Crypto Dinosaurs Roar: 6 Ancient Cryptocurrencies Still Going Strong

The cryptocurrency world stands out for its rapid pace of innovation, with the rise of new networks, utility coins and, more recently, the endless surge of memecoins adding to an ever-growing list of digital assets. 

New coins rise and fall all of the time, with many never to be seen again after enjoying their all-too-brief moment in the limelight. And yet, a number of the earliest cryptocurrencies continue to hold on, refusing to give up the ghost or the dream that they may one day follow in the footsteps of their illustrious predecessor, Bitcoin and reach the moon. 

We’re talking about “dinosaur coins”, those earliest pioneers that helped to kick off the altcoin movement and spark the Web3 revolution that’s grown to encompass millions of adherents, all waiting patiently for the day that decentralization comes to dominate the world.

These fossilized tokens have long laid dormant, far from the thoughts of the most popular crypto influencers, yet they continue to cling on, with their feverishly loyal communities that continue to hope that they may one day enjoy a renaissance. 

1. Litecoin (LTC)

Litecoin is the creation of former Google engineer Charlie Lee, who was so enamored by Bitcoin that he sought to improve on its codebase, making it faster and more energy efficient. By reducing the time it takes to create new blocks, Lee was able to dramatically increase Litecoin’s transaction speeds when it launched in early 2012. He also simplified the hardware requirements for miners, making the cryptocurrency much more accessible. 

While Bitcoin has gone from strength to strength and become known as “digital gold”, Litecoin is often considered to be a digital form of silver, and it remains one of the top 20 most valuable cryptocurrencies, with LTC being vastly more suitable for small payments and microtransactions than the cumbersome BTC. 

2. Ripple (XRP)

A few years ago you might have been forgiven for thinking that Ripple’s XRP was in terminal decline. While the rest of the crypto industry made tremendous gains during the previous great crypto bull run of 2020, XRP sat at a standstill, never even getting close to the all-time highs it saw during the fall of 2017. 

XRP’s problem was the U.S. government. It found itself sitting in the crosshairs of the SEC and was the subject of a much-publicized legal case that dragged on for years, leaving its future uncertain, even as Ripple the company continued to make progress in signing up more and more banks. 

Launched in June 2012 to facilitate cross-border payments, XRP has suddenly undergone a renaissance, powered by a favorable outcome in its legal struggles with the SEC and the latest, Trump-inspired crypto pump.

In January, it finally reached a new all-time high, eight long years after its previous milestone, marking the start of an exciting new chapter for one of the industry’s most divisive crypto assets.

3. Constellation Network (DAG)

DAG is an eight-year-old cryptocurrency that serves as the native utility token of Constellation Network, the pioneer of the Directed Acyclic Graph architecture from which its name is derived. 

It’s no secret that DAG was in the doldrums for a long, long time after hitting its ATH in late 2021, with its value falling to just a fraction of what it once was. And yet all this time, Constellation itself has been quietly getting on with business, establishing strong links with the U.S. government and its military forces. 

These days, Constellation is at the forefront of the US Air Force’s efforts to embrace blockchain in order to streamline secure access to its most sensitive data.

The Air Force utilizes Constellation’s Hypergraph Network to enable secure data sharing, and the blockchain itself has even been integrated with the Panasonic TOUGHBOOK laptops that are used by military personnel worldwide.

The project has reinvented itself as “America’s Blockchain”, and the consistent gains in DAG’s value suggest that we could be hearing a lot more about this classic cryptocurrency token soon. 

4. Dogecoin (DOGE)

The world’s very first memecoin refuses to die, and with the help of its biggest fan Elon Musk it has grown from little more than a piss take to become one of the most established and widespread cryptocurrencies in the world today. 

Dogecoin dates back to 2013 when it was first forked from another token, the defunct Luckycoin, which in turn was forked from Litecoin. 

The project was leaderless and developerless for years, but it was one of those coins that the community never lost sight of, and with Elon Musk famously saying in 2021 he intends to accept DOGE as a payment for Tesla cars, it suddenly exploded back into life. 

These days, Dogecoin has an active developer team and is widely accepted as payment in thousands of locations worldwide, currently ranked as the 9th most valuable digital asset based on its market capitalization. 

5. Monero (XMR)

One of the most controversial cryptocurrencies ever to have been birthed, Monero was the pioneer of so-called privacy coins that enable users to transact fully anonymously, with both their wallet addresses and transaction amounts being masked from the public. 

Its emphasis on being completely untraceable has made XMR a favorite with hackers worldwide, often the preferred choice of digital asset for creators of ransomware when they demand payments from their victims.

Unlike other privacy-focused coins, such as ZCash, Monero transactions are private by default, making it incredibly difficult for even the best forensic crypto experts to track down any ill-gotten gains. 

Although Monero has taken a lot of stick due to its close association with the darker side of crypto and cyber in general, it has retained an enduring appeal, currently ranked as the 29th most valuable token by market cap, albeit still down just over 50% from its all-time high. 

6. Stellar Lumens (XLM)

Building on the basics of Bitcoin, Stellar Lumens launched in 2014 as a more efficient, open-source and distributed peer-to-peer payments infrastructure that aims to create a “worldwide financial network” that’s available to anyone. 

The project is designed specifically for the unbanked – people who, due to their socioeconomic status, are forced to live outside of the traditional banking system.

Such people are heavily reliant on remittances sent by family members lucky enough to have work in a richer, more developed country, and they can use XLM as a vehicle to transfer the full value of those payments back to their loved ones. 

Uniquely, Stellar Lumens enables the unbanked to connect with the traditional financial ecosystem. It has created an ecosystem of payment gateways that allows a user to send USD, use XLM as an intermediary and then the recipient can cash out in their local currency using a simple payments application.

While Stellar hasn’t gotten the traction enjoyed by some smart contract-based networks like Ethereum, it remains extremely popular, with its token ranked 15th by market cap. 

Long-Lasting Value

The fact that these dinosaur coins are not only hanging in, but in many cases showing renewed signs of life, underscores the importance of projects that offer strong value to their users. 

While the headlines are choc-a-bloc with the latest buzz and hype generated by whatever memecoin happens to have its moment in the spotlight, the resilience of these ancient relics suggests there’s a lot to be said from providing real utility to users.

By solving real-world challenges, our favorite dinosaur coins have earned substantial trust among the crypto community that won’t be eroded with the emergence of the latest fad.