Crypto Watchlist: Which Altcoins will be Added to my Portfolio?
Welcome back to CryptoNewSmart, folks!
Today, it is time to talk about my crypto watchlist. Before I say a word more on this topic, please kindly note that none of what follows is financial advice so please do your own research before making investments of any kind.
Now, I get tons of questions regarding my crypto portfolio. And also, what coins or tokens I’m looking to buy in the future. Truth be told, my portfolio is boring AF at the moment. Am I bearish? Well, short-term, yes. Long-term, hell no. But until I’m confident that the outlook for the crypto market has improved and/or I see clear signs that prices may be starting to move in the right direction, then, well, I’m content to wait before buying anything. And when the time is right, I’ll probably begin dollar-cost averaging into BTC and ETH again, and even some altcoins too. Of course, you guys want to know which altcoins those might be.
Page Contents
- 1 Aave: A Longstanding DeFi Protocol with a Unique Finnish Twist
- 2 Ravecoin and Our Weave: Promising Altcoins to Watch in the Coming Months
- 3 Axellar: The Cross-Chain Communication Protocol Building a Multi-Chain Future
- 4 Lido: A Centralized Staking Platform for Ethereum and Other Chains
- 5 Thor Chain: A Cross-Chain Decentralized Exchange to Watch in the Cosmos Ecosystem
- 6 Regulatory Concerns Loom Over Thor Chain’s Potential Despite Support for Privacy Coins like Monero
- 7 Fundamentally Undervalued Altcoins with Long-Term Potential: Expert Picks and Watchlist Suggestions.
Aave: A Longstanding DeFi Protocol with a Unique Finnish Twist
Aave: A Promising Crypto Project to Watch on ALTCOIN Watchlist.
Now, there is a chance that I may decide not to buy into any of the five cryptos I’m going to talk about today. They’re just interesting projects that I’m watching because I think they have a lot of potentials. There is always a chance something could happen to change my outlook, though, so please bear that in mind as we go along.
Okay, so with all of that out of the way, let’s get going and look at the first crypto on my watchlist. And just FYI, I’m going to list these in alphabetical order, by the way, and not in any order of preference. So, first up is Aave. Now, chances are, you know at least a bit about Aave, and I have covered it a number of times before.
But here are a few facts for anyone unfamiliar: Aave is a DeFi borrowing and lending protocol that’s been around since 2017.”It was known as Ethlend, but it rebranded as Aave in 2018. In fact, ‘Ave’ means ‘ghost’ in Finnish, hence why the project has a cute little ghost as its mascot. I know, fascinating! And if you’re wondering why a DeFi project would name itself thus, well, its founder Stani Kolechov hails from – you guessed it – Finland. Sorry, okay, lame jokes aside, the fact that Aave has been around for a while now is one of the reasons I’m bullish on the project. DeFi is a highly competitive niche, and Aave is one of the biggest and most successful protocols out there. Now, I’m also bullish on Aave for a number of other reasons. For starters, it’s currently working on its own decentralized stablecoin. That is, G-H-O-S-T.
Aave’s Push for Decentralized Stablecoin and Social Media Project Raises Concerns Amid Regulatory Scrutiny. Believe me, the need for a truly decentralized stablecoin that actually works gets greater every day, and I think Aave has a good chance of pulling this feat off. As I writhe this, ‘go‘ is live on Ethereum’s Goerli test-net as of a few weeks ago, and a mainnet launch is expected soon. Then there is Lens Protocol, Aave’s decentralized social media project. Now, I must admit to being in two minds as to this, because, yes, a decentralized social media platform is a brilliant idea and also sorely needed, but I do wonder just how much of Stani and his team’s time is being taken up with this project. Aave only has a little over 20 active developers, and they have got plenty to do besides building out Lens Protocol. And there’s also the threat of regulatory scrutiny, especially once ‘go‘ is live. A big DeFi protocol with its own decentralized stablecoin is bound to get the Elizabeth Warrens of this world interested. Aave’s Low Market Cap, Innovative Security Module, and Solid Tokenomics Make it a Promising Crypto Gem for Future Growth.
In the long run, I’m also concerned that Stani has said it’s unlikely that Aave will expand to non-EVM chains, which could limit development and hand an advantage to rival projects.”Nevertheless, I’m also bullish on Ave because of its price action and tokenomics. The token is down almost 90% from its all-time high two years ago, and the supply is limited to a mere 16 million tokens, of which 14 million are in circulation, with 20 being staked in. The protocol’s innovative security module protects it when the crypto market is super volatile and borrowers are getting liquidated. And remember that the low market cap is relative to the TVL on the protocol. Now, obviously, all cryptos are down badly since the bull market, but I think Ave is one of the few that combines an actual use case with ongoing development, a low market cap relative to TVL, good tokenomics, and tons of potential.
Ravecoin and Our Weave: Promising Altcoins to Watch in the Coming Months
With that in mind, barring any regulatory shenanigans or developmental disasters, there is more than a decent chance that I’ll be picking up some RV tokens in the coming months. Okay, next up is our Weave. For those unfamiliar with this beauty of a project, it is a decentralized data storage protocol (link here). Our Weave’s AR coin has been a part of my portfolio in the past, but I sold my stack when Solana announced that it would no longer be using Our Weave to store its blockchain’s transaction history, but would be using Google’s Big Table instead. Let’s face it, this is not the first time Solana has dropped the ball in recent months. Now, for me, Our Weave has one of the strongest use cases in crypto.
OurWeave: A Promising Blockchain Storage Solution with Some Concerns. It is hard to think of a more appropriate use for a blockchain than to store data immutably and permanently, especially in an age when censorship is increasing, free speech is under threat in many countries, and deep fake technology means we will soon have to question every single damn thing we see on the internet. That said, I naturally have some concerns. There’s competition from the likes of Filecoin in particular and other decentralized storage solutions like StorageOurWeave. Also, OurWeave has a low developer count of around four, and I must admit that I’d be more bullish on the project if it had a higher headcount. Bear markets are for building in. After all, what also worries me, though, is that OurWeave’s fees have declined dramatically in recent weeks, according to the Web 3 index. What’s strange is that the amount of data being uploaded to OurWeave tend to come in big spikes, and I’m not entirely sure of the reason for this now.
Axellar: The Cross-Chain Communication Protocol Building a Multi-Chain Future
This is a project I haven’t covered before. In fact, it’s only recently popped up on my radar. So I should reiterate that there is no guarantee that I’ll be buying it at some point. Anyhow, this is Axillar, a cross-chain communication protocol that builds itself as the Stripe for Web 3. Now, I am a big fan of blockchain interoperability and the idea of a multi-chain future. Hence why I hold Atom and Dot. So Axillar naturally has me interested from that standpoint. The project’s purpose is to allow for dapps and assets to operate and move across different blockchains. So for instance, users of a project built on say Ethereum can buy an NFT and move it across to say Polkadot.
Axellar (XLR) Expands Cross-Chain Capabilities with Promising Partnerships and Virtual Machine Launch. Now, obviously, that’s just one example of what is possible. Now, Axillar began life built on top of Cosmos and has since expanded to the likes of Ethereum, the BNB smart chain, Avalanche, and others. There have also been some promising partnerships announced in recent months, including with Circle to allow native USDC to be used in cross-chain applications, and with Polygon for secure cross-chain communications. XLR has also just launched its own virtual machine, essentially a programmable layer that will make it possible for developers to write smart contracts directly onto Axillar. I’m impressed by the use case and the development going on. Axillar’s market cap is currently around $120 million, which suggests room to grow, though I’ll note that less than a quarter of its billion-plus tokens are in circulation. This means tokens that went to early investors will be vesting and hitting the market over the coming months and years, which will obviously affect the price.
Axellar, Lido Finance are Among Top Altcoins to Watch. With Strong Exchange Support and Liquid Staking Protocol. The token also has surprisingly good exchange support and is already listed on the likes of Coinbase, Kraken, KuCoin, and Crypto. com. I am quite surprised to see it so readily available to US customers. At this stage now, of course, this only scratches the surface of Axillar, and it is a project I’ll be aiming to cover in depth at some point in the future. So there is a chance I may find a few things I don’t like quite so much, but that said, I think it’s definitely one to keep an eye on.
Lido: A Centralized Staking Platform for Ethereum and Other Chains
Lido Finance and its LDO token, which has had a bit of a wild ride of late. Lido is a liquid staking protocol that allows you to stake various assets via its platform. Here’s the USP, though: rather than your assets being locked up until they’re unstacked, you instead get a tradable liquid token in return. So stake one ETH via Lido, and you’ll get one stETH token back that you can then go and do well whatever it is you want to do with it. You can actually stake on other chains via Lido 2, including Polygon, Solana, and Polkadot, but the platform is best known for accounting for around 30% of all the ETH being staked on Ethereum’s Beacon chain, which has led to concerns over centralization that aren’t going to go away anytime soon. Now, this is one reason why LDO has been pretty volatile recently, and of course, there’s also all the talk around Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade now scheduled for April. Shanghai will make it possible to unstake, and there are, of course, concerns that ETH stakes will take this as an opportunity to sell the coins and rewards that have been locked up for years now, or it could encourage more investors to stake, knowing that unstacking is possible either way. Lido’s Liquid Staking Potential Hindered by Regulatory Uncertainty and Competition.
I think there’s potential here for Lido in the long term because staking on Ethereum is going to be big business, especially for institutions. Liquid staking offers a whole new angle to this, and Lido is obviously the market leader here, but of course, there’s also the threat of Gary Gensler and his buddies at the SEC to bear in mind here. If the SEC does decide to go after ETH as a security, Lido could also find itself in the firing line. So in the end, a lot depends on regulatory clarity in the US and elsewhere, and of course, Lido will also face competition from other protocols that could eat into its market share, and there is also the question of whether we want one entity controlling such a huge amount of all the ETH being staked. Now, LDO has a market cap of nearly two billion dollars but a TVL of well over 8 billion, which is both promising and kind of concerning, especially from a regulatory point of view. So I’ll be watching LDO closely over the coming months, and I may consider getting back into it again at some point
Thor Chain: A Cross-Chain Decentralized Exchange to Watch in the Cosmos Ecosystem
Okay, last.”But last but not least, another token I’ve held in the past and am considering picking up again is also another cross-chain interoperability play and another project from the Cosmos ecosystem. That is a lot for yours truly to like. This is Thor Chain, which is also, incidentally, a project close to the heart of one of my crypto heroes, Eric Voorhees. So if it’s good enough for Eric, well, I’m definitely paying attention. Here, however, is the Thor Chain is a cross-chain decentralized exchange that allows you to swap one crypto for another even if they exist on different chains. So you could swap BTC for ETH, but without the need for wrapped tokens or atomic swaps or any other.
ThorChain’s Decentralized Vault Pairs BTC and ETH with Rune, Offering Yield Opportunities and No KYC Requirements. You deposit BTC into a vault where it’s paired with Thor Chain’s native Rune token, an Ethereum vault that’s also paired with Rune, then releases ETH to your wallet. Now, of course, naturally, there’s a whole lot more going on beneath the surface to facilitate this, but the advantages should be clear enough. There’s no centralized custodian holding onto your funds at any point and no need for KYC or any of that jazz that comes as a standard with centralized exchanges these days. Thor Chain also allows you to earn a yield on supported assets, while Rune itself is used in the liquidity pools on the protocol, as well as for governance and securing the network. Over half of Rune’s supply is now in circulation, and as is to be expected, the token is way off its all-time high because, well, bear market. Its exchange support has improved a lot since I last covered it, but US investors will struggle to get their hands on it, which ties into my main concern, and that is, of course, regulations.
Regulatory Concerns Loom Over Thor Chain’s Potential Despite Support for Privacy Coins like Monero
Like other DeFi projects.”Regular nations could pose a threat to Thor Chain, especially if it adds support for privacy coins like Monero. Apparently, this is being done, but to a fork of Thor Chain called Blackpool. Whether this will be enough to keep regulators happy remains to be seen. Now, there is a lot more to Thor Chain, of course, and I do encourage you to check out my last video on it. It could play a central role in the crypto economy of the future, but only if regulations are drawn up that allow it and other DeFi projects to flourish. There is no guarantee of that, but I still think Thor Chain has a lot of potentials. Alright, so all coins are just a few of the ones on my watch list now. I’ll reiterate, guys, that I may decide not to pick up any of these for any number of reasons and, of course, the actions of regulators in the US and elsewhere could radically change the outlook for some or all of these tokens.
Fundamentally Undervalued Altcoins with Long-Term Potential: Expert Picks and Watchlist Suggestions.
Also, some already have fairly large market caps, which means I don’t see the potential for absolutely mind-melting pumps. These picks are based on fundamentals, not the potential to go to the moon, though I do think all are undervalued right now and could easily set new all-time highs in the months or, more likely, years ahead. So, please let me know what you all think of these picks. Show me some of the ones on your watch list in the comments, and please do, of course, like, subscribe, and remember, this is not financial advice.
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