Top under-the-radar cryptos to check before they go mainstream
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Spotlight Wire
Spotlight Wire
If you've been in crypto for a while, chances are you've got a story you don't like to tell. Maybe you let go of Bitcoin too soon, or didn't bother looking into XRP back when it was trading around $0.50 for a long time last year.The crypto market is chaotic. Amid all the noise, most investors forget that real opportunities often go unnoticed when they are selling cheap.Here is a curated list of undervalued cryptos building an early community of staunch supporters. Even though they have yet to be on crypto exchanges, the underlying altcoin projects show promise. Let's see why.Let's face it. BTC isn't exactly known for speed or flexibility. It's a great storage of value, as the price performance over the last many years proves. But when it comes to doing anything beyond holding, Bitcoin falls behind.Bitcoin Hyper ($HYPER) steps in with a fix. Instead of reinventing the wheel, it bolts a high-performance engine onto Bitcoin. Built on the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM), this Layer-2 project aims to make BTC faster, cheaper, and usable.The concept is simple, yet powerful. All that a user needs to do is bridge their BTC into the Bitcoin Hyper ecosystem to experience Apps, meme coins, and decentralised finance (DeFi) tools. Transactions happen in under a second, at a fraction of the cost. More importantly, the entire architecture is designed for builders and degens alike.Bitcoin Hyper isn't just another 'scaling solution.' It's positioning itself as a real alternative for users looking to trade, earn rewards, and even launch projects without abandoning Bitcoin. With smart contract support and cross-chain compatibility, the platform could finally make BTC functional.The $HYPER token fuels the Bitcoin Hyper ecosystem. It's used for gas, governance, and passive rewards. With a presale already racing past $2.8 million, the traffic is building fast.In 2025, Layer-2 is where the action is and Bitcoin Hyper is one of the few with both tech and traction. The project is also catching the attention of crypto YouTubers and analysts, giving it even more exposure.Each new presale tier will see a slight price increase, while the dynamic passive rewards for locking taper gradually. Both pricing and reward structures promote early participation.Browser-based decentralised exchanges (DEXs) are clunky most of the time. They have a high entry barrier for new investors and traders just dipping their toes into the crypto market.Snorter Bot is bringing high-speed, low-friction trading to where degens hang out: Telegram. Built directly into chat, the $SNORT token powers a slick trading interface that supports Ethereum and Solana in the beginning, and more blockchains in the future.Snorter Bot plans a custom remote procedure control (RPC) setup that enables sub-second swaps, copy-trading of top wallets, real-time blacklist alerts, and even rugged token detection. In beta, the system flagged 85% of honeypots and rug pulls, making it one of the most protective bots on the market.The fee structure is another win. $SNORT holders enjoy reduced swap fees, from 1.5% down to 0.85%, beating many Telegram competitors on both speed and cost. Due to the Telegram-native interface, users don't need to leave chat or open new windows.For those who are just beginning and don't know what they are doing, the platform offers a copy trading feature that allows them to mirror every trade. And to check a portfolio's health, it features a /portfolio command showing P&L, cost basis, and more, all within the bot.Snorter Bot isn't trying to be a replacement for large browser-based crypto trading platforms. But it's making on-the-go trading smarter and safer, especially for meme coin hunters.The SNORT presale is rapidly moving ahead, having raised close to $2 million already. Investors have little time to buy the underrated crypto token at low prices. With each new stage, the price goes up, and the passive reward rate goes down, in favour of those who join the presale early.Inspired by SPX6900 and drenched in early-internet meme culture, $T6900 openly admits it has zero utility, no use case, and nothing to prove. It's a penny crypto that exists for the chaos and collective delusion. And somehow, that's exactly what makes it work.The project has raised over $500,000 in its presale so far, with the buying frenzy getting stronger. As a project that leans into its uselessness, $T6900 is building an early community of supporters.In fact, the project calls itself the 'first non-corrupt token (NCT)'. The claim is backed by a supply cap that's fixed, transparent, and designed to be immune to the inflation games so many other tokens play.$T6900 has a hard cap of $5 million, with 80% of the supply released during presale. There is no extra minting, ever.$T6900 is a meme, yes. But it's also a mirror that reflects the absurdity of the market while building something surprisingly cohesive out of that chaos. In a world full of over-engineered tokens and overpromised futures, the project's honesty stands out. And that's exactly what makes it an undervalued crypto to watch this season.
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These days, the general secretary of the Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association tosses and turns, haunted by visions of coconuts— not the kind you sip pina coladas from, but the humble brown orbs that have suddenly become more valuable than precious metals on India's spice coast.'My members are measuring coconut oil like it's liquid gold,' says Jayapal, whose federation represents nearly every eatery in Kerala, except the fancy restaurants in star hotels. 'We have gone from using coconut oil like water to rationing it drop by drop.'When thieves start forming organised gangs to steal coconuts from trees, you know something has gone wrong with the commodity market. In Kerala, a coconut that once cost Rs 25 now commands Rs 77— an over 200% price jump that has turned the state's most essential ingredient into an object of desire, desperation and even six months, retail prices of coconut oil have rocketed from Rs 200 a litre to about Rs 400 and Rs 500-750 in the case of premium brands — an increase that has left the state's food industry and consumers reeling. That's a bull run like Bitcoin, but unlike the abstract financial instrument, people need this stuff to eat. On a coast where coconut oil isn't just a cooking medium but cultural identity, the price explosion has created chaos that would be comedic if it weren't so economically devastating. Memes flood social media showing people fainting upon hearing coconut prices, while others joke about storing coconuts in bank lockers alongside jewellery and cash. 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'Now it's Rs 280-300, when we can find it at all.'Venugopal needs 6-7 kg of copra to produce 1 litre of oil. At current prices, the raw material cost alone is Rs 1,620-1,960 per litre, before factoring in processing and labour charges and profit margins. Small wonder that premium, branded coconut oil now retails for Rs 770 per litre at supermarkets, if you can find it.'Only giants like Marico can survive this,' sighs Venugopal, referring to the consumer goods corporation behind the Parachute coconut oil. 'They buy in enormous bulk and maintain huge inventories that can weather crises like this. Many local producers are getting squeezed out of the traditional business.'The ripple effects cascade through Kerala's food ecosystem like a dropped coconut shattering on concrete. A medium-sized restaurant that once used 30 coconuts daily — some establishments use up to 100 — agonises over every kernel. Even small eateries cough up Rs 2,000 more every day, according to Jayapal, while larger establishments bleed Rs 5,000-6,000 crisis couldn't have come at a more brutal time. Already reeling from post-pandemic revenue drops and inflation squeezing customers' wallets, restaurants now face impossible arithmetic. Raise prices and they lose price-sensitive daily wage workers who depend on affordable meals. Keep prices stable and their profit margins will evaporate.'We are trapped,' sighs a restaurant owner in Thiruvananthapuram, who serves Rs 80 biryanis daily to office workers. 'If I increase prices, my customers will just walk 50 metres to the next restaurant. These are daily wage workers and office employees— they can't afford luxury. But I can't keep absorbing these costs either. Some days I wonder if I should just close down.'The desperation has forced creative adaptations. Some restaurants advertise 'limited coconut oil preparation' as a selling point to justify higher prices. 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Some are making extra profit from the shortage.'Kerala's coconut production follows a seasonal rhythm: peak harvest from December to June, followed by high demand from July to December when festivals like Onam drive consumption. This year, when demand has peaked for the festival season, supply has hit rock reports indicate coconut production has dropped by more than 40% this year, with the Coconut Development Board noting a 50% decline over the past decade, with climate change identified as the primary K Surendran, chairman of Kerafed, Kerala's apex coconut cooperative, explains the temperature impact: 'If temperature goes above a certain range when coconuts are forming, it affects yield,' says Surendran, whose organisation handles 14,000 tonnes of Kerala's coconut oil production annually. 'Climate change is slowly affecting every commodity, but coconut got hit first and hardest.'Meanwhile, in Tamil Nadu's copra-producing regions near Coimbatore, unprecedented rains ruined quality copra for the first time in six decades. 'Proper copra requires moisture content below 6%, which is impossible when traditional drying areas face unexpected deluges,' says nature only tells part of the story. Decades of farmer neglect created conditions for this crisis. When coconut prices were Rs 20-25 for years, well below the minimum support price of Rs 34, says Surendran, many farmers abandoned proper tree care. Pest control declined, nutrient management stopped, and manjappu (yellowing disease) spread through neglected palms show the cumulative effects of neglect only after five-six years. 'We stopped treating coconut farming seriously,' says Surendran. 'For too long, average prices were too low to justify intensive care. 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Thieves strike at dawn, breaking locks and stealing up to 200 coconuts at a time, not just taking harvested coconuts but climbing trees to pluck fresh districts like Kozhikode and Malappuram, farmers have formed vigilante committees against these agricultural pirates, pooling resources for CCTV cameras and coordinated sur- veillance. Farmers around Kuttiady— dubbed the state's coconut capital— have formed action committees monitoring the markets are compounding Kerala's pain. Increased demand from China has reportedly led to significant coconut exports from Tamil Nadu, reducing the supply available for Kerala's domestic processing needs. Virgin coconut oil exports to healthconscious American and European consumers, who have embraced coconut oil as a superfood, compete with domestic produces less than 2% of global coconut oil by volume, according to Surendran, but international demand still affects local supermarket chains, managers stock coconut oil like a luxury good rather than an everyday commodity. Oil companies like Keradhara report sales dropping by 50% as consumers stretch usage by buying 500 ml instead of 1 litre, or switch to alternatives like rice bran oil which, they sigh, rob the food of its traditional crisis exposes Kerala's coconut dependency. The state consumes 3 lakh tonnes of India's annual production of 5.5 lakh tonnes of coconut oil— more than half the national output is devoured by just 3% of the country's crisis extends beyond home kitchens. At Thiruvananthapuram's Pazhavangadi Ganapathy Temple, where thousands of coconuts are offered daily, coconut offerings have reportedly dropped by nearly 30%. Many temples have posted notices announcing fee hikes for coconut-breaking managements struggle to keep lamps burning. Vendors are refusing to supply coconut oil at earlier contract prices, forcing temples to pay premium rates. The timing couldn't be worse — the Karkidaka Pooja at Sabarimala has begun and pilgrims typically carry multiple coconuts as offerings.'This commodity has become more precious than gold,' says Surendran, noting that coconut oil prices rose 110% in six months while gold managed barely 15%.Relief may come by October, when fresh harvest traditionally stabilises supply. The July production has already shown marginal improvement, and industry players expect prices to moderate when Onam festival demand in August subsides and the new crop then, Kerala remains trapped in its coconut conundrum. The bitter irony runs deep for a state whose very name derives from 'kera,' the Malayalam word for coconut. The land that literally means 'the place of coconuts' now finds itself rationing its namesake fruit, watching helplessly as global markets and climate chaos conspire against what once seemed as reliable as the reversal of fortunes isn't lost on people like Surendran as they survey empty storage facilities. 'Farmers are the only ones really happy,' he notes. After decades of selling coconuts for Rs 25 and struggling to make ends meet, they are finally getting Rs 77 per world has indeed turned on its head: Malayalis are struggling to afford parotta and beef roasted in coconut oil even as Americans liberally drizzle it over their salads. What coconut! The writer is a Kerala-based journalist (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of
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Kerala's culinary identity in crisis as major coconut crunch throws cooking out of gear
Once G Jayapal used to sleep peacefully at night. These days, the general secretary of the Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association tosses and turns, haunted by visions of coconuts— not the kind you sip pina coladas from, but the humble brown orbs that have suddenly become more valuable than precious metals on India's spice coast. 'My members are measuring coconut oil like it's liquid gold,' says Jayapal, whose federation represents nearly every eatery in Kerala, except the fancy restaurants in star hotels. 'We have gone from using coconut oil like water to rationing it drop by drop.' Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category Digital Marketing Others Project Management Cybersecurity Public Policy others Degree PGDM healthcare Product Management Data Analytics Operations Management Data Science Management MCA Data Science CXO Finance Technology Design Thinking Leadership Healthcare MBA Artificial Intelligence Skills you'll gain: Digital Marketing Strategy Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Content Marketing Social Media Marketing & Advertising Data Analytics & Measurement Duration: 24 Weeks Indian School of Business Professional Certificate Programme in Digital Marketing Starts on Jun 26, 2024 Get Details Skills you'll gain: Digital Marketing Strategies Customer Journey Mapping Paid Advertising Campaign Management Emerging Technologies in Digital Marketing Duration: 12 Weeks Indian School of Business Digital Marketing and Analytics Starts on May 14, 2024 Get Details When thieves start forming organised gangs to steal coconuts from trees, you know something has gone wrong with the commodity market. In Kerala, a coconut that once cost Rs 25 now commands Rs 77— an over 200% price jump that has turned the state's most essential ingredient into an object of desire, desperation and even crime. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Do you have a mouse? Desert Order Undo Within six months, retail prices of coconut oil have rocketed from Rs 200 a litre to about Rs 400 and Rs 500-750 in the case of premium brands — an increase that has left the state's food industry and consumers reeling. That's a bull run like Bitcoin, but unlike the abstract financial instrument, people need this stuff to eat. On a coast where coconut oil isn't just a cooking medium but cultural identity, the price explosion has created chaos that would be comedic if it weren't so economically devastating. Memes flood social media showing people fainting upon hearing coconut prices , while others joke about storing coconuts in bank lockers alongside jewellery and cash. The humour took a dark turn when dawn raids by coconut thieves became so common that farmers have formed vigilante committees to protect their groves. Live Events WHAT COCONUT! Coconut is central to Malayali life. Unlike in other Indian states where multiple cooking oils compete, Kerala's culinary identity revolves around the coconut palm. 'Look at a typical Kerala meal,' says Jayapal. 'Rice with sambar, fish curry, vegetable thoran, chicken fry, or even beef roast and parotta — nearly every dish uses coconut meat, coconut milk, or coconut oil.' The local saying 'enth thengayaanu' (what coconut)— an expression of exasperation that literally references coconuts—has never felt more appropriate. From his Ernakulam-based mill, which makes the Keradhara brand coconut oil, Venugopal PP stares at storage tanks that once held thousands of litres. His operation, like that of many local oil producers across Kerala, faces an existential threat. 'We used to get copra—dried coconut meat— for Rs 100-120 per kilo,' he says. 'Now it's Rs 280-300, when we can find it at all.' Venugopal needs 6-7 kg of copra to produce 1 litre of oil. At current prices, the raw material cost alone is Rs 1,620-1,960 per litre, before factoring in processing and labour charges and profit margins. Small wonder that premium, branded coconut oil now retails for Rs 770 per litre at supermarkets, if you can find it. 'Only giants like Marico can survive this,' sighs Venugopal, referring to the consumer goods corporation behind the Parachute coconut oil. 'They buy in enormous bulk and maintain huge inventories that can weather crises like this. Many local producers are getting squeezed out of the traditional business.' The ripple effects cascade through Kerala's food ecosystem like a dropped coconut shattering on concrete. A medium-sized restaurant that once used 30 coconuts daily — some establishments use up to 100 — agonises over every kernel. Even small eateries cough up Rs 2,000 more every day, according to Jayapal, while larger establishments bleed Rs 5,000-6,000 daily. The crisis couldn't have come at a more brutal time. Already reeling from post-pandemic revenue drops and inflation squeezing customers' wallets, restaurants now face impossible arithmetic. Raise prices and they lose price-sensitive daily wage workers who depend on affordable meals. Keep prices stable and their profit margins will evaporate. 'We are trapped,' sighs a restaurant owner in Thiruvananthapuram, who serves Rs 80 biryanis daily to office workers. 'If I increase prices, my customers will just walk 50 metres to the next restaurant. These are daily wage workers and office employees— they can't afford luxury. But I can't keep absorbing these costs either. Some days I wonder if I should just close down.' The desperation has forced creative adaptations. Some restaurants advertise 'limited coconut oil preparation' as a selling point to justify higher prices. Others have switched to cheaper oils for certain dishes, though food safety departments have started warning about the use of adulterated oils. A few establishments charge separately for coconut-based gravies—treating it like a premium add-on rather than a standard component. In Vadakara, Kozhikode, seasoned copra trader Suresh Babu explains the supply-side nightmare from his modest trading office surrounded by empty warehouses. 'Domestic production has crashed,' he says. 'First, Indonesia saw its output decline, so they started buying from us. Then our own production started falling. This year everything converged.' Babu, who has traded copra for over two decades, has never seen anything like the current shortage. 'The good-quality copra we used to get has become impossible to source,' he says. He suspects some traders are exploiting the crisis. 'People are buying coconuts from here and selling them abroad at inflated prices. Some are making extra profit from the shortage.' WHY ARE PRICES CLIMBING? Kerala's coconut production follows a seasonal rhythm: peak harvest from December to June, followed by high demand from July to December when festivals like Onam drive consumption. This year, when demand has peaked for the festival season, supply has hit rock bottom. Recent reports indicate coconut production has dropped by more than 40% this year, with the Coconut Development Board noting a 50% decline over the past decade, with climate change identified as the primary culprit. Saju K Surendran, chairman of Kerafed, Kerala's apex coconut cooperative, explains the temperature impact: 'If temperature goes above a certain range when coconuts are forming, it affects yield,' says Surendran, whose organisation handles 14,000 tonnes of Kerala's coconut oil production annually. 'Climate change is slowly affecting every commodity, but coconut got hit first and hardest.' Meanwhile, in Tamil Nadu's copra-producing regions near Coimbatore, unprecedented rains ruined quality copra for the first time in six decades. 'Proper copra requires moisture content below 6%, which is impossible when traditional drying areas face unexpected deluges,' says Surendran. But nature only tells part of the story. Decades of farmer neglect created conditions for this crisis. When coconut prices were Rs 20-25 for years, well below the minimum support price of Rs 34, says Surendran, many farmers abandoned proper tree care. Pest control declined, nutrient management stopped, and manjappu (yellowing disease) spread through neglected groves. Coconut palms show the cumulative effects of neglect only after five-six years. 'We stopped treating coconut farming seriously,' says Surendran. 'For too long, average prices were too low to justify intensive care. The cumulative effect comes later.' Urbanisation also accelerated the decline. Kerala's coconut-growing area shrank from 10 lakh hectares to 7.5 lakh hectares in two decades, according to the Coconut Development Board. 'Young people prefer five-cent plots for modern homes to maintaining 1-acre ancestral compounds with coconut palms,' Surendran observes. The shortage has spawned unexpected consequences. Real estate prices of coconut farms have skyrocketed as investors from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka scout for agricultural land in Kerala. Suddenly, almost-abandoned coconut groves have become investment properties. Local newspapers report multiple thefts of the suddenly precious fruit. In Palakkad's Elappully panchayat, one of Kerala's largest coconut-farming regions, at least 30 farmers complained of theft in a single month. Thieves strike at dawn, breaking locks and stealing up to 200 coconuts at a time, not just taking harvested coconuts but climbing trees to pluck fresh ones. In districts like Kozhikode and Malappuram, farmers have formed vigilante committees against these agricultural pirates, pooling resources for CCTV cameras and coordinated sur- veillance. Farmers around Kuttiady— dubbed the state's coconut capital— have formed action committees monitoring the fields. GLOBAL GLUGGING Global markets are compounding Kerala's pain. Increased demand from China has reportedly led to significant coconut exports from Tamil Nadu, reducing the supply available for Kerala's domestic processing needs. Virgin coconut oil exports to healthconscious American and European consumers, who have embraced coconut oil as a superfood, compete with domestic demand. Kerala produces less than 2% of global coconut oil by volume, according to Surendran, but international demand still affects local availability. At supermarket chains, managers stock coconut oil like a luxury good rather than an everyday commodity. Oil companies like Keradhara report sales dropping by 50% as consumers stretch usage by buying 500 ml instead of 1 litre, or switch to alternatives like rice bran oil which, they sigh, rob the food of its traditional flavour. The crisis exposes Kerala's coconut dependency. The state consumes 3 lakh tonnes of India's annual production of 5.5 lakh tonnes of coconut oil— more than half the national output is devoured by just 3% of the country's population. The crisis extends beyond home kitchens. At Thiruvananthapuram's Pazhavangadi Ganapathy Temple, where thousands of coconuts are offered daily, coconut offerings have reportedly dropped by nearly 30%. Many temples have posted notices announcing fee hikes for coconut-breaking rituals. Temple managements struggle to keep lamps burning. Vendors are refusing to supply coconut oil at earlier contract prices, forcing temples to pay premium rates. The timing couldn't be worse — the Karkidaka Pooja at Sabarimala has begun and pilgrims typically carry multiple coconuts as offerings. 'This commodity has become more precious than gold,' says Surendran, noting that coconut oil prices rose 110% in six months while gold managed barely 15%. Relief may come by October, when fresh harvest traditionally stabilises supply. The July production has already shown marginal improvement, and industry players expect prices to moderate when Onam festival demand in August subsides and the new crop arrives. Until then, Kerala remains trapped in its coconut conundrum. The bitter irony runs deep for a state whose very name derives from 'kera,' the Malayalam word for coconut. The land that literally means 'the place of coconuts' now finds itself rationing its namesake fruit, watching helplessly as global markets and climate chaos conspire against what once seemed as reliable as the monsoon. The reversal of fortunes isn't lost on people like Surendran as they survey empty storage facilities. 'Farmers are the only ones really happy,' he notes. After decades of selling coconuts for Rs 25 and struggling to make ends meet, they are finally getting Rs 77 per coconut. The world has indeed turned on its head: Malayalis are struggling to afford parotta and beef roasted in coconut oil even as Americans liberally drizzle it over their salads. What coconut! The writer is a Kerala-based journalist
