Cryptocurrencies are starting to become mainstream. After the meteoric rise that happened during the last quarter of 2017, cryptocurrencies became a major concern for investors looking for new investments other than the financial market. Even during the 3-month slump that happened on January to March 2018, cryptocurrencies have remained in mainstream news, and is now slowly moving in to mainstream adoption and applications. Despite this, it is an undeniable reality that many cryptocurrencies and blockchain projects will fail, but a lot will still survive.
If you are an investor in the technology, you will want to know which projects are stable and will have the better chance of survival and growth.
Here are my top 5 picks for long term investments this 2018:
- Bitcoin – Bitcoin is the big daddy of crypto. This is the first ever peer-to-peer network that provides coins and trading platforms, and also has its own blockchain. Based on the current market capitalization, price, scalability, and popularity, Bitcoin will definitely stay for a long time.
- Ethereum – Ethereum is known as the father of platform-oriented cryptocurrencies. As a cryptocurrency, Ethereum does more to the ecosystem than almost all the others in the market. Ethereum’s Solidity program allows for excellent smart contract programming. It is also a platform where Decentralized Apps (DAPPS) are built and deployed. Regarding mainstream adoption of Ethereum, IBM have used Ethereum’s smart contracts and platform to build and deploy applications.
- Monero – Monero’s privacy algorithm is its best asset. Monery surpasses even Bitcoin’s privacy level. It has improved on scalability and decentralization through its CryptoNote Protocol. These developments make Monero a very promising blockchain project, which means it could stay on top of the market capitalization for a long time, and potentially move up to higher spots.
- NEO – One of the most promising projects that I am personally betting on is NEO. Apart from being a cryptocurrency, NEO is known for its niche smart contract feature just like Ethereum’s. Smart Economy, Digital Assets Storage and Exchange Automation are achieved through NEO’s smart contract. NEO is also the main cryptocurrency for the Chinese market. With a huge demand and great potentials, NEO has a high chance of staying in the top 10.
- Litecoin: Charlie Lee, a former Google employee, created this platform. It is the first to use Scryptas a hashing algorithm. Though it is basically another Bitcoin-based blockchain, it has some good distinctive differences from Bitcoin, especially in the technical arena. For one, Litecoin transactions are much faster and cheaper. With a good development team, Litecoin has the potential to be in the top 3 cryptocurrencies.
This top 5 picks are based on my own personal research and belief on the crypto innovation. If you want to do your own research, I suggest you consider the cryptocurrency’s potentials, market capitalization, online presence, development team, innovations, practical applications, and mainstream adoption. Invest and trade wisely. Happy trading!
