Bitcoin has outperformed most other assets so far this year and is on course to be one of the best bets of 2020.
The bitcoin price, after plummeting in March amid a wider coronavirus-induced sell-off, is up around 30% so far this year.
However, one minor cryptocurrency has almost doubled in price since January—with many expecting it to climb yet further.
Bitcoin has increased its domination of the cryptocurrency market in recent months though some … [+]
Tezos, trading as XTZ, has risen by 85% since the beginning of the year, adding to gains made last year and giving tezos a market capitalization of almost $1.8 billion.
At the beginning of the year, tezos was the 15th most valuable cryptocurrency by market capitalization, according to CoinMarketCap data, but has now broken into the top ten—and could move quickly past some rivals if its run continues.
“Tezos seems to be one of the most popular platforms for new projects to build on at the moment,” said Mati Greenspan, the founder of market analysis firm Quantum Economics, who holds some tezos.
“Several projects that I’m currently advising are using it. As well, the tokenomics are structured in a way that a lot of the incoming supply are diverted to staking and taken off the market.”
Tezos, which styles itself as a “self-amending cryptographic ledger” and uses the so-called proof-of-stake consensus model, has emerged as a favourite blockchain and cryptocurrency for tokenized real-estate and security tokens.
Since bitcoin’s closely-watched supply squeeze this week, some have suggested those that maintain the bitcoin network, known as miners, might switch their computing power to other cryptocurrencies—potentially giving them a boost.
However, tezos, which uses proof-of-stake instead of bitcoin’s proof-of-work, cannot be mined like bitcoin.
Proof-of-stake blockchains are generally thought to be more scalable and less resource-intensive as they don’t require miners to solve complex mathematical problems in order to create the next bloc.
They also incentivize tokenholder participation in network security.
Tezos holders, if their funds are stored in certain wallets, can “stake” their XTZ and receive additional tokens as a reward for creating and verifying new blocks in the chain.
The tezos price is up some 40% over the last 12 months, outpacing bitcoin’s rally.
“Tezos is not a proof-of-work based coin, so it can’t be mined,” said Joe DiPasquale, chief executive of hedge fund manager BitBull Capital.
“However, it is one of the more promising projects to come out of the initial coin offering-era, which gives it an edge in times such as these, when the bitcoin price appreciates and lifts the market for a select-few, quality projects.”
Tezos has benefited from various platforms supporting the ability to “stake” tezos tokens over recent months, according to DiPasquale, who pointed to the U.S. division of major bitcoin and crypto exchange Binance, “which is also a positive driver for price.”
The tezos rally, which began in November last year, has also been pushed on by major partnerships with the financial world and the so-called Tezos Foundation’s Faucet, that awards users up to 0.01 XTZ every 12 hours.