on the crypto
Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) has taken the investing world by storm in the past couple of months as its price soared, recalling Dogecoin's astronomical gains earlier this year. Like Dogecoin, however, the Shiba Inu's surge was short-lived, and its price has dropped more than 60% since its October peak.
If you missed buying Shiba Inu or trading on Bitcoin system, there are many other cryptocurrencies to choose from. While few investments can rival Shiba Inu's returns, these options have a lot of potential and are also far less risky than the meme token.
1 Ethereum
Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) is one of the strongest cryptocurrencies at the moment, and it has had a fantastic year. Its price has currently risen nearly 550% in the past 12 months, despite an astounding amount of volatility in the cryptocurrency market.
The next year could be even bigger for Ethereum, as it is expected to roll out its Ethereum 2.0 update which will move it from a proof-of-work (PoW) method to a proof-of-stake (PoS) protocol.
PoW methods use complex calculations to verify transactions, which is incredibly time and energy consuming. In a PoS system, transactions are validated by users who stake a portion of their tokens. This not only reduces power consumption, but also results in significantly faster transaction times.
Once Ethereum completes its upgrade (which will likely happen next year), it will be both faster and more energy efficient. This could give it a big advantage over its competitors and push its price even higher.
2. Sunshine
Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) is a new cryptocurrency built for speed. Its biggest advantage is that it can handle a lot more transactions per second than most other cryptocurrencies, which can make it easier to scale quickly.
Currently, Bitcoin can process a dismal 7 transactions per second. Ethereum can handle around 15-45 transactions per second (although this number will increase next year after the update). Solana, however, can process up to 50.000 transactions per second.
Before Solana can reach its full potential, however, there are still a few bugs that need to be fixed. The blockchain recently faced a major hurdle when a non-fungible token project (NFT) called SolChicks caused Solana to crash - which isn't exactly promising for a blockchain that's designed to handle heavy use.
That said, all cryptocurrencies are about to face challenges as they gain their place. If Solana can solve her problems while maintaining her speed, she could become a real competitor in the cryptocurrency space.
3.Cardano
Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA) was created to compete with Ethereum. In fact, it was created by one of the founders of Ethereum, and was designed to excel in areas where Ethereum is lacking.
Cardano is similar to Ethereum in many ways. Both blockchains are smart contract platforms that can host projects ranging from NFT markets to decentralized finance (DeFi) and more.
Unlike Ethereum though, Cardano is a peer-reviewed network that focuses on quality rather than speed. Each update must be approved by a peer group before it can air, which has its pros and cons. Theoretically, there should be fewer problems and bugs as a result of this process. But in the cryptocurrency market, where everything moves at a breakneck pace, the extra time Cardano takes to make changes could make it more difficult to keep up with the competition.
Cardano's slow but steady approach makes it a long-term bet. While it may not experience record growth in the short term, it may be able to outperform many other cryptocurrencies in the long run.
With the emergence of new cryptocurrencies every day, it can be difficult to determine which ones have lasting power. Ethereum, Solana, and Cardano are some of the strongest players in the industry. While there are no guarantees that they will succeed, they have a better chance of outperforming the competition.
