While traders fixate on Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC),Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) and XRP (CRYPTO: XRP), industry experts and Polymarket odds indicate other cryptocurrencies could provide outsized returns in 2026.
Lighter: The Institutional DEX Play
Lighter Protocol is anticipated to launch its LIT token before the end of the year, following a $68 million raise from Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, and Ribbit Capital.
The decentralized exchange runs on a custom Ethereum Layer-2 zero-knowledge rollup, processing tens of thousands of orders per second with 5-millisecond latency.
The performance rivals Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) while maintaining complete transparency through cryptographic proofs.
According to DeFiLlama data, Lighter maintains $1.4 billion in total value locked (TVL) and has generated $2.94 billion in 30-day trading volume.
On Dec. 20, Lighter transferred exactly 250 million LIT tokens from team wallets to distribution addresses, indicating an airdrop will likely happen in the near future.
Polymarket odds for said airdrop have surged past 90% on over $9.5 million in betting volume.
Wallets believed to be connected to insiders have placed approximately $125,000 in bets on a pre-year-end launch.
Pre-market trading shows LIT around $3.48.
Conservative targets sit at $5-$6 (40-70% upside), while bullish scenarios reach $15+ (330%+ upside) if Lighter captures 30-40% market share from competitors like Hyperliquid (CRYPTO: HYPE).
VeChain: The Enterprise Blockchain Winner
VeChain (CRYPTO: VET) completed its Hayabusa hard fork on Dec. 19, transitioning to Delegated Proof-of-Stake and achieving MiCAR compliance under EU regulations.
The upgrade introduced StarGate 2.0 staking, boosting yields from 2% to over 9% for active stakers.
VeChain now supports 350+ active business applications spanning logistics, luxury goods authentication, and pharmaceutical tracking.
Walmart China, BMW, and the UFC all use VeChain infrastructure. Total value locked surged 800% in Q3 2025 to $6.1 million.
Trading at $0.053, conservative targets sit at $0.055 (4% upside), while bullish forecasts reach $0.37 (600% upside) if EU Digital Product Passport mandates drive mass adoption in 2026-2027.
Algorand: The Developer Ecosystem Bet
Algorand (CRYPTO: ALGO) trades at $0.11, down 95% from all-time highs, but AlgoKit 3.0, launched in Q1, is attracting developers with near-instant finality and extremely low transaction costs.
Founded by Turing Award winner Silvio Micali, Algorand can handle nearly 1 million transactions per day.
The platform is positioned for Central Bank Digital Currency infrastructure and real-world asset tokenization.
Conservative forecasts see $0.14 (27% upside), while bullish scenarios reach $1.35 (1,100% upside) if a major nation selects Algorand for CBDC infrastructure.
Hedera: The Corporate Governance Play
Hedera (CRYPTO: HBAR) is a hashgraph governed by Google, processing 10,000+ transactions per second with 3-5 second finality and $0.0001 average fees.
Trading at $0.11 with $4.5 billion market cap, Hedera recently attracted ETF applications that could drive institutional capital inflows.
Conservative targets sit at $0.25 (120% upside), while bullish forecasts reach $1.05 (850% upside) if ETF approval and enterprise adoption accelerate.
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