The number of cryptocurrencies is constantly growing with many new coins getting added day by day. Big promises are being made and it is very difficult to identify the coins which hold the actual value.
Since the blockchain technology is new, the risks with such projects are quite high. Hence, a cryptocurrency investor should keep the below points in mind before choosing to invest in any project involving top altcoins.
- The cryptocurrency market is volatile and new. One should do extensive research before choosing any altcoin.
- Need a proper understanding of various factors that can control the price of coins.
- Always cross-verify any news pertaining to a coin. Do not believe in rumors or news coming from a single source. Check for the authenticity of the news.
- Never put all your money in a single basket. New investors always make this mistake by putting all their money in a single asset.
Things to make a note of while choosing from the top altcoins:
- Strong utility and use cases
- Valued partnerships
- Heavy funding
- Clear, transparent and defined roadmap
- Stage of the project, among many others
Here is a quick overview of the top altcoins to look out for in 2020:-
1. Ethereum
The decentralized software platform offers smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps). This platform provides users with a wide range of applications to do financial transactions, fraud control, interference, cryptographic agreements, etc.
Almost all the projects of decentralized finance (DeFi), are based on Ethereum technology. It is also the go-to project for Institutions. The Ethereum Alliance is a platform for research, consulting and best practices sharing with the institutions.
However, Ethereum has been facing severe scaling as well as governance problems. It plans to move from a Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism to counter this. The ETH 2.0 upgrades promise to enhance its features to support future innovative financial products. You need to keep a very close eye on the upcoming fork updates and implementation of the PoS algorithm.
To know more in details read out the article: Ethereum 2.0: All You Need to Know
2. Binance Coin
Binance coin (BNB) is the native cryptocurrency of Binance exchange. This coin was launched in August 2017 along with the launch of its exchange. Binance is one of the biggest and most influential crypto exchanges in the world. The coin has risen sharply in a short span. BNB is among the top 15 cryptocurrencies in the world by market cap.
BNB is a Binance Chain token. With the cryptocurrency, you can pay a commission for transactions on Binance exchange at significant discounts.
In 2019, Binance entered into a partnership with Israeli payment processor Simplex to enable Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple’s XRP purchases with debit and credit cards.
BNB growth is largely dependent on the growth of the Binance exchange. It also has multiple other use cases. Read this article to understand the utilities of BNB in detail. Since Binance is still looking strong, adding more services hence the future of BNB seems to be bright.
3. Chainlink
Chainlink is considered as a bridge between the blockchain world and the overall global ecosystem. They have developed a set of tools that helps to connect blockchains and smart contracts to external resources in different networks. It is one of the most successful projects of 2019, in terms of monetary scale.
Several top crypto projects like ICON, Kava, Solana, and Swipe have already entered into partnerships with Chainlink to use their Oracle solutions.
The company also made a partnership with Google in June last year.
4. Cardano
Cardano is the third generation blockchain platform for developing decentralized applications and smart contracts. It is an open-source cryptocurrency project which implements blockchain technology with a promise to support scalability, governance, and interoperability. Cardano is the first cryptocurrency platform based on the Haskell code, an industrial product used for mission-critical systems.
Cardano is a competitor of Ethereum. The project is now in a transition period. It is implementing Shelley. Shelly will bring decentralization to the network. Initial feedback about Shelley and the Incentivised TestNet (ITN) is quite positive. Currently, it is among one of the cheaper cryptocurrency to invest. Cardano’s coin has the ticker ADA.
5. Tezos
Tezos is a self-amendment protocol, where the stakeholder proposes, vote, and then implement the changes to enhance the functionality of the network. Token holders vote with one vote per token. Tezos supports smart contracts and offers a platform to build digital decentralized applications.
Due to this self amending protocol, Tezos will be able to upgrade and evolve over time which will make it one of the strong contenders of a 3rd generation blockchain. Recently, it brought out a cryptocurrency faucet for the Tezos mainnet.
Tezos is an extremely well-funded project. It has a fund balance of nearly $500 million.
6. Enjin
Blockchain technology is widely accepted by various industries. The gaming industry is not untouched from it. According to a study, the gaming market has claimed more than $150 billion in revenues in 2019 worldwide and could exceed $180 billion by 2021. Therefore, the cryptocurrencies that are targeting the gaming industry have great potential.
Of the top altcoins making their presence known in the blockchain gaming industry, Enjin is a pioneer. It is the largest online gaming community.
To further strengthen its foothold, the company has entered into a partnership with several big companies like Samsung and Microsoft in 2019. Enjin also launched its Marketplace in 2019. Now they have automated non-fungible token (NFT) creation. Anyone can create Enjin backed assets!
Enjin is also looking forward to making some more partnerships in 2020. It recently released its mainnet on the Ethereum blockchain. Multiple Enjin games are also coming out in 2020. Look out for this coin!
7. Chiliz
Chiliz is the fintech platform of Socios.com. The token has found its own niche. You can purchase Fan Tokens, vote on exclusive team surveys & be rewarded. The platform recently launched a cryptocurrency exchange Chiliz.net for sports and entertainment tokens. Socios.com has fully integrated it. The token holders can make transactions between Socios wallet and Chiliz.net, and vice versa.
The Fan token will be given via “Fan Token Offerings” by clubs like Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus, West Ham, OG, eSports, AS Roma and many others. Recently, Barcelona also partnered with Chiliz.
Note: This is not financial advice. Always do your own due diligence before investing.