Rate this post

The cryptocurrency industry came by storm.

From something familiar only to techies it came to be the hottest topic in business and personal finance for 2017. All this hype got newcomers, like myself, feeling like we simply missed the train. Like we were just late to the party and the fun was well over.

I was wrong.

If you compare the market capitalization of the whole crypto industry to that of developed financial markets, crypto is still in its infancy. There’s still a lot of gas in the tank and explosive growth is still very much not just possible. It’s likely.

Here, we will share our top 4 cryptocurrencies most likely to get you a lambo.

But first, here’s why we have faith in these.

Want to know where to look?

There are hundreds of cryptocurrencies out there. And people are sometimes distraught wondering just why some take off and some slug behind. Well, it’s not random.

If you break it down, there’s three things that people want out of their crypto: First, good environment. Second, easy and fast transactions. Third, privacy.

Coins that excel at these three things are the most likely to rise in value.

So, these are our 5 picks.

Disclaimer: This piece is not investment advice. The decision rests with each individual.

TRON (TRX)

What is it?

TRON is a content and entertainment platform. Each user can freely publish their content and decide on subscription or distribution.

Basically, they aim to empower content creators and entertainers by giving them full control. Also for clients, the benefit is that they are getting the content from the creator directly. No more giant corporate intermediaries like Google Play and Apple store.

The pros

TRON excels at the first aspect we mentioned: environment. Cryptos that offer a nice atmosphere, where something else can happen have higher chances of increasing their value.

That’s because their value rises with the number of projects they host. More projects also mean diversification, which lowers risk. This is why Ethereum became so valuable: it allows for free creation of ICO’s.

The cons

The issue with TRON is that it is subject to hype and rumours. This makes it hard to tell if value rises are organic or just a swift passing trend. Also, with a price under twenty cents TRX is very attractive for pump and dump schemes. With recept developments, many believe this is what it was all about.

The sumup

All in all, the idea behind the project is good. Having developers coming from Alibaba perhaps will bring in some good expertise and if their plans realize TRX will definitely be a good buy.

The dip in its market it’s likely not due to any pump and dump scheme. It can be easily explained with the rise of ETH and drop in other alternatives. In fact, it might just be a good time to get some TRX.

IOTA (IOT)

What is it?

Bitcoin currently can handle four .. per second compared to … handled by VISA.

Scaling will become the biggest rock in the way of crypto in 2018. Through IOT, you give your own computing power to verify other transactions to have yours verified in turn. Clever.

The system doesn’t even use blockchain. It works through what’s called a “tangle”, based on a mathematical concept called directed acyclic graphs.This technology was chosen because it’s far cheaper than a blockchain. Very clever.

The pro

IOT excels at transaction capabilities. It gets more done in less time. Less time means less power consumption. That means saving on the electric bills! It scales nicely, because the more transactions, more users chip in.

The con

Their latest cryptographic algorithm was exposed by MIT scientists to have a flaw. Worse, they responded with two different versions. First, the team claimed the mistake was a purposeful perk, designed to let developers stop copycats. Later, they changed the tale, claiming it was an AI’s mistake.

The sum up

The team may have indeed made a mistake. But algorithms can be fixed. OIT tackles one of the really big issues for crypto, so it would be dumb not to keep an eye out for it.

Bonus: it uses the Internet of Things for its operations, cooly surfing what will be one of the big innovations of 2018.

Monero (XMR)

What is it?

Although bitcoin offers more privacy than fiat money, it is still limited in that sense. Monero, on the other hand, claims to be spy-grade money. Called the druglord’s favorite, it’s just one big privacy coin.

The Pro

You guessed it. XMR takes the cake in privacy. Rumour has it that if you pay with Monero on the darknet instead of bitcoin you will get a discount. Of course, when it comes to the darknet, nothing is certain. If you really don’t want anyone keeping track of your spending, you can trust Monero. That’s why illegal traders use it.

The Con

Well… illegal traders use it. If you don’t care about it, just be mindful that the internet is still divided about which kind of encryption offers the best privacy. Perhaps this is why there are many privacy coins on the market – Monero, bitcoin, DASH, Zcash and the new comer Verge.

The sum up

Privacy will be top priority in 2018, even for the average Joe. You’re going to want a privacy coin in your wallets. And although the champion is still moot, Monero really has a punch to backup its reputation.

Oh and just so you know: no, you are not helping criminals by buying Monero. Think about it as using pirates’ doubloons.

Bitcoin Cash (BCH)

What is it?

BCH is a result of a hard fork on Bitcoin from August 1,2017. The blockchain was split in two. What happened? Bitcoin network has a big escalation problem. Developers couldn’t agree on how to tackle it, and ended up splitting in two.

Some developers wanted SegWit2x. Others wanted a larger block size. So, when they could not agree on a solution they split. Bitcoin Cash has a block size of 8MB compared to 1MB for bitcoin and does not have segwit.

The pro

The huge leap this currency made into top 4 by market cap was quite impressive. They’re mostly due to its lower price, especially compared to other bitcoin alts (like bitcoin diamond). Being a bitcoin alternative, there really are no more downsides, except it has to compete with its cousins.

The cons

There are many other digital currencies in the payments field like Litecoin, IOTA and Ripple. Also this industry is huge, see for yourself here. This means that competition will be fierce. With the low barriers to entry for new companies of the crypto market, the project with the best technology will dominate. So, be cautious and try to diversify.

Bonus: The lower the price of an financial asset the easier it is to increase with large percentages. Basically going from 2k to 5k and maintaining that level is easier than going from 15k to 20k. This is because a 20% increase from 2k is 400$ and from 15k it is 7500$. That’s why BCH has an edge on its counterparts. Finance, BCH!

Ethereum (ETH)

We couldn’t close this without mentioning Ether.

If you could have tried to imagine the perfect crypto a few years ago, you would’ve end up with bitcoin. Ethereum is so good you wouldn’t have imagined it.

Bitcoin works as cash. You pay it and get things in return. Nice, but not new. It’s slow: it escalated quickly and can now process 4 transactions per second (which is very poor). There’s no environment.

Ethereum didn’t just change the game. It spawned its own sport.

First off, Ethereum is not just digital cash. It’s an environment in and of itself.

It makes the creation of new types of cryptocurrencies easier and cheaper. ICOs are a unique way to finance a project or company without having to give up ownership, and most are Ethereum’s offspring.

Also as the characteristics of each token are designed for the specific project, tokens can have much more diverse benefits than simply profit sharing like exclusive deals and special products. It’s a flexibly environment that spawns new creatures all the time.

This impacts directly on its value. It’s breeding ground for projects. The value of these projects affects Ether. Anyone who wants to buy an ETH-based token (like in most ICO’s) they have to pay with Ether. This means that even for some reason if Ethereum itself loses its value (which is doubtful to happen in 2018), if the projects it hosts keep their value, ETH will still be demanded, at least as a means of paying for the projects it hosts.

Bonus: the community behind Ethereum is very credible and stable. Vitalik Buterin, the creator is highly respected in the crypto community and one of the strongest influencers.

Want to know more about Ethereum and how it changed the crypto world from the ground up? Check out our guide.

Why is Bitcoin over?

Bitcoin is the first mover. Its functionality at the moment is limited. Evidence of that are the huge fees and slow verification times. It could be saved if the lightning network lives up to expectations, but that’s a long shot. If it succeeds, transactions would be faster and easier, increasing bitcoins value.

However, there are still doubts on the side of technical professionals that the lightning network can actually perform as is hoped. If these doubts are confirmed, bitcoin’s escalation on fees and transaction time will make it useless. And the crypto world is learning where to put its money on. And fast.

Soon, you’ll see more thought out investment and less hype. More reading and researching documents, techs and teams rather than simply googling “the hottest crypto”. And rightly so.

Also, Bitcoin is also already quite expensive. And as we said before, the bigger they are, the harder it is to grow. Even then a percentage growth of even 50%, which for the crypto industry is not a lot, would be quite difficult to achieve. It is just a mature instrument already and the profit opportunities have been mostly used up.

Maybe it’s time to move to greener pastures.