A couple of exciting headlines that followed several months of bad news have generated fresh interest in $BTC and the crypto markets.

If BlackRock’s filing for the first-ever spot Bitcoin ETF in the US is successful, this would open #bitcoin trading to the masses and potentially ignite a new Bitcoin rally.

A clean close above the 31.500 level would make even the most ardent bears turn bullish and the price of BTC would likely skyrocket to at least 40k.

Once Bitcoin settles, and money starts pouring towards altcoins, we could witness a major altcoin season. But where will money pour into (besides Ethereum)?

I firmly believe that many of the most successful tokens of the next altcoin rally haven’t even been released yet. The crypto winter was the perfect time to develop some exceptional crypto-related technologies.

Let’s look at the top 7 projects whose innovative solutions have attracted the impressive backing of major VCs and whose tokens could explode during the next surge.

1. LayerZero ($ZRO)

Layerzero is an interoperability protocol - an omnichain - designed to connect different blockchains.

Sending crypto funds between different networks can be a hassle and transferring assets via bridges requires a separate interface for each pair of chains.

Layer Zero wants to create a base interoperability layer for the entire blockchain ecosystem, so a true omnichain solution.

By using an Oracle and a Relayer, Layer Zero lets you easily transfer assets across multiple chains much more effectively than a bridge. It’s also more secure and cost-effective.

Several established projects, such as SushiSwap, PancakeSwap, Uniswap, Trader Joe, Radiant Capital, and Hashflow, have already implemented Layer Zero as their blockchain interoperability solution.

The Layer Zero team has raised $263 million from top VC funds, including Sequoia Capital, a16z, Binance Labs, Coinbase, Tiger Global, Polygon, and many others.

The $ZRO token is mentioned in LayerZero’s code, so we know the token will one day exist. Although the team has not confirmed an airdrop, LayerZero airdrop is one of the most anticipated in crypto history and will likely be huge.

2. zkSync ($ZKS)

ZkSync is a Layer 2 protocol enabling unlimited Ethereum scaling by using zero-knowledge rollups. Its aim is to support general-purpose applications without costly gas fees and performance barriers.

ZK-rollups bundle transactions into batches and execute them off-chain. They store only the minimum amount of data on-chain, making the process faster and cheaper.

Finding solutions for Ethereum’s inherent scaling issues is of absolute necessity and ZK-rollups are regarded as one of the most promising technologies ready to tackle this problem.

zkSync has raised $458 million from Blockchain Capital, DragonFly Capital, a15z, and numerous other funds.

Once zkSync becomes fully decentralized, the blockchain will have a native token as a reward mechanism for rollup operators and staking.

Just like LayerZero, ZkSync Airdrop is expected to be one of the biggest in crypto history. 

3. Aztec ($AZTEC)

Aztec is a layer 2 zk-rollup solution for Ethereum, focused on privacy.

Aztec is an encrypted  that uses Blockchain zk-rollup proofs to enable confidential transactions out of the box.

Its goal is to ultimately allow developers to build fully programable, privacy-preserving smart contracts using a programming language called Noir.

As Aztec’s focus on privacy is incompatible with the EVM architecture and Solidity’s semantics, the team has no plans for EVM compatibility or to support Solidity.

Aztec has raised $119 million from ConsenSys, Paradigm, a16z, and other top VCs. It currently does not have a token, but a future airdrop is probable.

Aztec announced the discontinuation of zk.money which enabled fully private ZK transactions, as well as Aztec Connect, the infrastructure that powered it.

The team’s focus will now shift toward the development of its next-generation decentralized general-use encrypted zkRollup, and Noir — the universal language to write programs in zero knowledge.

4. Celestia

Celestia presents itself as “the first modular blockchain network, built to enable anyone to easily deploy their blockchain with minimal overhead.”

It is a minimal blockchain meaning it only orders and publishes transactions but does not execute them.

By separating consensus from execution, Celestia wants to enable anyone to easily deploy their blockchain without the hassle of bootstrapping a new consensus network.

Celestia Labs has raised $55 million in rounds led by #Binance , Bain Capital Crypto, and Polychain Capital.

The team will likely airdrop a token in the near future although this hasn’t been confirmed. To qualify you would need to learn how to set up and run a node on the Celestia network.

5. Scroll

Scroll is a general-purpose #zk-rollup project building a zkEVM (Zero Knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine).

A zkEVM is a technology that can execute smart contracts compatible with zero-knowledge-proof computations and existing Ethereum infrastructure. This makes it very powerful.

#zkEVM preserve the security of the Ethereum network while drastically reducing the cost and improving the speed of transactions.

Most early zk-rollups projects are application specific, restricted to specific crypto use-case. Scroll, on the other hand, wants to provide compatibility with any Ethereum app.

Scroll has raised $80 million from Polychain Capital and other funds.

Scroll Alpha Testnet is live since February. You can connect your wallet and then send your Goerli tokens between Ethereum and Scroll using the Scroll Bridge.

Scroll doesn’t have a token yet, but is expected to release one later this year at the launch of its mainnet.

6. Fuel ($FUEL)

Fuel network, developed by Fuel Labs, defines itself as the fastest execution layer for modular blockchains.

Fuel addresses Ethereum scalability problems with a concept called modularity. This means the execution layer is separate from the data availability and consensus layer.

Fuel’s goal is to provide the highest security and flexible throughput on Ethereum. To achieve this, it relies on Parallel Transaction Execution, Fuel Virtual Machine (FuelVM), and the Sway programming language.

Fuel Network has raised $81 million from Blockchain Capital, Stratos Technologies, Coin Fund, and other firms. For now, the team has not confirmed the release of a token, but it’s likely to airdrop a token ahead of the launch of its mainnet.

Fuel is currently in the Beta 3 testnet phase. To try the testnet, you need to install Fuel wallet and request some test ETH from the faucet. You can then try out different dApps from Fuel’s rich ecosystem.

7. Shardeum

Shardeum is a scalable L1 blockchain network that increases transactions per second by adding more nodes.

It uses a technology called sharding to split the blockchain network into smaller networks called Shards. This distributes the computational workload to individual Shards making the network faster, more scalable, and energy efficient.

Shardeum’s native utility token SHM is confirmed. It will have a maximum supply of 508 million. The Token Generation Event (TGE) is expected in Q3/Q4 of 2023.

SHM will be used to pay gas fees, execute transfers, reward miners, and for other activities.

The team raised over $18 million from the Spartan Group and other VCs.

Zooming Out

The above projects have huge potential for the next bull run but don’t have tokens yet. This means you’re early to the party!

You can try to gain free tokens by participating in tasks required for the airdrop, you can participate in a potential presale or an ICO, or you can simply wait for the tokens to become publicly available for trading.

Just keep in mind that when a token is listed on an exchange after an airdrop or an ICO, its price almost always tumbles. Early investors or airdrop recipients will take profits upon listing, so don’t jump in the first day. It’s best to wait for the price to find its bottom before buying.

Remember that all these projects might not succeed. Don’t go all in on a single project and continue to do your research.

I will also keep an eye on these tokens and post updates in future articles

Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and should not be considered as financial or any other advice. Always do your own due diligence before investing your hard-earned money.

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