blockchain. There are thousands of such tokens in the market, spanning many different use cases and purposes, with the coins covered in this article being among the best.

While each token listed above has its benefits, we’ve chosen Chancer (CHANCER) as our best ERC-20 crypto in this case because it presents an innovative new application of blockchain technology. Its predictive market platform offers its users something they haven’t really seen up until now, and judging by the success of its presale, it looks set to become a popular cryptocurrency.

Methodology - How We Picked the Best ERC-20 Coins

We picked the best ERC-20 tokens by carefully and comprehensively reviewing the cryptocurrency market. We evaluated established coins in terms of their fundamentals, price histories and user bases, and we also included newer tokens based on their potential for growth and adoption.

As outlined in our ‘how we test’ article, we’ve also used a token’s services and platforms wherever available in order to form a clear idea of how it works in practice. Such research is why you can trust us when we say that the tokens reviewed above are the best ERC-20 cryptos available in the market right now.

FAQs

Which ERC-20 Coins Are Best?
Ethereum remains the biggest ERC-20 coin by market cap, yet there are a growing number of smaller ERC-20 tokens that are increasingly showing potential, including Chancer (CHANCER), Shiba Memu (SHMU), Alt Signals (ASI) and Metacade (MCADE).
What is an ERC-20 Coin?
An ERC-20 coin is a cryptocurrency running on the Ethereum blockchain using the ERC-20 technical standard.
Are ERC-20 Cryptos Worth Buying?
ERC-20 cryptos are definitely worth buying, given the reliability, scalability and popularity of Ethereum as a blockchain platform.
Are ERC-20 Tokens Expensive?
ERC-20 tokens can be expensive, especially well-established coins such as Ethereum, Wrapped Bitcoin and Aave. However, there are a wide variety of smaller cap ERC-20 tokens that aren’t expensive, costing well under $1 or even less.
Is ERC-20 the Same as ETH?
While Ethereum (ETH) is an ERC-20 token, not all ERC-20 tokens are ETH. ERC-20 is a token standard that is used by thousands of cryptocurrencies running on the Ethereum blockchain, and not just ETH.