Bitcoin has historically sparked market cycles with strong jumps, but the real action usually happens when the market is consolidating and other cryptocurrencies are leading the way. Several variables promoting wider use and raising the value of digital currencies are expected to make this pattern more noticeable.

The possibilities of an altcoin rally, which has the potential to change the dynamics of the cryptocurrency market drastically, are mostly due to the integration of decentralised financing (DeFi), improvements in blockchain scalability, and the growing application of smart contracts.

As per TradingView data, the aggregate market capitalisation of altcoins is presently over USD 1.16 trillion, indicating a 15% surge in the last two weeks. This increase is getting close to the resistance levels seen in mid-March when the market capitalisation exceeded USD 1.2 trillion.

Indicators To Watch Out For

Market observers are closely monitoring several significant signs that may signal the start of cryptocurrency’s rise.

The first is the 20-day exponential moving average (EMA), which highlights recent price movements and is essential for predicting future rallies. A bullish crossover in the EMA20 of the entire crypto market capitalisation indicates that a rally may be on the horizon.

The stochastic RSI, which evaluates the relative strength indicator’s (RSI) strength and weakness over a predetermined period, is another important indicator. This metric’s bullish crossing implies that altcoins may be preparing for notable price swings.

The anonymous cryptocurrency trader Titan of Crypto claims that a “rally time” may occur if the total market capitalisation of all cryptocurrencies “retests” the EMA20 and simultaneously “crosses bullish” on the stochastic RSI.

Additionally, the market share of Bitcoin, which is based on its dominance, provides details about investors’ attitudes and risk tolerance in general.

Based on past trends, alternate seasons typically exhibit a particular pattern of liquidity movement. Before it reaches the market, it usually goes through multiple stages.

A robust bull market fuels Bitcoin’s expansion during this period, which could see the cryptocurrency reach new all-time highs. At the same time, the popularity of Bitcoin starts to decline, suggesting a possible move toward altcoins.

Ethereum’s Turn: When Bitcoin corrects, Ethereum frequently takes the lead and shows remarkable gains. The upward trend in Ethereum might align with a period of consolidation in Bitcoin.

Big-Cap Altcoins Shine: During this stage, money and investor focus go to well-known altcoins, which causes a notable price increase.

Mid- and Low-Cap Frenzy: Mid- and low-cap cryptocurrencies with strong growth potential experience tremendous growth and more volatility at this stage.

At present, Bitcoin holds a 52.92% dominance. A drop in this number can indicate a change in investor sentiment about cryptocurrencies and could herald the arrival of an alt season.

This coincides with the overall altcoin market cap, which does not include the top ten cryptocurrencies, falling 17.55% to USD 266.47 billion in the last 30 days, according to TradingView statistics.

Trader Rekt Capital pointed out that even with the fall, the market is still above the USD 250 billion support level, indicating that it is preparing for a future upswing.

According to Van de Poppe’s study, the recent approval of the Ethereum ETF may catalyse for all seasons, in line with the market’s past trends. Ethereum’s growth and the confidence of investors may cause the altcoin market as a whole to appreciate more broadly.

He dug deep into his research to reevaluate the significance of retail confidence, which usually comes back when altcoins begin to gain traction, especially when Ethereum exhibits resilience.

One possible spark for an altcoin season is the approval of the Ethereum ETF. However, because of the listing procedure, it can take months for the full effect to manifest.

Developments in regulation have had a favourable impact on attitude in addition to market dynamics. The Fit21 law has had bipartisan support, and Trump’s embrace of cryptocurrency donations has improved the prospects for the market. Furthermore, Ethereum’s possible classification as a commodity is another development in regulation that is favourable.

And talking about Trump and cryptocurrency, the Republican presidential candidate now wants all remaining Bitcoin to be made in the United States. And the news comes at a time when the virtual currency industry is increasing its lobbying efforts in the American political circle as it faces heightened scrutiny from regulators, especially since bankruptcies at major crypto firms (with FTX being the prominent name) in 2022 spooked investors, exposed fraud and misconduct, and left millions of investors out of pocket.

Expert Forecasts And Market Attitudes

Divergent views exist among experts about the possibility of an alt season; some analysts believe the largest alt season might start and eventually achieve a USD 4 trillion market capitalisation.

Some analysts, like Benjamin Cowen, have pointed out that the state of the market right now does not point to the impending all-season, indicating that Bitcoin might continue to rule the markets for a little longer.

The Altcoin Season Index by Blockchain Centre, which identifies an altseason when 75% of the top 50 coins beat Bitcoin over the previous 90 days, reflects this opinion.

Merely 41% of the top 50 altcoins have outperformed Bitcoin in the past ninety days, according to the index. Given the optimistic outlook, the index’s reading of less than 75 indicates that cryptocurrency season has not yet officially begun, offering a more circumspect viewpoint.

Although there are encouraging indications of a forthcoming all-season, the nature of the cryptocurrency industry is still unclear.

Investors should continue to exercise caution and keep up with any changes or trends in the market. When constructing investment positions, it is essential to conduct in-depth research and analysis on cryptocurrency projects to optimise possible profits and efficiently mitigate risks.

Before the alt season picks up full steam, it can go through a consolidation phase. Numerous other cryptocurrencies, including XRP, Litecoin, Solana, and many more, are waiting in line to try their luck after the ETH ETF. The market appears to be more optimistic than ever about ETF adoption.

The post IF Insights: Is cryptocurrency market going to witness potential Altcoin season? appeared first on International Finance.

During the epic bull run of 2021, the market sang like a choir about how BTC will finally cross the $100,000 mark. Half a year later, the most trending phase on Twitter and Reddit is ‘Bitcoin is Dead.’

As American baseball player and manager Yogi Berra once said, “The future ain’t what it used to be.” In times of uncertainty, is it better to turn your back on blockchain technology and its assets, or is it another opportunity masquerading as a crisis?

The root of the problem
The recent crashes have experts drawing parallels to the last crypto winter in 2018. Cryptocurrency Entrepreneurs like Julian Hosps had warned of bitcoin hitting the $60,000 mark and slipping to the $5000 mark. Though that prophecy was only half true, 2018 was a difficult time for crypto enthusiasts.

Hosps had compared the 2018 crash to the dotcom bubble, which eroded billions from the market two decades prior. He believed that many crypto coins that were hyped and did not deliver would be scrapped, and those that provided value and had new technology would come to the front.

However, even after the crash, meme coins or crappy coins like Doge and Shiba Inu gained popularity through tweets from billionaires like Elon Musk and other influencers. People continued to invest in get-rich-quick schemes without understanding the technology and potential behind each product.

The crash of June 20220 got so severe that Celsius, a decentralized finance and crypto bank, announced on a company blog post, “We are taking this necessary actions to stabilize liquidity and operations while we take steps to preserve and protect assets. Furthermore, customers will continue to accrue rewards during the pause in line with our commitment to our customers.”

The Trouble at Terraforma Labs
Two such coins of immense notoriety partially responsible for the 2022 crash are Terra Luna and Terra USD. They were founded by Do Kwon and Daniel Shin of Terraforma labs, specializing in creating stable coins pegged to the US dollar, Euro, and the South Korean Won.

Stable coins are cryptocurrencies built to have a fixed value, in contrast to volatile coins like Ethereum and Bitcoin. Terra’s stable coin TerraUSD (UST), unlike its peer Tether (USDT), isn’t backed by fiat currencies. TerraUSD used its sister currency, Terra Luna, instead of fiat and ran on algorithms to maintain its $1 US peg.

Do Kwon, a trash-talking Stanford graduate from South Korea started Terraforma labs in 2018. He even called those who invested in Luna “lunatics.” Brad Nickel of the cryptocurrency podcast “Mission: Defi” described Kwon as bombastic, arrogant, and a cult personality that sucks people in.

Do Kwon’s persona and social media presence was so strong that investors, including Arrington Capital and Coinbase Ventures, pooled in more than $200 million between 2018-2021, according to fund tracker PitchBook.

Luna’s prices peaked at $116 in April 2021 from a mere $1 in early 2021, creating a generation of crypto millionaires. The crypto CEO even named his daughter Luna.

Kwon’s crypto empire fell when TerraUSD joined a pool of stable coins called 3pool, where an alleged attacker found vulnerabilities in the Terra ecosystem.

The attacker created an imbalance in the supply of Luna, which deflated its value and dragged down the UST with it. The price of Luna fell close to zero. And the UST, which was to be pegged at $1, was valued at around 11 cents in late April.

Many investors in Terraforma Labs lost money, including Changpeng Zhao, CEO of crypto exchange Binance. Changpeng had bought $3 million of Luna, which became $1.6 billion at its peak. Binance held onto its Terra assets. Their entire Terra holdings are worth about $3,000 as of May.

The collapse of Terraforma Labs created a destructive ripple through the crypto market. Luna, which had ballooned to $40 billion, saw most of those assets wiped out overnight. The cryptocurrency market lost $300 billion in the same week that Luna collapsed.

Investors have begun to be wary of other stable coins such as Tether (USDT) and Dai, creating paranoia about cryptocurrencies in general. Tether was too big to fail, but after the collapse of UST, people are beginning to think anything is possible. Even the fall of stable coins.

Also, the alleged attacker who dragged Luna and UST to the ground has many crypto enthusiasts reexamined the safety of cryptocurrencies and other blockchain technologies. They are now worried about hackers.

There were rumors of Do Kwon cashing out before the crash. He responded in a tweet on June 12, “This should be obvious, but the claim that I cashed out $2.7B from anything is categorically false. I didn’t say much because I don’t want to seem like a victim, but I lost most of what I had in the crash too.”

Covid-19, Ukrainian war, and supply chain disruptions
The economy suffered since late 2019, when a little-known illness from Wuhan, China, became a full-blown pandemic.

The pandemic was followed by worldwide lockdowns creating supply chain disruptions and contracting economies. However, during the lockdowns, bitcoin, which cost around $7,300, rose to more than $46,800, an astounding 640% rise.

Cryptocurrencies proved to be a very robust technology that could find use in times of global crisis. These assets had no potential liquidity constraints and could bypass local governments when trading halted during lockdowns.

Hadar Y Jabotinsky, a research fellow at Tel Aviv University Law School, and Roee Sarel, a post-doctoral research associate at the Institute of Law & Economics at the University of Hamburg, co-wrote a paper.

In the study, “How crisis affects crypto: Coronavirus as a test case,” the researchers discovered a correlation between the volume of the top 100 cryptocurrencies and the number of covid-19 cases and deaths worldwide.

Cryptocurrencies did exceptionally well during a time of an unprecedented crisis, but once the situation was stabilized, they began trailing traditional markets as before. Hadar & Roee also suspect that the initial meteoric rise might also be due to many pump & dump schemes (scams) that the crypto markets were muddled with at that time.

The currencies proved to be a storehouse of wealth during a crisis. They found other uses when coins were sent to governments and NGOs, fighting the Covid waves. One example is Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin funneling $ 1.6 billion worth of Shiba Inu and other meme coins into the Indian crypto relief wallet during a devastating second wave that ravaged the country.

Crypto found the same uses during the Russian invasion of Ukraine as well. Many sympathetic to the Ukrainian cause sent currencies and NFTs to the country’s official digital wallet. Alex Bornyakov, Ukraine’s deputy minister for digital transformation, wrote on the nation’s donation website that cryptocurrency played a significant role in Ukraine’s defenses.

By June 2022, the war-torn country had received approximately $100 million in cryptocurrencies for defense and humanitarian causes. One of the most expensive NFTs in the world, Cryptopunks was also given to Ukraine, by an anonymous donor. The digital artwork was sold for $100k, to aid in the war effort.

Vice prime minister and minister of digital transformations Mykhailo Fedorov tweeted, “A few months ago someone donated #CryptoPunk #5364 for @_AidForUkraine and now we sold it for 90 ETH/ over $100K. Just wanted to thank the crypto community for such generous donations. With your help we are able to support our defenders.”

But that’s not all, Ukraine has been using the underlying technology behind cryptocurrency (blockchain) to create permanent records of land registries, titles, births, and other official documents.

It’s hard to rebuild a country without permanent records. Haiti, for example, had an extraordinarily difficult time rebuilding after an earthquake destroyed 60 years of the country’s archives.

Ukraine is also using blockchain technology to document war crimes. Files on the blockchain cannot be tampered with or destroyed. Ukraine is using this tech to store immutable authenticated images of Russian crimes that could be later used in an international court or be passed down to the coming generations. So far, over 10 million conflict-related images have been stored as NFTs in the archives of a popular start-up called Arweave.

At the same time in Moscow, Russians scrambled to buy cryptocurrencies when the Ruble came crashing after Western sanctions. Since the beginning of the war in February, spending on bitcoin using rubles has increased 260%.

The situation was so bad that US senator Elizabeth Warren introduced a bill in Congress to stymie Russian crypto transactions.

Most of the Ruble converted into bitcoin is from average Russians trying to hold onto their life savings.

However, senator Warren believes Russian oligarchs are evading sanctions imposed on them by the West using cryptocurrencies.

“Russia has had a lot of time to think about this specific consequence,” said a former federal prosecutor Michael Parker, who now heads the anti-money-laundering and sanctions practice at the Washington law firm Ferrari & Associates. “It would be naïve to think that they haven’t gamed out exactly this scenario.”

Illegal funds are flowing into Russia through a dark web marketplace called Hydra, which is powered by cryptocurrency and handled more than $1 billion in sales in 2020, according to Chainalysis. “We know that there’s no questions asked, and we know that Hydra operates not just throughout Eastern Europe but throughout Western Europe,” said Kim Grauer, director of research at Chainalysis. “There’s definitely cross-border business happening.”

The Russian government has introduced a bill in its parliament which bans crypto for small traders and citizens while allowing government institutions and big banks to make international payments using cryptocurrencies. Anatoly Aksakov, the head of the financial markets committee of the Russian lower chamber (State Duma), issued a bill seeking a ban on digital assets as a legal payment method. It has been opposed by many in Russia seeking more widespread adoption of new technologies.

Irrespective of the results of the ongoing conflict, both Russia and Ukraine have been forced to adopt blockchain technologies and integrate them into their everyday lives.

Another event that contributed to the economic catastrophe has been China’s zero covid policy and its start-stop economy. The 26 million residents in Shanghai were confined to their houses for two months due to China’s zero covid policy. Today more than 200 million Chinese live under some pandemic restrictions, and their economy is paying the price. Retail sales in April in the country were 11% lower than the previous year. Housing sales in China fell 47% compared to 2021. This economic slump in the “world’s factory” has created a supply shortage everywhere. The global economy has slowed down, and so have stock markets and crypto.

Printing money, distributing stimulus cheques, and hiking interest rates.
The crypto market has seen $4 trillion wiped out from the market and shrink 87% in the recent collapse. It’s difficult to explain how we got here without mentioning the Federal Reserve.

When the global economy went south, the US government and the Federal Reserve did everything they could to save businesses and households. The monetary policy they adopted was called ‘Quantitative easing.’ In just three-and-a half-month in 2020, the Fed printed over $3 trillion to offset the economic effects of covid-19. The money printed was then used to buy bonds from financial institutions.

During the Trump era, the US government also transferred $2.2 trillion directly to the accounts of Americans using the CARES Act. The size and scope of the stimulus cheque took a toll on government spending and expenditure. The act was the largest economic stimulus package in history.

A sizable chunk of expendable money Americans received through the CARES act was spent on consumption and as investments in stocks and crypto. As a result, in 2021, crypto saw an amazing bull run with bitcoin hitting an all-time high of $69,000.

Despite warnings from economists about the consequences of printing money, the Fed and the US government insisted that the US could print the dollar without consequences. By February 2022, inflation hit a 40-year high with no respite. The Biden administration said that inflation is transitory, but almost six months later, it has become evident that inflation is here to stay.

The Fed chair Jerome Powell hiked interest rates by 75 basis points in May and in June, with further hikes expected in the meeting in July. The higher interest rates have made borrowings more expensive and are likely to make investors risk-averse and stay away from highly volatile assets like crypto.

Massacheusets senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted her interaction with the Fed Chair, “Will interest rate hikes lower gas prices? Nope. Lower grocery prices? Nope. Break up monopolies, stop COVID, or roll back Putin’s tanks? Nope. They won’t tackle the main drivers of inflation—but they could get a lot of people fired & make families poorer.”

During a Senate banking committee meeting she told Powell, “You know what’s worse than high inflation and low unemployment? It’s high inflation with a recession and millions of people out of work. I hope you consider that before you drive this economy off a cliff.”

The billionaire CEO of crypto exchange FTX Sam Bankman-Fried blamed the Fed for the Bitcoin crash. He said, “People with money are scared. Markets are scared.”

The cryptocurrency market has never braved a global recession before. It is uncharted territory for the new technology.

Between prophets of doom and unhinged optimists
Billionaire and founder of Microsoft is a critic of the crypto market and is not involved with any such coin or non-fungible token. Bill Gates has often predicted the collapse of bitcoin and has said that the whole market runs on “100% based on greater fool theory,” which is the idea that prices of overvalued assets will continue to rise as long as there are “greater fools” willing to buy them.

There have been bitcoin skeptics calling on the doom of the currency since early 2010. The Underground Economist wrote an article explaining why Bitcoin can’t be a currency. In August 2013, Timothy Laven from Bloomberg View wrote an article about how “Bitcoin is doomed.” The coin price rose soon after the article was published from $94.78 to $572 in three months. Timothy wrote a subsequent article in November 2013 titled, “Bitcoin is still doomed.”

Bitcoin has had many cycles of booms and busts, and so have other currencies in the market. It has surprised critics every time. But the technology is young and merely a decade old, and it has not weathered a global financial crisis of this magnitude before.

The Bank of International settlements, in a 42-page chapter of its annual economic report, said it envisioned Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) to find use in the global monetary system. Hyun Song Shin, economic adviser and head of research at BIS, said that anything crypto could do, CBDS can do better. The BIS believes that crypto’s structural flaws make it an unsuitable basis for a monetary system.

BIS commented on the Terra crash and the risks of buying stablecoins in a tweet, “The implosion of #TerraUSD and others highlight inherent fragilities in #Stablecoins, which seek to import central banks’ stability, but lack proper institutional arrangements and credibility.”

On the other side of the spectrum, there are crypto enthusiasts who aren’t willing to yield to the traditional fiat currency system of banks and believe in decentralization. The most prominent of them, antivirus mogul John McAfee committed suicide in a Spanish prison, this time last year.

Despite his fall into infamy through tax evasion, McAfee is still regarded as a prophet by bitcoin evangelists who still believe in his prediction of bitcoin crossing $100,000. He is famously quoted to have said, “You can’t stop things like Bitcoin. It’s like trying to stop gunpowder.”

Edward Moya, a senior market analyst at OANDA, said, “The latest crypto market crash was due to a de-risking Wall Street moment that created a cloud of pessimism amidst inflation, shaky stock market, and rising interest rates. Bitcoin is still twice as valuable as it was a couple of years ago despite losing more than 70% of its value.”

Despite extreme skeptics claiming that the leading cryptocurrency will tank below $10,000 in 2022, moderate voices believe that bitcoin can still hit $100,000.

Kate Waltman, a New York-based certified public accountant and crypto specialist said that the most knowledgeable educators in the space are predicting $100,000 bitcoin in Q1 2022 or sooner. Crypto plunged after the prediction.

Ian Balina, CEO of Token Metrics, still believes that crypto will reach $100,000-$150,000 in the future but did not specify the timeline.

What lies ahead?
Blockchain technology isn’t going anywhere as there is already a lot of institutional adoption. Countries like El Salvador are already using bitcoin as a legal tender. Big banks like JP Morgan rolled out the first US bank-backed cryptocurrency called “JPM coin” to transform the payment business. The bank offers six cryptocurrency investments despite CEO Jamie Morgan being a bitcoin skeptic.

Another serious player on the field is the CEO of Facebook’s parent company Meta. Mark Zuckerburg’s Metaverse plans to popularize cryptocurrencies, blockchain, and VR technologies. Meta is already on the verge of launching Libra- a currency meant to circumvent unnecessary transaction charges.

The Ethereum blockchain has also found use through the sale and purchase of NFTs like the Bored Ape Club. There are dedicated marketplaces for NFTs like Opensea.io.

Blockchain technology has already proved itself. It found use in charity and support in India during the second covid wave and in Ukraine during the invasion.

There are already blockchain companies like Horizon State trying to develop technologies for direct democracy, eliminating the need for representative democracy and ensuring there is no voter fraud. In the future citizens will vote on issues and not on who will lead them.

Blockchain also is a tool for permanent record keeping. It is used to unalterably store birth certificates, deeds, driving licenses, etc. Though filled with scams and get-rich-quick schemes, many projects are undervalued and might make massive gains in the coming decade. Bitcoin was 11 cents in 2010; it is all about finding the gem in the rubble.

An anonymous investor when asked about the recent crash commented, “I have lost 80% of the value on my assets. But I will continue to hodl (hold on to dear life). I did not invest in these projects to make a quick buck. Markets have ups and downs. I believe in blockchain tech and its potential to change the world.”

Despite the fall of currency values, the underlying technology will continue to grow and revolutionize human societies. The crypto winter might be here for a while, but as the technology progresses, expect another bull run.

The post Is cryptocurrency dead? appeared first on International Finance.

Everyone knows the explosive rise of Bitcoin since its inception in 2008. An asset worth $135 in 2013 rose to over $65,000 in 2021 before falling to $30,462 as of May 23, 2022. Ethereum also had a meteoric rise to the second most valued crypto coin. From January 2021 to January 2022, the cryptocurrency market rose from $767 billion to $2.4 trillion.

In May, the recent market crash (crypto and stocks) has left investors wary of high-risk assets, but there are still many who are urging enthusiasts to buy the dip. So what should you do? Should you take advantage of the low prices, or is it too dangerous to enter the market now?

Are cryptocurrencies safe?
There are several risks involved, and there are many more reasons to believe that blockchain technology is here to stay.

Here is a list of risks associated with crypto coins:
Though cryptocurrencies themselves are hackproof, their exchanges (Crypto exchanges) are more prone to cyberattacks than stock markets. There has been a long history of security breaches and humungous losses incurred by investors who had their assets stolen. Consequently, most exchanges and third-party insurers are offering hack protection.

Another issue is the storage of crypto coins. Prominent exchanges like Coinbase and Binance make buying and selling assets easy and offer in-exchange wallets; most people prefer to keep their investments in personal wallets; simply because they don’t trust exchanges.

Many people store their coins in cold storage (offline hardware wallets). Most crypto-wallets come with a key, without which investors will permanently lose access to their assets. Crypto-enthusiasts often mistrust centralized exchanges because they never provide investors with complete asset control. A government order could freeze your resources on an exchange, or they could go bankrupt, leaving you no means to recover your money.

Investors across the world are also worried about regulations. Global governments are polarised when it comes to crypto coins. China has banned financial & payment institutions from businesses related to cryptocurrency, and South Korea banned Initial Coin Offerings(ICO) in September 2021. Whereas, El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as a legal ledger in 2021. It was a move that jeopardized their economy and President Nayib Bukele’s rule as bitcoin tanked last month.

Many governments are unsure of cryptocurrency taxation and shut down their use as a tender on the darknet and other black markets. In India, for example, cryptocurrencies have a 30% tax, but the ministry still hasn’t declared them legal.

What is worse is that most coins on exchanges are termed ‘crappy coins’ or ‘trash coins,’ and they have no real value. These ‘meme coins’ are merely tokens with no real-world use. Shiba Inu and Elon Musk’s favorite- Dogecoin are examples of crypto tokens popular among crypto day traders and short-term investors. They are bought only to be sold again, quickly at a higher price. And have no long-term vision or technology to back them up. Despite this, Shiba Inu had grown by 1,296,236% since its inception.

Many altcoins (other than Bitcoin and Ethereum) often offer ICOs and exit the market immediately. The cryptocurrency world is wrought with scams, and if you do not read the whitepaper properly and follow the trends, your money could disappear overnight.

One such example is that of altcoins, TerraLuna and TerraUSD. These coins were partly responsible for the recent crypto crash, bringing down the behemoth Bitcoin by 25%. Luna lost 99.9% of its value in the crash of May 2022.

TerraUSD is a stablecoin designed to tether its value to the US dollar to reduce volatility. Do Kwon, the founder of Terra and Luna, is a trash-talking Stanford graduate who pumped up the prices of these coins with his showmanship. Even big investing firms were investing in Luna, which went from little less than a dollar in 2021 to $116 per coin in April 2022. Some big investors pulled out in time, but many lost millions. The twin coins lost a value of over $40 billion. After the crash, even Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of one of the biggest exchanges, Binance tweeted, “poor again.”

Like any other stocks or commodities in the market, no currency or blockchain commodity comes without risks. Sure blockchain is the future, but how sure can you be that the coin you backed is the winning horse?

Finally, blockchain is just one among many competing technologies that can be used to make cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and other digital assets. Holochain, for example, is said to be much quicker, less data-consuming, and more eco-friendly than blockchain. Though it is still in its infancy, if the technology catches up to blockchain, it might become outdated and could be phased out.

Is there a silver lining?
All these dismal tidings and examples of horrible crashes shouldn’t dissuade you. Crypto remains one of the most lucrative commodities globally, and for every hundred ‘meme coins,’ there is an undervalued gem. Prospective coins include Cardano, Solano, Holochain, SingularityNet, etc.

The recent crash is certainly a worry for day traders and short-term investors. But projects with real-world utility should continue to grow. Many celebrity investors have been silent on the recent crash. Hollywood celebs like Matt Damon and Curb Your Enthusiasm star, Larry David publicly endorsed crypto. Matt Damon recently even quoted the Crypto.com catchphrase, “Fortune favors the brave.” However, his post-crash silence has been criticized by the media.

Though the crash has slashed altcoin prices, these technologies are still in development and could make a comeback in the future. Cardano, for example, is one of the biggest cryptocurrencies by market cap and is designed as a scalable blockchain platform for running smart contracts. The project hopes to help develop decentralized finance apps, games, tokens, and the like. Though Cardano’s decentralized exchange (dex), Sundaeswap, failed and lost 83.43% of Cardano’s value from its all-time high, it is still considered a currency with immense potential.

Holochain or HOT is another project gaining traction in a bid to build web 3.0 (a decentralized internet). Despite its recent crash, the project has provided investors with a 100x gain in the last four years. Though dirt cheap at the moment, HOT is expected to hit $1 by 2030.

Crashes and booms are all part of the game. The stock market grew astronomically after the 2008 housing bubble collapse and market crash. And the cryptocurrency markets are no different. There is still room for long-term investors, and the market is expected to bounce back.

Cryptocurrencies are a better alternative to other assets because transparency is a function of blockchain technology. The details of every transaction are encrypted and correct many of the flaws of the traditional financial systems.

They are also deflationary assets. The Federal Reserve has been printing billions of dollars every month to combat a sinking economy. All that printing is causing inflation or stagflation as we speak. However, the only way to make bitcoin is to mine it, which is a very energy-intensive process. There are only 21 million bitcoins, and no government can print more on a wimp.

Also, cryptocurrencies are global assets and are unrestrained by national or regional supply-chain, policy, and market forces. These assets can be held secretly and transferred across borders lightning fast. These attributes give cryptocurrencies an edge over fiat currencies. Finally, cryptocurrencies have the highest potential for high returns, and because the tech is still in development have some unseen long-term prospects.

Many investors think the recent crash is a good thing. Forbes magazine even reported that the price volatility will help create a healthier crypto market and that the crash will help better projects outshine “meme coins.” Experts also pointed out that every previous crash has led to operational improvements in the crypto ecosystem.

Crypto is here to stay. There will be other Bitcoins and Ethereums, and both coins are here to stay. Ethereum co-founder Buterin said he isn’t a billionaire after the recent crypto crash. Dr. Merav Ozair, Professor of Fintech at Rutgers business school, said, “Blockchain technology is the future. There is no escaping that. However, it is difficult to predict which projects will last and which will fail and be forgotten.”

The post Are Cryptocurrencies still worth it? appeared first on International Finance.

In the past few years, cryptocurrency has challenged the currency game in a competent way with bitcoin dominating global cryptocurrency trends. Despite questions around its legitimacy, it appears that bitcoinhas finally gained acceptance in the mainstream. Now, bitcoin, too, has found a successor, called ‘Altcoin’.

The genesis

As the name denotes, the term ‘Altcoin’ is a culmination of two words – ‘alt’, which is an abbreviated version of the words ‘alternative’ and ‘coin’; referring to a currency alternate to another currency. In this case it is the alternate currency to bitcoin.

The new talk of the currency town is Altcoins, the heir and alternative of Bitcoins, both categorised under the cryptocurrency family tree. The birth of altcoins goes back to bitcoins. Although altcoins are claimed to be a better alternative of bitcoins, one of the major reasons for its birth is the fortune that bitcoins earned in the global market in 2017, with a current sky-rocketing value of around nearly US$20,000. At present, one bitcoin costs around US$7,000. Cryptocurrency enthusiasts opine that Altcoins will be wiped out if Bitcoins cease to exist.

Altcoins which are in focus in the current year are Litecoin, Litepay, Litepal, NEO, HIRE, ZCL, BRD, NEO, GAS, NEX and several more. Last year, Altcoins which were in the limelight were Litecoin,TaaS , WeTrust , Matchpool , Zcash , Ethereum , BitSend , PascalCoin , OKcash , Byteball , ZCASH , Augur , Back To Earth.

So, what makes cryptocurrencies so expensive?

The most important reason for cryptocurrencies being priced at bank’s reserve draining rates is that they are assets. But all of them aren’t pricey. Prices of cryptocurrencies boom only when theyattain the market attention. Sam Cole, the Co-Founder and CEO of KnC Group, and Blockchain consultant at Seao, shared his insight on the value of cryptocurrencies: “The vast majority of them aren’t expensive because they have no value. One of the main reasons for the top 10 cryptocurrencies having skyscraping value is that they have earned trust. The trust is demonstrated in the fact that people buying them have a reasonable expectation that the same price or a better one will be available when they come to sell it.”

But when it comes to consistency of holding the market price, there is no guarantee. Be it altcoin or bitcoin, the prices keep fluctuating.

The latest version of Bitcoins is Altcoins- considered an upgraded version of Bitcoins, mainly because they target the shortcomings of the Bitcoins and deliver a better version of them. Litecoin is considered to be identical to bitcoins.

How are Altcoins and Bitcoins different?

Although Altcoins and Bitcoins are categorised under cryptocurrency, both hold their own set of differences Altcoins, like bitcoins, have their own set of blockchains, miners, and wallets – the major zones where the two are distinguished.

An established bitcoin, until now, has been more secure than that newly introduced Altcoins in the market. Brian Hoffman, the CEO of OB1, a company which has been assisting people make free-trade through a Bitcoin-based decentralized peer to peer marketplace, told how the two differs from each other, “To me, altcoins are a way to experiment with different types of technical solutions or economics designs that doesn’t require changing Bitcoin itself. They’re less secure but allow dramatic changes to the way the coin operates without approval from the Bitcoin Core developers.”

A lucrative future or a bumpy one?

Following the changing tides of the payment’s industry, it’s too early to sketch the definite future of Altcoins. As many consider Altcoins to be an upgraded version of Bitcoins, targeting the shortcomings of the Bitcoins and consistently delivering better versions of them might be only points which would help Altcoins overrun Bitcoins. But for the time being, its best to allow the experts to debate and speculate.

Bundling up his years of cryptocurrency experience, Sam shared his final outlook on the prospects that are in hold for Altcoins, “There will always be copies, and people will be pushing their own coin wanting to make it rich. But the few that have great features will be around for a long time.” Putting forth the expectation he has tailored for Altcoins, he further elaborated, “I’m personally looking for a coin with properties that will work for micro machine to machine payments. For example, one that my car will use to pay other cars, allowing me to overtake.”

No matter how many opinions we envision, it will be time to will map the road ahead. So, it’s best to wrap up the article with the words of Brian, “It still remains to be seen if Altcoins contribute to a better system overall or if most are simply a money grab for people who missed out on Bitcoins early days.”

With bitcoin’s future traipsing up and down rapidly, altcoin’s road ahead seems even more uncertain but as the experts suggest, its best to wait and watch how cryptocurrencies alter global trading and transactions.

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