Keep Your Eye On These 5 Cryptocurrencies
Now that the DeFi frenzy is over, you may find yourself wondering which cryptocurrencies hold promise. While we at Blockchain Collective are not one to be shelling out advice regarding crypto investments, we do know that good projects (even if not immediately) are eventually noticed and rewarded by virtue of being a good crypto project. Below, we take a look at five different cryptocurrencies that we believe might be worth keeping an eye on – cryptocurrencies that represent projects that hold real promise due to proven safety or simply because it addresses a real need in the ecosystem.
Ubiq – UBQ
Ubiq is an open source, Proof of Work (PoW) blockchain that is built upon a version of the Ethereum codebase. With its cryptocurrency UBQ, it offers an enterprise-stable platform with well-established and thoroughly tested Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) code. Ubiq supports tokens, decentralized applications (dApps), and smart contracts.
What is very special about Ubiq is that it was launched as a permissionless, non-ICO network and is maintained on a voluntary basis by a global community of developers. Ubiq has its own unique monetary policy, on-chain governance via its Escher voting system, as well as a proprietary PoW hashing algorithm known as Ubqhash. A fully decentralized protocol for automated liquidity provision recently launched on Ubiq called Shinobi. Shinobi, a fork of Uniswap, has already garnered a great deal of activity and users, marking a new era for the Ubiq blockchain. Although not very well-known, Ubiq has a fairly sizeable following and is opting to build its ecosystem slowly and securely.
Polkadot – DOT
Polkadot is an open-source project attempting to usher in a fully-functional and user-friendly decentralized web. It is a sharded protocol that wants to enable blockchain networks to be interoperable. The DOT token serves to govern over the network, as well as stake and bond. The project’s goal is to connect private and consortium chains, public, and permissionless networks, oracles, and future technologies. Polkadot also hopes to simplify the creation and connection of decentralized applications, services, and institutions. Polkadot is backed by the Web3 Foundation, which was founded by Gavin Wood, who is also the founder and director of Parity Technologies. He is also co-founder of Ethereum along with Vitalik Buterin.
Ethereum Classic – ETC
Ethereum Classic is a hard fork of Ethereum, which launched in July 2016 following Ethereum’s split from its original network. Ethereum Classic kept to the true foundation of Ethereum, deciding not to compromise on decentralization, even considering the DAO hack of 2016. Ethereum Classic is a smart contract-based network, with the goal of hosting and supporting dApps. Ethereum Classic and Ethereum now have very different technical roadmaps, especially given Ethereum’s anticipated move to a Proof-of-Stake-based blockchain.
Although Ethereum Classic has experienced multiple 51% attacks in recent months, ETC Labs, a major contributor to the development of the Ethereum Classic blockchain, has announced multiple initiatives to secure the network in the event of another attack.
Chainlink – LINK
Chainlink is a decentralized oracle network, with goal of connecting smart contracts with data from the real world. Chainlink launched its ICO in September 2017, raising $32 million. Its native token, LINK, is an ERC20 token. Chainlink has been garnering a great deal of attention over the last few months, and given that it is working to help increase smart contracts’ overall reliability – something that is much-needed – by securing the inputs and outputs that the contracts rely on. Chainlink is helping to provide a secure connection to external data.
Decentraland – MANA
Decentraland is a very novel and fun virtual reality platform powered by the Ethereum blockchain which allows users to create, experience, and monetize content and applications. In the virtual world known as Decentraland, users can purchase plots of land which they can build up and use for a multitude of functions, like information-sharing. They can also monetize these spaces. Decentraland uses two tokens – MANA, an ERC20 token and LAND, ERC721 token.
These five projects (and their cryptocurrencies) are worth keeping an eye on as they will likely succeed in greatly influencing in the cryptocurrency sphere. They all offer the promise of groundbreaking technology in the blockchain ecosystem – and the hope is that good tech is rewarded with a healthy cryptocurrency value.