With 2019 on the horizon, investors can only hope that altcoin markets take a turn for the better following a disappointing 2018. After such exponential growth in mid-late 2017 which drifted into early 2018, many investors have seen the promise of prosperity in many altcoin markets dramatically decline throughout the year. So, with the year drawing to a close and the hope of a better 2019 in the crypto world, here’s 6 altcoins to look out for in 2019.
Ethereum (ETH)
No list of altcoins would be complete without Ethereum. Although it has endured a tough year with the price declining substantially, creator Vitalik Buterin indicated that this was simply due to the network returning to its original levels. Ultimately, Ethereum is a solid project with an inspiring leader, plenty of development talent, myriad working dApps, and a fanatical community that support the project. Not only that, but with the Ethereum 2 network allegedly being worked on, this altcoin should be one to watch every year.
Cardano (ADA)
When Coinbase (sort of) announced that they were considering adding 5 new assets to their exchange platform back in July 2018, it was a clear indication that they were impressed by them. One of these was Cardano, which was created by one of the co-founders of Ethereum, Charles Hoskinson. it’s built with a Settlement Layer mainnet similar that’s similar to Bitcoin which is live, and it also has a functional wallet to support its own built-in digital asset, ADA. It’s also progressed very well through its long-term roadmap and has been meeting all of their outlined targets, so it’s clear the team are working hard to bring their project to life.
Basic Attention Token (BAT)
Basic Attention Token is a unit of currency that aims to improve the efficiency of digital advertising by allowing users, publishers, and advertisers to exchange the token. Coupled with its web browser counterpart, Brave, the purpose of BAT is to allow advertisers to pay users for essentially watching ads via the browser. However, it also protects you while you browse the web through its integrated ad blocker that prevents web trackers from stealing your information and spamming you with emails. With the CEO being Brendan Eich – the inventor of Javascript and co-founder of both Mozilla and Firefox – Brave has amassed over 3 million monthly users so this is definitely one altcoin to look out for in 2019.
Stellar (XLM)
With so much potential in store, could 2019 be Stellar’s real breakout year? Stellar is a project that aims to facilitate large cross-country payments quickly, efficiently and at a low cost. As an example, Tempo, a remittances dApp that runs on the Stellar blockchain can fuel 600,000 transactions for just $0.01 USD making it perfect for international businesses that want to save on transaction fees. The Stellar team has formed some key strategic partnerships with some truly credible businesses, such as IBM. As such, Stellar is an altcoin to look out for in 2019 and if more businesses start to use it as a method of sending payment, then its future should shine brightly.
EOS (EOS)
Although many throughout the crypto community seem to dislike EOS as it brings crypto to a larger population of people, the EOS ecosystem aims to blend blockchain into the mainstream. Although similar to Ethereum’s ecosystem, it’s a lot simpler to develop on their platform and offers the easy integration of existing dApps. Not only that, but it’s fast, cheap, scalable and raised billions of dollars through fundraising over the last year or so.
Summary
After a disappointing 2018 for many crypto enthusiasts, the introduction of 2019 could not come any sooner as markets continue to slump. Hopefully, the new year will bring more opportunities for cryptocurrencies to really make it into the mainstream and markets see a significant upturn, as more developments from the teams behind altcoins are released.