Overhyped Cryptocurrencies in 2023

The cryptocurrency ecosystem recorded different cycles of growth this year with most assets finishing the year on a far more bullish note than they started the year with. While the industry saw some high fliers like Bitcoin (BTC) and Solana (SOL) outperform general expectations, many can best be described as “overhyped.”

This piece examines 3 of the most overhyped cryptocurrencies of 2023 and what the future holds for them in the coming year.

Top Hyped Cryptocurrencies: Shiba Inu

Shiba Inu started as a memecoin project but has transformed into one of the most respected protocols driving the evolution of crypto infrastructures. This year, Shiba Inu launched Shibarium, its Ethereum-based layer-2 scaling solution through which it hopes to drive massive adoption that can help bolster the utility of Shiba Inu.

While Shibarium has managed to deliver on some of its promises after a very rough start, the protocol has had limited impact on the price of SHIB since its launch in August.

At the time of writing, Shiba Inu is changing hands at $0.00001046 after soaring 27.72% in the Year-to-Date (YTD) period. While this growth is not entirely bad, SHIB has not performed well when compared to its peers, and the massive hype generated by its community.

Despite the performance this year, the ongoing burn campaign remains a major growth catalyst many experts believe would uplift SHIB in the near future.

Top Hyped Coins: XRP

XRP, the digital currency closely associated with American blockchain payments firm Ripple Labs Inc. is judged to be an overhyped crypto protocol, despite maintaining a spot among the top 6 largest cryptocurrencies.

XRP broke many people’s expectations after it failed to soar to at least a $1 price mark after US Federal Judge Analisa Torres ruled that the coin is not in itself an investment contract in the Ripple Labs versus SEC lawsuit. While the ruling indeed triggered a major price run in XRP, the rally in July disappointed members of the XRP Army for failing to surpass the $1 resistance zone.

Moving forward, XRP as a cryptocurrency is tipped to not just retest this $1 mark but also soar toward its All-Time High (ATH) of $3.84 as Ripple and SEC are set to finally settle their scores in 2024. The evolution of the XRP Ledger is also likely to trigger new uptrends in XRP.

Top Hyped Digital Currency: Litecoin (LTC)

As one of the legacy digital currencies in the industry, Litecoin’s growth was largely under the radar this year. While LTC recorded a very distinct difference in its lowest price point for 2023 pegged at $58.04 and its highest price of $114.50, the coin failed to break expectations to soar above the $120 threshold.

The Litecoin halving event even aggravated the concerns as many expected LTC to print a parabolic run following the rare network update, a demand it failed to meet. Despite the relatively poor performance of Litecoin that saw it gain just 8.57% YTD, the inscription growth on the network and ongoing whale activity lend promise that more uptick might be ahead for LTC in the long run.