The cryptocurrency world has exploded over the past years, and there are no signs of the trend slowing down. New coins are entering the market, and investors are always looking for the next big thing.
With over 26,000 digital currencies to choose from, picking ones with potential growth can be daunting. Thankfully, this guide will take you through six cryptocurrencies potentially making significant waves you should consider investing in this year.
Bitcoin BTC
Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency that has been around since 2009. It has maintained an excellent price and market cap position than other crypto investments.
Bitcoin runs under a robust blockchain—a decentralized ledger for recording transactions across a network of multiple computers. This technology keeps the BTC safe and secure, protecting your financial information and identity and enhancing transparency.
Many companies accept Bitcoin as a payment option, making it a worthwhile investment. For example, Stripe has partnered with OpenNode to allow users to transact and convert payments into BTC. Also, Visa and other large banks have allowed Bitcoin transactions.
Additionally, some online gaming companies enable players to pay using Bitcoin and reward them for winning. To find a reputable site, search the top 10 online casinos and see what information pops up. You’ll find many trustworthy reviews from comparison sites that test casinos based on reliability and customer service. Moreover, they are reviewing and blacklisting poor casinos.
As of the time of writing this, bitcoin was trading at s $ 29,993.36 per (BTC) with a market cap of $582.16B. Higher market capitalization is an indication that investors highly value crypto.
Ethereum
Ethereum holds position two in popularity after Bitcoin. It’s a decentralized software platform that uses unique blockchain technology. It also has a native coin known as ether (ETH).
Ethereum is popular among developers as it allows them to build and deploy decentralized applications (DApps) using smart contracts. The apps run without downtime, fraud, control, or interference from a third party. Here are some characteristics that make Ethereum worthwhile :
- High security and scalability
- Decentralized
- Programmable
- Fast transactions
Unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum has limited acceptance, but some companies are embracing it. For instance, Fidelity agreed to offer its customers Ethereum custody and trading services last year.
BNB
BNB, initially known as Binance coin, is a native token of the Binance platform (the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the world). The coin was introduced in 2017 via an initial coin offering (ICO). It was meant to help beginners in the new exchange pay lower trading fees.
In the first year, early BNB investors received a return of 1,300%. This excellent performance led to its skyrocketing popularity in the crypto market.
The BNB token can be used to pay for trading fee discounts on the Binance exchange, which can help reduce trading costs. However, it’s a highly volatile investment.
What keeps BNB at an advantage is the fact that Binance has a custom of destroying coincide once per quarter. In April this year, Binance destroyed over 2 million tokens amounting to around $496.6 million, to create scarcity. Currently, the BNB in circulation is 155,850,872, a decrease from 200,000,000.
If you’re a game developer or an artist, BNB may be worth investing in since it has an NFT marketplace. It provides gaming collections and various NFT and gaming Metaverse items. Additionally, developers can create projects like collectible card games in the metaverse thanks to Binance.
Cardano (ADA)
Cardano (ADA) is a blockchain platform that uses the proof-of-stake algorithm. This technology allows you to lock up your holdings to enable the validation of new transactions on the blockchain. Unlike proof-of-work, this stake is more friendly to the environment.
Cardano’s network attracts many investors due to its small footprint. This means completing a transaction on ADA takes less energy, unlike in other large networks like Bitcoin. As a result, you’ll enjoy fast and cheap transactions.
Cardano has had excellent functionality since 2021 after the launch of the “hard fork” upgrade that enabled the use of smart contracts. The higher scalability of ADA has been evident since the launch of Vasil last year.
The recent ADASwap platform will allow developers to create decentralized finance applications. This could increase the price of Cardano and raise its status on the Web3 network.
Tether (USDT)
Tether is the first stablecoin in the crypto world to trade in the crypto market. Fiat currencies back it, and its value is pegged to the dollar’s. This means that the value of 1 Tether is always equal to 1 US dollar. The idea was to facilitate transactions between cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies without worrying about price fluctuations.
The low volatility of Tether makes it a worthwhile investment. This coin’s value is unsusceptible to changes like other cryptocurrencies, so you don’t have to worry about the market.
Additionally, you can send Tether anywhere worldwide faster and at a lower fee than in traditional banks. This coin is created on a Bitcoin blockchain network to make transactions more safe and secure.
Litecoin
Litecoin has been the best-performing altcoin since 2011. This cryptocurrency, created by former Conbaise and Google engineer Charlie Lee trades under the LTC ticker symbol.
The maximum supply of this altcoin is 84 million exceeding that of Bitcoin four times. Its targetted block time(2.5) is four times faster than Bitcoin. As a result, Litecoin offers low transaction fees and quick processing times, making it ideal for merchants who want to accept payments online.
The computer code that Litecoin uses is almost similar to that of Bitcoin. For example, both cryptos use Proof-of-Work to confirm and record transactions without a central authority.
Litecoin performed well last month, and more traders have accumulated LTC positions in preparation for the upcoming Litecoin halving. Plus, LTC has been impressively skyrocketing for the previous 30 days.