May 12, 2018 by 
The Crypto & Blockchain revolution that is currently taking place is as significant, if not more, than the invention of the printing press, the locomotive, and the internet. Just like with the internet, it is going to transform and improve every single industry without exception.
Although this transformative technology that will empower and help free humanity is in its infancy, its pace of development is occurring at seemingly the speed of light. Those of us who are currently in the space are known as early adopters. The masses have yet to participate. But as the technology improves and becomes simpler to understand and use, the potential for great rewards represents a tremendous opportunity for those of us who get in early enough.
New coins and underlying blockchain technologies are spurting out all over the place. There are literally thousands of cryptos to choose from. Most likely, 99% of them will not last, as was similarly witnessed in the 2000 dot-com mania that lead to a huge stock market crash. Thusly, although the rewards can be high, the risks are equally tremendous.
Consequently, it is quite a challenge to navigate through such an enigmatic arena, as the technical language, concepts, and underlying technologies can be quite confusing and difficult to understand. Despite this, a combination of due diligence, research, common sense, and luck, can help you benefit greatly from this paradigm shift.
In this post, I will suggest my top 10 crypto projects – some are coins/tokens and some are blockchain related platforms/technologies – that I see inherent potential in, not only from a profit perspective, but also from a value-added one. I will also provide you with some amazing websites, articles, and tools that you can use to diligently conduct your own research and analysis on the crypto projects you think may have value.
But first, I need to clarify something about the title of this article. In it the term hodl (which means hold on for dear life) appears which is a term used in this space that signifies that one should “hold” (i.e., not sell) their cryptocurrency even if its prices plunges, but rather hold for the long term. This is somewhat of a contradictory view to have, as from an investment perspective it simultaneously makes sense and also doesn’t make sense. Let me explain.
Usually with an investment (even a speculative one), one would sell it if its price goes down too much. But with cryptocurrencies one should actually consider taking such a stance (i.e., holding or not selling even if the price goes down a lot), as their price movements do tend to be volatile. This is actually quite normal since this is a nascent and highly speculative industry (the same thing happened over 100 years ago with the locomotive industry). Therefore, as a crypto investor, you may need to have somewhat of a strong stomach and be willing to bear a highly level of risk. They key, though, is to try to minimize this risk as much as possible.
Cryptocurrency & Blockchain Backgrounder: If you are unfamiliar with cryptos, I recommend you read the first three parts of my article entitled Beginner’s Guide to Cryptocurrencies / Blockchain, Wallets & Exchanges in order to understand some basics of blockchain and cryptocurrency: 1. What is a cryptocurrency? 2. What is Blockchain technology? 3.Coins & Tokens.
Anyway, enough with my babbling already. Here are my picks:
Ethereum is basically a blockchain platform or network on which various exchanges and secure transactions can occur, applications are built and run, and where smart contracts take place between parties. Its cryptocurrency is called Ether (ETH). Many digital assets such as tokens have been created on this platform and it is one of the most popular ones for doing so. Here is a one minute video that explains it in a nutshell:
There is also a pretty good article (and additional excellent video) that explains many of the functionalities of Ethereum:
After Bitcoin, it is considered the second most important crypto and is one of the most widely used around the world. Most people who want to buy cryptos begin by doing so through either Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH). In other words, it serves as an entry point for people who want to get in the space. Demand for it is not only enormous, but also steady as can be. Transactions taking place on this network (such as depositing ETH in a digital wallet for instance) is highly secure and actually much faster and more efficient than on the blockchain under which Bitcoin is built. Apart from these, Ethereum’s main value lies in the solidity and security of its network which is used by millions every day. I have chosen this crypto over Bitcoin due to its versatility and utility.
ticker: ETH, quote: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/
current price (May 12, 2018): $681.13 & market capitalization: $ 67,695,691,876, coinmarketcap rank: # 2
supply: 99,322,864 (100%)
coincheckup: https://coincheckup.com/coins/ethereum/
Official website: https://www.ethereum.org/
Similar to Ethereum, EOS is also a blockchain and token which will serve (expected launch after June 1st, 2018) as a general-purpose platform for decentralized applications and smart contracts for autonomous corporations or entities.
The description above seems a bit bland and boring. But actually, EOS has been designed with an extremely important goal in mind. Their goal to create a decentralized platform on which a truly free and independent economy can thrive, as no central authority will be able to control or have authority over it (as is currently the case with many powerful financial organizations such as large investment banks, for instance) . Rather, those who are active on the platform will be able to interact directly with each other bypassing any central authority or intermediary thus making things much faster and seamless. As EOS is still in development, there are likely many more interesting features that have yet to be disclosed. I think the main value proposition is that this decentralized network will serve as a “tamper-proof” transparent platform on which parties who use it will be totally accountable and have no choice but to act with honesty and fairness.
ticker: EOS, quote: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/eos/
current price (May 12, 2018): $14.47, market capitalization: $12,306,828,061, coinmarketcap rank: # 5
supply: 850,953,373 circulation of 1,000,000,000 total = 85% tokens already created (note: total supply will be issued by June 1st)
coincheckup: https://coincheckup.com/coins/eos/
Official websites: https://eos.io/, http://block.one/
Dash, short for Digital Cash, is a peer-to-peer blockchain network and digital currency where payments (such as for goods and services) can be made between parties in a private, secure, and instantaneous way. All Dash transactions are recorded on a public ledger. Watch the following video for an additional brief overview of Dash.
The main advantage of Dash is that it eliminates the need for intermediates (such as banks) so that parties can more quickly and privately transact together. Also, what sets the Dash blockchain network apart from others is the way in which it is funded (i.e., how it pays for itself) and governed (watch the following video for more details on this). But basically, when transactions are processed on the network, ‘block rewards’ are issued (similar to what miners can earn for processing Bitcoin transactions on that blockchain) in the following ratio: 45% goes to miners (these parties validate the transactions on the blockchain), 45% to masternodes (these are a series of online computers that provide the infrastructure for the network), and 10% goes to a treasury. This incentivizes the parties to be productive to the ecosystem as a whole as they can each derive benefits by doing so. What I find particularly appealing is the 10% allocated by the treasury to ‘Special Projects’. Anyone can submit a proposal to obtain funds from Dash to support their project; the masternodes would then vote on which projects would receive funding. A couple of examples of such a projects include DashCares as well as the independent news media website TruthInMedia.com which receive sponsorship from Dash to help support their operations. In addition, Dash is consistently one of the top cryptocurrencies listed on Coinmarketcap.com. Think of it as a ‘blue chip’ type crypto. Overall, I think Dash has been very intelligently designed and has a very solid and incentivized infrastructure, not to mention a highly effective, secure, and private payment system.
ticker: DASH, quote: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/dash/
current price (May 12, 2018): $399.64, market capitalization: $3,223,675,512, coinmarketcap rank: # 13
supply: 8,060,687 circulation of 18,900,000 (reached by year 2300) total = 42.6% tokens already created
coincheckup: https://coincheckup.com/coins/dash/
Official website: https://www.dash.org/
Sirin Labs’ focus is on bringing blockchain technology to the masses by integrating it with their very own smartphone and a PC (under the brand name Finney). In other words, they have created an open-source smartphone that is blockchain enabled and also has a crypto wallet built into it (same goes for its PC). These devices were conceived and built with the highest level of security in mind (encrypted communications) and also to make crypto transactions as easy as possible. Here is their introductory video:
Finney Smartphone (target price $999) with built-in "cold storage" crypto wallet
Finney PC (target price $799) with built-in "cold storage" crypto wallet & secure P2P resource sharing
Combining a highly secure smartphone (or PC) with a crypto wallet makes for a perfect marriage. Everyone wants to be secure not only in their private communications using these devices, but also in transacting in the crypto space – whether it is for purchases, trading, or sending coins to friends. By integrating a crypto wallet into the smartphone solves many problems (especially security) related to managing various wallets. The convenience of being able to do so with a smartphone is really a game changer and can be just what it takes to get the masses onboard. They also claim that all crypto transactions on their network using their devices will be feeless which is quite remarkable. They have formed various partnerships with key players such as Google and Foxconn (the main manufacturer of Apple’s iPhones who will also be producing their smartphones) and is also currently is in talks with Huawei (China’s largest cell phone manufacturer) and seem to be collaborating with Cardano (another of my recommended projects). What is particularly unique about Sirin Labs is that they not only have produced their own proprietary (but open-source) blockchain technology and Operating System but are also in the business of selling these high-end devices for which I personally think there will be a monumental demand for and thus huge sales potential in the coming months and years; so it’s like investing in a company that produces tangible goods as well. There are almost no direct competitors who are offering such unique products; so they have a very strong headstart in the market. I also think they have a very diversified and experienced team (including Ethereum co-founder Steven Nerayoff) who have a proven track record and have successfully brought a previous high-end smartphone called the Solarin to the market. On the whole this is one of the best value propositions that currently exist in the crypto space. Here are a few videos that go into more detail:
ticker: SRN, quote: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/sirin-labs-token/
current price (May 12, 2018): $0.40, market capitalization: $92,436,608, coinmarketcap rank: # 162
supply: 229,258,029 circulation of 573,145,073 total = 40%
coincheckup: https://coincheckup.com/coins/sirin-labs-token/
Official website: https://sirinlabs.com/
Broadly speaking, Omisego is a financial network for a decentralized economy. The OMG network is a decentralized open payment platform that currently lies on the Ethereum network which enables peer-to-peer transactions in real-time. They have plans to launch their own decentralized network/exchange in the future.
Their slogan is Unbank the Banked which is a bit confusing at first glance, but it essentially means that they want to provide banking-like services for people around the world – especially those in developing countries who may not have easy access or the means to do traditional banking. On this point, it is worth noting that in Southeast Asia (Thailand and Indonesia in particular) – a region where Omisego currently has a strong foothold – roughly 75% of citizens don’t have a bank account but around 65% of them do have cell phones. Omisego solves coordination problems between merchants and payment processors. In other words, Omisego facilitates payments between businesses or people via cell phones which makes processing these financial transactions so much faster and easier than with traditional methods. Think of how difficult, burdensome, and costly it is to send someone some cash via Western Union. The same problem occurs with merchants and buyers who use credit cards to process transactions: burdensome processing and high fees for both the buyer and the seller. Omisego fixes all of these with a fast, cheap, and easy means to perform the same type of transactions. Think about the implications of this for a moment. Their future platform will facilitate the exchange of both fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies in a seamless way which is extremely attractive and useful for all. Their team is also top notch and includes the likes of none other than advisors Vitalik Buterin – the genius co-creator and co-founder of Ethereum – and Gavin Wood. Here is an additional video (albeit a bit outdated – from 2017-09-4) on the project:
ticker: OMG, quote: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/omisego/
current price (May 12, 2018): $13.83, market capitalization: $1,411,513,802, coinmarketcap rank: # 22
supply: 102,042,552 circulation of 140,245,398 total = 72.7% tokens already created
coincheckup: https://coincheckup.com/coins/omisego/
Official website: https://omisego.network/
Simply put, Vechain is a blockchain platform designed for product management and supply chain management. That simply means that any product (or even service for that matter) that is made goes through a supply chain which is the complete set of participants (from A – the conceiver or designer all the way to Z – the end customer). Both B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business to Consumers, or retailers) customers want to know where each part was made and originated from, information about its manufacturer, its quality, which distribution channels it has been through, and so on. This ensures quality, efficiency, cost savings, and peace of mind for all parties involved. Thus, Vechain integrates all of these elements on a blockchain platform so that all participants can get the information they need about a product, it manufacture, or its delivery at all times. Here is a pretty good article that summarizes Vechain:
So while the introduction above sounds pretty bland and boring, it is of paramount importance, as every single product we use in our lives goes through a complex supply chain that makes it better, cheaper, and faster-to-market. Everyone benefits from it. Traditional and current supply chains are actually quite messy. A company in one country has great difficulty in getting accurate and timely information about the manufacture of its product in another country due to communication problems, associated costs, mistakes, legal hurdles, countless intermediaries, etc. It also solves the problem of lack of trust between parties which is common for companies who have their products manufactured overseas, as once the information is on the blockchain parties can be reassured and rest easy. Putting supply chain management on a blockchain makes perfect sense, as all of the information is consolidated and updated in real-time in one seamless block for all to consult. This will be a game changer in terms business efficiency and optimization. And in our very competitive world and marketplace, countless companies and organizations will seek such a service in order to be more competitive, cost-efficient, and better serve their customers. The core and advisory teams are extremely well experienced and they have established offices in offices in Shanghai, Singapore, Paris, and Tokyo. Furthermore, they are one of a few players in the space with strong connections to the Chinese government. And this is a definite plus, as the lion’s shares of products are manufactured in China. Lastly, Vechain (VEN) has been featured in the top 20 cryptocurrencies on Coinmarketcap.com for several months now with a market capitalization of over two billion dollars which shows that it is a formidable cryto. Overall, this is a solid project and should definitely be considered by any investor.
ticker: VEN, quote: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/vechain/
current price (May 12, 2018): $4.69, market capitalization: $2,466,077,708, coinmarketcap rank: # 15
supply: 526,019,148circulation of 873,378,637 total = 60% tokens already created
coincheckup: https://coincheckup.com/coins/vechain/
Official websites: https://www.vechain.org/, https://www.vechain.com/
In their own words: Zilliqa is the world's first high-throughput public blockchain platform designed to scale to thousands of transactions per second. Throughput refers to the quantity of data that can travel through a network during a specific time period. Think of it as the “plumbing” for a network. So, “high-throughput” simply means the network can support a very large amount of transactions flowing through its pipes. Simply put, it’s a blockchain on steroids. The network has been under development for the past two years and they are currently testing their blockchain on a “testnet”. A testnet, is a beta (trial) version of a network on which participants (and programs) simulate transactions such as validating trades, exchanging assets, updating wallets, etc.) that would take place. What makes this blockchain much faster than that of Bitcoin, Ethereum, or others is that it takes advantage of a process called ‘sharding’ which greatly increases the efficiency of the large flows of data through a network. It is said to be able to process 2,000 TPS (Transactions Per Second) which is much large than Bitcoin’s network (only 7 TPS) and Ethereum (around 15-25 TPS). For a comparison: Visa – the biggest payments processor in the world – can accommodate 8,000 TPS on its global network. Zilliqa’s extremely fast network, which is likely to grow in its TPS capacity, will be launched in the near future.
One of the major problems with almost all blockchain networks is that they are too slow and/or unable to handle current transaction loads in a fast enough time period. At the moment, Zilliqa’s network appears to be the fastest one in the crypto space which solves this important shortcoming. One huge problem facing the crypto world today is poor scalability – the slow speeds of transactions taking place on blockchain networks. Transactions can take several minutes or even more than half an hour to be validated. When people are trading cryptos for instance, this is something that makes them both impatient and insecure, as they are not sure if their transactions are being validated and getting through correctly. This will obviously improve in the future, just like the speed of broadband connections did with internet connectivity speeds. So in a nutshell, think of Zilliqa as super blockchain network to power up the crypto space. You can learn more about Zilliqa with the following videos (which includes a demo of their testnet):
ticker: ZIL, quote: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/zilliqa/
current price (May 12, 2018): $0.176, market capitalization: $1,285,769,863, coinmarketcap rank: # 23
supply: 7,286,961,952 circulation of 12,600,000,000 total = 57.8% tokens already created
coincheckup: https://coincheckup.com/coins/zilliqa/
Official website: https://www.zilliqa.com/
Briefly stated, Cardano is a third-generation decentralized public blockchain and smart contract platform. It has evolved out of a scientific philosophy and a research driven approach by a team of academics and engineers. Its rough design consists of two layers: a settlement layer to handle cryptocurrency transactions (including its own cryptocurrency – ADA) and a computing layer to run decentralized applications and handle smart contracts. Here are a couple of videos explaining it in more detail:
And the following article also gives a pretty good overview of the Cardano project:
A couple of things I really like about this project consists of an extremely intelligent set of team members which has a boatload of PhDs on its roster along with a well planned and executed methodology upon which its members peer-review each others’ work to ensure a very solid design. The Cardano project as a whole is developed by three organizations: The Cardano Foundation, IOHK (a major cryptocurrency research and development outfit), and Emurgo (a business provider who provides assistance to businesses wishing to integrate operations on the Cardano blockchain). In addition, Cardano with its ADA token consistently figures among the top 10 cryptocurrencies of Coinmarketcap.com despite its low unit price. This tells me that there is widespread confidence, optimism, and support for this crypto project. Lastly, the Cardano is somewhat similar to another third generation network – EOS in its design but there are notable differences. The following video explores the similarities and differences between Cardano and EOS:
ticker: ADA, quote: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/cardano/
current price (May 12, 2018): $0.27, market capitalization: $7,091,909,385, coinmarketcap rank: # 7
supply: 25,927,070,538 circulation of 31,112,483,745 total = 83.3% tokens already created
coincheckup: https://coincheckup.com/coins/cardano/
Official websites: https://www.cardano.org/, https://iohk.io/projects/cardano/
Ethos is an application that is a combination of: an exchange, a universal wallet (to hold multiple coins/tokens), a financial management tool, and a social platform. Here is their official 2 minute video describing their project:
What I find particularly appealing about this project is something that is similar to the Sirin Labs project listed above, namely a simplification and centralization of everything crypto in one space thus creating a seamless, smooth, and easy to use cryptocurrency platform to manage one’s entire portfolio. Moreover, this creates appeal to get the masses, including grandma, on board, as everything will be centralized at the tip of their fingers on their smartphones. What else could you possible want? A few cool features of the Ethos universal wallet include: a portfolio tracker, the possibility of choosing your own wallet domain name (which greatly simplifies those cumbersome long public key wallet addresses), and a single smart key that can be used to restore all the cryptocurrencies held on its wallet/platform in case something goes wrong. The following video provides for an extensive overview of Ethos’ features and benefits and its author has used the SWOT (Strength – Weaknesses – Opportunities – Threats) approach to evaluating this project which provides for a pretty objective view on it.
ticker: ETHOS or BQX, quote: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethos/
current price (May 12, 2018): $3.26, market capitalization: $249,973,498, coinmarketcap rank: # 72
supply: 76,649,127 circulation of 222,295,208 total = 34.5% tokens already created
coincheckup: https://coincheckup.com/coins/ethos/
Official website: https://www.ethos.io/
Waltonchain (incidently named after Charles Walton the inventor of the RFID chips/tags) is a project quite similar to Vechain but which focuses on integrating RFID chips on the blockchain so that the movement of products can more easily be tracked along the supply chain from its point of origin or manufacture all the way to their end users. Here is a short introductory video by the outfit:
What’s most valuable about this project is simply the integration of RFID on a blockchain which makes the management and tracking of products much easier than with traditional methods. There is nothing really too sexy about this type of blockchain other than its tremendous potential to increase efficiency, lower costs, and improve information management for all parties involved – mostly business nodes along a supply chain. It will focus on wholesale and retail industries such as with that of garments (clothing) for instance. The project is mostly a Chinese one which makes sense since China is the manufacturing hub of the world and billions of goods get shipped from there every year; and those goods need to be tracked efficiently. Here are three very informative videos that will help you better understand the project and its inherent advantages:
ticker: WTC, quote: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/waltonchain/
current price (May 12, 2018): $12.71, market capitalization: $395,860,190, coinmarketcap rank: # 51
supply: 31,144,099 circulation of 70,000,000 total = 44.5% tokens already created
coincheckup: https://coincheckup.com/coins/walton/
Official website: https://www.waltonchain.org/
Well there you have it. After researching many cryptos in the past few months, these are my top 10 picks that you should consider holding (or hodling) for the longer term. Personally, I see tremendous value and potential in each of these projects amongst the vast ocean of crypto projects in existence. I have already invested in most of them and plan to hold on to them for the longer term. Patience is key, as time is required for these projects to truly bear fruit.
I do, however, invite you to do your own research about these projects to more fully understand them and see if they are a fit for your particular needs or interests to add to your own cryptocurrency portfolio.
Do let me know which of your favorite cryptocurrencies that did not appear on my list in the comments section below. It’s always great to hear new suggestions.
Investing (or speculating for that matter) in cryptocurrencies is both an exciting and challenging undertaking. It’s a fairly new environment filled with hope, risks, pain, and rewards. Therefore, it is good to have a sound approach to researching and managing how you want to go about investing in the crypto space. Accordingly, I recommend you familiarize yourself with three key approaches:
Most people have heard of FA & TA above, but probably haven’t heard about SA (Sentiment Analysis). This one is particularly noteworthy and useful when evaluating the sale or purchase of cryptocurrencies, as it is a highly speculative market where emotions run wild (see related image below).
So here are some tools to introduce you to some of these concepts above as well as some general resources on the subject. Happy researching and investing!
Fear & Greed Index screen capture on May 12, 2018
Disclaimer
I have done my best to provide information that is as timely and accurate as possible. Everything stated in this article is my opinion and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before investing in the crypto space and be aware that it is a risky one at that.
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