Best Cryptocurrencies To Invest in 2021 – Even though Bitcoin has been around for over a decade and has become more popular in the world of cryptocurrency, Bitcoin isn’t the final word on cryptocurrency. There are other imitators, innovators, and spinoffs that emerged in their numbers setting a record of over 4,000 cryptocurrencies currently in the market.
What this means for investors and traders of cryptocurrency is that there’s a place to invest or trade crypto apart from Bitcoin. But you would ask, with tons of cryptocurrencies littering the market today, how do I know which is the best cryptocurrency to invest in?.
With this in mind, we decided to analyze the best cryptocurrencies to invest in 2021, ranging from popular cryptocurrencies to lesser-known digital currencies. Here are the best to invest in:
Ether (Ethereum)
Standing as a decentralized software platform, Ethereum allows for Smart Contracts and Decentralized Applications (DApps) to be designed and run without the need for third-party downtime, theft, control, or intervention.
Ether is a permissionless, non-hierarchical network of computers (nodes) that generate and achieve consensus on an ever-growing sequence of “blocks”, or batches of transactions known as blockchain.
Ethereum is the second largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization.
Reasons to Buy Ethereum:
- Ethereum is extremely versatile
- Has a strong community
Reasons to Avoid Ethereum:
- Some use cases are tricky to grasp.
Litecoin ($LTC)
Litecoin was created in 2011 by Charlie Lee, who happens to be an ex-Google employee. This cryptocurrency is formed from Bitcoin, with smaller features and characteristics, even though its lighter and faster.
Litecoin is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency and open-source software project which was released under the MIT/X11 license. The supply of Litecoin is capped at 84 million, with approximately 75% (or roughly 65 million) of it having being mined already.
Many are of the opinion that Litecoin is one of the most undervalued cryptocurrencies in the world, despite the fact that it has been around for a decade. While Bitcoin is referred to as the “gold of the crypto world”, Litecoin is seen as the silver. Of recent, Litecoin surged by more than 630% from its lowest level in 2020 which has seen its total market cap standing at over $12 billion, which makes it the 9th largest cryptocurrency in the world.
Reasons to Buy Litecoin
- Has rapid transaction speeds
- Has a solid reputation
Reasons to Avoid Litecoin:
- Limited support among merchants
Tether – USDT
Tether was formerly known as Realcoin and was launched in 2014 and is still one of the first cryptocurrencies to be pegged to the US dollar. Tether boasts of being a blockchain-based cryptocurrency whose crypto coins are backed by an equal sum of conventional fiat currencies which are kept in a specified bank account, like dollar, euro, or Japanese yen.
Tether is a stable coin and also a form of cryptocurrency that seeks to hold cryptocurrency prices stable, unlike the large fluctuations seen in the prices of other common cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Tether happens to be the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization in January 2021, with a total market capitalization of $24.4 billion and a per-token value of $1.00.
Reasons to Buy Tether
- Has a stable price
- Ideal for payments
Reasons to Avoid Tether
- Doubts over reserve stock
Monero
Monero (XMR) is adjudged to be the cryptocurrency for the privacy-minded because it is designed to make transactions entirely untraceable. This makes it a solid option for value privacy above all. Monero uses cryptography to obscure sending and receiving addresses, and transaction value.
According to its website, Monero uses three different privacy technologies to distinguish itself from other coins. They are – ring signatures, ring confidential transactions as well as stealth addresses. The Monero network is private by design which means there is no way of accidentally performing a traceable transaction.
On the downside, because if its privacy-centric architecture, Monero is often linked with cyber criminal activity and the dark web. On the other hand, most ransomware operators often demand payment in either Monero to minimize the chances of the money being traced.
Reasons to Buy Monero:
- Has level of transaction privacy
- Is private by design
Reasons to avoid Monero
- Is linked with criminal activity.
Bitcoin
Tagged the original cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC) is the world’s first, most famous, and most valued cryptocurrency. This cryptocurrency first came on board in 2008 when “Satoshi Nakamoto” first published a whitepaper entitled Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer electronic cash system.
Till today, Bitcoin still stands as the first notable application of blockchain technology, an immutable and time-stamped ledger of transactions, distributed across all members of a network which has now been applied to a whole range of use cases.
The blockchain responsible for Bitcoin enables holders to send as well as receive funds without the intervention of any third-party intermediary like the bank or payment holder.
Reasons to Buy Bitcoin:
- Bitcoin is well established
- It is transparent, and anonymous
- Enjoy a wide support
Reasons to Avoid Bitcoin
- Bitcoin is extremely volatile.
