What You Need Know About Altcoins of 2018
Other cryptocurrencies might give Bitcoin a run for its money in 2018. Forex MT4 Indicators previously mentioned that Bitcoin was predicted to reach the $2,000 mark last year – and it did. But along with Bitcoin, the top altcoins rose in value as well, with their assets growing from $15 billion to $500 billion. This performance made the cryptocurrency market one of the most bullish in 2017.
It’s predicted that the same cryptocurrencies will continue to grow. To dig deeper into the subject, here are 4 of the best performing altcoins of this year so far.
Ethereum
Some experts suggest that Ethereum will be the best cryptocurrency of the year, because of its consistent growth. Its market capitalization rose by 46% since January 1, despite the 15% drop of the entire cryptocurrency market. The altcoin already witnessed an 8,000% growth in 2017, and may see the “flippening” (Ethereum overtaking Bitcoins as the top cryptocurrency) sooner than realized. Ethereum’s co-founder Steven Nerayoff predicts that the altcoin’s exposure and usage will increase, driving its value to possibly triple at some point in 2018.
Litecoin
Similar to other altcoins that suffered at the start of the year, Litecoin has bounced back and recently saw a 42% rise in price. It’s traded at $233.26 (at the time of writing), and predicted to reach the $400 mark soon, maybe even by year end. FXCM points out that Litecoin is a lot faster to transact compared to Bitcoin as it only takes 2.5 minutes of block time, resulting in its high interest among investors. In fact, merchant processors, such as Aliant Payments and BTCPay Server, have given their support for the altcoin and are connecting its network to various businesses and customers.
XRP (Ripple)
At the start of February 2018, Ripple also emerged from the cryptocurrency market drop in early January. It has risen by over 20%, and now priced at $1.15. Its CEO Brad Garlinghouse stressed that the strength of this altcoin relies on its function as a medium to solve payment problems, making it different from Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies. “I don’t think it’s (Bitcoin) going to solve a payments problem. XRP is 1,000 times faster and 1,000 times cheaper than a Bitcoin transaction,” Garlinghouse explained on The Motley Fool. He also pointed out that unlike Bitcoin and other altcoins, you can’t use Ripple as compensation for a purchase.
Cardano
Cardano is one of the newest altcoins among the top-ranking cryptocurrencies on the market, which was officially launched last October 2, 2017. Since then, its price has been on the rise, beginning from $0.2 per ADA token to $0.38. It peaked at $1.26 in early December, then the January cryptocurrency market drop saw its price it back to less than a dollar per token. Now that the market is going strong again, analysts are expecting Cardano to rise to $4.437 by the end of 2018. It’s also projected to increase 230% each year for the next five years, ultimately leading to a price point exceeding $20.
The year may not have started good for cryptocurrencies, but based on how they’re currently performing, things are looking up.