As we near the end of the first quarter of the year, this week’s choices are set to benefit from ongoing developments and significant announcements that will help each project to continue to progress. These developments should help the projects to strengthen their market positions, and bring increased amounts of attention to their respective currencies.
Ethereum (ETH)
Ethereum ETH, -13.79% is an open-source distributed blockchain that has smart contract functionality, and operates as a decentralized virtual machine which can execute scripts and be used to transfer ETH between different nodes. Ethereum retains the status as the principal smart contract platform for hosting ICOs with a number of leading projects operating ERC-20 tokens on the Ethereum network.
Why Ethereum?
Ethereum’s Constantinople blockchain was postponed earlier this year after developers discovered an error in the protocol’s code that allowed for ETH to be drained from smart contracts. As a result, the project’s core developers outlined that the hard fork would activate at block number 7,280,000, which should be processed anywhere from February 26 to 28.
Constantinople is a stepping stone in Ethereum’s long-term upgrade process, which will eventually lead to the project incorporating Proof of Stake (PoS), blockchain sharding, and more efficient smart contract capabilities, the successful completion of the hard fork should result in a generally positive sentiment around ETH.
Sirin Labs (SRN)
SIRIN LABS Token SRN, -11.25% is a project that aims to combine blockchain technology with hardware solutions and is an open source developer of blockchain based operating products. The SIRIN Token (SRN) acts as the cornerstone of the Sirin Labs ecosystem, and can be used to make purchases across products and services such as the SIRIN OS, FINNEY smartphone, SIRIN Decentralized Application Store, and at SIRIN LABS brick-and-mortar stores.
Why Sirin Labs?
The team have announced that they plan to demo their Finney blockchain smartphone at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019, which is taking place from February 25 to 28. MWC is the largest telecommunications and mobile device conference in the world with an annual attendance of over 100,000. This will be immediately followed up by European Amazon shops opening up for sale by February 28th. The news that Samsung will launch a smartphone which includes a cryptocurrency wallet should also allow Sirin to capture a significant amount of attention in the coming days.
Metadium (META)
Metadium META, -13.93% is an identity project based on the Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) model. By using DLT it enables individuals to retain sole ownership over their online and offline identities, and control just how their personal data is shared and distributed.
Why Metadium?
The project’s Mainnet is set to launch on February 28, and META token holders are required to swap their ERC-20 META tokens for the native blockchain META coins in a 1:1 ratio exchange. As the team migrate from the Ethereum blockchain to Metadium Mainnet blockchain, they outline all the steps required for META holders to ensure the safe exchange of their tokens and the timeline of important upcoming events.
How did last week's coins perform?
Maker MKR, -11.34% continues to perform well in the face of growing adoption and grew by around 31% over the week. MKR is currently trading at around $682 and Aeternity AE, -11.17% also had a solid week as it grew by 7% to reach a $0.43 price tag. IOStoken IOST, -13.88% gained a modest 4%, and is currently trading at $0.007. Over the course of the week, the market climbed from a total cap of around $123B on Monday to around $141B on Sunday, but strong selling pressure drove the market cap to around $128 billion.