Glossary
Altcoin
Any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin. Originally a derisive term, now a neutral catch-all for the rest of the market.
"Altcoin" is shorthand for any cryptocurrency that is not Bitcoin. The label covers everything from major Layer-1 tokens (ETH, SOL) to stablecoins, governance tokens, and memecoins.
The term emerged in the early 2010s when Bitcoin was effectively the only chain anyone discussed; today the altcoin universe contains tens of thousands of assets across dozens of chains, with wildly different designs, supply schedules, and security assumptions.