There’s no denying that the world is on the road to mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. It’s happening right before our eyes.
Ukraine is fighting a war where crypto has become a central tool in its defense. President Biden is positioning the United States as the leader in digital asset technology with an executive order signed just last week. According to a Chainalysis report, global adoption of Bitcoin and other tokens increased over 880% between July 2020 and June 2021.
Major financial players like Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and HSBC are already using blockchain applications for everything from stablecoin investment to transaction processing.
Five to ten years from now, the world as we know it will have changed forever as firms and governments leverage this new tech. And the folks who are forward-looking enough to invest now will be reaping the rewards.
But let’s face facts: There are over 18,000 coins listed on CoinMarketCap.com.
You need to keep in mind that not all cryptocurrencies will be influential in shaping this new world. The vast majority of those will be long forgotten – either as rug pulls or meme coins or simply projects that never gained traction.
Only a small fraction of the cryptos that currently exist will have the kind of impact that could bring early investors life-changing wealth.
I want to highlight some of the projects that are shaping the future with real-life, tangible applications that could pay off big for those who recognize their potential.
These five cryptos are arguably the foundation of the blockchain future of our new economic world…
The Foundation: Ethereum (ETH)
Ethereum (ETH) has the largest ecosystem of cryptocurrencies built on its blockchain – we’re talking thousands of networks that are being supported by Ethereum as we speak.
The blockchain-based software network has a plethora of uses and applications across the tech world, especially for gaming, music, entertainment, and decentralized finance (DeFi) – making it one of the most popular and widely used cryptos this past year.
To understand the sheer scale of Ethereum’s power, consider this: In 2020, PayPal settled almost $1 trillion worth of transactions. Ethereum did the same number of transactions in 17 days.
Ethereum blockchain applications are already transforming the world by providing new methods to transfer property, cash, debt, equity, and even create metaverse worlds safely and securely.
Ethereum Triple Halving will result in proof-of-stake (PoS) becoming a game-changer in the crypto market.
It is going to introduce to the blockchain world a new way of mining that’s not just cost-effective – and therefore allowing more people to engage in the process – but also solve concerns about the environmental impact of crypto mining.
In short, Ethereum has created the very foundation that the future is being built on.
The Wealth Creator: Cardano (ADA)
Cardano (ADA) is celebrated among investors who are looking for massive return potential and is one of my favorite cryptos to own right now.
Founded in 2015 by Charles Hoskinson, the co-founder of Ethereum, Cardano is a public blockchain platform that was designed in part to challenge Ethereum’s high gas fees. The program is achieved with a proof of stake, open-source, and decentralized network. It also happens to be the first platform created through peer-reviewed research.
Whereas Ethereum used the same proof-of-work (PoW) technology as Bitcoin (BTC), Cardano uses a much more advanced version of transacting through staking (PoS).
You can stake your cryptocurrency with Cardano, essentially earning you interest on your cryptocurrency – currently, the reward rate is 4.60%.
Using Ouroboros, Cardano is able to securely, sustainably, and ethically scale up to 4 million times the energy of Bitcoin. In the real world, it will change how much more efficiently and effectively businesses make transactions and will play a massive part in the creation of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and avatars in the metaverse.
It’s also using its digital infrastructure technology to bring economic identity, empowerment, and financial inclusion to the entire continent of Africa, by allowing them access to financial services free from bureaucratic interference.
So, not only can Cardano create big wealth for investors like you, but it can empower wealth creation for those who otherwise would not have had access.
The Engineer: Polkadot (DOT)
Investors that are looking for economic dependability usually go for Polkadot (DOT). The crypto blockchain ecosystem offers high scalability for individual blockchains and offers interoperability.
The platform combines a network of assorted blockchains, called parachains. Parachains are an integral component of the Polkadot network. Polkadot has a very high transaction speed reaching as high as 1 million TPS (transactions per second).
Polkadot is a blockchain network that:
- Connects blockchains together…
- Enables users to easily build a blockchain with its Substrate framework…
- Hosts blockchains, handling their security and transactions…
- And bridges blockchains on Polkadot with other networks such as Ethereum and Bitcoin.
The best way to visually describe Polkadot is to imagine a group of, well, polka dots. Each polka dot represents a single blockchain independent of all other blockchains. Not by choice, but because they can’t connect with each other on their own. Polkadot wants to connect these blockchains together to make a secure and connected blockchain where cryptos like Cardano, Ethereum, and Bitcoin can share data and information.
Since Polkadot connects these larger cryptos with smaller parachains, they can process more transactions per second (TPS) – 33X faster than Ethereum and 142X faster than Bitcoin.
With Polkadot’s innovative and secure platform, they’ve been able to create something called a Layer-0 function.
Layer-0 is basically a road connecting all cryptos and creating an interconnected crypto ecosystem. This makes creating and using a blockchain significantly more accessible than before, allowing for even more technological crypto advancements in the very near future.
The Broker: Algorand (ALGO)
Algorand (ALGO) is a decentralized blockchain technology network with its own native currency. It’s known as the best layer 1 cryptocurrency and is even becoming quantum resistant.
That means, even though advances in quantum computing pose a threat to cryptography – a major security risk where your public keys can be back-engineered by quantum computers – Algorand’s network is too complex for this to happen.
The innovation behind Algorand was to combine features of mainstream, well-established cryptocurrencies – such as decentralization, transactions without a central authority, easy-to-divide tokens – but with added speed and less computing power necessary to run the system.
Algorand has been cited as a token that will challenge Ethereum’s status as one of the largest and most significant altcoins. Here are some differences.
The problem of rising fees on Ethereum has led DeFi (decentralized finance) developers to look to Algorand to develop applications. Transaction fees on Algorand have typically been lower than fees on the Ethereum network.
Algorand has been building up an ecosystem of applications that the tokens can be used for. Algorand developers hope to host smart contracts that can govern the exchange of digital property or digital representations of real-world assets.
One example is ANote Music, which will let investors and music publishers buy and sell royalties and rights on the Algorand blockchain. The investment platform Republic uses the Algorand blockchain for distributing dividends to investors. It was even used to host chess rankings.
One major area of development for Algorand is DeFi, with its support for smart contracts and digital assets. Algorand developers envision using its blockchain for a range of digital and “real-world” assets, like points in a game or escrow payments for mortgages.
The World-Builder: Decentraland (MANA)
Launched to the public in February 2020, Decentraland (MANA) is a virtual reality game built and powered by the Ethereum blockchain and is overseen by the Decentraland Foundation.
Originally, it was a pixelated grid-based interface that allocated pixels through a proof-of-work algorithm. But soon, it evolved into a large 3D open-world game, before the beta version then went live in 2017.
You can purchase, for example, apparel for your in-game character, or change its appearance. Within each “parcel” of land, each player can reasonably do whatever they want, such as remodel their homes or set up virtual businesses.
Players can visit other users’ parcels or property as they wish. There are contests for creating and displaying digital NFT artwork, playing around with the play-to-earn games, designing various applications, going to fashion shows, or offering goods and services for sale within Decentraland.
Decentraland offers vibrant secondary economics, where users can buy and sell countless varieties of NFT goods or services.
And there is a ton of economic potential aside from in-game trading and marketplaces, such as advertising, opening virtual businesses, and so on.
Open world metaverse encourages players to explore and interact without any boundaries.
MANA is the main cryptocurrency of the Decentraland network. It is a liquid governance token that governs this ecosystem. Its tokens are used as a medium of exchange, such as buying and selling a parcel of LAND or in-game products and services.
Here are some of the industries that are located inside Decentraland where MANA is used:
- Businesses
- Music Venues for concerts
- Games
- Malls or shops
- Casinos
- Art Galleries
- Schools
- Fashion Shows
There are a plethora of businesses and economic opportunities that await you in Decentraland, and Advisory Board member David Zeiler calls it one of the most promising ways to cash in on the future $8 trillion metaverse.
Just think – if these cryptos accomplish even a small portion of what they’ve set out to do, the financial windfall could be life-changing for anyone savvy enough to invest in them today.
— Nick Black
Source: Money Morning