With the long-awaited bull run continuing at full force, 2024 puts crypto back into the spotlight for many who might have forgotten about it during the bear market. In March 2024, the total market capitalization reclaimed the $2 trillion mark for the first time since April 2022 and the hype train is back on track. Regardless of your level of immersion into the crypto and Web3 world, you probably know by now that a good crypto is the one with a strong project behind it.
Related: Conflux and China Telecom Join Forces for Blockchain SIM Cards
But what defines a strong project? There are countless Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) initiatives out there and most of them look solid at first glance with co-founders taking every opportunity to give a keynote speech or do an AMA.
Having so many projects (and cryptocurrencies as a result) is a good thing for widening our alternatives and a bad thing for the sheer mass it creates. With interoperability being pronounced louder than ever and cross-chain communication improving constantly, new projects pop up like mushrooms. But you don’t need to be a psychic to predict that this cluster of blockchain projects will thin out as Web3 matures, taking their cryptocurrency to the depths of the abyss with them.
So, you should select your investment carefully. We invite you to join us as we dive deep into some of the standout projects you want to keep an eye out for. Note that the list below is in random order and doesn’t indicate a ranking. Tezos drew the long straw and is on the top of the list:
The governor: Tezos
Tezos has always been about self-amendment and self-government as it is allowing its community to make common decisions about network upgrades and enhancements. Tezos’ innovative methodology distinguishes it as a blockchain that can evolve and adapt to new problems and opportunities, which is vital for future-proofing.
Tezos introduces a new self-amendment method that enables stakeholders to propose and implement protocol updates. Network governance and staking rely on XTZ, a native digital asset on Tezos. Michelson, Tezos’ smart contract language, allows for the secure and formal creation and deployment of smart contracts.
Kolibri is a Tezos-based application that focuses on improving DeFi by giving the stablecoin kUSD, which is intended to remain pegged to the value of the US dollar and enrich the DeFi ecosystem on Tezos.
The hidden gem: Casper
Not the cute cartoon ghost, but a Proof-of-Stake layer 1 chain, Casper is unique for its upgradability and modularity, promising a great deal of potential for becoming the foundation for long-term projects providing real use cases. Casper blockchain encourages developers to transition to Web3 even if they have no experience in blockchain development as the network supports widely used coding tools and languages as well as offering a rich developer portal.
The utility token of Casper is CSPR, and serves as the gateway to its ecosystem, which by the way, is growing steadily thanks to the platform’s ongoing grant programs, attracting many promising DeFi and GameFi projects. Casper is also leading the tokenization discussions as the platform is working with the ACTUS Foundation to standardize tokenized assets in order to lay the foundation for a unified and universal tokenized digital asset ecosystem. You will hear a lot of this in the future by the way.
Versatile chain: Avalanche
Another layer-1 blockchain, Avalanche is highly scalable and supports a huge variety of dApps. The chain is notable for its fast transaction processing speed, achieving finality in less than two seconds (very impressive compared to its competitors) which is one of its main strengths. Its unique consensus mechanism combines parts of Classical and Nakamoto consensus and provides a formidable combination of security, scalability, and sustainability.
The AVAX token is used to pay transaction fees, secure the network through staking, participate in the consensus, and serve as a fundamental unit of account for the Avalanche ecosystem’s many subnetworks serving different purposes in the grand scheme of things.
Layer 2 of choice: Arbitrum
If you want to explore some layer 2 scaling solutions, Arbitrum will certainly satisfy your hunger for that. Arbitrum is a suite of Ethereum scaling solutions that includes Arbitrum One, Arbitrum Nova, Stylus, Orbit, and the Arbitrum Bridge.
Why it is necessary? Isn’t Ethereum already a great, well-established chain? Well, it is, but Arbitrum provides faster transactions and lower fees compared to the Ethereum mainnet. Arbitrum is fully compatible with the EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine), so if you deploy a smart contract on Ethereum, you can also deploy the very same smart contract on Arbitrum without any hassle.
The token name you are looking for is ARB and it is used for governance. By the way, Offchain Labs, the team that built Arbitrum, announced that they are shifting to a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) structure called the Arbitrum DAO. Naturally, ARB holders can vote on proposals that affect the features, protocol upgrades, and more.
Privacy coin genre: Monero
Yes, Monero is still one of the top-rated privacy coins in the world, offering a high level of privacy, security and anonymity. Monero leverages cryptographic techniques to safeguard transactions and protect the privacy of its users.
Monero uses ring signatures, stealth addresses, and confidential transactions to obfuscate the sender, recipient, and transaction amount so that transactions are impossible to trace.
XMR is the name of Monero’s token and has a quite high market capitalization.
Final Words
May this bull run take your portfolio to new heights, but remember that every investment, no matter how well-informed the decisions behind it, carries a certain risk.
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Please do your own research, check out project whitepapers, and stalk the founders and executives of the projects you are interested in. If you sense something fishy is going on, nope out before it’s too late.
Disclaimer: All materials on this site are for informational purposes only. None of the material should be interpreted as investment advice. Please note that despite the nature of much of the material created and hosted on this website, HODL.FM is not a financial reference resource and the opinions of authors and other contributors are their own and should not be taken as financial advice. If you require advice of this sort, HODL.FM strongly recommends contacting a qualified industry professional.
