Our introductory article covered the basics about our crypto baskets and how they will operate on our upcoming platform. In this article we will take a closer look at individual baskets and their constituent assets.
But before we jump into the baskets themselves, here’s a quick recap if you haven’t yet read the first article. Our crypto baskets enable investors to deploy their crypto funds (BTC or ETH) onto our Rialto Trade platform and quickly diversify into one or more of our themed crypto asset baskets. The value of crypto basket investments can be easily tracked on the platform and is updated once daily.
Top 5 crypto assets
The Top 5 crypto basket invests in five of the largest crypto assets based on their market capitalization. This basket is suitable for investors seeking exposure to crypto assets in general. By investing in the top five crypto assets by market capitalization, investors will gain exposure to approximately 80% of the total crypto asset market cap.
This basket is slightly different from the rest as weights are based on the share of the market cap of individual assets, but capped at a maximum weight of 40%. Currently this means that altcoins have greater weights than their market cap share would indicate.
All other crypto baskets are theme based and are equally weighted between five assets at 20% each.
The biggest holding in this basket is of course Bitcoin (BTC). Bitcoin was the first successful cryptocurrency, released almost 10 years ago, on 3rd January 2009. Its purpose is to provide a peer-to-peer electronic version of cash, allowing payments to be sent online without the need for a trusted third party. The last of the 21 million bitcoins is expected to be mined in 2140, with the current supply standing at around 16 million. Newly issued Bitcoins are paid as rewards to ‘miners’, who process transactions by mining new blocks on the blockchain.
DAPPs
Decentralized applications (dApps) are applications that run on a P2P network rather than a single computer and are therefore resistant to any single point of failure. With blockchain being a special type of P2P network, dApps on blockchains typically generate tokens, which are used as rewards for miners and as means of settlement. DApps are typically open-sourced with their data and records of operation being cryptographically stored on the blockchain. DApps offer significant improvements over classic applications in terms of security and resistance to intervention by any entity.
DAPPs basket consists of the following five crypto assets, which focus on building “smart contracts”. In short, these are programs that are coded to automatically control the transfer of assets between two or more parties, once predefined conditions have been met.
Ethereum (ETH) is a revolutionary platform famous for introducing the concept of “smart contracts” (special type of dApps) to the blockchain. First released in July 2015 by Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum quickly rose to fame in the cryptocurrency world.
Ethereum’s close rival EOS (EOS) proposes improvements that can challenge Ethereum as the dominant smart contract platform. The main issue that EOS looks to address is the scalability problems which have plagued the Ethereum network during times of high transaction volumes, for example during popular ICOs.
Cardano (ADA) is trying to fix some of the largest problems in the cryptocurrency world which have been causing ongoing issues for years such as scalability issues and democratized voting. Cardano is developing their own programing language similar to Ethereum and are focusing heavily on being interoperable with other cryptocurrencies.
NEO (NEO) aims to digitize many types of assets which were formerly kept in more traditional means, and therefore make it possible to use them in smart contracts. It is sometimes referred to as “China’s Ethereum.”
NEM (XEM) enables companies to use their “smart asset system” to implement customizable blockchains. A smart asset can be almost anything: a cryptocurrency token, a business’s stock or a company’s invoicing and records.
Privacy focused cryptocurrencies
At a time when identity theft is one of the most common crimes and user information is a serious business, internet security and identity protection have become matters of growing importance. There exists a special branch of cryptocurrencies, which focus predominantly on the anonymity of their users. Many cryptocurrencies provide some level of anonymity, however our Privacy basket consists of cryptocurrencies which invest heavily in research and development of these features, making them the leaders in this sector.
Monero (XMR) is a digital currency designed to be used as a completely anonymous payment system. As opposed to BTC, transactions can not be backtraced on the blockchain, thus providing perfect concealment of the addresses involved. It is considered to be the most private cryptocurrency.
Dash (DASH) aims to be the most user-friendly and scalable cryptocurrency in the world. It has the ability to send funds instantly, confirmed by “double-send-proof” security with the added functionality of erasable transaction history and the ability to send transactions anonymously.
Zcash (ZEC) is a value transfer protocol forked from the Bitcoin blockchain, with a few added improvements. With “zero cash technology,” Zcash shields both the amount transferred and the senders, making transactions truly anonymous.
Bytecoin (BCN) is the first coin to offer untraceable payments, unlinkable transactions and resistance to blockchain analysis. Transactions of Bytecoin are totally untraceable and don’t require additional fees.
PIVX (PIVX) is an open-source, decentralized cryptocurrency that focuses on privacy, security, anonymity, and instant transactions. It was forked from DASH in 2016.
Payment solutions
The last theme of our crypto baskets that we’ll be introducing today, is payment solutions. Cryptocurrencies in this category are aiming to make financial transactions easier and cheaper. Not necessarily relying on the blockchain, they offer an important alternative to the current complex and rigid payment systems.
Ripple (XRP) aims to improve the speed and reduce the cost of financial transactions, specifically international banking transactions. It is one of the most prominent cryptocurrencies with Ripple team currently comprising of over 150 people, making it one of the biggest in the cryptocurrency space.
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) was created on 1st August 2017 after a “hard fork” from the Bitcoin blockchain. The main reason for the split was an inability of the Bitcoin community to reach a consensus in relation to a block size increase to help scale the network. It has features very similar to Bitcoin but is focused on providing faster and cheaper financial transactions.
Stellar Lumens (XLM) is based on the Ripple protocol and is attempting to do similar things, but as a non-profit foundation as opposed to a private, for-profit company. Some of Stellar Lumens’ main uses will be for making small daily payments (micropayments), sending money internationally and mobile banking for the developing world.
Iota (MIOTA) introduces an innovative way of confirming transactions — when sending MIOTA, sender validates two previous transactions, making it completely free to use, while the network gets faster the more it is used (as opposed to all other networks). It is primarily targeted for use in IOT (Internet Of Things) devices.
OmiseGo (OMG) aims to revolutionize the financial dynamics in Southeast Asia, targeting individuals and businesses of all sizes by improving the current financial system which is slow, outdated, and inaccessible to most “everyday” people. It is bonded to the Ethereum blockchain for decentralization and security.
Conclusion
As the crypto asset ecosystem continues to grow at an accelerated pace, it is becoming increasingly difficult to stay on top of the latest developments and manage one’s portfolio accordingly. Our crypto baskets make this process not only considerably easier and faster, but also much more secure, thanks to our institutional grade custody solutions.
Many experts believe that blockchain technology is going to be as revolutionary as the internet has been. If they are correct, then crypto assets might just be the single biggest investment opportunity many of us are likely see in our lifetimes. And with traditional investment classes such as equities at all time highs, while crypto assets are selling at up to 90% discount, it only makes sense to give them some serious consideration.
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