8 Cryptocurrencies You Should Invest In
Cryptocurrencies have been all the rage in recent years, and it seems that this trend won’t be going away anytime soon. In fact, the crypto market is expected to grow by 10x by 2022, so getting on board early can really pay off! Here are 8 cryptocurrencies you should invest in to get in on the ground floor of this potentially lucrative industry.
1) Stellar (XLM)
Stellar has become one of 2018’s breakout cryptos. The currency is developed by an organization that focuses on fighting poverty. The company gives away 90% of its holdings, which could make Stellar a very attractive investment in coming years as it continues to see growth.
If you want to invest in Stellar, try Poloniex or Binance; both are great options for buying XLM coins with Bitcoin and other altcoins. One thing you should know: Crypto experts caution that if you plan on holding onto your cryptocurrencies for more than five years, don’t hold them on exchanges (like Poloniex or Binance). Instead, transfer them to wallets that can hold multiple currencies—like a paper wallet or hardware wallet.
2) Monero (XMR)
Monero is a privacy coin that’s based on Bitcoin. It uses ring signatures and stealth addresses to ensure that all transactions are completely untraceable, which adds up to its privacy perks. Monero also utilizes a proof-of-work protocol, so it may not be as viable for small investors (though you can always mine XMR on your own computer!).
For now, it’s still one of the top digital currencies for investors. Ethereum (ETH): This open-source cryptocurrency features smart contracts, DApps, and ERC20 tokens. As one of the most popular crypto investments available today, Ethereum allows its users to create virtual contracts without third parties interfering with their funds or information.
3) Dash (DASH)
Built upon Bitcoin’s core code, Dash offers instant transactions (InstantSend), private transactions (PrivateSend), and token fungibility. It’s also set to ramp up its marketing efforts in an attempt to attract mainstream consumers and investors.
With a current market cap of $3.7 billion, Dash remains undervalued compared to other top-tier cryptos like Bitcoin and Ethereum, both of which have market caps well over $30 billion.
This means that as Dash heads into its halving event in early December 2018 (where mining rewards are halved for miners and supply is reduced for traders), it may be one of the most lucrative times to pick up DASH—even if it doesn’t overtake BTC or ETH any time soon.
4) Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
Bitcoin Cash is an alternative to Bitcoin that launched in August 2017. The two differ primarily in their approach to scaling: Bitcoin Cash essentially doubles down on larger blocks, and its community believes bigger blocks are necessary for supporting more users on a decentralized network.
Proponents of BCH argue that it has more capacity for transactions than BTC and that it’s less centralized because it’s based on an open-source protocol. BCH is currently trading at around $1,600 (at the time of writing). Here’s why it might be worth buying some now…
5) Cardano (ADA)
Cardano is a decentralized public blockchain and cryptocurrency project and is fully open source. Cardano is developing a smart contract platform that seeks to deliver more advanced features than any protocol previously developed. It is the first blockchain platform to evolve out of a scientific philosophy and a research-first driven approach.
The development team consists of a large global collective of expert engineers and researchers What are we looking for in an investment? We’re looking for something with high potential returns, low risk, has clear fundamentals backed by sound technology, has talented leadership behind it, and that can stand up to competitors.
This all sounds complicated but don’t worry! I have some examples of cryptocurrencies that will be valuable in 2022: Cardano (ADA) What are we looking for in an investment?
6) IOTA
The team at IOTA has made some bold claims about their platform, including that it is able to settle transactions with zero fees and is infinitely scalable. While they haven’t been too successful in delivering on those promises yet, IOTA still stands out as a promising investment opportunity.
The vision of IOTA is to be a backbone for IoT applications, which involves creating smart devices that can be communicated with by other smart devices in an autonomous machine-to-machine economy. Plus, IOTA has big-name backers like Microsoft and Deutsche Bank that should help drive innovation on top of its blockchain system.
7) EOS (EOS )
Similar to Ethereum, EOS is an open-source blockchain system developed by Dan Larimer. But while it seems that most people are comparing it to Ethereum, I’d like to point out its differences instead. For example, EOS has a built-in governance model called delegated proof of stake which allows for much faster transaction speeds and free and instant transactions.
Furthermore, EOS is hosting a few ICOs through their platform (no fees) which will allow their token value to rise in price based on demand from investors. My belief is that when or if projects start choosing EOS over Ethereum for their ICO launches, you’ll see a massive spike in value…possibly surpassing ETH’s own all-time high of $1k/coin.
8) Ripple (XRP )
Founded in 2012, Ripple (XRP) is a real-time gross settlement system, currency exchange, and remittance network. Ripple is designed to be a distributed peer-to-peer protocol that operates within its own native cryptocurrency XRP.
Like Bitcoin, Ripple utilizes a blockchain database but improves upon it with an alternative decentralized consensus mechanism called trust lines as well as transaction speed of only 4 seconds and security measures such as key recovery systems. By not requiring mining or consuming other precious resources, Ripple’s ability to scale makes it more efficient than both Bitcoin and Ethereum.