This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

In 2024, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) turned in yet another triple-digit performance. For the year, the Bitcoin price was up 120%, which far surpassed the performance of any other asset class. Best of all, Bitcoin ended the year on a high note, breaking through the $100,000 mark in December.

So it might come as no surprise that many crypto investors are expecting yet another encore performance from Bitcoin in 2025. But, after triple-digit returns in 2023 and 2024, is Bitcoin really capable of doubling in price yet again? Let's take a closer look.

Bitcoin's path to $200,000

The first thing you need to know is that there is no shortage of investment and financial services firms predicting that Bitcoin will hit the $200,000 mark in 2025. For example, Standard Chartered thinks that Bitcoin will hit $200,000 by the end of 2025, $300,000 by the end of 2026, and $500,000 by the end of 2028.

Standard Chartered's central investment thesis is that investors will continue to pile into the new spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). First-time crypto investors will continue to embrace the ETF investment product as the easiest way to get exposure to Bitcoin. At the same time, large institutional investors will continue to ratchet up their portfolio allocations to Bitcoin.

Right now, institutional investors are allocating about 1% of their portfolios to Bitcoin. But that number could easily double. According to BlackRock, the optimal allocation to Bitcoin is 2%. And other investment firms, such as Fidelity, now think that an allocation as much as 5% might be appropriate for some investors.

Investment firm Bernstein also thinks Bitcoin will hit $200,000 in 2025. The investment thesis here also builds in the narrative around the spot Bitcoin ETFs. But it also layers in what the firm calls the "Infinity Age" of crypto. This is basically a belief that, under the pro-crypto Trump administration, there will be a broad flowering of all things crypto. Bitcoin will become a bigger and bigger part of the global financial system, entering the investment mainstream.

Amid all that pro-crypto exuberance, Bitcoin has nowhere to go but up, right? After all, if the U.S. Government does decide to move ahead with a strategic Bitcoin reserve, that could unlock an unprecedented amount of Bitcoin buying. The current plan is to buy 200,000 bitcoins per year, over a five-year time period, for a total of 1 million bitcoins.

How realistic is a $200,000 Bitcoin price target?

What could possibly go wrong if so many people are buying Bitcoin? Well, if you dig a bit deeper into the numbers, you'll see it's possible that the market might be wildly overestimating just how much higher Bitcoin might go this year.

For example, let's consider the $1.5 million Bitcoin price target from Cathie Wood of Ark Invest. She's fully expecting Bitcoin to hit that price by the year 2030. But there's the thing: Even in her ultra-bullish, best-case scenario, she's only assuming a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 58% for Bitcoin.

Let's assume a base price of $100,000 for Bitcoin at the start of 2025. Let's also assume that it grows at a steady 58% clip, year in and year out. Bitcoin will hit $158,000 by the end of this year, $250,000 by the end of 2026, $400,000 by the end of 2027, $625,000 by the end of 2028, and $1 million by the end of 2029. Finally, it will hit $1.5 million by the end of 2030.

So, while it might sound counterintuitive, it's quite possible that Bitcoin could be on a path to $1.5 million, but still not crack $200,000 this year. In fact, Cathie Wood's base-case scenario calls for Bitcoin to grow at a CAGR of 40%. So it's entirely within the realm of possibility that Bitcoin might not even get to $150,000 this year.

It really depends on how much new money flows into Bitcoin this year. According to the "money multiplier effect" model used by some crypto analysts, every $1 in new money flowing into Bitcoin can lead to a market cap gain of anywhere from $2.50 to $6.73. Based on current assumptions, Bitcoin could hit a price of anywhere from $150,000 to $250,000 in 2025.

Obviously, the more money that flows into Bitcoin, and the stronger the money multiplier effect, the higher the price of Bitcoin might go. So you should be rooting for corporations, institutional investors, and governments to ratchet up their buying of Bitcoin and for members of the Bitcoin ecosystem to explore new use cases for crypto.

Should you buy Bitcoin?

The moral of the story here is: Before blindly buying into any new price forecast for Bitcoin, make sure you dig into the numbers yourself. Sometimes the math just doesn't work.

The good news, if you're a Bitcoin investor, is that even if Bitcoin doesn't hit a price of $200,000 in 2025, it could still be capable of hitting the $1 million mark by 2030. So, if you're thinking of buying Bitcoin, keep a long-term outlook and focus on the big picture rather than month-to-month fluctuations.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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Dominic Basulto has positions in Bitcoin. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Bitcoin. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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In the period from November 4 to November 22, the Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) price soared from $67,000 to above $99,000. Pro-crypto optimism was off the charts, investors were euphoric about Bitcoin's future growth potential, and a final climb over the $100,000 mark seemed like a no-brainer. But the past few days have seen an unexpected retreat, with the price of Bitcoin now hovering around $93,000.

So, is the party over for Bitcoin? While there's certainly a case to be made that Bitcoin might have gone up too far, too fast, I think there's still plenty of upside potential as we head into 2025. Here's why.

The psychology of Bitcoin

You don't need to be an economist to understand Bitcoin. It would help more if you were a psychologist. That's because market sentiment is such a major factor in how investors perceive Bitcoin. The crypto Fear and Greed Index is useful for tracking this sentiment. It shows that even experienced crypto investors can oscillate between fearful and greedy on a daily, if not hourly, basis.

Right now, all anyone can focus on is the psychologically important $100,000 price level. Almost everyone expected a certain amount of profit-taking as soon as Bitcoin hit that level, and now it appears that some investors got started a little bit early. After all, Bitcoin had been on an absolute rocket ship after the election -- up more than 40% at one point -- and a pullback of some kind was almost inevitable.

In addition to being the sort of nice, round number that gets plenty of eyeballs and clicks, a price of $100,000 is important for another reason: it would make Bitcoin a $2 trillion asset. Only a handful of publicly traded stocks have ever hit a $2 trillion valuation, so Bitcoin would be a very select company. It recently passed Meta Platforms in market cap and is now on the way to passing Alphabet, too.

So, it's easy to understand why investors might be taking a time-out right now when it comes to Bitcoin. Is Bitcoin really worth more than Silicon Valley's top tech companies? Indeed, a lot of investors are talking about the need to take a breather and figure out how much Bitcoin should really be worth.

Key catalysts for Bitcoin

Heading into 2025, there are at least three different catalysts that could push Bitcoin higher. The first of these is the continued inflow of new money into the spot Bitcoin ETFs. The amount of new money these ETFs have been able to attract is nothing short of astounding.

The iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ: IBIT), for example, just passed $40 billion in assets under management. By comparison, that's more than the iShares Gold Trust has been able to attract in nearly 20 years!

Another key catalyst is the ability to get some movement on the pro-crypto promises that incoming president Donald Trump made on the campaign trail. One of those promises -- remove SEC head Gary Gensler from his post on day one -- is already in motion, with Gensler publicly announcing that he would step down in January.

But what about the promise to get some pro-crypto legislation on the books? Or the even bigger promise to create a strategic Bitcoin reserve? Movement on either one of those fronts would be huge for Bitcoin. The creation of a strategic Bitcoin reserve, for example, would result in the U.S. Government committing to the purchase of 1 million Bitcoins over a five-year period. That would contribute significant upward buying pressure for Bitcoin.

'Straight Bitcoin'

So, no, I don't think Bitcoin's post-election rally is over. Not by any means. Bitcoin could easily hit the psychologically important $100,000 mark by the end of the year. And from there, I believe it would be off to the races. The next major date to put on your calendar would then be January 20, which is Inauguration Day. That's when Trump's pro-crypto agenda could take effect.

It's really just a question of how you want to get your exposure to Bitcoin. According to billionaire investor Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Digital, the best way to get your exposure is "straight Bitcoin." In other words, you can buy Bitcoin directly in the spot cryptocurrency exchange, or via a spot Bitcoin ETF. Now is no time to get cute by investing in Bitcoin proxy stocks such as MicroStrategy, Coinbase Global, or any of the big Bitcoin mining stocks.

As we get closer to the end of the year, I fully expect Bitcoin to go on another heater. But be forewarned: Bitcoin rarely goes straight up. Based on its track record of high volatility, getting past the $100,000 price barrier is sure to encounter significant turbulence. So, buckle up and enjoy the ride.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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Dominic Basulto has positions in Bitcoin. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Alphabet, Bitcoin, Coinbase Global, and Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Alphabet and Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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This week saw the launch of Aptos, which had long been hyped as the ultimate Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) challenger. But everything that could go wrong did go wrong for Aptos. The token fell nearly 50% in its first 24 hours of trading. The team promised 100,000 transactions per second, but missed that in stunning fashion. Aptos immediately became the top trending coin on CoinMarketCap, but for all the wrong reasons. 

If you're an Ethereum investor, of course, this is all remarkably good news. There has been a long line of so-called "Ethereum-killers," and Ethereum has repelled each one of them. Aptos was the one that everyone thought had a decent chance of actually replacing Ethereum as the top Layer 1 blockchain network. It might still be too early to dismiss Aptos, but it looks like Ethereum now stands as the undisputed Layer 1 blockchain leader.

What went wrong with Aptos?

There were many reasons people had such strong hopes for Aptos. For one, Aptos has a blue-chip developer team. Many of the Aptos developers came from the Facebook unit at Meta (NASDAQ: META), and had experience with Facebook's much-hyped cryptocurrency project known as Diem. Remember 2019, when Mark Zuckerberg was promoting a crypto token called Libra that some experts said could eventually replace the U.S. dollar? Members of the Aptos team were part of that. As a result, some people referred to the Aptos team as the "Silicon Valley wunderkinds."

By all initial indications, Aptos seemed to have superior technology to Ethereum. Right out of the box, Aptos promised 100,000 transactions per second. That's blindingly fast, and certainly faster than current Ethereum speeds (25 transactions per second). But when the crypto token started trading, it was only hitting four transactions per second. Yikes!

And, finally, Aptos completely bungled the tokenomics of its launch. This is what most likely led to the crypto token falling sharply in its first 24 hours of trading. Tokenomics refers to factors such as the initial supply of the token, as well as how the token can be created ("minted") or removed from circulation ("burned") in the future. It also refers to how the token is initially distributed.

At the time of launch, it looked like an overwhelming majority of the tokens were being distributed to Aptos insiders, and that concerned people. Moreover, Aptos did not release the exact details of its tokenomics until just 24 hours before it began trading, which some saw as a potential red flag.

Ethereum is still the undisputed market leader

If you take a 30,000-foot view of the Layer 1 blockchain market, it now appears that Ethereum clearly stands alone at the top. Older Layer 1 blockchain rivals, such as Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA), still have not caught up to Ethereum in terms of functionality and overall market power.

Newer Layer 1 blockchain rivals, such as Solana (CRYPTO: SOL), Avalanche (CRYPTO: AVAX), and Fantom (CRYPTO: FTM), are all down more than 80% for the year, and are facing serious questions about their long-term viability. Meanwhile, even some of the lesser-known Layer 1 challengers such as Algorand (CRYPTO: ALGO) and NEAR Protocol (CRYPTO: NEAR) are so new that the jury is still out on them.

Thus, if you believe in crypto's long-term viability, Ethereum seems to be the obvious long-term play. This is what the crypto market seems to be signaling. Yes, Ethereum is down 65% for the year, but that's still far less than Cardano (75%), Solana (85%), Avalanche (87%), or Fantom (92%). All cryptos have been punished this year, but Ethereum seems to be doing better than others on a relative basis. 

Ethereum is a long-term buy

If you are an optimist, there are no more Layer 1 challengers left for Ethereum. It won. And it's hard to see any more Layer 1 challengers emerging for Ethereum over the next 12 months. Maybe there is a blind spot on my investment radar, but it looks like Aptos was the last viable challenger. Investors who got burned backing Aptos are going to think twice before sinking their money into a similar type of blockchain project.

If you are looking for a solid "buy now and hold forever" crypto, it's Ethereum. 

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Avalanche, Cardano, Ethereum, Meta Platforms, Inc., and Solana. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Ethereum and Solana. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Meta Platforms, Inc. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.  

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Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) as a payment option could be going mainstream faster than you may think. Speaking at Yahoo Finance's All Markets Summit, Suresh Kumar, the global chief technology officer of Walmart (NYSE: WMT), discussed some of the ways the giant retailer is planning to make crypto a key part of its future payments strategy, both for physical and virtual goods. As Kumar noted, "Crypto will become an important part of how customers transact." 

Bitcoin, as the most popular crypto for payments, would stand to benefit the most. If a huge retailer like Walmart is really going all-in on crypto, that would be a tremendous validation point and would certainly be a bullish indicator for Bitcoin.

The metaverse and crypto

So what's driving this newfound support for crypto as a payment option? One major factor has been Walmart's embrace of the metaverse. As Kumar pointed out, Walmart customers are getting inspired to buy and discover new products as a result of all the time they are spending in virtual worlds. Once they are part of these virtual worlds, they are looking to pay for virtual goods, such as new merchandise for an online avatar. And that's where cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin enter the picture.

Walmart has been stepping up its support of the metaverse recently. In September, it introduced Walmart Land and Walmart's Universe of Play on Roblox, a popular metaverse gaming platform. Walmart was obviously intrigued by all the time customers were spending on the platform. As of June 30, Roblox boasted 52.2 million daily active users, 11.3 billion engagement hours, 12 million creators, and 32 million different experiences. 

Social media and crypto

Walmart also suggested that the new ways people are using social media has forced the company to rethink the payment options it should offer customers. For example, Walmart livestream events on social media have turned out to be a great way for customers to learn about new products and see how they are used in real life. While you are watching these events, you might want to buy products featured in them, and crypto is being explored as a frictionless way for customers to pay for these goods online. Walmart has experimented with shoppable livestream events on several different platforms, including Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube.   

Social media is also blurring the line between e-commerce and crypto, especially when it comes to non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Customers who purchase NFTs via online marketplaces now want to showcase these NFTs on social media. In response to that need, Facebook and Instagram (from Meta Platforms) now make it possible to connect your virtual wallet holding these NFTs with your social media accounts. Again, your virtual wallet holding these NFTs may also hold cryptocurrencies, so as Kumar noted in his presentation, crypto is really in the middle of things that customers like to do.

Caveats about Walmart and crypto

Of course, the big caveat here is that Kumar only specifically mentioned the metaverse and social media. For now, Walmart seems to be in the learning phase of how to make crypto part of its metaverse and social media strategy. He mentioned that crypto could lead to a "disruption in payment options," but did not suggest that Walmart stores would suddenly start accepting Bitcoin. So some of the headlines that you might be seeing across social media may be somewhat misleading.

For Bitcoin, obviously, the biggest validation would come if Walmart eventually made paying with Bitcoin a key part of both its online and in-store experience. Right now, though, Walmart does not accept payment in cryptocurrency. Walmart has been long-rumored to be looking at Bitcoin as a payment option, but nothing official has been announced.

Obviously, it's exciting news that a major retail giant like Walmart is getting more involved with the metaverse and cryptocurrencies. People often like to point to Walmart's patent filings for NFTs and crypto tokens, as well as the company's recent embrace of in-store Bitcoin ATM machines, as proof that the company is close to getting really serious. If and when Walmart goes all-in on crypto, that could be a screaming buy signal for Bitcoin.  

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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Dominic Basulto has positions in Bitcoin. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Bitcoin, Meta Platforms, Inc., Roblox Corporation, Twitter, and Walmart Inc. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Bitcoin. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Meta Platforms, Inc. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.   

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

Tron (CRYPTO: TRX) has always been a polarizing crypto, primarily due to its associations with controversial cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun, who launched Tron back in 2017. But it's getting increasingly difficult to ignore the fact that Tron has gained users and posted new transaction activity at an impressive rate throughout 2022. Could Tron finally be ready to stake its claim as a worthy Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) rival?

The most recent news that has investors buzzing is the announcement that Tron is now the official blockchain of the Caribbean island nation of Dominica. As a result of this, Tron will be issuing the first-ever government-backed crypto fan token. And Tron will also officially become legal tender in Dominica. There are also suggestions in the crypto community that Tron might leverage this deal to make similar deals around the Caribbean and in Latin America. If so, that would be huge in terms of Tron gaining worldwide market acceptance. So is this controversial crypto finally a buy?

Tron by the numbers

Analyzing Tron is like peeling back the layers of an onion. If you only look at the surface numbers, everything seems fantastic. Tron now has an impressive 115 million users worldwide, and has processed more than 4 billion transactions since it was founded back in 2017. Total Value Locked (TVL), which is a measure of how much activity is taking place on the blockchain, is an impressive $5.5 billion. That ranks Tron No. 2 among all blockchains, trailing only Ethereum.

In terms of overall market capitalization, Tron now ranks No. 15 in the world. It is now bigger than Avalanche (CRYPTO: AVAX), for example, which was once considered to be one of Ethereum's major rivals. Add in the fact that the price of Tron has been surprisingly resilient in 2022, and it might appear that Tron has finally emerged as a worthy rival to Ethereum, which is down nearly 70% for the year.

Red flags?

But there are definitely some red flags about Tron. For example, there have been persistent concerns about the new Tron algorithmic stablecoin ever since it launched in May. At the time, the new stablecoin was being favorably compared to the algorithmic stablecoin for the Terra (CRYPTO: LUNA) ecosystem. A stablecoin is supposed to avoid crypto market volatility, usually via a peg to a currency like the U.S. dollar. But Terra proved to be anything but stable and it collapsed, wiping out investors. In June, the Tron algorithmic stablecoin briefly lost its peg to the U.S. dollar, causing alarm bells to go off in the heads of crypto investors everywhere. What if Tron was the new Terra? 

And then there are all the opaque, behind-the-scenes dealings involving Justin Sun, who continues to be a major influence on Tron. You don't have to dig very deep to find some very salacious (and potentially defamatory) allegations about Justin Sun that involve the FBI, IRS, and Securities and Exchange Commission. Even if you ignore these claims, there are very real concerns that Tron might be a "security" and not a "cryptocurrency." As a result, Tron is not available for trading on every major cryptocurrency exchange. 

Sun left Tron at the end of 2021 to become Grenada's ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO). This, apparently, is what has led to Tron's sudden prominence in the Caribbean region in 2022. Sun is continuing to give interviews about Tron and promote it on social media, even while fulfilling his diplomatic duties. 

Is Tron a buy?

That's why I'm discounting the value of the news surrounding Tron's expansion into the Caribbean and Latin America. I love the idea of creating "fan tokens" for tourism destinations, and it's exciting that sovereign states around the world are experimenting with cryptocurrencies as legal tender. But somehow, deep down, something just doesn't add up when it comes to Tron. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Tron seems to be facing an enormous amount of legal and regulatory uncertainty in both the U.S. and China, where it conducted its initial coin offering (ICO).

For now, I cannot recommend Tron as a buy. While the recent price of  $0.06 may seem enticing, I think that there are several other Layer 1 blockchain projects that are much better set up to become "Ethereum-killers" in the future. Investing in cryptocurrencies always involves risk and volatility, and investing in Tron -- even at a bargain-basement price -- seems to come with an extra measure of both. 

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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Dominic Basulto has positions in Ethereum. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Avalanche and Ethereum. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Ethereum. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Terra Luna (CRYPTO: LUNA) comeback continues. After blowing up spectacularly earlier this year, Terra Luna is back in the form of Terra Luna Classic (CRYPTO: LUNC), which was formed from the ashes of the original Terra blockchain. In September, Terra Luna Classic was one of the top-performing altcoins, and there are now petitions all over social media for exchanges Coinbase Global and Robinhood Markets to list Terra Luna Classic for trading. At one point in September, Terra Luna Classic was up 400%, bringing with it a lot of attention from speculators.

But is Terra Luna Classic right for your crypto portfolio? Keep in mind: The old Terra Luna went from $100 to nearly zero in a matter of days, dragging down the entire Terra blockchain ecosystem and contributing to the implosion of the crypto industry. Is it really possible that, less than five months after such an epic disaster, Terra Luna is ready for a comeback?

Financial alchemy

To answer this question, you first have to understand that a lot of financial machinations have taken place within a relatively short period of time. After the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in May, the team behind Terra Luna decided to "fork" the Terra blockchain into two different chains. There would be an entirely new chain called Terra 2.0, and the continuation of the original blockchain called Terra Classic. The naming convention was meant to evoke the split of the original Ethereum into Ethereum and Ethereum Classic. Plus, the term "classic" has a sort of warm and reassuring feel to it. It's not really a word one associates with toxic financial products.

From this perspective, Terra Luna Classic is really just a clever rebranding of the old Terra Luna. Nothing new has really been created. It's literally financial alchemy, or turning the equivalent of lead into gold. The goal appears to be to take a crypto worth close to zero ($0.0003, to be exact) and transform it into something that has some sort of value.        

If you're a cynic, it's easy to see this as a desperate ploy by people who lost their life's savings on Terra Luna to get something -- anything! -- out of a failed investment. The old Terra Luna traded for close to $100 when disaster struck, so financial speculators everywhere are watching this saga closely. Even if Terra Luna Classic only makes it back to the $1 mark, it would be a huge financial gain for them. 

Can you rebrand a crypto?

There is an old saying on Wall Street that "You can't put lipstick on a pig," and yet, that's exactly what the backers of Terra Luna Classic are trying to do. They are trying to take a piece of wreckage that's worth close to nothing and convince other people that it is worth something. That might explain the coordinated social media campaign to get Coinbase to list Terra Luna Classic. 

If Coinbase decides to make Terra Luna Classic available for trading, that would provide greater liquidity for this crypto and give it a veneer of respectability. Or, if you prefer, it would be the lipstick on the pig. Right now, there are not a lot of major cryptocurrency exchanges where you can buy and sell Terra Luna Classic, and for good reason.

Good money after bad

When you add in the fact that the original founding team of Terra Luna is now facing legal jeopardy in jurisdictions around the world, including in Terra's home country of South Korea, you can start to understand better why an investment in Terra Luna Classic is potentially so toxic. Even Interpol is interested in talking with Terra's founder, Do Kwon. There is a distinct possibility that, even if Terra Luna Classic continues to pump -- in crypto lingo -- it could still all go to zero in a matter of days, just as the original Terra Luna did. 

There are plenty of other speculative cryptos out there that have a better chance of making a huge return for you. Don't throw good money after bad. The great writer F. Scott Fitzgerald once remarked, "There are no second acts in American lives." If he were alive today, he would probably agree, there are no second acts in the crypto industry, either.  

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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Dominic Basulto has positions in Ethereum. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Coinbase Global, Inc., Ethereum, and Terra Luna Classic. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Ethereum and Terra. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.    

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

People keep talking about a "crypto winter" being here. But that doesn't mean all cryptos face hostile market conditions these days. Some altcoins are doing surprisingly well right now and have posted double-digit returns over the past 30 days, attracting a lot of buzz across social media. They are being talked up as tokens that could explode in value over the next 12 months.

However, not all of these gainers are worth investing in because they are simply too speculative for the average investor. But there are three altcoins that have steadily appreciated over the past month that are worth a closer look: XRP (CRYPTO: XRP), Chainlink (CRYPTO: LINK), and Algorand (CRYPTO: ALGO). To be fair, all three are down between 55% and 85% over the past 12 months. However, all three have characteristics that set them up for greater utility in the days to come. All three rank among the top 30 cryptos in the world by market capitalization. If you're thinking about juicing up your portfolio returns for 2022, these could be fantastic buys right now.

Algorand

Algorand, up 12% over the past 30 days, is a proof-of-stake Layer 1 blockchain founded by award-winning MIT professor Silvio Micali. Algorand has won kudos for its top performance metrics and has been regularly recognized as one of the greenest blockchains in the world. In addition, the Algorand blockchain got a speed and performance upgrade in September, boosting transaction processing speed from 1,200 to 6,000 transactions per second. Algorand also recently attracted attention in the crypto world for its new quantum cryptography efforts.

But what really has people excited about Algorand is its official partnership with the 2022 FIFA World Cup. In coordination with FIFA, for example, Algorand just launched an NFT marketplace for soccer NFTs. Look for Algorand to attract even more attention as the start of the World Cup nears in November. Right now, Algorand is a relatively little-known Layer 1 blockchain. After a massive worldwide audience tunes in to the World Cup, that could change. Moreover, the new soccer NFTs should boost overall activity on the Algorand blockchain and potentially attract new users and developers. In many ways, Algorand is an undervalued gem just waiting to be discovered.  

Chainlink

Chainlink, up 8% over the past 30 days, is a decentralized blockchain oracle network that feeds off-chain data, such as asset prices, to on-chain smart contracts. In layperson's terms, it means that Chainlink takes data from the real world and shares it safely and securely with other blockchains. While its official launch dates back to 2017, Chainlink has been experiencing a renaissance of late. For example, Chainlink recently partnered with Coinbase to offer pricing feeds for NFT collections. This opens the door for offerings like real-time NFT indexes and new NFT lending protocols that use NFTs as collateral for loans.

Taking a bigger-picture view of where Chainlink is headed in the future, Chainlink founder Sergey Nazarov recently said that his vision is for Chainlink to become "the AWS of Web3."  To make this vision a reality, Chainlink is now working with ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt as a strategic advisor. At a recent conference in New York City, Schmidt and Nazarov discussed how real-time data could be turned into a premium product and monetized. All blockchains need off-chain data to execute smart contracts, and that's exactly the gap that Chainlink is trying to fill. The next time you see those fun, football-themed Amazon Web Services commercials featuring real-time data feeds, just think of a future in which those commercials are coming from Chainlink instead.

XRP

XRP, up 45% over the past 30 days, is the token of the Ripple payment and settlement network. Ripple has won kudos for its ability to send remittances cross-border with near-zero transaction costs. Think of it as a crypto version of Western Union. Until recently, the problem with XRP was that it was facing a massive lawsuit from the SEC over whether XRP was a "crypto" or a "security." The lawsuit has been hanging over XRP since 2020, which essentially put an artificial cap on the future price of this crypto.

But recent developments now suggest that a final settlement of the case is coming by year's end, which has made crypto investors euphoric. XRP has been used for years to facilitate cross-border payments. Sending remittances all over the world is big business in a globalized world, and XRP has already worked with some big-name financial partners in the past to make this as frictionless as possible.  There is now serious talk that XRP could double or triple in value once the lawsuit is behind it, based on its ability to continue business as usual. However, just keep in mind that this is a very speculative investment, similar to investing in a distressed company getting a sudden lifeline. There is a reason why XRP was trading for mere pennies until recently: There is still a chance that XRP could go to zero.

Is it finally altcoin season?

Altcoin season typically starts when a few altcoins start to decouple from Bitcoin, which has historically been the crypto market benchmark. If Bitcoin goes up, altcoins usually follow right behind. If Bitcoin goes down, altcoins also go down with the ship. But in altcoin season, a few coins start to buck the trend. They go up way more than Bitcoin. Or they go up even if Bitcoin goes down.

The three altcoins mentioned here have properties that differentiate them from Bitcoin. Algorand is a Layer 1 blockchain network that can host smart contracts and decentralized applications, similar to Ethereun. Chainlink is a provider of real-time off-chain data feeds, which is not available via Bitcoin. And XRP is a payment and settlement network. There are clear use cases for all of them, and the market is recognizing that.

All of these altcoins are a buy right now. However, just keep in mind that altcoins carry significantly more risk than the largest cryptos in the market. That's why I've focused on three altcoins with market capitalizations among the top 30, and all of which have been around since at least 2017. That should give you a certain margin of safety. So, sit back, sip your pumpkin spice latte, and enjoy the return of altcoin season. 

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Amazon, Bitcoin, ChainLink, and Coinbase Global, Inc. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Bitcoin. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.  

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) skyrocketed to fame as a popular meme coin with little to no intrinsic value. You simply bought the coin because it featured a cute dog as a mascot, and it only seemed to go up in value.

For an almost comically low price of $0.000012, you, too, can still own a cryptocurrency with seemingly unlimited upside potential. But there is just one problem: The cryptocurrency launched with a massive supply of one quadrillion coins (a one followed by 15 zeros).

To put that into perspective, the current circulating supply of Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) is 122 million coins. The maximum total supply of Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) -- ever -- will be 21 million coins. It's evident that Shiba Inu has a problem with oversupply -- one quadrillion is an insanely high number. There's too much supply of Shiba Inu and not enough demand. Until it dramatically reduces the number of coins, its price has limited upside potential. 

Burn, baby, burn

For that reason, I've increasingly come to realize that there is only a single metric that should be used to value Shiba Inu: burn rate. This refers to the rate at which users are burning Shiba Inu tokens. The higher the coin burn rate, the better.

"Burning tokens" does not imply that people all over the world are holding massive bonfires. It simply means they are permanently removing tokens from circulation by transferring them to a "dead" wallet where the private cryptographic keys have been thrown away. 

Looking at the total supply of Shiba Inu today, you might be puzzled to see a figure of 589.6 trillion coins. That would seem to imply that 410.4 trillion coins have already been burned. But that's really due to the efforts of a single person, Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum.

The anonymous founder of Shiba Inu, known as Ryoshi, sent Buterin nearly half the supply of Shiba Inu as a gift back in 2020. Buterin promptly turned around and burned 410 trillion tokens. And it wasn't easy, either. Burning that much worthless digital currency actually requires quite a bit of planning.

Shiba Inu burn calculations

Luckily, there are now publicly available sources that let you know how much Shiba Inu is being burned these days. According to estimates, 300 million tokens were burned in the first week of September alone. In one spectacular 24-hour period, over 100 million tokens were burned. In September, the average burn rate is now 23.67 million Shiba Inu tokens per day, which is up more than 138% from the average daily rate in August. 

No matter where you look these days, it seems like people are talking about ways to burn Shiba Inu. They have realized that an initial circulating supply of one quadrillion coins has devalued the currency. Burning is the only way to bring supply and demand back into balance.

The logic is simple: More Shiba Inu has to burn for it to become valuable. Maybe I'm being too cynical about its future, but it's hard not to see every new project launched by the Shiba Inu community as a clever way to burn tokens and get them out of circulation. 

How much Shiba Inu still needs to burn?

So, the big question is: How much more has to burn before SHIB becomes a buy? Assuming a market capitalization of $7 billion, which is what it is valued at today, if Shiba Inu ever wants to reach the $1 mark, it would have to reduce the total supply to around seven billion coins. But, again, the total circulating supply was so insanely high at launch, that reaching that seven billion mark will be difficult. Shiba Inu would need to burn more than 99% of all its existing coins to get supply and demand back into balance. 

So that's why the only metric that matters anymore is burn rate. I don't want to hear about new apps, new scaling solutions, or new metaverse projects unless they offer new ways to burn tokens.

Once the massive oversupply of Shiba Inu tokens is under control, that's when I might decide to get back into the market for what has become an extremely devalued cryptocurrency.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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Dominic Basulto has positions in Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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Every crypto investor has probably heard by now that the Merge will be the single most important event in crypto history. It will transform Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) from a proof-of-work blockchain into a proof-of-stake blockchain, ushering in a new era of ultrascalability, lower transaction fees, incredible energy efficiency, and higher throughput capacity. This, in turn, will bolster the number of use cases for Ethereum and guarantee its place as the most important blockchain in the world. 

That has been the primary investment thesis for buying Ethereum this entire summer. However, as we get closer to the expected date of the Merge, it's worth taking a closer look at some of the key factors that might affect the price of Ethereum. Take a quick look at the chart for Ethereum. After hitting a summertime high of $1,984.72 on Aug. 13, Ethereum actually trended down over the final two weeks of the month, and it now trades around $1,550. That has me thinking that we could already be seeing some profit-taking in Ethereum, and the narrative around the Merge could already be shifting.

'Buy the rumor, sell the news'

Maybe, just maybe, the hype has already been priced into the Merge. There has been so much speculation this summer about why the Merge is going to be wonderful both for Ethereum and crypto that many investors now assume the case for buying Ethereum is ironclad. 

But step back for a moment and consider that even Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, now says the Merge will only be "55% complete" this year. There are still four more parts to the process -- the so-called Surge, Verge, Purge, and Splurge. So maybe we're celebrating a bit too early. Some of the earliest predictions about the Merge -- for example, that it will enable Ethereum to handle 100,000 transactions per second -- may turn out to be hopelessly optimistic. People are also starting to question whether the Merge will actually have any real impact on crypto gas fees, the transaction fees on the Ethereum blockchain.

We could be seeing a classic case of "buy the rumor, sell the news." In other words, buy Ethereum up to the expected date of the Merge, then sell when the Merge actually takes place. Let's face it -- investors are going to be spooked by any bit of bad news about the Merge. The complexity of the Merge cannot be overstated: Some have compared it to changing the engine of an airplane mid-flight. If there are passengers aboard, there is bound to be a certain amount of anxiety.

Jerome Powell vs. Vitalik Buterin

Moreover, all the enthusiasm surrounding the Merge has to be taken within the context of what is currently happening with the U.S. Federal Reserve. Any negative sentiment about inflation coming out of the Fed these days is bad for crypto. Consider what has happened to the sentiment around Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and other cryptos ever since the Jackson Hole speech by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on Aug. 26.

This new investor focus on the Fed could mean that any positive sentiment surrounding Ethereum -- no matter how successful the Merge turns out to be -- is going to be far outweighed by all the negative sentiment surrounding inflation, interest rates, and the prospect of more Fed tightening. The next meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will take place on Sept. 20, which is almost exactly when the Merge is scheduled to be completed.

Be prepared for a change of narrative

Opinions about the Merge are much more varied than you might think within the crypto community. People are starting to realize that there are a number of trade-offs involved with any technological upgrade, and that the Merge is no different. Moreover, it's not exactly the case that all crypto enthusiasts are united in their support of the Merge. As long as the price of Ethereum is going up, they are going to support the Merge, of course. But what happens if the price doesn't go up? So be prepared for a change of narrative around Ethereum if there are any problems with the upgrade.

The Ethereum Merge will start on Sept. 6, which is almost exactly when relaxed, suntanned investors will be returning from their Labor Day vacations. This is when the real fun starts, because nobody knows the exact date and time of the Merge. It could take place anytime between Sept. 10 and Sept. 20. If people get too nervous, the same people who told you to "buy the dip" might tell you to "sell the rip." Don't say you weren't warned.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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Dominic Basulto has positions in Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Ethereum. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The downturn in the crypto market might end up lasting for a shorter time than many expected. There are already encouraging signs that retail investors' risk appetites could be returning, given the mini-rallies we've seen this summer in some tokens. At the same time, some institutional investors appear to be preparing to take new positions in crypto, potentially leading to a broad-based market recovery.

So which cryptos will lead the rebound? Right now, the best candidates are Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH). They are the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, and both of them are the intense focus of investor attention heading into the fall. 

Bitcoin

Bitcoin has always set the tone for the crypto market, and there is no reason to think that this time will be any different. Most encouraging for investors is the fact that Bitcoin recently tested a key support level ($20,000) and now appears to be headed upward. The next key support level could be $30,000. If Bitcoin can maintain that threshold, then we could easily see the return of prices that we saw earlier this summer.

But far more important than retail investor sentiment will be the entry of big institutional investors into the crypto market. Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) recently signed a deal with BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), the largest asset manager in the world, to provide crypto-trading support for wealthy private clients and large institutional investors. Any decision by the world's biggest pension funds, endowments, and foundations to get involved in crypto would immediately push up the price of Bitcoin.

Right now, BlackRock has nearly $10 trillion in assets under management, so even a 1% allocation to crypto from its institutional client base would significantly impact the crypto market. Moreover, since Bitcoin is the largest crypto by market capitalisation, it is likely to be the primary target of these large institutional investors as they seek to deploy capital.

Ethereum

Ethereum is the other cryptocurrency that could lead the market recovery. All eyes are on the latest technological upgrade from Ethereum, known as the Merge. This is arguably one of the most anticipated events in the crypto market right now, as it will transition Ethereum from being a proof-of-work blockchain to being a proof-of-stake blockchain. This upgrade has tremendous real-world implications because it will make the Ethereum blockchain faster, more efficient, and easier to use. Right now, the complaint in the crypto world is that Ethereum is simply too clunky to use, as well as too expensive. Gas fees (the transaction fees paid to use the blockchain) have been a source of contention with developers and users. 

So if Ethereum is able to make the tech upgrade without any significant issues, this will have a huge impact on investor sentiment. Ahead of the Merge, in fact, investors have been moving into Ethereum in anticipation of a major move to the upside. And positive sentiment around Ethereum will help to improve the fortunes of similar blockchain projects that developers are using to create new gaming, entertainment, and metaverse offerings. 

Wild-card factors

Of course, the crypto market is highly volatile, so it is important to keep in mind that unexpected domestic or international events might derail any crypto recovery. Given that this is an important election year, any unexpected policy moves or major news items in the fall could have uncertain consequences for a fragile market that's just now trying to regain its footing. A war with China over Taiwan or any escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict could also put the brakes on any nascent crypto rebound as investors seek out less-risky assets in a more chaotic world.

However, if the market is going to rally in the final months of 2022, Bitcoin and Ethereum will almost certainly lead the way. Once these two cryptos start heading higher and show their staying power, it will signal to investors that now is the time to get off the sidelines and back into the crypto market.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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Dominic Basulto has positions in Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

Uniswap (CRYPTO: UNI) is one of the best-known pioneers in decentralized finance (DeFi) and has always had a passionate following in the crypto space. It is now the number 18 crypto in the world by market capitalization, but the primary allure of Uniswap has always been for die-hard crypto enthusiasts, not for mainstream investors. In fact, if you're not into DeFi, you may not have ever heard of Uniswap. 

That's why the recent announcement by Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ: HOOD) that it was adding Uniswap to the crypto trading menu on its popular app is so exciting. There are only 13 cryptos on the menu today, so the move could help Uniswap find more mainstream acceptance, especially among young millennials. Anyone opening up the Robinhood app on their phone can now find Uniswap right next to fan favorites like Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) or Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH). Perhaps not surprisingly, Uniswap has already started to rally.

Behold the DeFi unicorn

Since its launch in November 2018, Uniswap has been a leader in the DeFi space. With backing from a number of high-profile venture capital firms (including Union Square Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz), Uniswap popularized the concept of the decentralized exchange (DEX). This focus makes it very different from Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN), which is a centralized exchange (CEX). Uniswap also pioneered the concept of the automated market maker (AMM), which describes how liquidity is provided to the market. Those might seem like obscure or arcane terms if you've never worked on Wall Street, but they are actually key underpinnings of decentralized finance.

Of course, there are plenty of other decentralized exchanges out there -- all of them with funny names like SushiSwap (CRYPTO: SUSHI) or PancakeSwap (CRYPTO: CAKE). However, Uniswap is generally acknowledged to be the biggest and the best because it specializes in crypto tokens that trade on the Ethereum blockchain. In addition, Uniswap just passed a major milestone (more than $1 trillion traded over its lifetime) in May. Controversial new research from Kaiko now suggests that daily trading volume on Uniswap may soon be close to matching that of Coinbase. 

Back in the summer of 2020 (also known to crypto enthusiasts as "DeFi summer"), Uniswap was getting so much love that even level-headed mainstream publications like Bloomberg were swooning over it. The market cap for Uniswap is now over $5 billion (five times the amount of a traditional Silicon Valley unicorn), and the logo for Uniswap is a pink-and-white unicorn. So, by investing in Uniswap, you are investing in a real DeFi unicorn. 

Uniswap and NFTs

Another catalyst for Uniswap this summer could be its strategic transition into the nonfungible token (NFT) market. In June, Uniswap announced that it had acquired Genie, a new type of NFT marketplace. Unlike a traditional NFT marketplace like OpenSea, Genie is an aggregator marketplace. This means that it pulls in NFT listings from various other marketplaces to provide users with a more comprehensive set of listings. (In much the same way, a news aggregator pulls in content from a variety of different news sources to one main dashboard.)

What makes this strategic move so interesting is that Uniswap could apply the same market-making technology used to trade crypto tokens in order to trade NFTs. The way people trade NFTs now is not entirely efficient because it is sometimes difficult to match up a buyer and a seller and then agree on a final sale price for an NFT. Using its proprietary technology, Uniswap could theoretically make this process much more efficient and provide more overall liquidity to the NFT marketplace.

A second chance to buy Uniswap

By investing in Uniswap now, you are potentially gaining access to a crypto with a strong following and enormous growth potential based on its position in the DeFi world. Best of all, Uniswap is trading for less than $10 right now. At its all-time high, Uniswap traded for just under $45, so there is definitely some upside here. You may have missed buying Uniswap back in 2020, but you have a second chance now -- and at a bargain price. 

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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Dominic Basulto has positions in Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Bitcoin, Coinbase Global, Inc., and Ethereum. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Bitcoin, Ethereum and SushiSwap. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips. 

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

This February saw the first-ever "Crypto Big Game" in football as crypto exchanges like Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) made a huge splash with their attention-getting ads. Even people who knew little to nothing about crypto were talking about their favorite crypto ads featuring the likes of Matt Damon, LeBron James or Larry David. Fast forward to the end of this year, and we could see much the same media buzz at this year's Big Soccer Tournament, scheduled to start on November 21 in Qatar. 

With less than six months to go, the crypto-related advertising and sponsorship deals are starting to roll in, potentially giving under-the-radar cryptos access to a huge, worldwide audience. In 2018, more than 3.57 billion people watched the Big Soccer Tournament. Simply getting in front of a fraction of these viewers could provide a huge, year-end boost headed into 2023. So which cryptos are best positioned to benefit?

Cryptocurrency trading platforms

The obvious place to start is with the cryptocurrency trading platforms that dominated advertising for the Big Game in February, and the most likely winner here will be Crypto.com. In March, Crypto.com became the exclusive cryptocurrency trading platform of this year's World Cup. The decision to sponsor the biggest event in the soccer world makes sense, given the huge amount of money Crypto.com has already spent on sponsorship opportunities in sports ranging from basketball to Formula 1. 

While you can't buy shares in Crypto.com, you can buy the cryptocurrency token associated with Crypto.com, Cronos (CRYPTO: CRO). Cronos is the native token of the exchange, meaning that its primary utility is for users of Crypto.com.

Investors can think of CRO as a proxy for the crypto exchange: If Crypto.com is doing well and adding new users, then CRO (now the #22 crypto in the world) is going to do well also.

Blockchain partners

The next place to look for hidden gems in the crypto space is with official blockchain sponsors of Qatar 2022. The obvious pick here is Algorand (CRYPTO: ALGO), which became the first U.S. blockchain sponsor of the Qatar event back in March. While it is the #26 crypto in the world, ALGO has largely flown under the radar of mainstream crypto investors. Yet, ALGO is the world's first carbon-negative blockchain and the world's first pure proof-of-stake blockchain. It's green, it's fast, and it's backed by award-winning MIT professor Silvio Micali. 

At the announcement of the Algorand partnership, Electronic Arts' FIFA was quick to praise the values of ALGO, especially democratization, openness and transparency. For soccer fans in the developing world, blockchain technology is all about improving access and equity. For climate-minded U.S. fans, the winning argument for ALGO could be Algorand's dedication to being the world's greenest blockchain.

NFT marketplaces

Finally, it's worth looking at the world of sports NFTs. Most sports fans have probably heard of NBA Top Shot (an NFT marketplace for NBA highlight videos), given that an NBA Top Shot of LeBron James has sold for upwards of $200,000. Granted, that was during the peak of the speculative froth around NFTs, but it's safe to say that a truly legendary and rare moment -- such as a game-winning shot that brings a championship to your favorite team -- will likely retain its value over time. It's the reason a bubble gum trading card for an iconic sports star can still sell for millions of dollars in the secondary market. 

Now apply this same idea to the world of soccer, and you can see why NFT marketplaces for soccer content could become so big. Currently, there's no one-stop destination for soccer NFTs as there is for basketball, but one good starting point in the future could be Binance (CRYPTO: BNB) and its new NFT Marketplace. In mid-June, Binance announced a deal with arguably the most popular soccer player in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo, for the launch of future soccer NFT collections. If these NFTs become must-haves for collectors, then it is easy to see how BNB, the native token of Binance, could garner a lot of attention.

Concerns

Of course, there are a number of watch-outs here. First and most importantly, the recent downturn in the crypto markets has soured many investors on buying off-the-radar cryptos. Fair enough. If you've lost a lot in recent months, it might be tough to stomach any crypto ads running during Qatar 2022. The other big watch-out is all the potential geopolitical drama that might result from hosting the event in Qatar. The Middle East is always full of tension, and add in the fact that the U.S. and Iran are set to play each other this year, and, well, things could get very interesting very fast.

But the big picture is that the Big Soccer Tournament is one of the most prestigious sporting events in the world. Quite frankly, there is no other event of this type that draws the attention of the entire globe. With so many people watching and paying attention on a daily basis during the holiday season, the Big Soccer Tournament in Qatar is a prime opportunity for crypto to get back off the mat and head into 2023 with some fresh mojo. 

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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Fool contributor Dominic Basulto has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Coinbase Global, Inc. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended Electronic Arts. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA) has consistently ranked as one of the Top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, yet it has rarely been sexy or splashy. Some have even called it "really boring." Even during the peak of the crypto craze, Cardano reached a high of just over $3. Time after time, it seems like Cardano has been late to the party whenever a rival blockchain such as Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) has introduced a new innovation. 

But Cardano could finally be on the cusp of delivering on its early promise and rewarding investors who take a long-term view. The big catalyst could be a tech upgrade (known as Hydra) coming in 3Q 2022 that will make the Cardano blockchain faster, more interoperable and more secure.  This upgrade will also open up more opportunities for developers to build on top of the Cardano blockchain with new decentralized applications known as dApps.

What the new upgrade means for Cardano

Cardano refers to the Hydra update as a "layer 2 scalability solution," and what that means in layperson's terms is that Cardano will be able to add more users, more developers and more applications in the future without any loss of speed or performance. As Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson -- who also helped co-found Ethereum -- has pointed out, the new update is all about scalability and improving performance for the more than 3 million unique wallets holding ADA. If everything goes according to plan, says Hoskinson, Cardano will theoretically be able to process more than 1 million transactions per second.  By way of comparison, the fastest blockchain today – Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) – can handle about 65,000 to 70,000 transactions per second.

This increased capacity could open a world of new possibilities for Cardano. For example, while blockchains such as Ethereum and Solana get all the attention when it comes to non-fungible tokens (NFTs), Cardano now seems to be making a strong play to get in on more of the action. According to Hoskinson, NFTs now account for approximately 40% of all new activity happening on the Cardano blockchain. The latest high-profile launch is a new, much-anticipated NFT collection from comedian and actor Martin Lawrence.

Slow and steady wins the race

To be sure, Cardano has absorbed its share of criticism for a pace of development that has seemed too slow for some in the tech space who prefer to break things first, ask questions later. In part, this is due to the way that Cardano makes updates to its blockchain. At the heart of the Cardano approach is an evidence-based software development process that is similar to an academic, peer-reviewed process. In fact, Cardano prides itself on having the first blockchain protocol based on peer-reviewed research. This approach makes the development process slower, but also ensures that new software upgrades actually work as planned.

In the end, slow and steady might win the race. While Cardano has seemingly lagged behind in some developments, it seems to be building momentum now. For example, Cardano adopted smart contract functionality last September as part of its Alonzo upgrade.

Staying level-headed and grounded at a time when others are not

Cardano's Charles Hoskinson has seen it all, having been through a handful of bear markets in the crypto space over the past decade. "Bear markets are actually quite comfortable," he recently said in an interview, because they let you focus on getting the fundamentals right and building for the future.

Those are comforting words to hear in a market downturn. Once its new tech upgrade is complete, Cardano might just end up being one of the safest cryptos to hold in a bear market.      

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The post Why Cardano might be one of the safest cryptos to hold in a bear market appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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Fool contributor Dominic Basulto holds ETH and ADA. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Ethereum and Solana. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Ethereum and Solana. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips. 

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

While the recent downturn in the crypto market has weighed heavily on the fortunes of Solana (CRYPTO: SOL), it still has one of the brightest long-term outlooks of any of the smaller cryptos attempting to challenge the two market heavyweights: Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH).

By market capitalization, Solana now ranks number nine among all cryptos and could be one of the few coins capable of surviving a prolonged "crypto winter".

Solana's primary claim to fame is that it has developed a leading position in the non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, building up a robust ecosystem of investors, developers, artists, and designers committed to its long-term future.

It is now the number two blockchain for buying and selling NFTs, trailing only Ethereum. At the same time, Solana continues to showcase innovative new use cases for the Solana blockchain, ranging from blockchain gaming (GameFi) to decentralized finance (DeFi).

Solana's leading role in the NFT market

The case for investing in Solana all starts with SOL's rising prominence in the NFT space, which remains one of the most promising sectors of the crypto world.

At one time, Ethereum stood alone as the dominant player in the NFT world. All of the biggest NFT projects -- including Bored Apes and CryptoKitties -- were minted on the Ethereum blockchain and Ethereum dominated NFT sales on popular marketplaces like OpenSea.

But something happened in April that seemed to break Ethereum's stranglehold on the NFT marketplace: OpenSea began listing NFTs minted on the Solana blockchain.

Since OpenSea is one of the largest, most influential, and most popular NFT marketplaces, this opened up the market for Solana NFTs to a wider group of buyers and sellers, who previously relied on smaller, lesser-known marketplaces like Magic Eden to find new Solana NFTs.

Simply put, the decision by OpenSea to list Solana NFTs brought more attention to the Solana blockchain than ever before and also gave Solana an implicit seal of approval.

Near the end of May, Solana hit an important milestone: It finally passed Ethereum in terms of overall NFT sales volume during a single 24-hour period with the launch of the highly anticipated Trippin' Ape Tribe NFT collection.

Ethereum still does nearly 10 times the daily NFT sales volume of Solana on an average day, but it's possible to envision the wide-open potential of Solana if it continues to dedicate resources to its rapidly expanding NFT ecosystem. It just needs more Trippin' Apes to compete with Ethereum's Bored Apes.

What's new under the sun for Solana?

Solana is hardly a one-trick pony. Solana developers are constantly coming up with new, innovative use cases for NFTs.

One great example is STEPN, a lifestyle game/app built on the Solana blockchain that popularized the whole "move-to-earn" craze. Basically, you earn crypto by going for walks or runs each day. In order to do this, however, you have to buy a "sneaker NFT" on the Solana blockchain.

This really expands the idea of what an NFT can be: You can get paid to get into shape, all by investing in a pair of digital running shoes. Mind blown. As long as Solana developers keep coming up with ideas like this, SOL is a very interesting long-term crypto play.

Add in the fact that Solana is committing serious money to new projects, and the case for investing in Solana becomes even stronger. For example, Solana announced in June that it was committing $100 million to invest in South Korean metaverse, gaming, NFT and DeFi projects.

Sunny skies ahead for Solana

Solana first launched to the public back in 2020. Within months, it was already being touted as a potential Ethereum-killer, not just by Crypto Twitter, but also by the likes of CNBC and Bloomberg.

Since Solana offered much faster processing speeds, as well as much lower transaction fees, than Ethereum, analysts predicted that users and developers would eventually abandon Ethereum and move over to Solana. If this migration happened fast enough, then Ethereum would largely become irrelevant as all the most exciting and innovative blockchain projects would be built on top of the Solana blockchain.

Solana has largely lived up to the hype surrounding it, with a few brief network outages in recent months the only real blemish on its record.

While Solana may not have yet displaced Ethereum as the top blockchain for NFTs, it has established a solid foundation for a promising future involving NFTs, gaming apps, and other decentralized applications running on its super-fast, super-inexpensive blockchain.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The post What crypto winter? It's always sunny with Solana appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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Fool contributor Dominic Basulto owns Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

While many investors may not realize it yet, PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) has been steadily laying the groundwork to profit from any future scenario in which cryptocurrencies play a major role in digital payments worldwide. The biggest step, of course, was the company's decision in October 2020 to enable users to buy, hold and sell a handful of cryptos, including Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), directly via the PayPal platform. At the time, the decision was widely hailed as proof that crypto was going mainstream. 

Despite a pullback in the broader crypto market this year, PayPal seems determined to march ahead with its decision to embrace the crypto future of digital payments. At this year's World Economic Forum in Switzerland, PayPal was very bullish on the launch of new cryptocurrency and blockchain services. 

Where is PayPal now with crypto?

Right now, there are two key components to PayPal's crypto strategy. One of these is the consumer-facing side. By making it possible for users to buy and sell Bitcoin, PayPal (which owns Venmo) is arguably the best on-ramp for everyday people to learn about, explore and experiment with crypto. Many people have a long relationship with PayPal dating back to the first internet boom and have been using PayPal for everything from e-commerce transactions to sending out invoices for their small businesses. Moreover, PayPal has simplified crypto to the point where you don't have to worry about opening new accounts, storing new passwords or creating new digital wallets.  

While this transaction activity from consumers might not contribute significantly to bottom-line earnings now, there is a potential indirect psychological effect that's worth noting. In late 2020, Mizuho Securities surveyed 400 early crypto adopters on PayPal and found that a majority of them had more engagement overall than regular users, and were more likely to view PayPal as the center of their digital payment world. In other words, crypto could be the "hook" that attracts digitally savvy users and incentivizes them to use PayPal more often.

The other key component of the strategy is the merchant-facing side. If PayPal makes it easy for merchants to accept crypto as a form of payment, that could be a game-changer in terms of transaction volume. Just think about all the high-profile luxury brands (including Gucci, Balenciaga and TAG Heuer)  that have recently announced they are now accepting crypto payments. Adoption in the luxury, high-end of the market will eventually spill over into other industries, such as travel and automotive. After all, thanks to Elon Musk, it's no longer unthinkable to pay in Bitcoin for a shiny, new $50,000 vehicle.

Is PayPal really committed to crypto?

PayPal appears to be dedicated to the future of digital currencies. In fact, as far back as 2014, PayPal was debating the merits of enabling users to send Bitcoin to each other.  PayPal has also invested in blockchain companies, filed blockchain-related patents and partnered with companies like Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN). And, in 2019, PayPal was one of the first companies to join the Libra Association, which pledged to create a new global digital currency built on blockchain technology. 

And that's where things get really interesting, because rumors have been floating around for nearly six months that PayPal is on the cusp of introducing a new stablecoin based on the U.S. dollar called PayPal Coin. In layperson's terms, a stablecoin is a cryptocurrency that is pegged 1:1 to another currency or commodity. This reduces significantly the risk of price volatility for online transactions. Consider a hypothetical case where you have saved $10,000 in crypto for an amazing summer vacation. If you have your money in Bitcoin, you never really know how much your Bitcoin is going to be worth 1 day, 1 week or 1 month from now. But with a stablecoin, you know that your $10,000 in crypto is going to be worth $10,000.  Of course, the big caveat here is that the recent meltdown of Terra (CRYPTO: LUNA) has cast a dark pall over the idea of stablecoins in general.

A new investment thesis for PayPal

If you take a big picture view, the investment thesis for PayPal becomes very exciting. If cryptocurrencies really are the future of online payments and transactions, then PayPal is well-positioned for future growth on a massive, worldwide scale. 

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The post If the future of digital payments is crypto, then this long-time internet darling could soar appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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Fool contributor Dominic Basulto owns Bitcoin. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Bitcoin, Coinbase Global, Inc., and PayPal Holdings. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended PayPal Holdings. The Motley Fool Australia owns and has recommended Bitcoin and Terra. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips. 

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

While prices for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have fallen in line with the broader crypto market in recent weeks, there is still substantial excitement around these digital assets, especially if they involve high-profile artists. Until recently, though, investors have viewed these NFTs simply as speculative artwork, and that has caused tremendous volatility.

However, what we are seeing now is the emergence of utility-based NFTs that go beyond traditional NFTs, and that is shifting attention to the blockchains making this possible. That's good news for Polygon (CRYPTO: MATIC), which has become one of the most popular blockchains for minting new, utility-based NFTs. MATIC is now one of the Top 20 cryptos in the world, with a market capitalization of nearly $5 billion.

What utility-based NFTs are, and why they matter

In layman's terms, utility-based NFTs combine an underlying creative asset (such as a piece of art) with extra benefits, perks or opportunities. Thus, if you hold a certain NFT, you might gain entry to an exclusive VIP club simply by holding the asset. This is possible since your possession of the asset is instantly verifiable via the blockchain. But where things get really interesting is when you consider what the blockchain enables in terms of smart contracts, which are small, executable computer programs. For example, the NFT might include a smart contract that says every holder of the underlying creative asset also gets to share in future revenue opportunities.

Thanks to blockchain technology, it is now possible for artists to release new music albums as NFTs. Already, a growing list of prominent music artists has done this, including Snoop Dogg, Kings of Leon and DJ Steve Aoki. In mid-May, using Polygon, the EDM pop duo The Chainsmokers released a new music album as an NFT. If you buy the NFT, you get perks like early access to concert tickets, free merchandise, and entry to members-only events. And here's the best part – The Chainsmokers embedded a smart contract into the NFT giving fans a chance to earn a small percentage of overall streaming royalties from the new album. Every time a fan streams a song from the album on a service like Spotify (NYSE: SPOT), NFT buyers get a chance to participate in the upside of the album.

Leveraging the power of Ethereum

Of course, naysayers might point to the fact that Polygon is one of several blockchains being used by artists to sell new NFT albums. Snoop Dogg, for example, used Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA) when he released his latest NFT album, and others have used Solana (CRYPTO: SOL). In other words, Polygon has not cornered the market on utility-based NFTs.

However, what this line of reasoning ignores is the fact that Polygon is a powerful blockchain built on top of the Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) blockchain, which still dominates the market for traditional NFTs. This relationship is a huge built-in advantage. As a result, MATIC will likely be able to leverage the size and scale of the Ethereum ecosystem in order to bypass rivals. 

Polygon, recalculating the geometry of business

At the end of the day, what blockchains like MATIC enable is entirely new business models. For example, consider music. In the old days, once you paid $10 for a record album, it was pretty much a sunk cost. If your favorite artist sold millions of albums, you were literally one of millions in a crowd. You couldn't show up at a music venue in New York City and demand VIP entry. You couldn't use your album to get preferred seating at sold-out concerts. Your best option for making money from the album, quite simply, was trading it in at a used record store for a few bucks. Now compare that to what's possible now, once you combine blockchain technology with smart contracts. All of a sudden, an album is no longer just an album.

With more high-profile artists already planning NFT releases in 2022, we could be seeing an exciting new evolution of business models in nearly every artistic sphere. Once investors realize how Polygon is helping to make this happen, it is easy to see how this little-known crypto could benefit from any future rebound in the NFT market.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The post One little-known crypto that could benefit from a rebound in the NFT market appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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Dominic Basulto owns Ethereum, Cardano and Polygon. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Ethereum, Solana, and Spotify Technology. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended Polygon. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.