Are you stumped by which cryptocurrency coins and tokens you should invest in? I have various rules I follow and steps I take when evaluating new altcoins, but they all truly boil down to a few key things.
Does the coin have utility value? What problem is it solving that is different from Bitcoin or Ethereum? If you can use Bitcoin or Ethereum in the same way… the coin or token is 9 out of 10 times worthless. I need a coin/token that stands apart (and can stand alone) from these two main ones (BTC and ETH hold the lion’s share of the cryptocurrency market value and solve most issues thus far).
How quickly can I buy and sell the cryptocurrency? This is liquidity. I typically want a minimum of a 9-figure (anything over $99,999,999) market capitalization (total money invested in that crypto), so I can easily get in and out of my crypto holdings.
Is anybody actually using this cryptocurrency? This is where blockchain activity comes in and the use of the Blockchain Activity Matrix at: http://blocktivity.info
As you can see in the image below, the total actual transactions (activity) on each cryptocurrency blockchain below for the past 24 hours:
Blockchain Activity Matrix
Now when looking at “blockchain activity” and total transactions, you probably won’t be surprised by 3 of the top 5 coins.
ETH = Ethereum
BTC = Bitcoin
LTC = Litecoin
These are 3 of the most popular coins and typically all in the top 5 market caps. As you can see on https://coinmarketcap.com the top market capitalizations today are:
What REALLY surprises me about the Blockchain Activity Matrix is the #1 rated blockchain… STEEM. This crypto is nearly beating out ALL three of these big cryptos (ETH, BTC, LTC) combined as far as daily activity (transactions). CRAZY RIGHT?! Let’s dig into STEEM a bit more though…
What is STEEM?
Steem is a blockchain-based rewards platform for publishers to monetize content and grow their community. I compare Steemit.com to Reddit.com
Check out our Steemit account and browse the entire Steemit.com website to get a feel for it: https://steemit.com/@coursenvy
Now if you are thinking… “Ehh, just another social network, no thanks.” Think again! This website is getting a TON of traffic! Just over 19 million visits per month!
Ok, so now I am getting interested! STEEM has the most transactions every day… Steemit.com has crazy high traffic to their website… STEEM has a unique utility as a “rewards-based” social media platform (i.e. get paid to share good content)… Now, what about liquidity?
STEEM Market Cap and Price
Hold the phone… STEEM has the #34 BIGGEST market cap and costs only $1.74?!? There must be an unlimited supply of STEEM then to be this cheap, right?
WRONG!
There is a MAXIMUM supply of 263,370,070 STEEM. Wow! So if you aren’t excited yet, then I don’t know what would excite you… As far as my standard cryptocurrency research goes, STEEM hits on all of my requirements and then some!
After further research, I also discovered https://steem.io and Smart Media Tokens (SMT).
What are Smart Media Tokens?
A Smart Media Token (SMT) is a native digital asset on the STEEM blockchain. SMTs can be launched by anyone to help monetize online content and create incentives to encourage desired user behavior.
SMTs are like Ethereum’s ERC-20 tokens, but with certain built-in ‘Proof-of-Brain’ properties and a token distribution reward system designed specifically for digital content businesses. Any website that shares content, can now monetize it with SMTs.
This includes social media websites like Pinterest or Facebook. This includes online gaming and gambling websites. This includes video content websites like YouTube, Vimeo, and even… “adult” videos. I know, I know… this is a taboo topic, BUT so many of these sites appear in the top “most viewed websites” lists online. Just check out this Wiki page to see for yourself how many there are: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_popular_websites
Now I am not saying I am for or against using STEEM for these kinds of videos, but the traffic and potential is insane and will only drive the STEEM price up further! Check out the screenshot below… I think this is just the first of many launching in 2018 (notice “Built on the Steem Blockchain”):
Which Crypto Should I Buy?
So I’ve covered how I research and buy cryptocurrency for myself (these are just my opinions and not investing advice), but now it is time for you to go do your own research!
If you have enjoyed this blog post, I’m sure you will enjoy my FREE course on Udemy.com titled “Cryptocurrencies 101”: https://www.udemy.com/cryptocurrencies
If you REALLY enjoyed this content, feel free to send myself and the Coursenvy.com team a Bitcoin donation so we can keep creating content and courses like this:
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Thanks again for reading our post and make sure to perform ample due diligence before investing your own hard earned money in cryptocurrency. This is a very speculative market that is just in the FIRST inning. There is CRAZY money to be made in cryptocurrencies, but as much or more will be lost while this new market grows.
Our mantra at Coursenvy… EDUCATION EDUCATION EDUCATION! “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” – Albert Einstein
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