Numbers have done all the talking in 2021. Here are some Year-to-Date rises: Ethereum 434%, Binance Coin 1486%, Cardano 1309%, Polkadot 467%, and Solana 2992%. While the coins on this list look cherry-picked and considering that other assets have outperformed these coins as well (Dogecoin come to mind?), the aforementioned assets fall under a specific consensus algorithm, which is Proof-of-Stake.
Why Proof-of-Stake coins are pumping?
PoS tokens have legitimately made a home in the top-20 rankings. While Ethereum is not completely PoS consensus yet, its staking protocol has been live since December 2020. Other assets such as Cardano, Polkadot, and Solana have followed a PoS consensus model from the get-go and their market valuation is presently impressive.
It is important to note that these assets are not rallying just because of Proof-of-Stake. Ethereum is currently home to so many projects based on DeFi or dApps that its inherent value had to compound, sooner or later. Cardano is finally getting the attention of the larger market in the bull run, as 100% of its hodlers are presently profitable. Its price surge has only highlighted its fundamentals. Binance Coin represents the largest exchange in the world, while Solana is being deemed as the first web-scale blockchain, and the rise of FTX exchange hasn’t hurt its stock.
The long heated debate: Proof-of-Work or Proof-of-Stake?
If PoS tokens are touted against PoW assets at the moment, PoS has overall blown PoW projects out of the water. However, the king coin i.e Bitcoin remains the largest flagbearer of PoW. Although, its working model came under criticism recently after Elon Musk criticized BTC’s mining energy consumption.
Musk implied that some cryptocurrencies succeed at a ‘great cost’ to the environment, and even stated that they were looking to add other crypto assets for Tesla transactions.