It's a new year, but the cryptocurrency romp higher hasn't slowed one bit.
After catapulting from a combined market cap of $17.7 billion to $613
billion in 2017, the aggregate value of all cryptocurrencies has leaped once
more to $774 billion as of Jan. 4, 2018. What was once a laughable target
of $1 trillion in aggregate market cap a year ago is looking ever more like a
genuine possibility at this point.
Perhaps what's even more impressive than the aggregate gain in virtual
currencies over the past year is that it's been more a function of digital
currencies not named bitcoin than bitcoin itself. Even though bitcoin
handily remains the largest virtual coin in the world, it now accounts for
only 34% of the total cryptocurrency market cap, according to
CoinMarketCap.com, which is less than half of what it accounted for at this
time last year. This recent push higher in cryptocurrencies is really about
everything not named bitcoin.
In particular, Verge relies on multiple anonymity-centric networks, such as
Tor and I2P, to obscure the original sender of a payment. Though privacy
and anonymity are somewhat implied with digital currencies, blockchain
analysis can usually be traced back to the sender. That isn't the case with
Verge, along with a handful of its competitors, such as Monero, and it's
clearly exciting investors.
The Verge network also promises fast-settling transactions. One of the
major reasons for the cryptocurrency revolution are transactions on current
bank networks that are either slow to process or settle. With Verge's
proprietary blockchain, most transactions are expected to settle in around
five seconds.
Verge also has a number of ready-to-use mobile wallets that provide
decentralization, security, and anonymity directly from a
smartphone. Though it's unclear if this incredible run can continue, Verge's
investors certainly have a lot to crow about in the interim.
Reddcoin: up 947%
With Americans absolutely addicted to social media these days, it probably
comes as little surprise that a virtual currency focused on microtransactions
conducted via social networks was December's second-best performer with a gain of 947%. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to
Reddcoin.
One of the unique aspects of Reddcoin is its incorporation of microdonations
to support the creation of content on social networks. Reddcoin
fully understands that its virtual currency is the only currency that some of
today's teens and kids have ever known, which makes it uniquely
positioned to handle small-money transactions over social networks, and
therefore encourage micro-donations to content creators.
Another intriguing feature of Reddcoin's blockchain is its reliance on proofof-
stake velocity to verify transactions.
To ensure that the same token isn't spent twice, quite a few
cryptocurrencies employ what's known as the proof-of-work model. This is
where folks with high-powered computers compete against other people
with high-powered computers to solve complex math equations that are
the basis of verifying and protecting an encrypted block of transactions.
This is a highly energy-intensive and costly way of verifying transactions.
With Reddcoin, ownership in Reddcoin and activity are the secret sauce
required to find valid blocks and receive rewards. Ownership of Reddcoin
serves as the "stake," while leaving your wallet open and connected to the
internet is the "velocity" or activity that Reddcoin seeks. The more active a Reddcoin holder, the more likely they are to verify blocks and receive
rewards.
Ripple: up 817%
Ripple, which recently vaulted to a market cap in excess of $125 billion,
had an impressive December as well. Already riding a ton of momentum
heading into the final month of 2017, Ripple's XRP coin wound up
exploding higher for an 817% gain.
Why such a good month? To begin with, Ripple has benefited from its
partnership with American Express (NYSE: AXP) and Banco
Santander(NYSE: SAN), announced in mid-November. This combination
is allowing American Express users to send non-card payments over
Ripple's blockchain to U.K. Santander accounts, and have these
transactions settle instantly. With today's banking networks, a cross-border
payment like this may not settle for days. This is Ripple's shot to show big
banks that its blockchain is scalable, and that its transaction fees and
settlement times are leaps and bounds better than the current payment
platform.
Ripple also received a shot in the arm from rumors that it may soon be
listed on Coinbase, the world's most popular cryptocurrency exchange.
Considering that Coinbase lists bitcoin, Ethereum, bitcoin cash, and Litecoin, it seems only logical that the second-largest cryptocurrency by
market cap would soon gain listing. Should Coinbase choose to add Ripple
to its platform in 2018, it would greatly improve access and liquidity to a
rapidly growing virtual currency.
While a smorgasbord of risks remain for cryptocurrencies as a whole,
these three were the shining stars for December.
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