For those of you new to the world of cryptocurrencies or maybe have only heard about Bitcoin and are looking to research more, these are my picks for the Top 5 Cryptocurrencies.
BTC - Bitcoin is simply the gold standard for Crypto. While there are other coins that offer improvements on the BTC blockchain in terms of speed and security, BTC is also the primary on and off ramp for your fiat currency. Therefore the crypto ecosystem benefits from a strong Bitcoin. The gainz speak for the themselves. Current Market Cap $41Billion.
ETH - Etherem - If Bitcoin is the gold then Etherem is the Silver. Etherem has some excellent advantages to the Bitcoin blockchain allowing for the creation of encrypted contracts. ETH is having a seriously good year, increasing in value from $40 USD when I started trading to around $300 right now. Just a great secondary coin. Current Market Cap $28Billion
LTC - Litecoin - Having just been added to Coinbase and having the 4th largest market cap at $2Billion Litecoin seems to be in position for a Bronze medal. The charts on Litecoin have a lot of noise having just lvled up to a new tier, but with the Segwit activation and the lightening network, I can't count this coin out. Current market Cap $2Billion
XRP - Ripple - This coin is primed to be the banking backbone of international conversion for years to come. I highly recommend that you check out Ripple. Not having a wallet system is a negative, and relies on that BTC off-ramp, but has had steady and increasing volume and price. Current Market cap of $10Billion.
STRAT - Stratis is the currency of Stratisplatform.com and focuses on developing technologies that may one day be implemented into Bitcoin. While it is a traded currency it feels more like a stock in my opinion. However they are working on developing blockchains with large corporations. Think the IBM coin. I would definitely look at Stratis.
Current Market Cap $117Million
Steem - I can't write a blog post about Crypto on the Steem platform with giving it a mention. Steem has a very bright future and is a very unique use of blockchain technology! While I'm new to Steem, I think this will be my blogging platform of choice! And rather than asking for donations from readers, you can just up-vote my posts for great content! Current Market Cap for Steem is $409 Million.