Now may truly be the time for investing in the best altcoins to buy. There is reason to believe that a so-called altseason will soon begin. Remember, altcoin refers to all other cryptocurrencies except Bitcoin (BTC-USD). 

Altseason generally refers to a period of strength for all alternative assets. That strong period generally occurs after Bitcoin tops out and investors rotate back into more speculative altcoins. So, that begs the question: why might Bitcoin top out soon? For one, investors have seen BTC prices struggle to maintain the $70k mark.

BTC prices will likely rise again following the upcoming halving. After that, prices will likely turn out, prompting a new altseason. That said, let’s take a look at seven altcoins poised to profit as that shift emerges.

Stratos (STOS-USD)

Stratos (STOS-USD) is one of the more interesting altcoins for crypto investors. It is a project that benefits from The enthusiasm around artificial intelligence overall. That enthusiasm has propelled the stock market much higher over the past year. It is now spilling into cryptocurrency, and Stratos is a beneficiary.

Stratos is essentially a decentralized platform for databases, storage and computing. Those are the areas where investors have spent substantial money chasing AI gains in the stock market. Stratos offers the same opportunities but with the twist of decentralization. 

The project was designed to overcome the scaling issues plaguing blockchain networks while maintaining the benefits. It remains attractive along with several other decentralized storage platform cryptos. Investors are interested in the offering, given that prices have doubled over the past few months. The confluence of AI and cryptocurrency is just beginning to yield returns for investors. Thus, Stratos and other altcoins in that niche will be the ones to watch moving forward.

Dogecoin (DOGE-USD)

Dogecoin (DOGE-USD) is one of the best choices for investors up to any altseason. It is also the original meme coin and arguably the most stable cryptocurrency during periods of speculation.

That’s why I believe investors should consider Dogecoin at this time: It isn’t going to crater spectacularly like other upstart meme coins often do. At the same time, Dogecoin also offers a chance for strong returns.

What else is good about Dogecoin is that it does very well, as Bitcoin has risen. Dogecoin is essentially a bastion of stability for speculators at any time.

There are also rumors that Elon Musk could integrate Dogecoin as a payment method at X. If Musk does integrate Dogecoin with the former Twitter, its value should certainly increase, given the increased utility. A relative lack of utility is one of the main criticisms of meme coins like Dogecoin. It certainly would be nice to see the project evolve into more than the joke it originally intended to be.

Bittensor (TAO-USD)

Bittensor (TAO-USD) has become one of the hottest cryptocurrencies, and for good reason. It provides a lot of utility and gives it in the red-hot area of machine learning. In other words, it does something, and what it does is growing. 

That trending area is machine learning. Investors are well aware of how important machine learning is too artificial intelligence. Those fields have sent stocks much higher, and that performance is now spilling into the cryptocurrency market.

Bittensor essentially enables collaborative training between disparate machine-learning models. It then rewards those projects TAO  based on the utility they provide. Thus, Bittensor is a marketplace that assigns value to various machine learning models based on their ability. Demand for Bittensor’s services was high, sending prices from $50 to over $700 within the last few months. It has since corrected back down to $530. 

It remains one of the most interesting projects in the machine-learning crypto space and clearly provides utility.

Render (RNDR-USD)

Render (RNDR-USD) is a cryptocurrency that has seized upon one of the most important trends in the market lately: excess resource distribution and allocation. Projects like Filecoin (FIL-USD) and Storj (STORJ-USD) are prime examples of that trend.  What all of these projects have in common is a business offering predicated on the allocation of excess resources.

Filecoin and Storj are focused on excess memory and data storage. Conversely, Render utilizes the excess GPU capacity that we have on our devices. If we choose, we can sell that excess GPU capacity, which is in high demand In places like digital content creation.

Render’s growth trajectory has been impressive. The project has multiplied in value several times since late 2023. An investor who staked the position in early September would have seen their capital multiplying value 10 times by mid-March. It has been corrected since then but should continue to be strong based on the utility it offers.

Solana (SOL-USD)

Solana (SOL-USD) continues to emerge as the primary competitor to Ethereum (ETH-USD). Investors are well aware that its transaction speeds and fees are better than those offered by Ethereum. That has been the narrative surrounding Solana for the past several years.

The data regarding those specs continues to be impressive. Recently, it was revealed that 1 million transactions per second are possible on the network. Ethereum claims its TPS could run as high as 100,000 in the coming years, though current TPS rates are much lower and closer to 15.

It seems clear that Solana is proving itself to be much more capable than Ethereum. Ethereum does not seem capable of increasing its transaction speed despite claims to the contrary. Those transaction rates cost Solana a lot of money, and the door remains wide open for it to continue growing. Ethereum may be in the same spot in a few years, and Solana could realistically usurp its position.

Myro (MYRO-USD)

Myro (MYRO-USD) is a Solana-based meme coin and an appropriate cryptocurrency to discuss. Solana-based projects are going to continue to be strong. I think that to be true, as primarily discussed above, Solana has much better specs than Ethereum, which is the primary alternative. 

Myro is essentially an alternative to Dogecoin. The projects are similar in that they both leverage dogs in their branding. However, Dogecoin leverages the Ethereum network, whereas Myro leverages Solana’s.

Evidence continues that Solana may become the better layer one protocol in the long run. Ethereum established a dominant position but continues to be played by speed, efficiency and price issues, which could eventually lead to Solana overtaking Ethereum. That would benefit meme coins/altcoins that leverage its network, including Myro. That’s one of the best reasons to consider investing in the relatively unknown cryptocurrency.

Pepe (PEPE-USD)

Pepe (PEPE-USD) is another meme coin full of takeoff potential. The highly visible meme coin took off in 2023 and continues to be extremely inexpensive. That’s part of the reason to believe in its continued potential: At $0.0000066, Pepe is so cheap investors can scoop up a lot of it for very little. It also has so many zeros after the decimal point that rapid gains become achievable.

In that regard, it’s a lot like Shiba Inu (SHIB-USD) was a few years ago. It’s also similar to Shiba Inu in that it really has no utility or value in the real world. It’s a speculative vehicle by which traders attempt to capture rapid, sometimes impressive returns.

Pepe also has controversy behind it. The character has been associated with multiple movements, whether the creator likes it or not. The point here is that controversy draws attention, and that attention can galvanize investment. 

On the date of publication, Alex Sirois did not have (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.