Bitcoin (BTC-USD) has been the king of the crypto markets, leading the charge in every bull run and capturing the lion’s share of investment dollars. It’s no surprise that with the recent approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs, the original cryptocurrency has once again surged to new heights.

However, people who’ve been through previous bull markets know that the real action often lies beyond Bitcoin. In every bull market, “altseason” emerges, where altcoins – cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin – experience explosive growth and deliver mind-boggling returns. This altseason typically follows a few months after Bitcoin’s dominance, as profits from Bitcoin are rotated into these alternative projects.

Of course, this bull run is a bit different, starting before the highly anticipated Bitcoin halving. That said, I firmly believe that many altcoins are poised to reach all-time highs this year. Carefully selecting a portfolio of such altcoins can yield significantly higher percentage gains than BTC. Let’s take a look at them!

Bittensor (TAO-USD)

Bittensor (TAO-USD) has emerged as one of the most bullish crypto projects in recent months and for good reason. The token has skyrocketed from under $50 to over $730 in just five short months – an astounding rise that’s hard to ignore. While TAO has cooled off to around $530 currently, I believe this presents a fantastic buying opportunity before the next major leg up.

Why am I so bullish on Bittensor? For starters, the project is focused on machine learning – an area of AI that’s red hot right now. Bittensor enables ML models to train collaboratively and rewards them in TAO based on the value they provide. It’s essentially creating an open marketplace for AI products, which could be absolutely massive. Even after the recent pullback, Bittensor still boasts a hefty market cap of $3.6 billion. But given the potential here, I think there’s plenty of room for TAO to run.

While we’re likely in the midst of a meme coin season right now, I expect fundamentally sound projects like Bittensor to really shine once that hype dies down. AI-related cryptos have been consolidating lately after posting huge gains, but I don’t think that cooldown will last long. $1,000 per TAO token doesn’t seem unreasonable to me in the coming months. If you believe in the long-term promise of AI and machine learning as I do, Bittensor deserves some serious consideration for your portfolio.

Tatsu (TAT-USD)

Tatsu (TAT-USD) is an intriguing new player in the crypto space, aiming to merge the worlds of decentralization and machine learning to enable advanced applications. While the concept is undoubtedly exciting, I must admit I’m a bit more cautious on Tatsu compared to my other picks.

In just the past week, Tatsu’s token price has plummeted 27%, erasing much of its recent gains. Plus, with a market cap of only $25 million, Tatsu is squarely in small-cap territory – and as we all know, volatility can rear its head quite dramatically with these types of plays.

That being said, I wouldn’t count Tatsu out just yet. The project’s goal of creating an open ecosystem for developers to collaboratively build and monetize machine learning capabilities is certainly promising.

However, with Tatsu only being on the Mexc exchange, it seems likely that most gains are in front of us. The wild price swings make it the riskiest bet of the bunch in my view. If you can time it right though, Tatsu could still deliver some outsized returns.

Golem (GLM-USD)

Render Token (RNDR-USD) has been the talk of the town lately for cloud GPU services. But in my opinion, the open-source Golem (GLM-USD) still offers 10X potential with its smaller $590 million market cap. It has nearly quadrupled since I first wrote about it.

Why do I prefer Golem? It’s aiming to become THE decentralized marketplace for idle computing resources, much like what Render is doing. But Golem’s valuation is a mere fraction of Render’s $4.3 billion, and it has negligible token inflation compared to Render’s. As decentralized computing gains steam across industries like VFX, machine learning, and more, I believe open-source innovators like Golem are positioned to ride that growth far more sustainably over the long haul.

I’ve been following both Render and Golem closely for over a year now. When I first wrote about them, RNDR was trading around $1.8 and GLM near 20 cents.

I don’t think the party’s over yet, especially for Golem. Its decentralized structure is a big advantage over the corporate-backed Render in my view. And with a much smaller market cap, Golem simply has far more room to run.

Xend Finance (RWA-USD)

Xend Finance (RWA-USD) has been breaking out significantly recently, with its crypto surging 21% in the past 24 hours and an impressive 150% over the past week as I write this. While the $40 million market cap is still relatively small, I believe Xend has immense room for further upside given its approach to tokenizing real-world assets.

What started as a DeFi platform inspired by credit unions has evolved into a project that bridges traditional finance and decentralized finance. Xend is tokenizing tangible assets like real estate, art, stocks, and intellectual properties. Its existing ecosystem offers services like “yield aggregation, fiat on-ramps, multi-chain wallets, and infrastructure,” which allows users to own fractional ownership of these assets using the blockchain.

Myro (MYRO-USD)

This Solana (SOL-USD)-based, dog-themed meme coin Myro (MYRO-USD) has cooled off a bit recently, but I believe it can receive a significant boost from the soaring popularity of both Dogecoin (DOGE-USD) and the Solana blockchain itself. Solana has skyrocketed over 800% in the past six months alone, and I’m confident its momentum will continue as more developers migrate from Ethereum’s (ETH-USD) expensive ecosystem to the faster, cheaper Solana network. This transition should undoubtedly benefit projects like Myro operating on Solana.

Additionally, the recent meme coin mania, with Dogecoin surging past 22 cents, could provide a tailwind for Myro given its dog-themed branding and association with that cultural phenomenon. What makes me particularly bullish, however, is that Myro has undergone a healthy correction and is starting to rebound steadily. With a $232 million market cap, there’s ample room for growth. Notably, over 94.4% of Myro’s max token supply is already circulating – a rarity among meme coins that can attract investors chasing outsized gains without worrying about excessive future dilution.

ATOR Protocol (ATOR-USD)

Ator Protocol (ATOR-USD) is a crypto project I covered way back in mid-July last year when it traded around 35 cents. Since then, it has risen substantially, though a significant correction in November sent it tumbling from $2 down to 60 cents. However, the gears seem to be turning again as Ator trades near $2.90 at the time of writing, potentially poised to cross its recent all-time high near $3.50.

So, what exactly is Ator Protocol? It aims to “empower and incentivize The Onion Router (Tor) network through on-chain rewards and facilitate wider adoption of secure relay protocols via hardware products.” Specifically, it contributes to the existing Tor network in three key ways. As per its CoinMarketCap, it is:

• Providing a framework for existing Tor relays to receive ATOR cryptocurrency rewards based on their cumulative uptime through a Proof-of-Uptime mechanism.
• Introducing the ATOR Router Hotspot, a handheld device that enables users to route all web traffic through Tor without scripts by connecting devices via WiFi.
• Rolling out the ATOR Relay, their own version of the Tor relay designed for routing and interoperability with the ATOR Proof-of-Uptime framework, allowing non-technical users to mine ATOR while contributing to web anonymity.

Dogecoin (DOGE-USD)

As mentioned in the Myro segment, meme cryptos are receiving a lot of attention lately, and Dogecoin , the most iconic and influential of them all, has risen to 22 cents. However, I believe there is significant further upside potential here once the broader altcoin season truly kicks into high gear.

What separates Dogecoin is its backing from influential figures like Elon Musk, whose tweets have previously sent the token soaring – a dynamic that could repeat itself given the current crypto hype cycle. The Dogecoin team also has some intriguing roadmap plans that, if executed well, can help propel it higher.

Being the leader of the meme coin pack, I believe Dogecoin can surpass its previous all-time high this cycle as speculative fervor around cryptocurrencies intensifies.

On the date of publication, Omor Ibne Ehsan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.