Over the past few years, Crypto has established itself as a notable player in the financial markets contending for a position in several investors’ portfolios. However, for those who are new to investing in the crypto market, grasping the current state of the industry and making informed choices can be quite an uphill task. To shed some light on the crypto market, we have curated a selection of a few well-recognized crypto assets in this blog post. It is essential to remember that this list is based on internal research and should not be regarded as investment advice. I strongly recommend all investors conduct thorough research before investing in the crypto market.
Bitcoin (BTC)
The oldest and most popular crypto token on the market, Bitcoin was the coin that started the entire crypto craze. From its humble beginnings in 2009, it has soared to unimaginable heights and gained the attention of investors, the media and businesses.
The network is used as an alternative means of payment to cash and is protected through Proof of Work consensus. All transactions are stored on a blockchain, while miners can earn rewards for each block of transactions they confirm.
Pros of Bitcoin
- Most well-known token, which leads to heavy investments in the project.
- Relatively stable compared to some newer crypto tokens.
Cons of Bitcoin
- BTC operates on proof of work, which consumes a lot of electricity and requires excessive time to confirm transactions.
- As BTC acts as an index of the general cr
ypto market, it rarely deviates from general market trends and conditions.
Ethereum (ETH)
After Bitcoin, Ethereum has established itself as one of the most dominant forces in the crypto market. It was the first to introduce smart contract functionality, which enables developers to create and automate several key features we take for granted today. Ethereum is also built to provide a platform for decentralised applications and finance, becoming the leading blockchain to service this need.
Pros of Ethereum
- The largest player in the DeFi and dApp space. This gives it market dominance and requires that competitors offer much greater incentives to switch.
- Ethereum’s Proof of Stake consensus mechanism has made the blockchain highly efficient. The future upgrades are focussed on increasing TPS and improving the already robust security protocols.
Cons of Ethereum
- Ethereum sometimes has high network traffic that can slow transactions down to a crawl. It must rely on scaling solutions to address the traffic on its network.
- Ethereum’s transaction costs can also skyrocket. In some cases, the fees can be higher than the value of the transaction.
Solana (SOL)
Solana is a decentralised blockchain platform created for scalability first and foremost. It is one of the fastest blockchains on the market, with a transaction speed of almost 65,000 per second. It accomplishes this through the unique Proof of History consensus mechanism, which allows nodes to synchronise time across the network.
Solana has been one of the fastest-growing projects in the DeFi space and is widely called an “Ethereum-killer”.
Pros of Solana
- Solana is one of the fastest blockchains on the market, making it highly popular among investors.
- The platform also has very low transaction fees, with an average of $0.00025.
Cons of Solana
- Solana is not easily interoperable with Ethereum, thus restricting its smart contracts to those built for the network.
- Solana has experienced several network outages that have made it unreliable for its users.
