The bitcoin reign in the world of cryptocurrencies it is undeniable. This week has reached a new record close to $ 65,000, driven by the landing on the Coinbase stock exchange, the first cryptocurrency exchange platform to go public. But while it is the most important, it is by no means the only one.
How many cryptocurrencies can there be? “It is something difficult to know,” says Javier Castro-Acuña, Bitnovo’s head of business control. “Actually, a cryptocurrency can be created by anyone, because it is a computer protocol “.
JAVIER CASTRO-ACUÑA
Bitnovo business control manager
Only in Coingecko, one of the specialized sites, can there be up to 6,700 listed cryptocurrencies. “New projects come out every day, many they will die and fall into oblivion, and maybe some will triumph and grow, probably not at the same level as bitcoin, but there are quite interesting projects “.
Of bitcoin, Castro-Acuña says it is a “perfectly structured” project, a combination of technologies, game theory, economic theory, and that conjunction makes it a form of money. “How much the more people use it, the more value it hasIf no one used it, it would have no value “,
Bitcoin was initially conceived as an electronic payment system, he notes, but use and acceptance have transformed into store of value, in addition to means of payment.
Of the rest of the currencies, there are some that try to compete to be that preferred electronic payment method. Others respond to a different need, such as Ethereum (ETH), the second largest capitalization cryptocurrency, which has the concept of programmable money, a kind of “universal computer”. “It is linked to smart contracts, on which the whole world of decentralized finance is built.”
“There are other projects that pursue interoperability between different blockchains “, says the expert. “The bitcoin blockchain goes one way and the ethereum one another, so there are projects that want to build bridges between different blockchains; for example Polkadot (DOT), in capitalization it is number seven, with almost 43,000 million dollars “.
The following are six cryptocurrencies that, in the opinion of the analyst, are the most interesting currently on the market.
Chart of the main cryptocurrencies on the market Carlos Gámez
Bitcoin (BTC). “It represents the paradigm shift in the way we store and change value,” says Castro-Acuña. “From my point of view, it is the best money created to date. It is the following evolution: bitcoin is to money what Bluray is to a VHS video. “
Ethereum (ETH): “It is very interesting for being that universal computer in which you can program and build all kinds of applications. “It is the second in the market after bitcoin, although at a great distance.
Polkadot (DOT): Castro-Acuña emphasizes that it is attractive due to its ability to interoperability between different blockchains.
Uniswap (UNI): A decentralized exchange that works on the Ethereum network. “The benefits it distributes to the actors that are within its network in some days have been higher than those of Coinbase itself.
Monero (XMR): A privacy-oriented cryptocurrency. “Many people believe that bitcoin is anonymous, when their entire network since the beginning of time is traceable,” notes the Bitnovo analyst. “From the moment a person can be associated with an address, you know how much they have and all the operations they have done since the beginning.” Monero, on the other hand, protects user privacy and transactions are not visible on the public network.