Over the last few years, the financial sector has seen a full migration from major investment assets classes to cryptocurrencies. This is because ever since their debut in the market, traders have recorded massive gains. Bitcoin, the first and leading digital asset in the crypto market, debuted in 2009. The token, which is the market’s flagship token, has registered massive amounts of price rise over the years. Although there have been visible setbacks during volatile periods, it goes without saying that these assets have changed the way traders view the market. This article will look through everything related to cryptocurrencies and the top ten tokens according to market cap.
What are Cryptos?
Cryptocurrencies are currencies available digitally, which provide users with a medium of exchange. The creation of cryptocurrencies is based on cryptography, which is the main source of making new tokens. Miners also use cryptography to verify and approve transactions during an exchange. About 80% of the crypto in the market is based on blockchain technology. One core difference between physical cash and digital assets is that any party or country does not own the latter. This means that its existence is decentralized and beyond manipulation by any individual or authority. Nowadays, cryptocurrencies are now replacing cash as a payment method. This is because some individuals in and out of the market see it as a sure way of making profits.
How does Crypto work?
Digital assets or crypto are made on a public distributed ledger technology called the blockchain. This blockchain is available to the public and holds all the information about tokens. To create a digital asset, a group of individuals called miners saddled with that responsibility. They solve complex mathematical problems and get a fully mined digital asset as a reward for solving the problems. However, they are not the only source for tokens, as traders can buy tokens from crypto exchanges and other brokers. Storing digital assets is easy but quite complex to a newbie. To hold a digital asset, you are required to hold a wallet where you can store the assets.
Why should I use Cryptocurrencies?
Autonomy
Unlike physical cash, cryptocurrencies give the holders the full power to control whatever happens with their digital assets. For instance, there are some restrictions that governments worldwide have placed on the usage of physical cash. With digital currencies, there are no restrictions because no party controls the supply of the tokens. In some other cases, traders and investors have always had one case or another with financial institutions. With cryptocurrencies, there are zero issues, provided a trader carries out their transactions in the right way.
Anonymity
Making transactions online has always come with one mandatory provision of information or another. This is because the institution carrying out the transaction would want to identify the sender against the receiver. In the same way with purchasing online, buyers must provide some degree of information before checking out their purchase. Even though there are advantages to these checks, it affords these institutions power over one’s financials. With crypto, transactions are anonymous. However, since the blockchain is available to the public, users can only be identified using their wallet keys. Although some users own more than a wallet, all things remain the same for every wallet on the blockchain.
Easy and fast transactions
Cryptocurrencies provide users with swift transactions. Traders can send digital assets to receivers, and they will get to them as fast as one second. However, some transactions are subject to congestion on the blockchain, which requires a small fee for processing. Provided the sender or receiver is not banking with regulated entities, their transactions would be fast and easy.
Low transaction fee
Making transactions in the banking system have incurs heavy charges. It gets worse if the transactions are from one country to another. Digital assets breach this gap by providing excellent opportunities for traders to send payments and cash using crypto far and wide. With this, they will incur the tiniest of charges to sanction their transactions. With more stores and merchants accepting crypto, payments have been made easy.
Is crypto the future?
In the last few years, the design and development of cryptocurrencies have been very applaudable across the entire financial sector. This is because they have been able to change the way people view the asset. One event confirming this is the massive adoption of the digital asset. While traders use centralized tokens for their usual activities, the DeFi also has a mind-blowing achievement. One of these achievements is the way lending and borrowing have been modernized. Blockchain technology has also become one of the go-to technology in the entire world as more parts of the economy continue to tout its usage. Presently, the future of cryptocurrencies looks very bright. In some years to come, digital assets would have enjoyed more adoption than now.
You can buy your favorite crypto on the following exchanges: Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, and Bitfinex.
Top 10 crypto by Market Capitalization
Bitcoin
Bitcoin is a digital asset that came into the market in 2009 after its whitepaper was made available to the public in late 2008. The creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, made the token a peer-to-peer payment system. It was the first digital asset to debut on the blockchain. In its creation, Nakamoto highlights that his vision for Bitcoin was to be sent across various users without financial institutions meddling. Bitcoin has established itself as one of the most successful digital assets to date. The digital asset presently sells for $50,502 and is ranked #1 on CoinMarketCap. Unlike most tokens, Bitcoin has a finite supply of 21 million coins and presently has about 18 million tokens in circulation. Its market cap is presently pegged around $956,122,623,648 while its trading volume in the last 24 hours is $20,953,678,714.
Ethereum
Ethereum is an ecosystem that allows other tokens to function while using its native token as a benchmark. The network was initially designed as a network for smart contracts but provides space for developers who intend to debut DeFi apps. Vitalik Buterin, the brain behind it, made it in 2013. The token has been pretty much successful in the market, with much of its success coming in the last few years. Ethereum currently ranks at #2 on CoinMarketCap, selling for $4,055. Although it has no maximum pegged supply, it has more than 118 million tokens in supply. Its trading volume in the last 24 hours is $10,563,001,134 while its market cap is around $482,260,752,047.
Binance Coin
Binance has been in the crypto business since 2013, after its founder, Changpeng Zhao, floated the exchange. The development of the Binance coin came in 2017, after a series of groundbreaking projects that the company did. Like most tokens, 2021 was very integral in the increase in the price of the token, which put it in consideration among most investors’ portfolios. Riding on the success, the coin is ranked #3 on CoinMarketCap with a price of $544. The present supply of the token is around $166 million, which is the same as its total supply. It has a market cap of $90,852,375,595 and a trading volume of $1,567,371,684 in the last 24 hours.
USDT
USDT is a stablecoin whose value is pegged with the value of the United States currency, the dollar. The token developers, Tether, have their base of operations in Hong Kong. USDT was previously launched in the market in 2014 but has since gone through some modifications to where it is now. Initially built on Bitcoin’s blockchain, it is now available on other blockchains, including Ethereum. USDT is ranked #4 on CoinMarketCap with a selling price of $1. Its market cap is around $78 billion with a 24-hour trading volume of $50 billion. The coin also has about 77 billion tokens in circulation and its total supply is infinite.
Solana
Solana is a blockchain network that allows developers in the DeFi sector to build projects on its network. Although the developers of the network talked about its pending launch in 2017, they made the network it in 2020. The native token, SOL, is used to carry out activities across the blockchain. Solana is presently ranked #5 on CoinMarketCap, selling at $197. It has a trading volume of more than $1.8 billion in the last 24 hours, while its market cap is around $60 billion.
Cardano
Cardano allows developers to bring positive drives and goals onto its platform. The network was created in 2017 and had ADA as its native token, which powers the ecosystem. Traders can use the ADA token to carry out various activities on the platform. ADA trades at $1.41 on CoinMarketCap, ranking at #6. It has a market cap of more than $48 billion with a trading volume of about $1.1 billion in the last 24 hours.
XRP
XRP is a digital asset created by Ripple as its native currency. Ripple uses XRP to carry out swift transactions across the world. It uses the native token to carry out major cross-border transactions because of the number of transactions the system can carry out with the token in a limited time. XRP presently sells for $0.9 and ranks #7 on CoinMarketCap. It has a market cap of more than $43 billion, with its 24-hour trade volume currently at $1.3 billion.
USD Coin
Like the USDT, USD coin or USDC is a stablecoin that mirrors the dollar on a 1:1 basis. It is the ‘digital money.’ USDC entered the market in 2018 and has since established itself as a prominent token of useful value. It currently ranks #8 on CoinMarketCap with a price of $1. The token has a market cap of about $42 billion with a trading volume of $2.6 billion in the last 24 hours.
Terra
Terra uses stablecoins to stabilize the price of various payments system across the globe. It adds the unrestricted access of Bitcoin with other basic services to provide swift and secure settlements. The developers started working on the token in 2018, but it launched in 2019. Terra allows users to afford stablecoins tied to various fiat currencies worldwide. It presently ranks at #9 on CoinMarketCap with a selling price of $102. The token’s market cap is slightly above $37 billion, while its trading volume in the last 24 hours is around $2.4 billion.
Polkadot
Polkadot is a secure blockchain tasked with the function of connecting more than one network. Doing this allows them to exchange data and every other sensitive information. In simple words, Polkadot allows interoperability among blockchains in the crypto market. Polkadot ranks #10 on CoinMarketCap with a selling price of $31. Its market cap is around $31 billion, while its 24-hour trading volume is around $1.6 billion.
Conclusion
Trading digital assets are one sure way to make massive profits in the market, judging by the rise of the assets listed above. However, there are periods of volatility where tokens see huge drops and massive rises. It also depends on the kind of strategy that a trader adopts that will work for him. Finally, traders who intend to pick digital assets to trade must ensure that they carry out their due diligence on the tokens. This is because most of the tokens are riding in the wave of other tokens and will fall eventually. It is also noteworthy to diversify one’s portfolio. This will help a trader during volatile periods. As one token declines, another might cover the lost value by making massive jumps to register great prices.
