Buying The Right One
In 2009 the first cryptocurrency was invented and named Bitcoin. Talk about Bitcoin stayed pretty quiet until 2013 when it became one of the top searches on social media platforms and boards and even then no one thought that it might become the giant that it is now. In 2017 the crypto market blew up seeing a huge market cap growth of around 4000% from $21 billion to over $454 billion and thousands of new cryptocurrencies where created joining in on the fast-paced ride. This rapid growth all at once also caused a crash later in that same year.
Now, with a global market cap staying somewhat steady at about $335 billion and over 5,000 different cryptocurrencies to choose from, how do you know which one is the right one to buy? The answer might depend on what you plan to do with it.
Trading
Trading cryptocurrencies works a lot like trading regular stocks. You can capture big percentage moves in a short period of time day trading the more volatile cryptocurrencies. For example, from April 1 through the 15th, 2020, cryptocurrency Okschain (OKS) saw gains of an unheard of 930% while Castweet (CTT) saw losses of 46%. The more you gain or lose will depend on your skills and knowledge as a trader.
Holding
Also known as “hodling” is also a good way to reap the profits from cryptocurrencies if you have the patience. Early adopters that bought Bitcoin when the price was very low are reaping huge profits today. For example, if you bought $1,000 worth of bitcoin in 2010 when the price was only $0.06, you would be worth almost $18 million here in 2020. With a little research, you can find other cryptocurrencies that continue to show impressive gains year after year.
Top Cryptocurrencies
Below is a shortlist of some of the top cryptocurrencies that are available on most exchanges. These currencies have shown that they have a use case and will be around for a long time.
- Bitcoin (BTC) is the first and original cryptocurrency. It has the highest liquidity in the crypto world, making it the best digital currency for beginners to buy. Although Bitcoin is very volatile, it is known to be one of the most stable of cryptocurrencies because it would take somebody or a large group with a lot of capital to be able to manipulate the price. It also runs on a Proof-of-work system where miners receive rewards for solving complex problems and recording them on to the blockchain. Bitcoin’s supply is also limited with only 21 million will be made at the end of mining. It also holds over 60% of the total cryptocurrency market cap.
- If Bitcoin was gold, Litecoin (LTC) would be its silver. It is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency that was created by former Google employee Charlie Lee in 2011. Although Litecoin was created based on the Bitcoin protocol, it is different in a few ways in how the hashing algorithm is used and the speed of block transaction times. Even though transaction speeds are faster than Bitcoin’s, users may have to wait up to 30 minutes for their transactions to finalize due to high congestion on the Litecoin network.
- If you insist on privacy, Monero (MXR) is your cryptocurrency. Monero is the largest privacy cryptocurrency as far as market capitalization. Released in 2014, it prides itself as being the most privately transacted coin meaning it is extremely difficult to track transactions and balances of its users. Monero’s only downfall is its attraction to ransomware users and the purchasing of illegal items online.
- Ethereum (ETH) was the first to produce smart contracts that run on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Smart contracts are computer programs that facilitate and execute negotiations of a certain agreement through the use of blockchain technology that automatically oversees contracts that describe the set of instructions that are agreed upon by both parties for their transaction. After both parties agree, the funds will be released and the transaction will get finalized. Ethereum is still the current leader in this field and continues to stay listed in the top five best cryptocurrencies.
- If you are looking to save money on transaction fees, Binance Coin (BNB) can do this. BNB wasn’t developed to be used as currency but instead as a utility token to offset transaction fees on the Binance exchange and is one of the fastest-growing digital currencies with an impressive stability and consistent growth.
- The Basic Attention Token (BAT) is another utility token that is commonly used in the Brave Browser to reward users who watch ads. Advertisers lock up the BAT token and as users view their ads, the funds are released to both the Brave Browser and the viewer through smart contracts. In short, you can earn BAT cryptocurrency just by simply browsing the internet. Brave Browser has gotten great feedback from its users and is fast becoming one of the top internet browsers available.
- ENJIN (ENJ) is a new and amazing use case for blockchain technology in the world of e-sports. Gamers can own assets that they have either bought or earned from playing games and can decide to sell them when they have finished playing or transfer them to an entirely different game made by a completely different game developer. E-Sports are quickly becoming the future of gaming and competition so this cryptocurrency is definitely one to keep your eye on.
The decision to trade or hold your cryptocurrencies is entirely up to you after you find the right one to buy. Keep in mind that blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies are still relatively new and are subject to large leaps and dips in price over the short-term but have shown good steady growth over the long run.