As of this writing, there are around 2104 cryptocurrencies out there. But it’s difficult to ascertain how many digital coins there are at any given time. Coins come and go. As new coins are introduced, others vanish.
If you’ve been in the crypto market for some time, you probably know by now that not every coin is worth your investment. Out of the 2,000 coins, only around a hundred stand out as good for investment.
A great way to know the leading cryptocurrencies is by looking at what’s included in the portfolio of crypto index funds, such as Cryptos Fund, Iconomy, BB Index, and Coinbase. These investment vehicles track only the top performing digital currencies in the market. Their portfolio gives you a hint at where to place your money if you want to trade or invest in individual coins.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and other similarly ‘stable’ coins are typically included in crypto index funds. If you want to minimize your trading risks, you can bet on these traditional top performers. However, if you want to gain higher returns, you should lookout for new and emerging cryptocurrencies of 2021:
So, what are the top cryptocurrencies to observe in 2021? Let’s take a look at three promising cryptocurrencies.
NEO (NEO)
Initially launched as AntShares in February 2015, NEO is a non-profit, community-based blockchain aimed to encourage the development of a scalable network of decentralized applications. Its ecosystem uses a wide range of programming languages that facilitate rapid development of smart contracts. As of October 2018, NEO has a market cap of $1.040 billion with around 65 million of its 100 million coins currently in circulation.
Heavily backed by Chinese e-commerce titan Alibaba and the Chinese government, and widely adopted in China, NEO is considered as the ‘Chinese Ethereum.’ Developers and users can take advantage of NEO’s ease of use and programmer-friendly language support.
The future of NEO depends on Chinese regulations, whether China will ban cryptocurrencies as they have done with ICOs, and whether NEO can evolve further to become a serious competitor of Ethereum.
Zcash (ZEC)
Zcash has shown impressive performance despite being a newcomer in the market. Launched in 2016, top cryptographers and leading scientists have worked together to create the technology and underlying protocol of this blockchain ecosystem.
Currently sold around $53.57 and with a market capitalization of around $300 million, Zcash has around 21 million coins in transactions. It’s a privacy-protecting, digital currency that ensures your personal and transaction data are completely confidential. It uses zero-knowledge proofs to enable transactions without revealing any data about the sender, receiver, and amount in the transaction.
TRON (TRX)
TRON banks on the success of disruptive platforms like Netflix. Instead of relying on a third-party to choose what content users can access and consume, this blockchain application brings the responsibility back to the consumers.
The main objective of Tron is to enable users to upload and download various media content sans the control of middlemen. It hosts a decentralized marketplace where users have the ultimate responsibility on what to host, store and consume.
TRON is poised to increase its clout and influence with its recent launch of Project Atlas and acquisition of BitTorrent. Consumers are also gradually shifting from the traditional buffet-style alternative to tokenized and on-demand content subscription model.
Realizing the potentials of Tron, investors have been noticing this coin and funneling investments into it. The current price is $0.021847 with a total market cap of around $1.5 billion. Out of the 99 billion coins, around 66 billion are in circulation.
Final Thoughts
NEO, Zcash, and Tron are just three of the emerging cryptocurrencies to watch out for this 2019. And while these cryptocurrencies have very promising potentials, you should not forget about the basic rules in cryptocurrency trading. Make sure to do a lot of reading about each coin and find the right timing to invest.
This post was last modified on February 20, 2021 10:55 AM