Cryptocurrency trading has always been a sweet spot for many people. While HODLing brought investors millions and billions of dollars up until 2021, the cryptocurrency market hasn’t been so volatile since the start!
In this article, we will talk about what’s latest in the cryptocurrency news, and the most prolific cryptocurrency projects to play around with.
Bitcoin – the big old dog that will remain on the scene
As the original cryptocurrency, Bitcoin continues to dominate the crypto market. While it’s no longer considered in its early stages and with plenty of room for growth, it’s the most widely adopted digital asset on exchanges, used in thousands of transactions each day.
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Traders are increasingly trading and buy Bitcoin long-term as a store of value rather than treating it solely like an investment vehicle — a sentiment not often found among cryptocurrency investors. Many people prefer using Bitcoin as a payment method, as stores have started to accept them.
Although prices have been quite volatile, many people who invest in cryptocurrency, keep using Bitcoin to make money. AnalyticsInsights give an excellent overview of the price prediction of the Bitcoin for the next couple of years, and it will give us a good idea where it is headed.
Ethereum – where practicality means investments
Ethereum’s smart contracts platform is the best-known and most accessible of all blockchain technologies. Thanks to its flexibility, it allows for a variety of solutions across numerous fields. Many people have successfully used this technology as a basis for their own projects. The Ethereum ecosystem has a lot going for it besides just its underlying currency – ether (ETH).
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All that said, there are both short-term and long-term risks with buying cryptocurrency. It’s essential to keep in mind that cryptocurrencies are still relatively new, extremely volatile, and highly unpredictable investment instruments.
Ethereum has gained a big reputation with the sales of NFTs, as it was the main cryptocurrency that was used to run the transactions (thanks to the smart contracts).
Ethereum 2.0 is about to be a game changer. It will improve upon the existing Ethereum network in a number of ways, making it more scalable, efficient, and secure. Additionally, Ethereum 2.0 will enable new applications and use cases that were not possible before.
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You can also find out a lot of info at Changelly, and even a 2040 prediction of Etherium, although it seems quite a thing.
Dogecoin – a meme that has turned into a global leader
Today’s market is a highly competitive one, as new cryptocurrencies are created each day and introduced with an eye on market dominance. While some of these coins follow trends and enjoy short-term success, new players are likely to find that a unique business model can add real value beyond the hype.
DOGE (Dogecoin), seen by some as the original “memecoin” due to its logo depicting the Shiba Inu from the popular meme, has enjoyed consistent use as payment for products outside of speculative purchases since it was first introduced in 2013.
If you plan to have a Dogecoin wallet, we must tell you that it seems like a good idea to look at one of the strangest, yet very sophisticated cryptocurrency.
Dogecoin is different from other cryptocurrencies and even Elon Musk’s and Dogecoin’s Co-Founder Jackson Palmer online feud can stop this coin from rapidly scaling.
Ripple (XPR) – the grim reaper of Swift payments
Ripple is a system that facilitates currency exchanges while also providing a platform for payment dApps. It enables fast, secure, and cost-effective transactions between users across the globe — be they individuals or businesses.
Ripple is a blockchain-based transaction protocol designed to enable instant value transfers between two parties globally. Its network has been operating since 2013, supports multiple programming languages, and aims to provide an enterprise platform for global payments.
Ripple was aimed to take on SWIFT, which is a legacy system but doesn’t offer such versatility. While the latter has upgraded a lot since XPR started to take over, we are still seeing how big of an impact Ripple can have on modern-day transactions.
Binance Coin (BNB) – your best buddy if you like trading in Binance
Binance Coin is a utility cryptocurrency that operates as a payment method for the fees associated with trading on the Binance Exchange and as a form of stake in the Binance company itself. It’s used across their ecosystem of decentralized applications — making it an important part of Binance’s future plans.
Those who use the BNB as a payment method for the exchange can trade at a sale, though there are other membership types available to traders on the platform (which vary in price). These memberships provide additional resources, like discounted trading fees and additional market data subscriptions. The blockchain is essentially where all of your money goes when you use it — trades are executed and deposited into wallets (much like Coinbase or any other centralized e-wallet). When you buy/sell via Binance, you’re using your balance in the blockchain; essentially moving coins from one wallet to another.
Tether – a dollar-pegged coin that will make your life stable that will make your
Tether (USDT) is a stablecoin that serves as a backup for the value of other cryptocurrencies. Because many crypto prices have been highly volatile, Tether strives to make price movement less erratic by tying its currency directly to the U.S. dollar. The system allows users to transfer from volatile digital currencies back to flat currency relatively quickly, giving them an alternative to converting cryptocurrency into fiat or foreign currencies.
Tether is a fantastic cryptocurrency, as it has nothing to do with other cryptocurrencies, and might be a very interesting choice for those who like to have less volatility in their lives!
Cardano – trying to optimize the crypto world
Cardano, founded by Charles Hoskinson, one of the co-founders of Ethereum has been specially made to address all the shortcomings of other cryptocurrencies by ensuring that it explores new ways to improve its blockchain protocol.
Even as they have skyrocketed to prominence in the last couple of years, most cryptocurrencies have had chaotic growth trajectories. Big scandals, fraudulent activities and others that resulted in hard forks have brought a bad rep to their ecosystem. On the other hand Cardano has been given a different type of name from a research-driven approach with a peer review process which will result in building robust systems of ADA.
Solana – trying to dethrone Ethereum
Solana is a high-performance blockchain that enables unprecedented throughput, sub-second block times and very low transaction fees. Its position on the spectrum of permissionless blockchain networks puts it in an exciting niche as the first efficient and truly decentralized platform for high-frequency transactions, designed to handle 100x more transactions than other leading blockchains.
But Solana has a hidden weapon against all other cryptocurrencies. Solana’s Proof-of-History (PoH) protocol is used to create a historical record that proves an event that happened at a specific moment in time. PoH works by referencing events constructed from previous actions and timestamps, rather than other messages. By creating pointer chains using the previous transformations of data, Solana can prove how and when these transformations took place.
Solana can provide historical certainty through their unique technology, PoH. PoH works by referencing prior events instead of other messages.
This means that you’ll know exactly when and where your transaction took place because it won’t be referenced by any other proof — but rather a verifiable history of the state of your system over time.
Solana is a cryptocurrency that is used for trading NFTs on marketplaces such as OpenSea. Solana offers fast and scalable transactions, which makes it a great choice for those looking to trade NFTs. On the contrary to Ethereum, gas fees (transaction fees), Solana transactions are merely a $0.00. This effectively makes the blockchain extremely usable.
Litecoin – an old dog that could do better
Litecoin is one of the oldest cryptocurrencies on the market. Litecoin (LTC) is a cryptocurrency that was founded in 2011. It forked from the Bitcoin blockchain to address issues that crypto-developers had with Bitcoin, such as transaction speed and mining centralization. Litecoin’s values are still aligned with Bitcoin’s: it uses Proof of Work mining, and its technology is capable of making quick, predictable transactions between users all over the world.
Charlee Lee’s idea was to create a Bitcoin alternative which is more democratic, but it hasn’t gone his way. Still, we have to admit Litecoin is an admirable member of the crypto community, and nowadays, because of its stability on the crypto market, can be used as a payment method in many places where cryptocurrency is available.
Polkadot – a powerful newbie
Polkadot is an interoperating blockchain platform that uses a relay chain to link multiple networks together, resulting in a new type of blockchain network where parachains can be created and used.
Polkadot is a consortium of several blockchains created through the use of relay chains for each one. A user-created blockchain — known as a parachain — can then be connected to any of these existing chains with minimal effort.
Polkadot is the first interoperable blockchain network that allows users to create their own independent blockchains using WebAssembly smart contracts on the main chain, incentivized by DOT tokens.
To realize its goal of creating one ecosystem for many blockchains, Polkadot will have different software components depending on whether it’s being deployed to operate on the mainnet or a separate subchain . That includes two separate sets of nodes running two different protocols with two tokens. While Polkadot has been on the market not for long, it has certainly earned many points!
According to TNL, Polkadot has a very bright future, but we are yet to see what it can do.
Rankings
Well, it’s come time to see the best of the best in each of our categories. Let’s see.
Utility
So far, Bitcoin and Ethereum have been the most notable players on the market, as they have multi-billion prospects. Altcoins are yet to follow them.
Investment safety
Without a doubt, Bitcoin has become one of the “safest” assets in the crypto world. However, Tether, as a stable coin, can offer much more in that department.
The X factor
The X factor is definitely Ethereum. If The Merge (changing from PoW to PoS) goes as planned, Ethereum can erupt in price.
The New Kid on The Block
Polkadot has certainly won many hearts since it has been launched. We have to admit, though, that Solana, despite being older, is still considered “a new big player”.
Summary
The cryptocurrency world has never looked so bright. There are many opportunities and while it has been largely volatile, we can rest assured that this market can turn many heads and make many people rich!
