It’s never boring in the crypto industry. A combination of highly-volatile prices, innovation, market trends, market sentiment, new developments, and more, is constantly keeping traders at the edge of their seats, with no one actually knowing with any kind of certainty what could, or will happen next.
With that said, the crypto industry has been around for 13 years now, and we do have some insight into what kinds of projects have the potential to go big, but haven’t yet for one reason or another. Maybe they are undervalued, or they are still fresh and haven’t had the chance to go big yet, or maybe they are taking things nice and slow instead of rushing them just so they would use small opportunities — it doesn’t really matter.
What does matter is that there are plenty of cryptos that have a certain price, but have much larger potential that they have yet to reach, and we tried to identify them and present them to you right now. With that out of the way, here are our top picks for the 5 best breakout altcoins to watch in January 2022 — and beyond.
1. Solana
The first on our list is Solana (SOL). Solana is a project that aims to be the crypto industry’s top-ranking development platform, which means that it is a challenger to Ethereum. The two share many similarities, but they also differ in several ways that matter quite a lot.
Solana is a much younger project, and as such, it is far more technologically advanced than Ethereum. In fact, its entire purpose is to solve issues that are preventing Ethereum from growing into the powerful network that it could be. Ethereum is already a huge project, that much is true. In fact, its size and popularity are pretty much the root of its problem. You see, Ethereum struggles with scalability, as it sees a lot more demand than what it can achieve with its outdated tech.
Solana offers all the same possibilities as Ether, but with a lot better systems working in the background. As such, it can process virtually any number of transactions immediately, which ensures that there is no waiting period. With no waiting period, there are no growing fees, as users do not have to attract those who verify transactions with a greater money offering. Meanwhile, things like security and ease of use remain the same as what Ethereum has to offer, with the potential to be even better in due time.
Ethereum is still a leading platform when it comes to development, dApps, new crypto trends, DeFi, and more, but Solana is a very serious challenger and one that doesn’t really have any obvious downsides to it.
To learn more about this token visit our Investing in Solana guide.
2. Cardano
Next up, we have Cardano. Like Solana, Cardano is an Ethereum challenger, although it only became one in practice a few months ago, in October 2021. That was when Cardano finished the second era of its development, which resulted in the final launch of its smart contracts.
With smart contracts finally enabled, Cardano is now a serious player in the crypto industry, especially in the development sector. Smart contracts allow for the creation of dApps, DeFi protocols, metaverses, NFTs, other altcoins, and all other blockchain products that you can find on any other development platform in the crypto world.
The reason why Cardano took so long to come up with its smart contracts is the fact that it takes its development very seriously. It doesn’t take unnecessary steps, it doesn’t waste time or money, and it doesn’t rush things just to attract users when the bull run hits, or something of that sort. Instead, it took its time, and it did things right. With only its smart contracts launched, Cardano managed to climb to be the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap for a while.
Now, keep in mind that the project exploded that much after only two out of five Eras were completed. In other words, Cardano might be a project with the largest potential in the crypto industry, which definitely makes it worth a look.
To learn more about this token visit our Investing in Cardano guide.
3. Shiba Inu
In the third spot, we have Shiba Inu. This is a project that was inspired by Dogecoin — the first and biggest memecoin in the crypto sector. Dogecoin was created in 2013 as a joke, and it was never supposed to survive for more than a few months. Somehow, however, it managed to stay relevant for nearly a decade now, and at one point, it blew up so much that it climbed rather high on the top 10 list.
Shiba Inu understood that the crypto industry is becoming more than just another sector of the financial industry. It is developing its own culture, and this project emerged as one of those who will help this culture develop further, by adding fun and humor to it.
The project doesn’t have any special use case, breathtaking technology, or a sacred mission that it aims to achieve. It is simply there for fun, and that is what is attracting people the most. Some view it as Dogecoin 2.0 and even consider it a potential DOGE killer. SHIB already managed to outperform DOGE in terms of market cap at one point in 2021, but since then, DOGE has reclaimed its spot above it. Whether or not this might happen again remains to be seen, but given that SHIB does engage in token burning, it wouldn’t be surprising if it exceeded DOGE again in the near future.
To learn more about this token visit our Investing in Shiba Inu guide.
4. Decentraland
Nearing the end of the list, we have Decentraland — one of the crypto industry’s oldest metaverse projects, which emerged long before the trend had even started. Decentraland is a project that features digital plots of land, all of which are purchasable, and all of which can then be used in any way their owner sees fit.
You can buy a plot of digital land by purchasing NFT tokens associated with them. Once they are yours, you can use them for developing dApps, games, or other blockchain products. You can also use them for organizing events, in the virtual world, which has also been done multiple times already, by some of the major names. The most recent one is the Australian Open — one of four Grand Slams, which has announced events to accompany its tournament in the real world.
Metaverse is a massive trend in the blockchain industry, and also one that could revolutionize the internet, and how we do meetups and events. As such, it has tremendous potential, especially since it may very well be the first mover into this space.
To learn more about this token visit our Investing in Decentraland guide.
5. Axie Infinity
Lastly, we have Axie Infinity. This is another metaverse project, and also a blockchain-based gaming project, which combines NFT and DeFi to empower players and make their gaming experience not only fun, but also profitable.
The project is inspired by the Pokemon games, and as such, it allows players to buy monsters that they can sell, train, breed, or use in battles with other players and their monsters. As you can imagine, the goal is to win these battles, as the winners receive rewards in the form of AXS — the project’s native cryptocurrency.
Breeding the monsters mints new NFTs, and empowering the beasts means adding one or more out of over 500 different body parts belonging to all kinds of creatures. By creating the ultimate monsters, you can defeat others and win AXS rewards. You can then stake those coins, use them to buy new monsters, empower old ones even more, or simply withdraw them, trade them, or convert them into fiat currencies.
Axie Infinity is a gaming project that wishes to make games fun and profitable, and it is currently the biggest project of this kind in the crypto industry. It combines the best from every crypto trend that emerged in the last several years, and it adds its own unique spin to them, which definitely makes it a winner in our book.
To learn more about this token visit our Investing in Axie Infinity guide.
Conclusion
At this point, you should be able to understand why we have such faith in these projects, even though they are only a drop in the ocean that is the cryptocurrency industry. These are all great projects, but they are far from being the only ones with potential. So, if you are willing to go out there and explore on your own, you will likely find much more worth your consideration and investment. But, if you were wondering where to start, the five projects mentioned above are our top picks, and we recommend looking into them and deciding on your own whether or not they are the kind of projects that you could believe in.
The post 5 Best Breakout Altcoins to Watch in January 2022 appeared first on Securities.io.
