In this new world of Altcoins, how do you determine which Altcoins to buy and hold? In my opinion, the answer to this question is another question; ‘which altcoins do people actually use?’
There are over 1000 Altcoins in the marketplace right now and new Altcoins are being created every single day, however only a hand full of these Altcoins are being used to fulfill a function or service.
There are few Altcoins that solve some real-world problems. I don't consider sending from one wallet to another a ‘use or function’. That said, Steem and Bitshares are the only Altcoins I personally use on a daily basis, because they are needed for participating on Steemit and trading on the bitshares DEX. (Decentralized exchange)
Ripple XRP should also be on everyone’s ‘altcoin radar’. The Ripple team is focused on building a remittance platform for banks that solves real world problems by reducing remittance times and cutting consumer costs. Over 70 global banks are testing the Ripple Network today. XRP is currently valued at 0.17 cents USD and could easily spike to 1 or 2 USD per token if banks adopt this technology for mainstream use.
NXT and Couterparty also have fundamental utility on their decentralized exchanges, but Bitshares is a much more advanced DEX. The rise of apps being built on the Ethereum and EOS blockchain will bring about a new wave of Altcoins attempting to solve real life problems, and many of these Altoins will have legitimate internal functionality. For example, Bitquence (BQX) and Stox (Stox) tokens have an internal cryptic function that is required for successful operational use. Last week, the SEC announced that tokens that pay dividends or act as shares ‘may’ have reporting obligations. This could potentially create a new wave of innovation as tokens will be forced to serve an internal cryptic function within products and platforms that can be used by everyone… everywhere… everyday!
In conclusion, ICOS are raising millions of dollars everyday for products and platforms that might never launch and demonstrate true value. Many experts believe, that because of this, it’s only a matter of time before the Altcoin ‘bubble’ pops. I agree with this to a certain extent, however I think we are in the really early days and we still have 12 to 24 months before we whiteness any true corrections in the Altcoin space. Investors who play their cards right, analyze and invest in PEOPLE instead of concepts can still make impressive returns!