AltcoinAltcoin
Alternative Coin. Bitcoin is known as the first and foremost cryptocurrency, so any cryptocurrency that is not Bitcoin is an altcoin.
Bitcoin
The first blockchain-based cryptocurrency, launched in 2009. Bitcoin remains the most influential and widely recognized coin. All other cryptocurrencies are known as "altcoins," simply because they are not Bitcoin.
AltcoinAltcoin
Alternative Coin. Bitcoin is known as the first and foremost cryptocurrency, so any cryptocurrency that is not Bitcoin is an altcoin.
Bitcoin
The first blockchain-based cryptocurrency, launched in 2009. Bitcoin remains the most influential and widely recognized coin. All other cryptocurrencies are known as "altcoins," simply because they are not Bitcoin.
The Bitcoin maximalist perspective is a terrible view to have for investing and trading in the crypto-scene.
Altcoin News Displays the Industry’s Growing Pains
With headlines proclaiming Bitcoin going down, it’s easy to lose faith in cryptocurrency. The plethora of altcoin projects is a symptom of the enormous creative potential this industry has. While bad projects can certainly spoil crypto’s reputation, not having any bad projects would stifle innovation. The altcoin news buzz paints a picture of little-known coins achieving skyrocketing values overnight. While this has happened before, to better understand the phenomenon, let’s take a look at how Bitcoin directly affects altcoin valuation. It’s not necessarily a competition of Bitcoin vs altcoin, instead, each relies on each other.
Exposing the Falsehoods of Pessimism
Currently, every altcoin is measured in value by Satoshis — what are those?
- One hundred millionth of a single Bitcoin (0.00000001 BTC — 8 decimals places).
- Bitcoin’s valuation to fiat currency directly affects how much each Satoshi is worth.
- Altcoin valuation comes from their Satoshi valuation related to fiat (USD).
When Bitcoin’s value increases, it tends to raise the price of altcoins along with it. Unfortunately, the inverse is also true — which ties the altcoin market directly to Bitcoin. For example, if Bitcoin drops 10%, some altcoins may lose nearly 30% of their value. This leads to altcoin news sources crying wolf at the slightest market fluctuation.
If each coin is directly tied to Bitcoin, won’t they all lose value if they bring nothing new to the crypto space? The Bitcoin vs altcoin debate is a topic being pushed by many altcoin news sources. The hypothesis claims that any technological achievements brought by altcoins will eventually be adopted by Bitcoin, rendering the original coins useless. It’s a maximalist view made hard to refute because the timeline is set so far ahead into the future that no one knows if they’re right.
The Bitcoin maximalist perspective is a terrible view to have for investing and trading in the crypto-scene. Successful investors can find altcoins to support that increase in value over only a few months. Furthermore, we are experiencing a brutal bear market and most of the altcoins in existence have proved themselves robust enough to survive. While their value may not buy you a Lambo any time soon, they still have dedicated teams and communities behind the vision. The altcoin buzz is created by solutions to technical problems that are more than simple value exchange:
- Smart contracts
- Proof of consensus mechanisms
- Supply chain management
- Smart I.D.
- Decentralized apps
Just because a coin isn’t Bitcoin doesn’t mean it’s worthless. Altcoin predictions should stay bullish for quite some time.
The Altcoin Market is Diluted With Some Terrible Ideas
Finding the best altcoins to invest in means understanding the bad ones. While an altcoin crash may be in our future, I am still bullish on the future of cryptocurrency. Often times these market crashes act similar to natural selection — wiping out the bad projects, and keeping the good. I personally don’t think an altcoin crash is inevitable, but I do think the bad ideas will be wiped out, naturally. In anticipation of a further crash, I have compiled a list of 4 projects to stay away from.
1. Verge
Marketed as a privacy coin, Verge created an independent blockchain after a hard fork from Dogecoin. Originally called DogecoinDark, it was rebranded to its current form. If its origins as a meme coin aren’t raising red flags, its lazy tech will. With claims to be a privacy coin, it doesn’t bring anything new to the table. It is partnered with PornHub. Unfortunately for the coin, its value has dropped dramatically as users simply use better privacy coins for purchases. More of a marketing gimmick than a groundbreaking protocol — my recommendation is to stay away.
2. Bytecoin
Another altcoin promising privacy to users. Unfortunately, its white papers don’t add much credibility to the team behind the coin. The dates are unverified and the names of developers don’t have an online presence. The coin has also been delisted by exchanges such as Binance and OKEX. There are issues with the underlying protocol that have gone unfixed by the development team. Not a good look, do not invest.
3. Monero Classic
When Monero implemented a hard-fork in early 2018, it was in response to ASICASIC Miners
Highly specialized computing machines that are far more efficient for mining than CPUs and GPUs. Jihan Wu (a Chinese businessman) is responsible for creating and selling many ASIC Miners.
Mining
The process by which new coins are created as transactions on a network are verified.
Fork (Hard)
A change in a cryptocurrency’s software that makes it incompatible with the original version. For example, any block size increase in the Bitcoin protocol constitutes a hard fork.
4. McFly Tokens
Not an independent protocol, instead, this company is crowdfunding by selling tokens. Their goal is to create flying cars — giant drones that transport people. They use artificial images in the video on their site to show you what a full-sized transport vehicle looks like. Flying cars, really? I would stay away from this company.
When altcoins are just being launched, a small investment can carry a project forward, giving it the legs it needs to be successful.
5 Best Altcoins to Invest In
For this list, I am going to stay away from the top 20 coins. While technically anything that’s not Bitcoin is an altcoin, this list is dedicated to the projects which are harder to find in altcoin news, the ones that are taking risks. Highly experimental, not every project is going to make it. But the ideas are so creative and straight up awesome that they made the list with their own altcoin buzz.
The best part about some of these “worthless” coins is how affordable they are. I can use my weekend beer money and own a few hundred to a few thousand tokens in a project I believe in. Worst case, an altcoin crash means I don’t party for the weekend — which is probably better anyway. Best case scenario, the company is a success and I make a return on investment that can be measured in the hundreds of percent.
These are my altcoin predictions for tech that has a bright future.
My analysis will focus on the technology and ideas driving each coin. I won’t go into day trading altcoins or much else. Instead, use this as an opportunity to do your own research from the list I’ve compiled.
1. Factom
Built on top of Bitcoin, Factom uses the world’s most robust blockchain to maintain a storage system aimed toward large businesses. Using the immutability of blockchainBlockchain
A digital, distributed ledger which contains data for all the transactions that have ever taken place using a given cryptocurrency.
2. Burstcoin
BURST seeks to solve energy consumption issues by using what they call proof-of-capacity. Mining takes place on hard drive space, the more external storage miners have, the more burst they mine. More fascinating is their proclaimed technology that will add a tangleTangle
A consensus method that allows users to transact anonymously and requires relatively little electricity. An alternative to PoW (Proof of Work) and PoS (Proof of Stake).
3. Nebulas
Nebulas is an ambitious project that bills itself as a search engine of dAppsdApps
Distributed Apps. Applications without centralized control.
Smart Contracts
Agreements between two parties that self-execute when their terms are met and automatically cancel when their terms are not met.
4. LBRY
The easiest explanation is to think of it as a decentralized Youtube. It has a working product and content creators are able to upload their videos to the community. Users “pay” in LBRY tokens as a sort of microtransaction to encourage more content creation. Impossible to censor, it strives to be a disruptor of the video industry. It’s a cool idea that has a product which is why it made the list.
5. HyperCash
HC is a parallel computing idea that has the ability to create the underlying fabric for artificial intelligence! It’s theoretical at the moment but exciting, nonetheless. By connecting smartphones, computers, smart microwaves, unused computing power can be rented out to users of the hypernet system. Computing power is tokenized and hosts of the networks receive proportional rewards for hosting the network. A new idea with loads of potential, the project is worth following.
The Altcoin Market Might be Saturated but Good Ideas Exist
Part of the fun of cryptocurrency is the ability to speculate on which technology will shape the future. When altcoins are just being launched, a small investment can carry a project forward, giving it the legs it needs to be successful. Many altcoins are going to zero but not all of them. Avoiding the losses from an altcoin crash requires solid investments as a result of quality education. So, keep learning!
- Own a website? Link to this article!
- Willing to spread the love? Share it on social!
