Digital Assets To Consider
Some time ago we published some digital asset ideas for you to consider for your speculative portfolio. We are now going to re-issue that list with a few extra ideas. Please note that we are not allowed to give individualized investment advice. But, we can share ideas that we feel are quality and have good potential to turn your spare risk dollars into considerable sizes as this sector grows and attracts more and more capital from commercial interests.
This list is not meant to be exclusive or exhaustive. There are probably many more good ideas out there. But, we have to limit our list for brevity and time sake. However, we do focus on quality and not quick-buck pirate speculation. The idea is to achieve wealth accumulation and not weekend race track fixes for strung out gamblers.
Remember. There is no need to over-invest to the point of putting yourselves into a deeply stressful position. It won’t take a lot to make a lot if things play out as they are shaping up to. Be wise. Don’t overplay any one position. Spread out your risk and try to keep each position uniform. This way, your losers or non-performers will not sink your winning chances.
Let us begin.
BITCOIN (BTC) – Not much need be said about the progenitor of all crypto currencies. This proven performer has delivered 90,000,000% gains since its inception, and remains the current reserve coin, highly liquid and immutable. While present price levels of BTC are too high to allow transformation wealth from small deposits, you can keep small amounts of it handy to buy other ideas when you feel it appropriate. There are many estimates on the future price levels, some of them as high as $1,000,000. We would guess that in the near term, a price of about $70-100,000 is not unrealistic.
Mainstream adoption is continuing at a feverish pace, and at present, five publicly traded companies have bitcoin in their treasuries.
Three of these companies (Galaxy Digital Holdings, Riot Blockchain, and Cypherpunk Holdings) added BTC from June to September of this year, amounting to more than $148 million in total. MicroStrategy, a $1.6 billion business analytics and mobility platform, purchased $250 million BTC in August and another $175 million in September for a total of 38,250 BTC. And $82 billion payments company Square purchased $50 million worth of BTC earlier this month. The purchase accounts for 1% of the firm’s total assets.
In July, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced banks can store and work with cryptocurrency. In September, cryptocurrency exchange Kraken received a U.S. bank charter. It’s now a federally recognized bank that can provide comprehensive deposit-taking, custody, and fiduciary services for digital assets. We expect more cryptocurrency-centric businesses to earn the same title over the next year as demand grows.
Look for more companies to take 1-2% positions in BTC as an inflation hedge in the near future, which will be bullish for BTC.
BTC is a buy up to $75,000.
ETHEREUM (ETH) – Ethereum remains the top development platform for smart contract and decentralized finance development. With the anticipated release of ETH 2.0, the pace of development is expected to significantly increase. While many dithered, debated, engaged in mindless pedantry and sought to act like bigshot analysts in Telegram and Discord chatrooms, this one made many millionaires out of those who rode the initial price of .40 up to about $1400 in late 2017. They saw the future and wisely took a position and held on.
Even at today’s average price of about $370, it is very cheap compared to where it may return to, and possibly exceed. This one is a definite buy, and the future potential gains outweigh any downside risks.
ETH is a buy at up to $5,000.
DASH (DASH) – This one is built to simply facilitate online payments in a safe and efficient manner. Recently, after many months of research and extensive consulting with various related entities in the crypto field, the CEO of DASH suggested a change to their model.
A new 60/40 split with master nodes receiving 60% and miners 40% intends to strengthen the network and lock up about 1000 DASH in the process. The price has reacted favorably and the future looks good for DASH development.
DASH is a buy up to $775. https://www.dash.org/
STELLAR LUMENS (XLM) – Stellar is a platform that connects banks, payment systems, and people. It’s building a global network of partners to facilitate cross-border payments around the world. And it can do so at a fraction of the cost and time. The recent announcement that USDC will run on the Stellar blockchain is certainly bullish for this quality project. And, right now you can own a part of it for pennies.
Stellar is a HOLD at this time. https://www.stellar.org/
VECHAIN (VET) – This project aims to focus on eliminating the widespread problem of fake and counterfeit goods, which costs the public billions each year. VeChain provides the company with an encrypted smart chip or QR code with a unique ID. The company embeds the chip or QR code on the product. Then, it scans the unique product ID and stores it on the blockchain. The company can track the product during each phase of its life cycle… from origination to user. Because the blockchain is tamper-proof, companies know the products they send or receive are authentic.
Many large companies are using this technology now, and there is no end to the potential expansion of this critical technology to protect brand names and public safety.
VET is a HOLD at this time. https://www.vechain.org/
0x (ZRX) – This DeFi project is bringing interoperability to the world’s decentralized exchanges. Project 0x is a protocol (or set of rules) that programmers use to build blockchain applications. These apps let people trade crypto tokens directly without the need of a centralized exchange.
Anyone in the world can use 0x to service a wide variety of markets ranging from gaming items to financial instruments to assets that could have never existed before. 0x is important infrastructure for the emerging crypto economy. As more assets become tokenized, public blockchains provide the opportunity to establish a new financial stack that is more efficient, transparent, and equitable than any system in the past.
0x is a buy up to $3.00.
ENJIN (ENJ) – Enjin is a blockchain ecosystem with products that allow anyone to easily create, manage, distribute, trade, and store blockchain assets. Enjin’s innovation is the ERC-1155 multi-token standard. The core concept behind ERC-1155 is that a single smart contract can govern an infinite number of tokens. Previously, with the ERC-20 and ERC-721 token standards, a new smart contract was deployed for each new “class” of token. With ERC-1155, users can send multiple tokens in a single transaction. That offers significant savings on transaction costs and eliminates the wait for each block in single transfers. This makes it easy for everyone to develop, trade, monetize, and market with blockchain.
ENJ is a HOLD at this time. https://enjin.io/
UNISWAP (UNI) – This DeFi project aims to make the processes of the digital exchange marketplace faster, easier and cheaper. And, while the regulatory hurdles ahead will be significant, you can take a stake in this project and bet on them overcoming such because the upward pressures to innovate and advance always seem to overcome the desire to stop and remain backwards.
Uniswap is a protocol for exchanging ERC-20 tokens on Ethereum. It eliminates trusted intermediaries and unnecessary forms of rent extraction, allowing for fast, efficient trading. Where it makes tradeoffs, decentralization, censorship resistance, and security are prioritized. Uniswap is open-source software licensed under GPL.
SELL AT MARKET
Curve Finance (CRV) – Curve is a decentralized exchange built on the Ethereum network, specializing on exchange of tokens which are pegged to the same asset class.
The explosive growth in assets held in Curve’s liquidity pools makes it the third-largest decentralized exchange. And these deep liquidity pools with minimal slippage are starting to attract some serious trading volume.
Since its beginning, Curve has reached $17 billion in total trading volume, mostly over the past few months. Last month alone, users traded over $2.2 billion on Curve.
CRV is a governance token and it enables token holders to vote on proposed changes to the protocol. You can also stake the token to collect trading fees and generate additional yield on the pegged tokens you supply to liquidity pools.
We won’t get too much further into the operational details of Curve, since our purpose is the acquisition of the token for long term appreciation and not using the platform to stake or exchange.
DeFi development is growing and is starting to have a huge impact on traditional financial institutions’ ability to effectively compete because of its inherently inefficient transaction model, which is based on hundred year old concepts. In all honesty, traditional financial institutional business models are going to go the way of the dinosaur, along with their high fees. This truth is simply not being believed yet among such institutions, but it is coming just as surely as Grant took Richmond.
CRV is a buy up to $5.00. You can buy it on UNISWAP, Gemini or Binance (non USA). You can hold it on MyEtherWallet.
Curve.fi
Synthetix (SNX)
Synthetix is a decentralized exchange (DEX) and a platform for synthetic assets. The protocol is designed in a way that exposes users to the underlying assets via synths, without having to hold the underlying asset.
The protocol is based on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain and offers users access to highly liquid synthetic assets (synths). Synths track and provide returns on the underlying asset without requiring one to directly hold the asset.
The platform aims to broaden the cryptocurrency space by introducing non-blockchain assets, providing access to a more robust financial market.
The platform allows users to autonomously trade and exchange synths. It also has a staking pool where holders can stake their SNX tokens and are rewarded with a share of the transaction fees on the Synthetix Exchange.
The platform tracks the underlying assets using smart contract price delivery protocols called oracles. Synthetix allows users to trade synths seamlessly, without liquidity/slippage issues. It also eliminates the need for third-party facilitators.
SNX tokens are used as collateral for the synthetic assets that are minted. This means that whenever synths are issued, SNX tokens are locked up in a smart contract.
Since launch, the protocol has transitioned to the Optimistic Ethereum mainnet to help reduce the gas fees on the network and lower oracle latency.
SNX tokens can be purchased at top exchanges, such as:
Binance
OKEx
Coinbase Pro
Uniswap (V2) and Uphold
SNX is a buy up to $21.00
STACKS (STX)
What Is Stacks?
Stacks is a layer-1 blockchain solution that is designed to bring smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps) to Bitcoin (BTC). These smart contracts are brought to Bitcoin without changing any of the features that make it so powerful — including its security and stability.
These DApps are open and modular, meaning developers can build on top of each other’s apps to produce features that are simply not possible in a regular app. Since Stacks uses Bitcoin as a base layer, everything that happens on the network is settled on the most widely used arguably the most secure blockchain in operation — Bitcoin.
The platform is powered by the Stacks token (STX), which is used for fueling the execution of smart contracts, processing transactions and registering new digital assets on the Stacks 2.0 blockchain.
The platform was formerly known as Blockstack, but was rebranded to Stacks in Q4 2020 in order to “separate the ecosystem and open-source project from Blockstack PBC” — the company that built the original protocols.
The mainnet for Stacks 2.0 launched in January 2021.
Who Are the Founders of Stacks?
Stacks was initially funded by a range of prominent venture capital funds, including Y Combinator, Digital Currency Group and Winklevoss Capital. It was developed by Blockstack PBC, which has its headquarters in New York.
Blockstack PBC now operates under the name Hiro Systems PBC and joins a wide range of companies building on Stacks’ platform.
Blockstack PBC was founded by Muneeb Ali and Ryan Shea. After graduating from Princeton University with an MA and PhD in computer science, Muneeb Ali co-founded Stacks in 2013, and still works with the platform today as the CEO of Hiro Systems PBC.
The second co-founder of the platform, Ryan Shea, also served co-CEO between 2013 and 2018, before disembarking from the project to pursue other ventures — including co-founding a new tech startup that is currently operating in stealth. Prior to his role at Stacks, Shea worked as a software engineer.
What Makes Stacks Unique?
Stacks looks to take what makes Bitcoin so powerful, and extends it with additional functionality, without needing to fork or change the original Bitcoin blockchain.
It does this by connecting directly with the Bitcoin blockchain through its proof-of-transfer (PoX) consensus mechanism, which has miners pay in BTC to mint new Stacks (STX) tokens. Moreover, STX token holders can also stack (not stake) their tokens to earn Bitcoin as a reward.
Stacks introduces a new smart contract programming language known as Clarity, which is designed to be both secure and easy to build with thanks to its unambiguous syntax. This smart contract-centric programming language is also used by the Algorand (ALGO) blockchain.
On top of this, Stacks was the first cryptocurrency to receive SEC qualification for a sale in the United States, allowing it to launch a $28 million Reg A+ sale cash offering for its STX tokens in July 2019.
Sell 50% of holdings at the market. (3-29-23)
You can buy it on Kucoin or Crypto.com. Those outside the United States can buy it on Binance. If you wish to self-custody this token, you may do so on the Hiro Wallet. https://www.hiro.so/wallet/install-desktop
Polygon (MATIC)
Polygon (previously Matic Network) is the first well-structured, easy-to-use platform for Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development. Its core component is Polygon SDK, a modular, flexible framework that supports building multiple types of applications.
Polygon effectively transforms Ethereum into a full-fledged multi-chain system (aka Internet of Blockchains). This multi-chain system is akin to other ones such as Polkadot, Cosmos, Avalanche etc. with the advantages of Ethereum’s security, vibrant ecosystem and openness.
The $MATIC token will continue to exist and will play an increasingly important role, securing the system and enabling governance.
Polygon is a Layer 2 scaling solution backed by Binance and Coinbase. The project seeks to stimulate mass adoption of cryptocurrencies by resolving the problems of scalability on many blockchains.
Polygon is self-described as a Layer 2 scaling solution, which means that the project doesn’t seek to upgrade its current basic blockchain layer any time soon. The project focuses on reducing the complexity of scalability and instant blockchain transactions.
Polygon uses a customized version of the Plasma framework which is built on proof-of-stake checkpoints that run through the Ethereum main-chain. This unique technology allows each sidechain on Polygon to achieve up to 65,536 transactions per block.
Commercially, the sidechains of Polygon are structurally designed to support a variety of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols available in the Ethereum ecosystem.
While Polygon currently supports only Ethereum basechain, the network intends to extend support for additional basechains, based on community suggestions and consensus. This would make Polygon an interoperable decentralized Layer 2 blockchain platform.
Where Can You Buy Polygon (MATIC)?
Being one of the projects that contributed a lot to the development of the Ethereum ecosystem, MATIC is popular among online exchanges focused on DeFi. The top exchanges where you can buy, sell, and trade MATIC currently are:
Binance
Coinbase Pro
Huobi Global
FTX
KuCoin
Buy-up-to Price: $4
Ethereum Name Service (ENS)
With the inevitable adoption of blockchain technology, there has arisen a need to allow scaling of Ethereum projects on the blockchain, similar to what the DNS protocols did to allow Internet websites to register as names (i.e. company.com) rather than as IP addresses (123.23.123, etc.).
Today, the DNS protocols are valued at about 8 billion dollars.
At present, an ETH address looks something like this: oxeEE5Eb24E7A0EA53B75a1b9aD72e7D20562f4i72.
For a business to scale rapidly in the smart contract environment, it will need to have an easier way to set up its domain on the ETH blockchain. So, instead of using the standard ETH address, it will be linked to a standard business name using the ENS smart contract which will maintain the list of all the registered domains and will resolve those domains with their associated ETH address. So, any business which wishes to set up their ETH blockchain presence can do so using ENS to properly map their website address to that presence.
Simply put, ENS will bridge the Internet of today with that of tomorrow. Seamless integration of the digital frontiers – the dot com and the blockchain frontiers.
We can enjoy a very steep discount for entry at this time.
ENS is available on Binance, OKX, Bitget, Mandala Exchange.
Buy ENS up to a price of $20.
Rocket Pool (RPL)
Rocket Pool is a decentralized Ethereum staking pool offering up to 4.33% APR for ETH2 staking. Users can join the Rocket Pool with its decentralized node operator network or run their own nodes with only 16 ETH. In the latter case, they can earn a commission from staking ETH and earn additional RPL rewards from providing RPL collateral, amounting to up to 6.36% APR for ETH and the additional RPL rewards.
Rocket Pool provides liquid staking, meaning users benefit from an increasing exchange rate instead of rebasing their staked collateral, which would be a taxable event. Furthermore, Rocket Pool offers smart nodes: a custom node software allowing anyone to run a node on its network. With losses from bad nodes socialized across the network, users minimize their risk of facing penalties. This is supported by the pool’s open-source and audited smart contracts, which guarantee fully non-custodial staking and a maximum degree of decentralization.
Rocket Pool is the fastest-growing staking service since Ethereum made the switch to proof-of-stake in September. Since then, the number of ETH staked using Rocket Pool has increased by 62%.
Buy Rocket Pool up to $60. Buy it on Coinbase, Binance, Kraken, or Uniswap.
Lido DAO (LDO)
Lido lets users stake their ETH – with no minimum deposits or maintaining of infrastructure – whilst participating in on-chain activities, e.g. lending, to compound returns.
ETH is currently undergoing an evolutionary upgrade similar to when the fledgling technologies of telegraph, telephonic communication, automobiles, aviation and the like went from clumsy, inefficient but promising technologies to highly technical and efficient platforms that are indispensable today. Ethereum is the world’s most widely used blockchain development platform.
Ethereum is – and will continue to be – the go-to platform for blockchain projects.
To be well positioned for the coming advances in ETH development technology, we want to be in on this project. ETH is approaching that moment akin to when voice communication went from copper wire to fiber optics, causing a monumental increase in usage and efficiency.
Buy it on Binance, BinanceUS, Kraken, or KuCoin.
Buy Lido DAO up to $12
Remember, only allocate your disposable risk capital to this portfolio. There is NO NEED for reckless overbuying. Keep your tokens off of exchanges. Keep them in your hardware wallet, or on insured online wallets, which are in regulated territory.
Good luck!
WHA
S*P*Q*R