Cryptocurrencies to Keep an Eye On

We have been talking about crypto here on the Gents Blog since 2014.  While you can’t buy Bitcoin (BTC) for the single digit prices it was trading for back then, there are plenty of new currencies that are affordable and have promising futures.  We’ve already spoken a lot about BTC and Ethereum (ETH) so in this article we’ll share a few cryptocurrencies that are not necessarily grabbing the cable news headlines but are still quietly going about their work.

Binance Coin

Binance Coin was launched in 2017 using an Initial Coin Offering (ICO).  Its primary use case is trading crypto currency.  With thousands of coins out there that are not yet traded on the big exchanges like Coinbase, Binance (with its own exchange, as well) offers a chance for those with lesser known cryptocurrencies to trade.  It’s also known for having lower conversion fees for fiat (traditional currencies like the dollar or euro) transactions.

Litecoin

If BTC is considered digital gold, Litecoin (LTC) is often said to be digital silver.  It offers fast transaction times and has been used as currency, perhaps most famously for the purchase of a Tom Brady rookie card for around $1.6M.  It’s a currency you can buy, hold, and trade on Venmo and features fast transaction times.

dogecoin

Founded in 2013 as a joke, dogecoin has been used to sponsor a Nascar vehicle for a race at Talladega.  It frequently gets a lot of attention from Elon Musk, who proclaims himself the “dogefather.”  It is being accepted for payment with some merchants but it’s differentiated from other coins by its rabid reddit-centric followers.  It has no market cap so it is susceptible to the very same issues of fiat currency, which is ostensibly one of the very ways that cryptocurrencies are valuable.

Basic Attention Token

The Basic Attention Token (BAT) was created by a co-founder of Firefox and Javascript.  It’s seeking to address the issue of how the Internet is “paid for.”  Instead of relying on banner ads and pop-ups, the promoters of the BAT want to encourage users to support creators and sites with BATs.  If you are familiar with creator-driven sites like Patreon, then you can think of BAT as a crypto version of that site, which can allow you to “tip” creators on websites, platforms like Twitter, or even directly.  The privacy-focused Brave browser uses BAT and issues it to those who use their browser.

Lumens

Lumens (XLM) are the internal currency of the Stellar network.  Stellar is an open network that is built to sell and trade money.  All of the world’s currencies and payment systems speak in different (and often incompatible) languages.  Stellar speaks to all those systems and currencies in their own native language while simultaneously trying to lower transaction costs and transfer times.  Stellar is an example of creating a business that is then powered by the tokens that are created.  Participating institutions and payment systems use Lumens to facilitate transactions.

What’s a currency you would have added to this list?  Share with us in the comments below.

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