These days, there’s an almost overwhelming number of different cryptocurrencies to invest in. As blockchain technology matures, and new startups continue to innovate, there’s always a new currency to consider.
Some are overhyped and end up a disappointment, others end up being a great investment. Understanding the features, technology, and benefits of different coins is crucial to investment success. Just like any investment, you want to do your homework first before investing in cryptocurrency.
Even the most well-known of crypto, Bitcoin, has been on a roller coaster of value peaking in late 2017. Many experts believe it’s near the bottom now, and is poised to go up again, but there are many smaller currencies also worth considering. There are plenty of products where you can pay with Bitcoin, but it’s becoming increasingly easier to trade your preferred currency in and out of a blockchain system.
Here are some key things to consider if you’re thinking of a crypto investment:
- Do you plan to hold the asset for a long time, or are you looking to sell as soon as it hits a high? Choose your investment based on a short-term versus long-term gain.
- What amount are you comfortable losing? Make sure you won’t be at risk if you lose your investment to a volatile market.
- How optimistic are you about making profits? Base your decisions on information, not hope.
- Do you follow blockchain news and understand the ins and outs? If not, you should do more research before investing.
Knowing what is the best cryptocurrency to invest in means knowing about both the performance and technology/backing of a given digital currency. You shouldn’t make investment decisions based on emotion.
Bitcoin (BTC value $6425.07) and Ethereum (ETH value $208.56) are indeed the top cryptocurrencies, but may not be the best-performing investments. Let’s take a look at some new and emerging digital currencies in 2018.
Zcash (ZEC)
Even though Zcash is fairly new to the market, it’s come a long way in a short time. The CEO, Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn has chosen to make privacy a central feature of ZEC, placing it among a small segment of the crypto market. As offshore banking markets tighten and are subject to increasing scrutiny, wealthy investors looking for anonymity will look for coins like Zcash.
ZEC is trading at $121.63. Its current circulating supply is ZEC 5,172,919 with a market cap of $629,182,525 USD.
Dash (DASH)
Dash is one of the ‘best of the rest’ when it comes to digital currency. Although it was created in 2015, its market capitalization has been as high as nearly $12 billion. Within this such a short time, they have consistently handled around $100 million worth of transactions per day with safety and security.
DASH is trading at $164.88. Its current circulating supply is 8,428,240 DASH with a current market cap of $1,389,660,726 USD.
Neo (NEO)
The NEO technology, created by one of the crypto and blockchain giants Da Hongei, is underpinned by the Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerant system, requiring a consensus between a certain number of nodes to make key decisions. The ‘fail safe’ nature of the system makes it extremely secure.
NEO is trading at $16.48. Its current circulating supply is NEO 65,000,000 with a market cap of $1,071,411,165 USD.
Tron (TRX)
Buying low is the holy grail for crypto investors, and the low price of entry for Tron is a bargain. Launched in 2017 by Justin Sun, Tron is built on a decentralized platform. The main motivation is to promote and support the entertainment industry, enabling users to upload and download various media without the intervention of third parties like Google Play Store and others.
TRON is trading at $0.02377. Its current circulating supply is TRX 65,748,111,645 with a market cap of $1,563,036,409 USD.
Nem (NEM)
Nem is different from other cryptocurrencies for two key reasons. You harvest instead of mining, and proof-of-importance determines who harvests the next block. NEM transactions take around 6 seconds to show up and 20 seconds to confirm. NEM has incredible capacity, supporting 3000 tx/s where BTC lags at 4 tx/s. Another advantage is low transaction cost, around a .01% fee. It only costs a penny to send $100, or 10 cents to send $1000.
Importantly, NEM uses 100 times less power than BTC to run a node or to harvest.
NEM is trading at $0.0932. Its current circulating supply is 8,999,999,999 XEM with a market cap of $839,515,983 USD.
0x (ZRX)
Having appeared on the market in September, 0x is one of the freshest cryptocurrencies that is grabbing traders’ attention. It’s a decentralized exchange of ERC20 tokens where users can directly place orders from their Ethereum wallets. It allows much greater liquidity as compared to the other cryptos, so anyone using the protocol can access orders from anyone else. ZRX was in the news when Coinbase announced it would be the first ERC20 listing on their platform.
ZRX is trading at $0.7673. Its current circulating supply is 545,518,757 ZRX with a market cap of $418,557,992 USD.
Post written by Darya Karatkevich
Darya is a blockchain market observer with 5+ years of experience as an author and editor for major tech blogging platforms. Her fortes are blockchain technologies and solutions, cryptocurrencies and crypto-related regulations.
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