Want to skip straight to the answer? Our picks for the best altcoins in 2021 are Ethereum, Uniswap, Chainlink, Aave and Stellar Lumens!

The term altcoin refers to any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin. In 2017, altcoins primarily included Bitcoin competitors such as Litecoin, Dogecoin and thousands of pump-and-dump schemes with fancy modern websites.

Now, with the explosion of decentralized finance (DeFi) and the increased usage of smart contracts, the best altcoins belong to the best projects and companies in the blockchain space. These DeFi tokens offer more than just speculative value; they have real revenues and great utility within the DeFi industry.

Blockchain companies issue their own cryptocurrency tokens and often make these tokens a requirement to interact with their platforms. If a platform adds value and people want to use it, they will need to purchase their respective token, driving up the price of the asset. Some tokens, like SushiSwap, pay dividends to investors from revenue generated through their smart contracts.

Take a look at our top altcoin picks for 2021. They include a few of the most promising projects in the blockchain space today.