7 cryptocurrencies to watch in 2018 if you’re on the hunt for the next bitcoin

[2stepz_ahead]

Neo

Market cap: $2.6 billion

Performance in 2017: +24,685%

Who created it? Da Hongfei , CEO of Onchain and blockchain evangelist in China, along with co-founder Erik Zhang

The skinny: Tung predicts Neo, dubbed the “Ethereum of China,” will explode if China eases its stance on ICOs and bitcoin. Ethereum is the clear No. 2 behind bitcoin in terms of market cap at $61 billion. So Neo obviously has a long way to go.

Founder Da Hongfei recently went on CNBC to soothe fears about cryptos getting overheated. “I would say that there is a bubble in this industry, but would say it’s OK,” he said. “Every technology that is so disruptive — there’ll definitely be bubbles, like the train or the automobile.” Neo has been around since 2014, when it was called “Antshares.” Yes, it’s been changed to reference the Matrix.

NEO’s circulating supply is currently at 65 million, out of a total of 100 million coins.

Cardano (Ada)

Market cap: $3.06 billion

Performance in 2017 (since start of trading in October): +406%

Who created it? Blockchain developer Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK)

The skinny: Tung believes that “this next-gen platform has the right team, dedication and money to create a real contender to Ethereum.”

The Cardano blockchain just launched a few months ago and exploded on the scene with massive gains in its coin, called Ada, in November to break into the top 10 cryptos in terms of market cap. At latest check it had slipped down to No. 13.

The project began in 2015 and billed itself as the first blockchain network backed by a “scientific philosophy” and built by leading academics and engineers through peer-reviewed research.

Cardano, while still a relative unknown, is apparently big on private transactions as well as responding to the needs of regulators, making it primed for mass adoption. Its CEO, Charles Hoskinson, says that Cardano tackles issues of “sustainability, interoperability and scalability” so that cryptocurrency can go from a “fun novelty” to something that could be used by billions of people and interface with legacy financial systems. Cardano’s framework is still in its very early stages (what the team refers to as its “bootstrap era”), and the next phase in its road map is set to launch sometime in the second quarter of 2018. That means its framework is still being developed, and it may take time for it to reach the full-fledged smart contract platform its leaders envision.

About 26 billion out of a maximum 45 billion coins are currently in circulation.

Ripple (XRP)

Market cap: $11.22 billion

Performance in 2017: +3,803%

Who created it? Web developer Ryan Fugger, businessman Chris Larsen and programmer Jed McCaleb

The skinny: Former bitcoin developers launched software company Ripple in 2012 and its digital currency, XRP, is seen by some industry types as bitcoin’s logical successor.

The New York Times once described Ripple as “a cross between Western Union and a currency exchange, without the hefty fees” because it’s not only a currency, but also a system on which any currency, including bitcoin, can be traded. “Ripple connects banks, payment providers, digital asset exchanges and corporates via RippleNet to provide one frictionless experience to send money globally,” its creators explained.

Ripple has licensed its blockchain technology to over 100 banks. And a new hedge fund recently announced it would be denominated in XRP. Its CEO recently told Fortune: “We’re not anti-bank, we’re not antigovernment, we’re not anti-fiat currency. For a while that took conviction to stay the course in the face of the more libertarian elements of crypto.”

The XRP circulating supply is currently about 38.7 billion out of a maximum supply of 100 billion... which is A LOT more than the rest of the cryptos on this list.

 

[2stepz_ahead]

Iota (MIOTA)

Market cap: $12.66 billion

Performance in 2017 (since start of trading in June): +623%

Who created it? David Sønstebø, Sergey Ivancheglo, Dominik Schiener, and Dr. Serguei Popov, a team of entrepreneurs, mathematicians and developers

The skinny: lota’s big draw is that it doesn’t have any trading fees, miners or blocks. For every transaction you make, your processing power is used to validate two other transactions, making every Iota owner also an Iota “miner.”

Essentially, Iota focuses on becoming the backbone for secure machine-to-machine payments in the Internet of Things economy and is unique in that it is hailed as the first crypto created without the use of a blockchain. Instead, it is based on a distributed ledger architecture called “The Tangle,” an innovation that is credited for allowing Iota to achieve three major crypto milestones: zero-cost transactions, offline transactions, and infinite scalability.

Word of its latest partnership with Microsoft just gave it a big boost and propelled it into the top tier of the most valuable cryptos.

The maximum supply of MIOTA is just under 2.8 billion, and the entire maximum supply is currently in circulation.

Bitcoin Cash

Market cap: $26.1 billion

Performance in 2017 (since start of trading in July): +245%

Who created it? Bitcoin Cash was created by a team of people who forked the bitcoin blockchain ledger. It is now controlled by multiple independent teams of developers.

The skinny: Bitcoin Cash is among the newest of the cryptocurrencies, developed in August of 2017 as a hard fork of bitcoin. What’s that? Essentially a new version of bitcoin that’s incompatible with bitcoin.

Bitcoin Cash was created as some users were frustrated by high fees and slow processing times. Because Bitcoin Cash has a greater block size limit, its creators say the cryptocurrency has more capacity to handle transactions with lower fees and faster confirmations. On the other side of that reasoning, though, are the bitcoin loyalists who believe that increasing block sizes endangers the cryptocurrency’s decentralized nature. The philosophical divide between bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash was aptly described by Forbes as “Cypherpunk Vs. Silicon Valley.”

The biggest challenge facing Bitcoin Cash right now is adoption: For it to be valuable, it needs to convince businesses to accept both bitcoin AND the rival payment network. It also needs to convince miners to participate in the transaction-clearing process.

In mid-November, Bitcoin Cash briefly topped Ethereum’s market cap to become the second-most valuable crypto. Since then it’s fallen back into third place. Its circulating supply is currently at 16.8 million, out of a maximum supply of 21 million.

 

[Turfaholic]

If i cant take it to 7-11 and buy a black and mild with it #fakemoney.

Yall gone head with it. I dont see much good coming from it.

 

[LEMZIMUS_RAMSEY]

Can you transalte for idiots like me monsieur please?

 

[texas409]

@2stepz_ahead are you investing in crypto?

 

[texas409]

Honestly is it a smart move in the long run?

 

[2stepz_ahead]

i should have back in 2014....

im not going to say i was stupid but i just couldnt process what the person was saying at the time due to other shit on my mind.

but I am always into buying and holding.

i have to do more research before i can say yay or nay on it being a smart move.

but it also depends on the person investing.

 

[norfphilly]

You can always buy partial coin guys not the whole jawn. Spread ya $ into a few coins who’s Tech you support and let ya $ sit. It’s coins that are worth a few cents that could quite possibly bring in profit

 

[chgarcia345]

Ive followed bitcoin for a year now... At first its growth was slow. With highs and then dips back to original start point... But lAtely its been huge 3day spurts and then weeks of leveling off and then 3 day spurts. Etc...

 

[Colin$mackabi$h]

I got a card from bitcoin ive been hesitant to call

 

[i ro ny]

All I know is, I’m in.

 

[northside7]

Ive followed bitcoin for a year now... At first its growth was slow. With highs and then dips back to original start point... But lAtely its been huge 3day spurts and then weeks of leveling off and then 3 day spurts. Etc...

Have you bought any?

 

[Fosheezy]

Ah crap, the crypto news done made it to the GnS

 

[Brian B.]

I wanna kno how the net neutrality repeal will affect these currencies, since they can only be used online

 

[pachá12]

Where do you go to start buying the coins? Is there one place to buy them all?

 

[chgarcia345]

Ive followed bitcoin for a year now... At first its growth was slow. With highs and then dips back to original start point... But lAtely its been huge 3day spurts and then weeks of leveling off and then 3 day spurts. Etc...

Have you bought any?

Yeah bought then cash out.... Made like 150 dollars just by cashing out before huge drop. But i started when it was 400 now its 19,000. So i coulda tripled so now im just letting my current deposit sit

 

[chgarcia345]

Where do you go to start buying the coins? Is there one place to buy them all?

Coinbase. They ask for strict verification.

Bank account... And drivers license

Eventually if youre trusted buyer they will up your credit card limit

 

[AZTG]

Its a good way to earn money.

People are going crazy taking out second mortgages to buy cryptocurrencies - Dont do that.

Be very wary of getting hacked. The issue with coinbase for example is that you have to put all your info on it and though its generally safe, when every hacker and country in the world tries to hack the same thing, they'll eventually get it. You dont want your bank tied to a website that is constantly under attack. You legit got countries hacking people cause they are using bitcoins for all their illegal activities. Coinbase is the largest marketplace, they were fine last year, but two weeks ago the 2nd biggest marketplace got hacked and $76 million in bitcoins and other crypto currency got stolen.

Also, the #1 reason people get hacked is user negligence. So if you are a computer illerate person, take some time to learn how not to get hacked before you buy crypto currency.

My advice is to open a separate bank account, and use a seperate email to get on coinbase and use them only for trading on coinbase and nothing else AND access them on a device you dont do anything else with, like a old phone that isnt connected to a provider that you can use wifi on. Soon as you done with your cryptocurrency activities, fuck around and turn the wifi off.

Imagine putting $500 in Neo, have it go up 25000%, you basically at 130k, you make plans to cash out and spend the money, and the next day, you are hacked and lose it.

And when you get hacked and lose it, its gone. They are all untraceable.

Also, like I said, you legit got countries, North Korea and China being at the top of the list, actively trying to hack motherfuckers that are buying crypto currencies, so if you do it, make sure you are deligent.

Follow these rules, plus research online on how to secure your cryptocurrency and how to avoid hacks and this could actually be a good investment.

Also, make sure you keep your greed in check. Dont put in all your money and risk the future cause you doubled your $100. Like I said, cats are legit putting college funds and taking loans to invest. Its a bubble that will eventually pop, lets all profit off it before it pops, but dont go crazy and be the person that loses everything before the pop happens.

 

[pachá12]

Its a good way to earn money.

People are going crazy taking out second mortgages to buy cryptocurrencies - Dont do that.

Be very wary of getting hacked. The issue with coinbase for example is that you have to put all your info on it and though its generally safe, when every hacker and country in the world tries to hack the same thing, they'll eventually get it. You dont want your bank tied to a website that is constantly under attack. You legit got countries hacking people cause they are using bitcoins for all their illegal activities. Coinbase is the largest marketplace, they were fine last year, but two weeks ago the 2nd biggest marketplace got hacked and $76 million in bitcoins and other crypto currency got stolen.

Also, the #1 reason people get hacked is user negligence. So if you are a computer illerate person, take some time to learn how not to get hacked before you buy crypto currency.

My advice is to open a separate bank account, and use a seperate email to get on coinbase and use them only for trading on coinbase and nothing else AND access them on a device you dont do anything else with, like a old phone that isnt connected to a provider that you can use wifi on. Soon as you done with your cryptocurrency activities, fuck around and turn the wifi off.

Imagine putting $500 in Neo, have it go up 25000%, you basically at 130k, you make plans to cash out and spend the money, and the next day, you are hacked and lose it.

And when you get hacked and lose it, its gone. They are all untraceable.

Also, like I said, you legit got countries, North Korea and China being at the top of the list, actively trying to hack motherfuckers that are buying crypto currencies, so if you do it, make sure you are deligent.

Follow these rules, plus research online on how to secure your cryptocurrency and how to avoid hacks and this could actually be a good investment.

Also, make sure you keep your greed in check. Dont put in all your money and risk the future cause you doubled your $100. Like I said, cats are legit putting college funds and taking loans to invest. Its a bubble that will eventually pop, lets all profit off it before it pops, but dont go crazy and be the person that loses everything before the pop happens.

Would there be a better, under the radar marketplace to use?

 

[indyman87]

I would love to find a way to get on the ground floor for the crypto currency issued by Russia and Venezuela since they say that the ones backed by a government are the most stable.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/...il-backed-cryptocurrency-171214110446060.html

‘Petro’-bolivar: Venezuela to launch oil-backed cryptocurrency

Venezuela is launching a cryptocurrency backed by oil, gas, gold and diamonds.
https://www.ccn.com/putins-orders-russia-will-national-cryptocurrency-cryptoruble/

Putin’s Orders: Russia Will Have its National Cryptocurrency, the ‘CryptoRuble’
http://bitcoinist.com/russia-abramovich-billion-invest-crypto/

Famous Faces Pile Into Crypto

Roman Abramovich, Aleksandr Abramov and Aleksandr Frolov are all pumping funds into the emerging financial phenomenon through Blackmoon Crypto.

The new project aims to “create and maintain the world’s best framework for tokenized funds” and is a daughter of Blackmoon Financial, which raised $30 million in an ICO in partnership with Berlin-based VC fund Target Global.