2017 is definitely the year of crypto currencies. Bitcoin, the poster boy for all crypto currencies has soared in value and is now hovering around the $4,000 mark, as we speak, after almost reaching $5,000, a few months ago.

Anyone who had invested in a couple of bitcoins a few years ago is probably cashing out their investment and taking a very long vacation right now. But, bitcoin is not the only bad boy in the market today. Many other crypto currencies, including the likes of Etherium, litecoin, DASH, and much more, are forging a path of their own.

In the light of all the uncertainty surrounding Bitcoin, because of the recent ban in China, increasing transaction fees, and squabbles among its core developers, other currencies are gaining more traction. So, which of these currencies promise to perform the best in the next quarter, i.e. the Q4 of 2017? Today, we analyze the top 5 crypto currencies and their potential returns on investment.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin is the biggest elephant in any room, where there is a discussion on crypto currencies. It was the first decentralized cryptocurrency ever to be introduced. It wasn’t until 2013 that it suddenly shot into fame and experienced tremendous growth in value. Then it went into a kind of lull, but in 2017, it has bounced back with vengeance. After hitting an all-time high of $4,969 in late August this year, it is now comfortably settling down around the $4000 mark. There was a lot of apprehension during the time leading up to the split of the currency into Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. But, it passed uneventfully, and the currency has hit new highs since the event.

Bitcoin is one of the most volatile cryptocurrencies around. Even minor disturbances often send the prices plummeting down, and likewise, a word of support from a major investor suddenly sends its value soaring. However, in the longish run, it has only given phenomenal results. Because of its immense popularity, it has been the most talked about cryptocurrency in the mainstream financial world as well.

Even the noted stock analyst Ronnie Moas has been quite vocal about his views on bitcoin. He now expects the currency to hit the $7,000 mark by the end of this year, and as much as $50,000 by the year 2027. Naturally, this has now attracted the attention of major players from the financial world, including hedge fund owners, mutual funds, and high net worth individuals, who are pouring millions of dollars into the crypto currency. Needless to say, the Q4 of 2017 is not going to be any different. Bitcoin will perform well. But, whether it will skyrocket or rise cautiously, only time will tell.

Ethereum

Ethereum has proven itself as the most serious contender to the dominance established by bitcoin over the years. This newcomer entered the market only in 2015 and has delivered impressive results. While it was hovering around the price mark of $13 in October 2016, it soon shot up to reach an incredible $387 in mid-June this year. That’s a jump of 2876%. Since then, the crypto currency has stably settled in the $280 zone.

Many notable experts, developers, and even companies operating in the crypto currency space have expressed huge optimism for ethereum. Some think that it will experience rough waters in the short run, while some others think that it will perform spectacularly in the short run. But, they all agree that ethereum will be an even bigger blockbuster hit than what it is today. Naturally, it has been getting some strong response from the key players in the market. Some of the people betting on the rise of ethereum include Balaji Srinivasan, CEO and co-founder of 21.co, Peter Smith, CEO and co-founder of Blockchain which raised funding from Google, celeb investor Tim Draper, and many others.

There is a general agreement among VC investors and startups that ethereum will not experience any major crashes in the immediate future. In fact, many of them believe that the currency is undervalued, and Q4, 2017 will witness the unraveling of its true value vis-a-vis bitcoin. While it may not reach the price of bitcoin anytime soon, ethereum will grow at a much faster rate than the bitcoin, delivering significantly higher returns both in the short and in the long run.

Litecoin

Litecoin has been languishing as a second fiddle to bitcoin for nearly 6 years now. It originated as a more stable, transparent, and robust alternative to bitcoin, or at least that was the intent behind its creation. It is led by Charlie Lee, who is an ex-Googler and an ex-Coinbase employee, who has been refreshingly transparent about what he wants to do with litecoin and where he is taking it. For this reason, any growth in litecoin is based less on speculation and more on hard usage by its adopters.

This crypto currency has also not experienced any hard forks so far. Neither has it been a victim of hacking. More recently, it has enabled Segregated Witness, which has contributed to its spectacular performance as well. But, the best thing to happen to this crypto currency was Charlie Lie quitting Coinbase to dedicate all his time to the coin. Since this news broke out, litecoin has shown a surge that is beyond anything that it had seen over the previous 5 years.

Litecoin also enjoys immense support from the developer community, which has approved it as one of the 9 crypto currencies and added it to the AppStore. It was even added to the Coinbase recently. Then there is a new wave of Asian individuals and investors alike looking for the next crypto currency bubble. All of these factors have contributed to the sustained growth of litecoin, and is only going to continue over the next few months. So far, the currency has shown no signs that it is generating a bubble. This is good because that means its value is built on solid fundamentals. For this reason, even minor hiccups in other crypto currencies will encourage people to migrate to the most stable crypto currency in the market, which is litecoin. It is presently one of the most bankable investment options in the crypto world.

Monero

If there is one crypto currency that will most definitely deliver excellent growth, then that is Monero. Monero does everything that bitcoin can and also one crucial thing that it can’t – anonymity. To be sure, bitcoin transactions are fairly anonymous. “Fairly” is the key word here. All bitcoin transactions are stored by everyone who has a bitcoin wallet. Although it is difficult to know who is behind the wallet involved in the transactions, it is not impossible. There are additional ways of anonymizing transactions, but they are far from perfect. Enter Monero.

Thanks to ring signatures, Monero’s transactions are completely anonymous. So, no points for guessing who is primarily using it. Yup, the shady people on the darknet. In 2016, the currency was added as a payment method by AlphaBay, a major darknet marketplace. Then another darknet marketplace, Oasis, added it as a payment method. Because law enforcement is getting better at finding ways to identify the people behind bitcoin transactions, all serious darknet users are flocking to Monero. As a result, it went from an insignificant $0.5 in Jan 2016 to hit an all-time high of $140 on September 1, 2017. That’s an unbelievable 28,200 percent jump. Say you invested $1000 on Monero in Jan 2017. Then you would have had $280,000 at the beginning of this month.

The currency is presently experiencing a bit of a lull, but it is expected to perform far better over the course of the next few months. Presently, only a minuscule percentage of crypto users transact in Monero, and most of them are on the wrong side of the law. However, this currency’s appeal is not limited to only such people. Privacy is a major concern for online users. It could be someone purchasing adult content on the internet, someone buying marijuana in a state where it is banned, and so on. Many of them presently rely on bitcoin for their anonymity, despite the risk involved. With Monroe in the picture, they will get complete privacy with their transactions. So, the Q4 of 2017 will witness the currency gaining some more traction, as awareness increases.

Ripple

Among all the cryptocurrencies, Ripple is probably the one that is gearing up for a blockbuster performance in the market in the coming months. The reasons for this are plenty. For starters, there are 100 billion Ripples in existence, and 61% of them are owned by a single startup of the same name. In 2012, the startup Ripple launched a Blockchain based digital payment network that enabled real-time financial transactions at a fraction of their present costs. Naturally, it was a huge hit, and its network has gained validation from the likes of MIT. Many international financial institutions like UBS, Bank of America, RBC, and others are already using its platform.

But, the fact that Ripple is holding 61% of the Ripple coins has generated a lot of fears among the crypto currency users. If the company decides to cash in on its wealth by dumping its coins in the market, then it will definitely lead to a massive drop in its value. To allay the fears, the company’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse – an ex-Yahoo employee himself – has announced that they will be releasing a huge portion of their Ripple holdings in the market in a contained manner.

In effect, Ripple will become a platform that already has the trust of global financial institutions, and soon, it will have put to rest any uncertainties about its stock of Ripples as well. It is presently one of the most undervalued crypto currencies in the world because of this underlying uncertainty. Once that is resolved, expect this coin to skyrocket within a matter of months. After all, it already enjoys the third largest market capitalization among crypto currencies, despite being priced less than a thousandth of the price of a bitcoin.

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