Are you looking for the best cryptocurrency to invest in 2018 but don’t know exactly where to start? Perhaps, you want to maximize your profits especially now that it has become mainstream? It isn’t too late to be part of the crypto race. If you are having trouble where to start, this article featuring the 2018 top cryptocurrency options today will help you make up your mind.
In 2017, we’ve seen Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies reach new heights. Bitcoin in mid-December 2017 was able to reach near $20,000 mark which is considered a big deal in the crypto world. Before you read any other Bitcoin price prediction online by some self-proclaimed cryptocurrency expert and invest, you might want to check our 2018 top cryptocurrency list which includes the digital currencies with the greatest potential for earnings and mass adoption.
Bitcoin
At this point, who hasn’t heard of Bitcoin? Even though it was a rough start for the current holder of the throne for the best 2018 cryptocurrency, it is undeniable how Bitcoin remains the most popular digital currency today. It has managed to hold the 2018 top cryptocurrency title despite the number of altcoins appearing left and right.
Bitcoin was the very first decentralized digital currency. Developed by an unknown individual or group under the name Satoshi Nakamoto, it offers a system that doesn’t need a central bank. Instead, it offers peer-to-peer transactions that take place between users without the use of any intermediary.
What makes Bitcoin the gold standard of digital currencies is its limited number. There are only a total of 21 million bitcoins that can be mined. And with supply and demand at play, it is expected to become harder and harder to acquire bitcoins as time goes by.
Currently, Bitcoin has a market capitalization of $178.7 billion. And out of the 21 million BTC, there are already around 16.8 million bitcoins in circulation. If you are going to pay attention to rumors and the news, Bitcoin price prediction recently isn’t really looking bright. It has floated around $10,000 for the past weeks.
But regardless of popular Bitcoin price prediction today, should you buy more now while it is still at a low? If you look at Bitcoin’s price history, you’ll notice that despite being rather volatile and losing up to 30% of its value in a matter of hours, it was still able to recover steadily over the course of the following weeks.
Ethereum
Ethereum is another contender for the best 2018 cryptocurrency. A lot of beginners think that Ethereum is another Bitcoin copycat. However, this isn’t exactly the case. In fact, while people are getting spooked with Bitcoin price prediction news, Ethereum has become their most popular alternative.
And what exactly makes Ethereum different? Ethereum is more than just a cryptocurrency. It is an open software platform that enables developers to make their own decentralized applications. Ether is used by app developers in order to pay for transaction fees and services within the Ethereum network. And this is part of the reason why companies and even game developers have made use of Ethereum in recent months.
Ethereum is currently ranked number two as the best 2018 cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization. It has a market cap total of $92.8 billion as of this moment. If you look at the best cryptocurrency predictions online, you’ll notice that many of them are favoring Ethereum mainly due to its smart contracts that allow different applications for the digital currency.
Ripple
What if businesses can send money across borders without any hassle of paying ridiculous fees? Because of its potential for mass adoption, a digital currency offering this solution can be considered a strong contender as the best cryptocurrency to invest in 2018.
Ripple currently ranks third in terms of market capitalization today. Though Ripple is currently behind both Bitcoin and Ethereum, many have optimistic cryptocurrency predictions on this particular altcoin. The reason behind this is that Ripple has focused mainly on dropping transaction fees between banks and institutions.
Validators within the Ripple network include top companies and internet service providers and even the Massachusetts Institute of technology. Ripple is also now being used by UBS, Santander, and UniCredit to name a few.
In fact, according to American Banker, a daily trade newspaper that covers articles on finance, “from banks’ perspective, distributed ledgers like the Ripple system have a number of advantages over cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, including price and security”.
Aside from their known partnerships, Ripple has been experimenting partnerships with other banks including Bank of England, Bank of Yokohama, and Tokyo Star Bank to name a few.
Bitcoin Cash
Bitcoin cash was a fork of the Bitcoin classic. One of the things that make Bitcoin Cash a potential alternative to Bitcoin is its increased size of blocks which means that it can process transactions faster than BTC.
One of the reasons that have caused a negative Bitcoin price prediction recently is the slow transaction times within the Bitcoin network. Specifically, the set of blocks were set at 1 MB in 2010. The initial goal of putting block size limit to the Bitcoin code was to prevent spam attacks on the networks. Unfortunately, due to Bitcoin’s popularity, this has become a liability on their part.
Bitcoin Cash increased the block size from 1MB to 8MB. In addition to this, Bitcoin Cash has removed SegWit, which is a code adjustment that has been designed to free up parts of a transaction to free up block space.
One of the best cryptocurrency predictions for Bitcoin cash is that it could potentially be the best cryptocurrency to invest in 2018, especially once it has competed with the volume of transactions that Paypal and Visa can handle.
Cardano
Created by Blockchain developer Input Output Hongkong, Cardano now has $20 billion in market capitalization. It has even been mentioned that “this next-gen platform has the right team, and dedication and money to create a real contender to Ethereum”.
Though Cardano is relatively new and just entered the cryptocurrency market in November 2017, this first blockchain network has been built by leading academics and engineers. Unlike other cryptocurrencies, Cardano responds to regulators and is focused on private transactions. This makes Cardano a strong candidate for mass adoption and therefore one of the best cryptocurrency to invest in 2018.
Litecoin
Made by Charlie Lee, who is a former Google employee, Litecoin was developed not to be the next Bitcoin. Unlike other altcoins looking to be the next best 2018 cryptocurrency, Litecoin was designed to be the silver to Bitcoin’s gold.
Litecoin currently has a market capitalization of $9.3 billion. And recently, Charlie Lee discarded all his Litecoin in order to remove any personal gain that he could get from the cryptocurrency. The vision for Litecoin is that it becomes a currency that is going to be used for daily purchases. And since it is considered as the crypto silver, it has 3 times more coins than Bitcoin.
Though Litecoin wasn’t aimed to be the number one cryptocurrency, you can still consider it as 2018 top cryptocurrency. For instance, it has a leader figure like Charlie Lee. Next, it is faster to adopt new technologies on Litecoin. In fact, SegWit took more than a year for Bitcoin to adopt. Now, this isn’t the case with Litecoin. And lastly, Litecoin offers cheaper transactions.
NEM
There are many who consider NEM as a sleeping giant in the crypto world. Unlike other cryptocurrencies that simply copied what Bitcoin started, NEM was built from scratch with a goal to address issues in today’s digital currency market from energy consumption to scalability.
The New Economy Movement is more than just a digital currency. For starters, it has a fixed supply of 9 billion coins. In addition to this, NEM is not mined but harvested. Your account begins to harvest when you have 10,000 NEM in your account. NEM’s algorithm then naturally harvests passively. Unlike the usual method of confirming transactions, it is even possible to harvest with very little use of electricity.
NEM has focused its ecosystem for startups, industries, hospitals, and even game developers. And given these signs, it could potentially be the best 2018 cryptocurrency that has been under the radar of many investors.
NEO
NEO is dubbed as the “Ethereum of China”. One of the best cryptocurrency predictions on NEO is that it will definitely sore once China decides to ease its regulations on both ICOs and cryptocurrencies. But will NEO be considered 2018 top cryptocurrency soon?
NEO is considered by experts as a long-term investment. For one, it supports several languages. This means that it is capable of handling more smart contract applications than what Ethereum can offer. In addition to this, NEO pays dividends for you holding on to your coins. And this could be a reason why more people are going to go after the coin in the near future.
And lastly, NEO seems to please the Chinese government being fully compliant with Chinese regulations. And because of this, one of the best cryptocurrency predictions for NEO other than being the next Ethereum is that it can actually reach $1,000 valuation sooner than later.
Stellar
Despite the crypto crash, Stellar has improved its market cap from $2.5 billion to $12 billion. And even when the crypto market was in a state of a bearish trend, its market capitalization has decreased only to $9 billion. This shows the growing interest of individuals on the digital coin. In fact, interestingly, there are experts suggesting that it can reach up to $183 billion in a year making it potentially one of the best 2018 cryptocurrency to look out for this year.
Stellar Lumens was created by Jed McCaleb, the same person who was behind Mt. Gox, the first ever Bitcoin exchange. IBM was reported to be using this altcoin in order to speed up cross-border transactions. Could this mean that Stellar makes the best cryptocurrency to invest in 2018?
IOTA
IOTA is a cryptocurrency that has focused on the internet of things. Founded in 2015, it has recently collaborated with Deutsche, Microsoft, and Fujitsu to name a few. In one report, IoT grew to 8.4 billion devices in 2017 and experts are still expecting rapid growth even at an exponential rate.
IOTA is one of the first platforms to merge both IoT and cryptographic payment processing. However, this doesn’t still guarantee success. However, while IOTA’s future hangs in a balance, it still comes down to its implementation and adoption.
The good news though is that IOTA has a solid core team. In addition to this, in terms of adoption, there are a lot of things that can still be explored. Machine-to-machine payments are still considered a new concept. Also, most IoT hardware manufacturers and users will still need to be convinced in order to start transacting. The good news though is that transactions are free regardless of the size of your transaction. It also offers faster confirmation times and your number of transactions that the system can handle is unlimited.
Other Things to Look Out for in 2018
There are a lot of things that you should be looking into this year. If you are looking for the best cryptocurrency to invest in 2018, knowing the top digital currencies is only the tip of the iceberg. It is also important to pay close attention to movers such as regulators and top companies that are looking to adopt cryptocurrencies. For instance, is Amazon or any top retail company going to favor any cryptocurrency in the near future?
Given the regulations, many expect that only top cryptocurrencies are going to survive. This could potentially weed out the good from the bad coins. And as for Bitcoin price prediction, it may take some time before Bitcoin comes back to its bullish ways and even surpass the $20K mark. But the reality is that it is not really an absurd idea that Bitcoin can rally back after a few months.
Conclusion
Given people’s interest in blockchain technology and the opportunity to earn quick profits, the search for the next best 2018 cryptocurrency can be tricky. You can expect volatile fluctuations on the crypto market and even new players to come along and make their presence felt. With these options that we have presented, hopefully, you will be able to have an idea exactly which cryptocurrency you should go for.
But as rule of thumb, you have to still consider your risk tolerance whenever you are investing in cryptocurrencies. Crypto market is still relatively new despite the mainstream attention that it is getting. Expect that you could be losing money as well along the way.
Also, pay close attention to what regulators are going to do. There could be a chance that crypto trading might get banned in your country sooner than later. In these situations, it is a good idea that you take a look at your possible options.
