Hey, guys, it's me again. Welcome to the second part of my 3-part mini-series on Top 10 cryptocurrencies according to Omni Finn.
Disclaimer:
I am not a professional investor or a cryptocurrency expert and this is not investment advice. It is merely my humble opinion and (over)simplified view of how things are in the cryptoverse so take of it what you will and most importantly do your own research!
Since I'm a beginner myself, I will try and include informative links in my posts to help others who want to explore this magnificent field of investment opportunities. I am doing this for fun and I hope it can help others. If you think my information is not accurate or you would like to add something, please do so in the comments. I am always hungry to learn more!
If you would like to read more about how I became a crypto investor and what is my investing strategy, you can find the first part of this series by clicking this link!
I think that's enough with the disclaimer. Let's get on with the list! This post will cover my top 6-9 cryptocurrencies.
(A quick guide to getting in crypto investing)
9. LBRY Credits (LBC)
| An introduction to LBRY | coinmarketcap | GitHub |
This one should be easy, considering it is dubbed by many to be the Netflix killer. Despite the partly exaggerated title, LBRY does appear to have a very solid product that is currently in beta phase.
It works somehow like this. You know static internet content, right? That would include anything from Youtube, Netflix or even BitTorrent. Videos, music, books, anything that will be delivered exactly the same regardless who accesses it. LBRY attempts to provide that kind of user uploaded content in exchange for LBRY Credits.
The beauty comes from the platform's decentralized nature and the fact that all content resides within the blockchain. This means that any content uploaded by users can't be taken down by anyone, including the developers. So the only way the content on the platform would be managed is by the users. Much like Steemit, actually. Meaning that LBRY too will have a flagging system to help make sure the rightful owners of the content will receive the proceeds.
But what about piracy? One might ask. Well... It's not like the movie and music industry haven't had the time to adapt to challenges brought on by the internet age. It is simply a matter of attitude adjustment for these modern days Don Quixote's. They can choose to fight an un-winnable war or get on board and start making profits.
To be honest I feel like a lot of the fight stems from the inability to comprehend the paradigm shift we are going through with decentralization and cryptocurrencies. It is understandable since many have not gotten over the (r)evolution that the internet brought on.
But why would you pay for this if Netflix works for you just swell? A very good question. Actually, the way LBRY Credits' mining algorithm works, it is possible for any user to gain LBRY Credits just by lending some of their idle computer space and computing power to the network. Technically you don't need to put any money in the system.
- Purpose | At worst LBRY is store credit for watching movies; at best it's making entertainment and information available for everyone with a reasonable price.
- Proven | Still young, but LBRY does have over one year track record. It is also already in Beta (like Steemit), which likely means the platform is already mostly working.
- Sustainable | I haven't had the chance to try it out yet. But if the usability is anything close to the competition, LBRY does have the potential to make competition obsolete.
The Bad: The muli-billion dollar film industry does still combat whatever it deems piracy and has even went after tens of thousands of end users. Some internet service providers have even been pressured to block certain sites based on piracy claims so I suppose technically it would be possible to at least block the LBRY domain making it too hard for everyday user to access.
8. Golem (GNT)
| white paper | coinmarketcap | GitHub |
Golem is a network supercomputer that anyone can use for virtually anything. The idea is that you lease your idle computing power to help, for example, render animation movies or help crunching numbers for DNA analysis, machine learning, you name it.
Why is a supercomputer needed? For example a single frame of a Pixar animation movie can take up to 29 hours to render. And those movies are 24 frames per second. You do the math for a 1,5 h movie. Golem could squeeze that time into days or even hours instead of years.
The real kicker, though I feel, is that anyone will be able to use Golem to compute anything they want! Think of the applications humanity can come up with such a tool at hand.
Of course there is a downside to all this decentralization and freedom. Golem takes the usual approach of self-governing via protocol-level reputation system that encourages appropriate behaviour. This is still a little unclear to me as to what will be considered proper and what improper. For example if i would use it to crack my forgotten wallet key (if such a thing would even be possible), would I be flagged for improper use? Maybe someone could enlighten me in the comments?
- Purpose | You get paid in GNT for leasing out your idle computing power. What sets Golem apart from most similar technologies, is that anyone can use the Golem Supercomputer for almost anything. Due to possible leaps in DNA studies, this invention could really impact the world in big way. Now, that's inspiring!
- Proven | Less than one year track record and the platform is still only in alpha phase. The idea seems really solid but I don't consider Golem proved.
- Sustainable | I believe cloud computing is the future (along with quantum computing) and Golem has a nice upper hand on the market being the best thought out product out there right now. That can, however change fast. So, again, keep your eyes peeled.
The Bad: Could this be the start of Skynet?.
7. FirstBlood (1ST)
| white paper | coinmarketcap | GitHub |
Now we are getting to a really personally interesting field for me: Competitive videogaming!
FirstBlood is an eSports related platform that allows users place bets amongst each other in popular online games such as League of Legends, Dota 2, CounterStrike: GO and many more, I imagine.
How does it work? Glad you asked. FirstBlood is based on Etherium smart contracts, which will allow for the users to make bets with each other. For example Team A and Team B can decide to both put a set amount of 1ST tokens in an escrow -type pool and set the smart contract to something like "if team A/B wins the objective in less than 4 minutes, the smart contract will execute transferring all tokens in the pool to team A/B."
Now. For this to work properly, there is a need for what is commonly referred to as a 3rd party oracle. In the case of FirstBlood, I'd imagine the oracle will simply be the game itself, telling the smart contract what actually happened in the game. This should lead to indisputable rulings (provided, of course that there are no significant bugs in the game code).
- Purpose | You use the 1ST tokens to execute smart contracts to settle eSports prizes and smaller bets between users. Pure genius if you ask me! There will most likely be a lot of competition.
- Proven | FirstBlood raised $5.5M in minutes which tells me it is a very welcome idea. Besides eSports have really exploded in populaity this year, much like cryptocurrencies. However, the technology seems a bit sketchy still and at the moment even their official website is not functioning. So not proven but has proven potential.
- Sustainable | I don't honestly see how competitive gaming could possibly decline in popularity in the future. In fact, I predict traditional sports will be subsided by eSports in less than 20 years. Now gaming coins, that is another matter because there are new altcoins minted every day. FirstBlood, however has a solid chance to be the first one and maintain it's position if the development team keeps the ball moving.
The Bad: So. Not. Ready. But I have a very big personal (mental) stake in this so I wholeheartedly wish it will make it.
6. OmiseGo (OMG)
| white paper | coinmarketcap | GitHub |
You guys are going to love this.
Don't you hate how complicated it is to get in cryptocurrencies and start trading and accumulating them? Let alone spending. So annoying! Enter OmiseGo.
Basically they are trying to make an app for your phone where you can spend your fiat money in cryptocurrencies and vice versa. so basically it doesnt matter what you hold and where, you can use it to buy things. They even have Thai McDonalds on board already so it looks like they mean business.
If you take a look at the development team and specially the advisor team, you will notice some familiar names there. I'm going to drop just one here, though: Vitalik Buterin. That's right folks, Mr. Ethereum himself is on the advisor team.
To be frank, that was all I needed to know. I will be buying this coin so hard once I have the means to do so.
Oh, and it is supposed to go live Q4 2017, so very soon...
- Purpose | Attempts to bridge the gap between regular and crypto currencies to enable instantaneous micropayments anywhere with your smartphone. Literally no-one does that yet. At least not that I know (please tell me if I'm wrong).
- Proven | Very new, almost out of the woods new for me. However I was sold after first skimming through the white paper
- Sustainable | People need to spend money. Simple as that. One of the biggest issues cryptocurrencies have faced is that it is very hard to actually buy day-today things with them. OmiseGo aims to change that so I would say it's very sustainable. Even if there will be a ton of competition (and there will be), it won't be a problem since we already live in the world of multiple, even overlapping payment methods.
The Bad: I guess the only "bad" thing I can think of is the branding. I mean, come on. OMG? pls srsly. Also, the logo sucks but hey, it's in the beginning and I'm sure they will rebrand.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post!
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Photo credit on the first pne goes to my good friend Photographer Veli-Matti Kantonen.
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