Ethereum and Bitcoin may be the first to come to mind when you think of cryptocurrencies. If you’re an avid Redditor, you may even be familiar with joke currency Dogecoin that became surprisingly lucrative. In truth, there are multiple cryptocurrencies being minted all the time. Many never get far or are designed for such a specific purpose that the general public has no need to be interested in them.
Then, there are the cryptocurrencies that should have your attention. Check out these nine cryptocurrencies to watch in 2018.
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Ripple
Partnering with companies such as BMO Harris, MoneyGram, American Express, WestPac, and Mizuho, Ripple is a bit different from other cryptocurrencies. While the cryptocurrency industry as a whole has embraced the concept of being an alternative to the traditional financial services industry, Ripple seeks to become a part of it.
Ripple provides a means for corporations to engage in global money transfers without the roadblocks and expenses they have faced historically. Because it has the support of so many players in the mainstream finance space, this currency could be a good investment.
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Monero
Monero was created with one major priority. The goal was to create a currency where transactions were entirely anonymous. Yes, that is important to those who are conducting transactions that are not quite on this side of legitimate. However, it has a potential for mainstream adoption as well. After all, there are plenty of businesses where privacy is a primary concern. It can also be used to quietly transfer asset ownership from one entity to another. Several musicians have embraced Monero. This includes Mariah Carey, Sia, G-Eazy, Marilyn Manson, The Backstreet Boys, and Slayer.
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Litecoin
Litecoin was launched back in 2011. Its creator is Charles Lee, a Google staff member. By design, Litecoin functions largely like its predecessor, Bitcoin. It is designed to give users a significant amount of control over their finances. It also offers extremely low-cost transactions. There are multiple small businesses and websites in a variety of business categories that accept Litecoin as a form of payment.
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Stellar Lumens
When compared to Bitcoin, Stellar Lumens offers fast transactions and significantly lower transaction fees. It is also a more environmentally friendly solution when compared to the cryptocurrency juggernaut.
This cryptocurrency has already formed partnerships with entities including Mobius and IBM. This and the attention it has earned from large media outlets have people calling Stellar the next big thing in cryptocurrency. It also has a big industry buy-in. Deloitte, IBM, Stripe, Poseidon, and others currently accept Stellar payments.
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Tron
This cryptocurrency was created specifically for the entertainment industry. The idea behind it is to allow musicians, artists, and others to create and sell their content without having to go through any sort of third party entity. If it is successful, the currency could solve an ongoing problem. How should payments, credit, and creative ownership be managed in an era of peer to peer file sharing and social media? That could be extremely lucrative. Still, at this point in time, there are no real use cases that prove the viability of Tron.
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Dentacoin
This currency was created specifically for and by the dental industry. Surprisingly, this niche currency is now worth more than 1.9 billion dollars. Currently, there are several dental clinics around the world that have partnered to accept Dentacoin as payment. One of the goals behind the creation of dentacoin is to crowdsource dental treatment making it more accessible to all. It’s a noble concept. Unfortunately, only a handful of providers actually accept it.
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Neo
Neo has been referred to as China’s answer to Ethereum. The platform was created to allow for the decentralized development of applications. The GAS coin which is generated by the NEO token can be utilized to pay for transaction fees that are issued by those applications. One of the use cases for NEO is to convert real assets into digital assets. Partners include Alibaba, NASA, and Microsoft.
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VeChain
If crypto faces one overall challenge to mainstream adoption, it’s understanding. Many people simply cannot visualize real world applications for cryptocurrencies. VeChain is a cryptocurrency platform that might be positioned to change this. It was designed specifically to allow blockchain technology to be applied to real-world situations. Supply chain management is one example of this.
This shovel-ready, boots on the ground approach to cryptocurrency could be a boon for the entire industry. They have partnered with Bright Foods, PWC China and PWC Singapore, and Kuehne & Nagel.
Conclusion
Although many of these cryptocurrencies are unproven and full on mainstream adoption of alternative currencies has yet to happen, ignoring these could be a real mistake. It is unlikely that any tech forward business will remain viable in the next five years should they choose to ignore cryptocurrencies and blockchain.