5 Banking Altcoins to Watch This Year: Why Digitap ($TAP) is the Best Crypto to Buy 2026

Banking-focused crypto is quietly re-entering investor conversations as investors seek the best altcoins to buy now, particularly those focused on payments, settlement, and real financial infrastructure rather than speculative narratives. Not to replace banks overnight fantasy, but the boring part that actually matters: moving money, settling payments, and bridging cash with stablecoins.

Digitap ($TAP) focuses on the consumer banking layer, where users convert, spend, and settle crypto rather than speculate on price moves. It is designed for low-liquidity market conditions where fast conversion and predictable settlement matter more than upside volatility.

The list below focuses on altcoins to watch that are connected to payments, settlement rails, and financial infrastructure, plus one early-stage banking presale designed around capital protection.

Digitap ($TAP): A Banking Presale Built for Defensive Positioning in 2026

Digitap is a consumer-facing banking app that prioritizes settlement reliability and conversion speed in volatile markets. When markets are fearful and liquidity is thin, number-go-ups become unreliable, and working financial tools become more valuable.

Digitap supports real-time crypto-to-fiat conversion, allowing users to convert supported assets into fiat quickly within the same platform. Digitap offers a no-KYC wallet setup, with additional verification requirements applying to expanded banking features.

On the token side, $TAP is framed around a fixed supply (2B) and deflationary mechanics. The model is designed to use app-generated revenue for token buybacks, with a portion of those tokens permanently removed from circulation over time. 

Staking and rewards also matter here, and $TAP holders can currently earn 124% APY. Digitap’s native $TAP token is currently priced at $0.0411, with the next step at $0.0427 coming soon. The project reports Round 3 as nearly sold out, with approximately $3.5 million raised.

XRP: Enterprise Cross-Border Payments and Stablecoin Infrastructure

XRP remains one of the most visible banking-adjacent assets because the broader Ripple ecosystem focuses on enterprise payments infrastructure. In July 2025, OpenPayd announced a partnership with Ripple to provide stablecoin and payments infrastructure for businesses, combining OpenPayd’s fiat rails with Ripple Payments and stablecoin liquidity access. 

OpenPayd and Ripple are working together to integrate stablecoin liquidity and payment rails into enterprise banking systems. (Source: OpenPayd)

That type of integration matters because it pushes crypto payment rails closer to the systems businesses already use: treasury flows, cross-border settlements, and multi-currency operations.

Why XRP ranks behind Digitap in this list: XRP is mostly payment infrastructure and network positioning, not a consumer banking surface where token value capture is directly tied to app usage and defensively framed tokenomics.

Stellar (XLM): Cash-to-Stablecoin Access Through MoneyGram Ramps

Stellar’s strongest banking angle is real-world access. MoneyGram Ramps is designed to connect cash and digital dollars through a single integration, enabling cash-in and cash-out in many countries without requiring a bank account.

For beginners, the plain-English value is simple: stablecoins become more useful when converting between cash and digital dollars is easier. Stellar sits inside that on/off ramp layer, where utility matters more than memes.

Why XLM ranks behind Digitap: Stellar is a payment rails and distribution infrastructure, while Digitap focuses on being the direct consumer layer for spending, conversion, and settlement, plus a presale structure designed around asymmetric entry and value capture.

Quant (QNT): Tokenized Deposit Infrastructure in the UK Pilot Market

Quant’s banking relevance is tied to interoperability and regulated finance projects. In September 2025, Quant stated it was selected by UK Finance and a consortium of commercial banks to provide technology underpinning the UK’s tokenised sterling deposits (GBTD) project, running until mid-2026. 

Tokenised deposits are essentially digital representations of commercial bank money, designed to keep the trust and regulatory protections of traditional deposits while adding programmability and speed. 

Why QNT ranks behind Digitap: Quant is institutional plumbing, not a beginner-friendly banking product layer. It can matter massively for finance infrastructure, but it does not offer the same direct consumer utility and presale asymmetry that Digitap is selling for 2026.

XDC Network: Trade Finance Settlement and Enterprise Infrastructure

XDC Network is built around trade finance, real-world asset tokenization, and enterprise use cases. The ecosystem around TradeFinex describes an ISO 20022-aligned trade finance protocol with industry partners, which is part of why XDC is often discussed in banking rails circles. 

This is less about retail trading and more about modernizing the settlement and documentation side of global trade, where slow processes and fragmented systems cost real money.

Why XDC ranks behind Digitap: XDC is infrastructure-first and enterprise-oriented. Digitap is designed as a consumer-facing app focused on spending, conversion, and crypto-to-fiat access, plus a token model explicitly pitched as defensive during drawdowns.

Why Digitap Leads the 2026 Banking Altcoin Conversation

XRP, Stellar, Quant, and XDC each connect to real payment or settlement narratives, but most of that value lives in rails, partnerships, and infrastructure layers.

Digitap is different: a live app that turns those banking crypto ideas into something usable at the consumer level, and a token system designed to behave like a defensive tool rather than a hype vehicle. This matters as global remittance fees still average around 6%, while crypto-native banking tools aim to significantly reduce those costs compared to traditional remittance channels.

This approach fits cleanly into a bear-market environment: fixed supply, buyback-and-burn mechanics, stable settlement, and practical tools for converting and spending value when charts are unstable. Presale mechanics also matter when evaluating the best crypto presales 2025, because Digitap’s price steps are programmed and time-boxed rather than driven by market hype.

Digitap-Focused Close: Where Banking Utility Meets $TAP Value Capture

Banking altcoins are not exciting in a loud way. The projects above are connected to settlement rails, cash access, tokenized deposits, and trade finance infrastructure, all areas that tend to grow quietly and matter later.

For users searching for the best crypto to buy right now, Digitap stands out by combining a working banking layer with a value-capture token model. 

Discover how Digitap is unifying cash and crypto by checking out their project here:

Presale: https://presale.digitap.app
Website: https://digitap.app
Social: https://linktr.ee/digitap.app
Win $250K: https://gleam.io/bfpzx/digitap-250000-giveaway.

Disclaimer: This is a paid post and should not be treated as news/advice.