5 Cryptocurrencies You Should Consider Investing In

Year-to-date, the digital currency bitcoin has generated a return on investment of over 1,100 percent and recently hit a new all-time high of $12,000.

However, there are other cryptocurrencies that have generated even better returns. These are the digital currencies that have the most potential to become established in the tech-driven society of tomorrow.

Ether (ETH)

Ethereum is an open-source distributed computing platform that allows users to create smart contracts and so-called decentralised apps (Dapps). Ethereum’s ether (ETH) is the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation and currently the most popular blockchain network for distributed ledger technology trials at financial institutions and corporations.

Due to its popularity among financial institutions and the vast potential for the use of smart contracts in the future, the price of ether (ETH) has rallied by over 5,300 percent since the beginning of the year.

Ripple (XRP)

Ripple is a rather controversial cryptocurrency as it is “the banks’ digital currency”, which very goes very much against the “be your own bank” ethos that bitcoin has brought to the table.

Nonetheless, ripple is a very promising altcoin as it has the potential to increase massively in value should the financial industry adopt its technology for cross-border settlements. Currently, over 70 financial institutions are already trialling the Ripple network for payments. Should this trend continue and should ripple becomes an integral part of the financial system, then the value of its cryptocurrency will balloon.

Year-to-date, the price of ripple (XRP) has increased by over 3,750 percent.

Litecoin (LTC)

Litecoin was one of the first altcoins to appear after bitcoin. At the time, it was widely considered to be digital silver if you consider bitcoin to be digital gold. And since its inception, litecoin has managed to maintain its status and stay among the top ten largest cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalisation.

The main selling point of litecoin over bitcoin is that it can process transactions faster and with lower fees. In light of bitcoin’s scalability challenges, which have slowed down the bitcoin network, litecoin is becoming a serious contender for the number one digital spending currency as bitcoin is turning more into a buy and hold investment due to its relatively high transaction fees.

Year-to-date, litecoin (LTC) has generated a return on investment of over 2,000 percent.

Monero (XMR)

Monero is widely regarded as the most privacy-centric cryptocurrency in the market. It allows users to send and receive money in the form of digital currency in a completely anonymous manner.

This is a big selling point for individuals who take their personal financial sovereignty very serious as bitcoin blockchain analysis tools are becoming better at identifying real-world identities linked with bitcoin wallet addresses.

Year-to-date, monero’s price has increased by over 2,000 percent.

IOTA (MIOTA)

IOTA is the newest cryptocurrency out of those mentioned and has perhaps the most upside potential. The IOTA project is developing a transactional settlement layer for the Internet of Things (IoT). What makes IOTA stand out as a cryptocurrency is that it does not use a full blockchain to process transactions. Instead, it uses a tangle. Also, transactions using IOTA incur zero fees, which is revolutionary within the digital currency space.

Since its launch in June, IOTA has generated a return of over 900 percent and has witnessed a massive price spike in the past few days.

Cryptocurrencies are one of the riskiest asset classes you can invest in. It is, therefore, highly recommended that you never invest more than you can afford to lose and always ensure that you store your coins safely on a wallet for which you control the private keys.