The Top 4 Cryptocurrencies You Should Invest In
Updated: Jan 7
These cryptocurrencies are solid projects with long-term potential.
Source: Messari
Cryptocurrency is an emerging asset class that relies on blockchain technology. Hundreds of cryptocurrencies are available, so it may be hard for investors to decide which one to invest in.
Everybody knows about Bitcoin, it is the top dog in the crypto world. However, there are massive gains that can be made if you invest in the best altcoins.
If you are interested in investing in crypto, I have listed the best cryptocurrency to invest in in 2022. Of course, you don’t want to rely on the Reddit crypto community to be your only due diligence when investing.
1- Bitcoin
Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency in market capitalization and uses a proof-of-work consensus protocol. It is entirely decentralized, meaning anybody can transact and mine Bitcoins. There is a maximum supply of 21 million Bitcoins that can be mined, which is why people consider Bitcoin digital gold.
Transaction costs on a proof-of-work blockchain are higher, but the blockchain is considered more secure than other consensus protocols like proof-of-stake. However, the downside to proof-of-work is that it consumes a lot of electricity to validate transactions and mine new Bitcoins. In addition, bitcoins are mined using graphics processing units, making proof-of-work less scalable than a proof-of-stake consensus protocol.
The best altcoins to invest in:
2- Ethereum
Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap and also runs on a proof-of-work algorithm. It plans to upgrade to using proof-of-stake as its consensus protocol, meaning computer hardware will no longer be able to mine Ether tokens. The switch to proof-of-stake will cause the Ethereum blockchain to be less decentralized but more efficient.
The transaction fees or gas fees are high on the Ethereum blockchain. The transaction fees will drop once the switch to ETH 2.0 occurs. The question is, when will the ETH 2.0 upgrades occur? Coinbase allows its users to stake Ethereum 2.0, but they can’t unstake it until the transition occurs.
The Ethereum blockchain is also the most popular in the NFT space. Other blockchains also have NFTs, but not nearly as many as Ethereum. NFTs keep many more people interested in the token as NFTs have become increasingly popular.
3- Solana
The Solana blockchain uses a proof-of-history consensus protocol, which processes transactions quicker than a proof-of-stake blockchain. It is also much cheaper to transact with Solana, as every transaction costs less than $.01.
Proof-of-history is considered less secure than proof-of-work but more efficient. Solana can withstand up to 65,000 transactions per second, while Ethereum can only support 30 per second. If the transition to ETH 2.0 does not increase its transaction speed and decrease gas fees, crypto investors may look to other tokens to transact with, such as Solana.
4- VeChain
The VeChainThor blockchain consists of two tokens: VET and VTHO. Transactions on the blockchain will use VET, and VTHO will power the transaction. The price of VTHO is equal to the cost of conducting a transaction on the VeChain blockchain. This system is more efficient than Ethereum because the price to transact on VeChain does not need to be estimated. The transaction will fail if you want to transact on the Ethereum blockchain and the gas fees are misestimated.
The VeChain blockchain is full of use cases and intends to be massively adopted by businesses. The primary use case is to utilize blockchain technology to disrupt the supply chain industry. Supply chain data is currently disorganized in the hands of multiple stakeholders, which affects the flow of information. The VeChain blockchain will provide a complete view of supply chain data for all stakeholders and provide more transparency.
An example of a use case for VeChain is in the wine industry. VeChain produces RFID tags assigned to wine bottles to track the quality, age, authenticity, temperature, etc. In addition, VeChain has partnered with major companies such as BMW and Walmart China. These partnerships prove there is significant demand for blockchain technology in the supply chain industry.
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