The Top Five Cryptocurrencies That Will Survive the Next Winter

The cryptocurrency space has been in an unpredictable boom-and-bust cycle for the past few years. The market cap of all cryptocurrencies worldwide grew from $17.7 billion in January 2017 to $813 billion by mid-December 2017, before falling down to $225 billion on Jan 3, 2018—not quite back to the level it was at just one year ago but on its way up again.

The cryptocurrency winter that started in December 2017 has not spared any cryptocurrencies, with most suffering huge losses in value in just a matter of weeks. But what cryptocurrencies will survive this harsh environment?

 

Why Bitcoin (BTC) will survive

Bitcoin (BTC) is one of the oldest and most widely used cryptocurrencies. Created in 2009, it’s also been a true survivor. Bitcoin has seen a handful of booms and busts, but all in all, it has proven its staying power, having survived numerous global financial crises.

It was able to adapt to each market cycle while becoming increasingly popular as more people became aware of cryptocurrency. The infamous Mt Gox hack proved it could survive a massive blow to its reputation, after which it entered into a multi-year bear market that saw its price drop by more than 50 percent and stays there for almost two years.

And yet, despite these setbacks, BTC still maintains its status as one of the largest cryptocurrencies on earth. In fact, at press time it remains second only to Ethereum in terms of total market cap.

 

Why Ethereum (ETH) will survive

One of Ethereum’s biggest advantages is its first-mover advantage. While some upstart cryptocurrencies are, like Vitalik Buterin, trying to make improvements and build new platforms, Ethereum already has a significant number of developers and a large community.

These developers have contributed to much of what makes Ethereum what it is today—and they’re not going anywhere any time soon. Why Dash (DASH) will survive: Dash (DASH) offers an enhanced structure that addresses many issues plaguing other cryptos, most notably Bitcoin.

Because of its unique governance system, as well as its InstantSend feature that allows transactions to be confirmed in under a second, Dash has emerged as one of the top cryptocurrencies in terms of usability and functionality.

 

Why Litecoin (LTC) will survive

While Bitcoin (BTC) is still much more popular than its little brother, it’s also a much more expensive coin. The energy required to create one BTC is roughly four times higher than that of Litecoin. Not only does that make Litecoin easier to produce, but it also makes for a much faster transaction time.

At any given moment, there are thousands of transactions pending on Bitcoin’s network and an average transaction fee of $26. It might not be practical for everyday use – at least until those fees come down – but Litecoin shows promise as a cryptocurrency with mass-market appeal.

Besides being cheaper to produce and quicker to process, it’s also inherently safer in a high-risk environment. LTC uses script instead of SHA-256 encryption, which means that ASIC miners can’t be used to mine LTC. Instead, computers have to rely on their graphics cards.

This makes Litecoin significantly harder to control by big mining companies and other entities looking to profit from cryptocurrencies. If you want your coins mined by individuals rather than corporations, LTC is a good choice.

And if you want your coins mined quickly and safely in a low-risk environment, LTC has got you covered there too: The blockchain confirms new blocks every 2 1/2 minutes compared with 10 minutes for BTC.

 

Why NEO (NEO) will survive

Often dismissed as China’s Ethereum, NEO actually has a number of unique features that could help it succeed. The blockchain platform has proven its staying power by remaining one of only two cryptos to survive last year’s brutal market corrections; it also boasts high transaction speeds, low fees, and some interesting partnerships with mainstream companies like Microsoft.

While NEO will likely see more regulation over time, its flexible nature makes it an appealing choice for developers interested in launching decentralized applications on its network. In short, if you’re looking for a cryptocurrency to hold onto during bad times, look no further than NEO.

Should NEO (NEO) remain popular among developers after today’s crash, it could gain enough traction to avoid being caught in any next winter selloffs – but there are other coins that have strong odds of weathering future storms as well.

Some have even been around longer than NEO or have shown their resiliency through tough bear markets: bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), and IOTA are just some examples.

Whichever digital currency you choose, remember that past volatility is not a good indicator of future performance – just because one coin survived several brutal bear markets doesn't mean another coin will do so too.

 

Why Monero (MXR) will survive

Monero is a privacy coin that was one of the earliest projects to fork from Bitcoin. Its focus on privacy and fungibility—the attribute of a good or service whose individual units are essentially interchangeable—has made it a favorite among early adopters and darknet market users.

A single MXR token can be subdivided into 8 decimals, making it easy to exchange small values without loss of precision. This makes MXR extremely useful as a tool for transacting across borders, avoiding high banking fees, and helping individuals avoid capital controls by moving their money offshore quickly and anonymously.

In addition, Monero’s ring signatures make transactions untraceable, even if an attacker knows your public key. The project has also been careful not to fall prey to pump-and-dump schemes common in many cryptocurrency markets; its development team is funded by donations and no ICO was ever held.

While there’s certainly more room for growth, many investors have already begun taking notice of MXR's potential; since January 2018, its price has increased by over 300%.

If you believe that privacy coins will continue gaining popularity (and staying out of regulatory crosshairs), then you should consider investing in MXR now while it’s still cheap.

 

Conclusion

By now, it should be clear to you that there is much more to investing in cryptocurrencies than just blindly buying and holding a handful of virtual currency tokens. The number one rule of investing is, Never to invest in something you don’t understand (or words to that effect).

We hope that our guide has helped you gain some understanding of what it takes to invest successfully in cryptocurrencies and which strategies can lead to greater profits for your investment portfolio.

Be sure to keep up with future publications from the Coin list because we will continue to bring you information about other hot investments on our radar. Happy trading!