Bitcoin has taken its fair share of hits this year, losing more than 50% of its value in the last several months alone.
For many crypto investors, this bear market has been scary, watching their crypto portfolios drop in value every day as the market bounces from high to low and back again seemingly without any rhyme or reason.
If you’re scared about what the future holds for your crypto investments and have been debating whether to pull out of the market altogether, you’re not alone – but do your research before making any rash decisions.
Bitcoin – the digital gold
It seems everyone has an opinion on what people like you and me should do with our money. One thing is clear, as cryptocurrencies experience a massive sell-off, many companies that have been touting blockchain are retreating to cash-cow businesses, leaving investors high and dry.
So let's have a look at one of those companies which are still sticking to their knitting: Bitcoin. For now, at least they’re continuing to invest time and resources into making sure that their core product – Bitcoin – remains true to its roots.
A digital store of value for all mankind. Is it worth holding onto your bitcoin? The answer will be different for each person, but if you believe that cryptocurrency is here to stay then it makes sense to hold onto some BTC (at least).
At present, there are no signs that BTC will be dethroned any time soon as other projects seem focused on becoming better bitcoins rather than creating something new entirely. As such, if you believe in BTC then now might be a good time to hold!
Ethereum – bringing smart contracts to life
Ethereum is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud, or third-party interference.
Ethereum uses a public blockchain similar to bitcoin but also enables advanced programmable transaction types. This provides developers with an incredibly powerful and versatile toolkit.
Whether you’re building for fun or for profit, developing on Ethereum could provide some interesting opportunities. While it is fairly easy to create something that works, creating something useful is much harder and requires deep knowledge of both programming and blockchain technology. If you are new to cryptocurrencies, we recommend you read What is Ethereum? How does it work?
NEO – China’s Answer to Ethereum
While we may be in a cryptocurrency bear market, 2018’s offerings have been drastically more stable than their counterparts from 2017. Most significantly, NEO has a much larger use case than 2017’s top two performers, Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Unlike most cryptocurrencies that attempt to stand as a usable currency or an alternative store of value (i.e., like gold), NEO is looking to fill a real-world need by creating an open-source platform for all sorts of dApps and smart contracts.
It’s easy to say NEO is China’s answer to Ethereum, but that title doesn’t even begin to describe its ambitions and capabilities.
Just look at some of these projects: Ontology, NEX, THEKEY, and Switcheo Network. There are dozens more; each could become a multi-billion dollar industry on its own.
In short: while you might not want to hold your life savings in NEO, it’s certainly worth keeping an eye on during these uncertain times.
Litecoin – silver to Bitcoin’s gold
Litecoin is more similar to Bitcoin than any other altcoin. However, it’s faster and cheaper to send payments with Litecoin, making it a better medium of exchange for small transactions like buying a cup of coffee or something from Amazon.
Litecoin is also one of only a few cryptocurrencies currently supported by Coinbase, which is arguably still one of the most popular places to buy cryptocurrency online.
Although there may be uncertainty around whether other exchanges will add support for Litecoin eventually, Coinbase has said they’re open to adding more cryptocurrencies in general.
Stellar Lumens – ICO platform, remittance, and currency exchange
Stellar is a platform that connects banks, bills systems, and people. It has three core products: Lumens (XLM), which is a cryptocurrency similar to Bitcoin; Stronghold, which offers foreign exchange and OTC trading; and Interstellar, which acts as an ICO platform.
The concept of cryptocurrency – particularly among currency nerds – can be intimidating. Fortunately for most people looking at Stellar these days, it’s probably best to think of Lumens as merely one piece of what Stellar has to offer.
That being said, if you are interested in investing in cryptocurrencies, there are plenty of reasons why you might want to consider adding some XLM to your portfolio.
For starters, even though XLM isn’t technically mined like other cryptocurrencies (it was created via a different process known as forging), it still has value because there are real-world applications for Lumens.
While most people will use Lumens simply by converting them into fiat currencies or other cryptocurrencies on exchanges like Coinbase or Binance, others will use them directly on Stellar-based platforms like Stronghold or Interstellar.
This means that XLM could appreciate over time if more institutions adopt it and its utility increases.
Cardano – solving problems with blockchain tech
Cardano is one of those companies trying to make a major change with blockchain technology. This coin is trying to solve lots of issues around speed, scalability, and interoperability. The team behind Cardano has been building blockchain projects since 2014, which explains their extremely well-thought-out and researched vision for Cardano.
They have a robust team of engineers working on their platform – not just one or two people doing all the work – and their strong academic background (most devs are graduate-level mathematicians) is evident in how detailed their whitepaper is.
This isn’t an ICO launched by a group of college kids who spent six months writing code; it’s an established company with an experienced team behind it.
Conclusion
There’s no way around it. The cryptocurrency market is down right now and will continue to decline for some time. However, there are things you can do as an investor that can position yourself to be a winner when times get better.
First of all, don’t make investments extra than you may manage to pay for to lose. This isn’t gambling, but there is definitely some level of risk involved with investing in cryptocurrencies. You’re always going to see people who lost money by investing in what seems like surefire winners.
But remember that even though a coin might have done well for itself up until now, it could go belly-up tomorrow and leave you holding a bag full of worthless digital currency.
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