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The Top 10 Coins to Face a Massive Bullish Run in Q4 2018
Individual cryptocurrencies often move in the same direction with the crypto market often moves. And periods like early November to December 2017 proved how much gains one could gain from holding cryptocurrencies within such a short span of time. This year however, as the market recovers, it is more likely that some coins will outperform others in a race to reach new highs. Times have also changed, and it is no longer viable to expect 100% returns overnight. It is important for investors to do their due diligence and find that will be solving problems 5 or 10 years from now.
Below are the basics of a few projects working towards providing solutions on a large scale within the next decade. Although it may be difficult to predict whether their prices will surge sharply in the short term, these altcoins have taken various steps that increase their likelihood of catching the next crypto bull run.
Cardano (ADA)
Unlike many other blockchain projects that fork from existing popular projects such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, Cardano was developed as the first fully open source blockchain platform to be built on the basis of peer reviewed academic research. Its development is based on the works of Gerolamo Cardano, an Italian mathematician after whom the project was named. Cardano CEO, Charles Hoskinson, who previously served as Ethereum CEO has developed a blockchain platform that is scientifically sound and securely engineered for development and deployment of dApps and smart contracts.
The blockchain is backed by IOHK; a technology and engineering company contracted to design, build and maintain Cardano until 2020, the Cardano Foundation; a Swiss based non-profit with responsibility to work with government institutions and to create strategic partnerships through open source projects and enterprises to push for global adoption and Emurgo; an incubator responsible for developing and integrating enterprises on the Cardano blockchain.
Cardano (ADA) is about a year old and in that time, it has made a lot of progress. Cardano is planning 2 mainnet updates, the first (Cardano 1.3.1) scheduled for September 2018 and Yoroi, a Chrome extension wallet whose testnet will be released and shortly after migrated to its mainnet. Cardano 1.4 is set to release in October and will feature big updates on data storage, logging changes, wallet backend and much more. Additionally, IOHK and Emurgo have been working with hardware wallet manufacturer, Ledger to add support for ADA on the Nano S hardware wallet. A connection has already been established between Cardano and Ledger that will make Yoroi the first Cardano interface on Ledger.
According to their roadmap, Cardano is halfway through with the support for the Ledger Nano S wallet while further integration with the Daedalus wallet is ongoing. The Cardano community ranks at the top on the Ledger Trello board indicating their commitment towards the completion of this project. Cardano (ADA) currently ranks 9th with a price of USD 0.083 and a market cap of USD 2.172 billion.
DigiByte (DGB)
Jared Tate started the DigiByte project back in 2013 to address the challenges of security and speed in Bitcoin. Jared, a programmer and entrepreneur and his team have come up blockchain that aims at being the fastest and most decentralized available for global adoption. The DigiByte blockchain has over 100,000 nodes and 21 billion coins which are expected to be fully mined by 2035. Supply of the DGB coins is 1000 times that of the Bitcoin and this is aimed at making it easier to make smaller payments using whole number currency denominations. DigiByte further reduces UTXO transaction times from Bitcoin’s 10 minutes to 15 seconds and employs 5 different consensus algorithms to gain an edge over the competition.
DigiByte has outlined a number of developments to be expected in the near future. A key feature that is set to add a level of convenience for users is the ability to schedule automatic withdrawal for repeated monthly expenses. In addition, the platform is planning t launch an address book for Android and iOS that will make it simpler for users to save wallet addresses. Such simple practical applications go a long way towards increasing adoption by making blockchain services accessible. DigiByte is also looking to improve liquidity and exposure through increasing pairings with fiat currencies on several exchanges.
DigiByte announced a massive developer bounty program in August 2018, to encourage programmers within its community to work on improving the project. DGB rewards will be offered as an incentive to developers to participate. The blockchain has had success with previous bounty programs and has proven the potential for strong relationships between the community and business. DGB currently trade at USD 0.0246 with a market cap of USD 268 million which rank it 35th by size.
Eos (EOS)
EOS has the goal of becoming the top platform for dApp development. It uses a delegated proof of stake (DPoS) consensus protocol to verify transactions. EOS was founded by serial entrepreneur Dan Larimer, and it was able to raise over USD 4 billion during its yearlong ICO making it the most successful crypto crowd fund to date. Despite a lot of criticism from the community, the project has managed to rank 5th with its USD 5.145 market cap. The capability of EOS puts it in the same space with smart contract platform, Ethereum. Larimer’s previous projects, BitShares and Steem have been a great success and there is no doubt he is aiming even higher with the EOS project.
EOS launched EOSIO 1.0 in July paving the way for the 4th phase of the blockchain’s roadmap. Features to be expected include parallel execution which takes advantage of parallel computing to allow for the simultaneous processing of multiple transactions. This offers great scalability for the platform. EOS also uses airdrops as a means to bootstrap the success of new projects. The coins are currently priced at USD 5.68.
Komodo (KMD)
Komodo was forked from Zcash and takes advantage of the zk-snark technology for a completely private and anonymous transaction experience. Komodo goes beyond privacy and creates a platform that allows for free movement of digital assets between different platforms. It took a year to bring Komodo from concept to reality and it has had over 1 million blocks mined within the 2 years of its existence.
Komodo 2.0 was announced in a July 2018 blog and is expected to feature cross chain smart contracts, delayed Proof of Work security services, UTXO based smart contracts and Federated Multi chain Syncing. The features help maintain consistency and fungibility of coin supply throughout different blockchains, protect all PoW blockchains from DDoS attacks, allow for smart contract execution on UTXO blockchains and the ability to reach speeds of a million transactions per second. Its current price is USD 1.15 and it ranks 52nd with a market cap of USD 126.7 million.
PayPie (PPP)
Paypie competes with other platforms such as Equifax, Transunion and Experian to offer decentralized credit risk assessment. It sets itself apart from competition by its built in algorithm that takes hundreds of data points and Hashes them on Ethereum. It uses smart contracts to offer a faster and safer means for banks, lenders and invoice factoring agencies to score credit accounts. Its founders, Nick and Jag have previously worked with Forbes and Microsoft they both have experience in data security and online accounting software and virtual systems for SMEs.
The PayPie app seamlessly integrates with QuickBooks online and the team is looking to integrate more third parties onto the platform. The team is currently working on enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and Application programming Interfaces (APIs) to make the process of adding third parties much simpler. This will be followed by the development of the platform’s own Decentralized Accounting System (DAS). The launch of the DAS will signal completion of the project and will allow for risk analysis with 100% accuracy. PayPie aims to revolutionalize the accounting system by replacing accountants with smart contracts making it more practical to decentralize the industry.
Business financing will be enabled on PayPie in additional to the free PayPie risk assessment tool allowing businesses to apply for invoice factoring after determining their credit risk. This will allow SMEs to sell their unfilled invoices at a discount for better cash flow for the businesses and to provide a return for its users. PPP is currently trading at USD 0.16 with a USD 13.3 million market cap.
Ripple (XRP)
Ripple was founded in 2012 but got its current name in 2015. It was founded with the goal of creating a decentralized monetary system that would empower users to create their own money. Ripple offers 3 products; xCurrent which enables banks send and receive funds faster and at a lower cost, xRapid which provides liquidity for banks looking to enter emerging markets such as crypto and xVia which allows for corporations and payment providers to send money through banks without using the XRP coin. Of the 3 products, only xRapid uses the XRP coin.
The XRP coin recently saw a surge in price temporarily displacing Ethereum in 2nd place. XRapid is set to launch very soon and will enable banks to transact directly in XRP. The National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia (NCB) joined RippleNet in Mid September 2018, giving Ripple an opportunity to impact the country’s USD 37 billion remittance market. NCB was the first to be founded in Saudi Arabia back in 1953 and currently serves more than 5 million customers globally.
SelfKey (KEY)
SelfKey redefines how sensitive information is stored in the era of the internet. Key, its native token, was launched in January 2018 in an ICO that sold out in 11 minutes raising USD 22 million. It has since been listed in top exchanges including Binance giving it momentum in terms of price movement. The platform’s road map outlines some of the efforts to be expected to maintain its momentum.
SelfKey aims at attaining full Trezor hardware wallet integration before the end of the year and they are well on track with only 15% of the task remaining. SelfKey released the SelfKey Identity Wallet Beta in June and looks to improve storage options for its users with Trezor support in the next update. The SelfKey marketplace offers a single platform for financial products and crypto services for more than 10 market verticals. It allows users to explore and instantly sign up for features such as Exchange Accounts, Bank Accounts, Residency by Investment & Entrepreneurship, Citizenship by Investment, Incorporations, Foundations, Trusts, E-Wallets, Precious Metals and International Health Insurance.
The platform is also preparing a browser extension for the Login with SelfKey feature which will allow users to delegate access to their personal information instantly and securely for quick KYC processes. It will use staking to prevent Sybil attacks on the blockchain. The price of KEY currently stands at USD 0.006 and it ranks 258th with a USD 14.7 million market cap.
Swarm (SWM)
Swarm targets 3 different types of investors and delivers services to help them unlock their wealth. The services it offers include AI technology for risk mitigation without cashing out into fiat for Crypto Investors, workflow a automation and access to exclusive opportunities for wealth investors such as private wealth managers and opening opportunities previously reserved for institutional investors to an everyday investor s well. Founded in 2014 by Timo and Philipp, Swarm takes advantage of global internet usage to create opportunities for the working class in the crypto environment. The platform has features suited for both novel and experienced investors giving it a lot of potential.
Swarm released the Market Access protocol in August, announced a partnership with OpenFinance Network and completed the tokenization of the Robinhood investing app. Timo Lehes, in a recent interview spoke about the possibility of having tradable security tokens in the US before the end on 2018 and he outlined some of Swarm’s strategies in addressing government and regulatory bodies. SWM tokens are valued at USD 0.09 bringing it to a market cap of USD 4.69 million.
Theta Token (THETA)
Video streaming is on the rise and is dominated by large companies globally. Theta’s goal is to disrupt this industry by branching from Content Delivery Networks (CDN) which often requires large data centers close enough to viewers in order to facilitate content delivery. CDN is an expensive infrastructure which gets even costlier with increasing video quality. Theta is set to improve benefits for content creators by using the Theta tokens to incentivize users to transform their computational resources into video stream nodes, content reducing delivery costs.
Since its launch in 2017, Theta has released its testnet with the SILVER.tv platform, which gives users the ability to record, view and stream eSports content in 360 degrees cinematic VR video. Theta plans to launch on its own mainnet shifting from the current ERC 20 tokens. The native Theta tokens will be used to reward users who play a role in testing the network prior to its launch. The Theta blockchain will also have the functionality for businesses to develop dApps. Users need to stay alert for the mainnet launch and the consequent token swap to continue enjoying using the Theta tokens.
Theta will compete with platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo and twitch. Nonetheless, they have support from YouTube cofounder Steve Chen and Twitch cofounder Justin Kan. At the current price of USD 0.092 and a USD 62.94 million market cap, Theta places 93rd on rankings by size.
Zilliqa (ZIL)
Zilliqa intends to build the fastest and most decentralized platform on the market with capabilities for deployment of smart contracts and dApps on its blockchain. Zilliqa has a high transaction throughput with transaction fees among the lowest in the industry. The platform uses sharding, which splits databases into sections that can be stored on multiple servers. It uses a hybrid consensus algorithm integrating PoW and Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance to achieve such high throughputs. Xinshu Dong, Zilliqa’s CEO is a crypto security expert with involvement with national security projects for the Singaporean government.
The platform’s mainnet is set to launch around end of 2018 or early 2019. The launch was expected in the 3rd quarter of 2018 but was pushed back to give the team time to Conduct thorough security audits, Prepare for and execute the token swap, Integrate with wallets, Develop toolchains and Bring more dApps onboard. ZIL is priced at USD 0.037 with a USD 290 million market cap.
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