The first quarter of 2018 has been marked by rampant volatility. Coming off the all time highs in December 2017, January was hit with a perfect storm of FUD, regulation fears, fraud, and legitimate concern. Despite this perfect storm, the blockchain wave continues to build as the first quarter nears its end.
Historical data is limited because the blockchain revolution is still in its infancy. However, if you look back, the first quarter always tends to be a lean time of year. Whether it is profit taking or tax paying, the first quarter tends to dip.
Don’t forget that Bitcoin didn’t break the $2,000 USD threshold until May 2017. Yes, Bitcoin is down signifcantly from its all time high in December, but it is still signifcantly higher than it was this time last year. Don’t get stuck on looking at 30-day or 90-day data. Take a look at a 12-month chart and relax.
Looking back, those prices look nice, right? Just relax and continue to HODL on. When you hear that Warren Buffet is bearish on crypto, just remember that he is the same guy that wasn’t a fan of e-commerce. There are many ways to make money, and even the best minds of a generation can be wrong.
Now that we’ve gotten all of that out of the way, how about we check on some interesting and exciting projects for Q2?
2017 was the year of Bitcoin, and while I am still bullish on Bitcoin, I believe 2018 will be the year of the altcoin. You’re already familiar with Ethereum, so I won’t waste your time there. There’s a lot of quality projects out there, and here are my top seven picks for Q2 2018.
OriginTrail (TRAC)
OriginTrail and its’ TRAC token are trying to revolutionize supply chain management. With my companies in the past, managing your supply chain can become migraine inducing. This problem is exarcerbated when your supply chain crosses international borders. This is where OriginTrail comes into play.
OriginTrail will make every stage of the supply chain transparent and trackable. This is insanely valuable to companies and consumers. Masternode coin levels have not yet been announced, but they will be announced in next few months. Currently TRAC sits around 16–17 cents, and it is sitting about 50% of its price in early February. If you want to be a part of revolutionizing supply chain management, hop on the Trail before the prices jump.
ECC
ECC has been one of my top picks all year. It currently sits at less than a penny, and for every dollar you put in, you can acquire more than 700 units of ECC.
The low price is one of the things that got me to start looking at it. Nevertheless, when I discovered its great community and completely transparent development team, I was sold. How many lead developers do coding live streams on Twitch? ECC’s lead developer does it.
With a solid roadmap and limited availability because almost all of its volume is on CoinExchange, it is one KuCoin listing away from hitting the moon. The current plan is for ECC to release its long awaited ANS feature which will make the platform much more user friendly as well as its Project Sapphire. This roll out should be occuring over the next few months.
ECC also obtained its first fiat to ECC listing when it was listed on Brazil’s largest exchange a few weeks back. Things are brewing with ECC, and everyone reading this should take a look.
VeChain (VEN)
VeChain is an interesting project. If you only listened to its supporters, you would think it is the next Top 5 coin. If you listened to its detractors, it is just a scam. Like most things in life, the truth is somewhere in the middle. Nevertheless, I am quite bullish on this project.
VeChain is another supply chain focused project. Imagine a world where you can track both source and quality for any medicine before ingesting it? This is what VeChain hopes to achieve as it revolutionizes the pharmaceutical industry.
It had an interesting January where it reached its all time high while every other coin was bleeding red. Since then it has fallen below the $4 mark, but I expect this price to slowly creep up in the next few days. Why is that? VeChain will be locking up its X Nodes qualifications on March 20, and to qualify, you’ll have to hit the coin minimums by this date. This should surge demand in the next few days as supporters (and speculators) lockup coins to qualify.
Nano (XRB)
Formerly known as RaiBlocks, this project’s last twelve months have felt like a rollercoaster. About a year ago, for every $100 invested, you would’ve made about $500,000 at its peak. It felt like a never ending wild ride, until it hit a mixture of FUD, real scandal, and regulation. It offers feeless and instant transfers of funds which could make it a great platform for retail.
It currently sits around $9 USD which is a far cry from its all time high in the $30’s. With all of the problems it has faced in last two months, I don’t think the price can get much lower. If you are thinking about buying some Nano, this might be your best opportunity.
Stellar (XLM)
Stellar had an insane year. It went from mere fractions of a penny to almost breaking one dollar in the beginning of the year. Its growth has been the direct result of great project updates which pushed this project into the Top 10.
Stellar is similar to another 2017 breakout, Ripple, in that both offer cross-borders transfers of money. However, the cryptocurrency community has not been fond of Ripple’s centralized platform. Stellar fixes this. Stellar is decentralized so that the average person dose not need to rely upon big banks to transfer his/her funds across borders.
Because of its ease of use, it makes it a perfect alternative to BTC and ETH trading pairs. With some big partnerships under its belt, including IBM, it looks like 2018 will be another breakout year for this coin.
I mean, its logo involves a rocket flying to the moon, and I expect this logo to foreshadow some more serious growth.
Ripple (XRP)
Prior to the drop in January 2018, it felt like Ripple was taking over the crypto world. It entered December 2017 in the 20 cent range and quickly peaked over three dollars. Right now, it sits below one dollar despite many great partnerships built by Brad Garlinghouse and the team at Ripple. Ripple wants to transform cross-border payments so its partnerships with Western Union and MoneyGram are pivotal in its growth.
Despite its lower price, it feels like there are too many positives building with Ripple. Like water building behind a dam, it feels like Ripple will blast forward any day from now. I predict it will be quite similar to that end of year surge where Ripple jumped from 20 cents to over three dollars. When will it happen? I don’t know, but it feels inevitable. How high could it go? I have no idea, but at these prices it sure feels like a bargain.
Basic Attention Token (BAT)
Everybody hates online advertising. This one of the few certainties in life. Basic Attention Token plans to overhaul the way consumers receive advertising on the Internet. Wouldn’t you like to be paid for the time it takes to read/see an ad?
Effectively BAT will cut out the middle man. Rather than Company A paying Google or Facebook to advertise to Consumer B, Consumer B and Company A will conduct business directly. This could have profound impacts on Google and Facebook because a good portion of their revenue comes from advertising revenue. Regardless, consumers will finally be compensated for their time.
I expect big things from the BAT team in the second quarter of 2018.