One of the well-known themes seen in previous crypto market cycles has been the change in market capitalization, popularity, and the ranking of the top 10 projects, which saw significant gains during the upswing only to fade into bear markets. For many of these projects, they followed a recognizable cycle of boom and bust and never returned to their former glory.
During the 2017-2018 bull market boom and the Initial Coin Offering (ICO), which was powered by projects powered by the Ethereum network, the intelligence of all types of small contract-oriented projects has increased by thousands of percent to an unexpected high.
During this time, projects such as Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), Monero (XMR) and ZCash (ZEC) also rotated in and out of the top 10 rankings, but to this day investors are still discussing which projects are actually a ” useful “use case.
While all of these tokens are still unicorn-level projects valued at billions of dollars, these large-cap megaliths have left their former glory far behind and are currently struggling to stay relevant in the current ecosystem.
Let’s take a look at some current projects that are at risk of destroying these dinosaur tokens from their seat.
Dollar-linked stablecoins are becoming the most “tradable” currencies
Bitcoin’s (BTC) initial use case is to simplify transaction execution, but the network’s “slow” transaction times and the costs associated with sending funds make it a boon Networks are considered options.
Terra (LUNA), a protocol that focuses on creating a global payment structure through the use of stablecoins with fiat value, has emerged as a possible solution to the problems encountered when using top proof-of-work Projects (PoW) appear as payment currency.
The main token used to trade values on Terra other than LUNA is TerraUSD (UST), an algorithmic stablecoin pegged to US dollars and the foundation of Terra’s decentralized financial (DeFi) ecosystem forms. UST’s market capitalization has steadily increased over the course of 2021 as the activity and number of users in the ecosystem increase.
The recent addition of Ether (ETH) as collateral for UST mining on the Anchor Protocol has given token holders the ability to access the value of their Ethers without having to sell and create a taxable event.
This opens up the possibility of other tokens such as BTC being used as collateral for the minting of UST, which can be used in everyday purchases.
As it stands, the APR for UST on Anchor is 25.85%, while the APR of the distribution is 40.67%.
From privacy coins to security protocols
Privacy is also a fundamental characteristic of the cryptocurrency sector, and privacy-focused projects like XMR and ZEC offer shading technologies that support secrecy or for a while as untraceable transactions.
Unfortunately, regulatory concerns have made these tokens even more difficult for users to access, as many exchanges have removed them for fear of regulatory objections and general demand.
Their lack of smart contract functionality has limited the capabilities of these protocols as well, and so far users don’t seem too excited about using Wrapped Monero (WXMR) for use in DeFi, as the token loses its security in the process.
These limitations have led to the development of privacy-conscious protocols like the confidential network, which allows users to create and use decentralized applications (DApps) in a privacy-enforcing environment.
Security features are unusual on platforms that support smart contracts in the crypto ecosystem, making Secret a test case in the constantly evolving Web 3.0 landscape.
Secret is also part of the Cosmos ecosystem, which means it can use the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol to seamlessly interact with other protocols in the ecosystem.
The network’s native SCRT can be used as a value vehicle on the platform as well as to interact with the protocols operating on the network, including Secret DeFi applications and the network’s NFT provider, Secret Heroes.
New business solutions are no better, but they are not controversial
One of the ways that crypto projects might want to differentiate themselves from the “medium of exchange” label is to provide enterprise solutions to help organizations transition to infrastructure.
XRP and Stellar (XLM) are two of the veteran protocols that fit this bill, but constant controversy and slow development have led these early initiators to catch up with the networks. many years.
Hedera Hashgraph has emerged as a competitor in this space, and data shows that the network is capable of processing over 10,000 transactions per second (TPS) with an average transaction fee of $ 0.0001 and a duration of 3-5 seconds.
These statistics are comparable to both XRP and XLM, which have shown that their ledger reaches consensus every 3-5 seconds on all outstanding transactions with average transaction costs of 0.0001 XRP / XLM.
Hedera also has smart contract capabilities, which means users can create both fungible and immutable tokens, and developers can create decentralized applications to match the network’s decentralized file storage services.
For each sector (stablecoins, data protection and enterprise solutions), the main difference between legacy and next-generation projects is the introduction of smart contract functions and development plans in the sidechain and DeFi domains where leading protocols exist. This gives newer projects an add-on that enables them to meet the needs of investors and developers, thus increasing the company’s token value and market capitalization.
Smart contracts have built-in interoperability with the growing DeFi landscape, while legacy tokens such as LTC, XMR and BCH require special parcel services that middlemen use and thus introduce additional fees, rigor and risks into the process.
Newer protocols have also adopted a greener proof-of-stake consensus model, in line with a larger global shift towards environmental awareness and sustainability. A plus is that the owner can also bet for profit directly on the network.
It remains to be seen whether the slow passage of time will eventually lead to capital migration from older large-cap projects to newer generation protocols or whether these old blue chips will find a way to grow and develop.
Would you like more information about trading and investing in the cryptocurrency market?
.
.
Contents
