Bitcoin (BTC) continues to dominate the cryptocurrency market. However, there are many other competing digital assets known as alternative currencies or altcoins. Altcoins are a type of Bitcoin variant. In other words, developers build altcoins to improve the functioning of Bitcoin or to provide features that Bitcoin does not have. Altcoins used BTC as a benchmark since it was the first cryptocurrency and has dominated the market. It accounts for the bulk of other cryptocurrencies’ market value.
Popular crypto researcher Nicholas Merten has his sights set on three digital assets. He believes they will thrive after the altcoin market outperforms Bitcoin. In a new strategy session, Merten informs his 480,000 YouTube subscribers that some cryptocurrencies are on the verge of a breakout. He is focusing on one area that might be the most rewarding.
“So generally speaking, we’re still setting up the framework here for altcoins to make a killer breakout and continue to outpace Bitcoin over the rest of the year. But I want to go ahead and talk about the sector that’s garnered a lot of interest from me. There’s the Metaverse out there, there’s NFTs, there’s decentralised finance (DeFi)…so what is there that is almost a time-tested and true trend that we’re seeing within the crypto space? Well, we’re seeing emerging layer 1s.”
Merten believes that emerging layer 1 protocols are the “best option” for investors in this market, citing three coins to watch. The three coins according to Merten are- e-Radix (EXRD), Energi (NRG) and IOTA (MIOTA).
e-Radix (EXRD)
Radix is a public, decentralised ledger. It aims to help the development of apps, with an emphasis on decentralised financial (DeFi) use cases. It employs a novel consensus method known as Cerberus. Cerberus assists in protecting the network while also providing it with a greater degree of performance (i.e., scalability). It is necessary for the functioning of certain applications. Radix also has its own smart contract execution environment (i.e., virtual machine) known as the Radix Engine. It enables developers to map business assets to pre-built Radix components. The project intends to serve as an alternate foundation layer to blockchains such as Ethereum for DeFi applications. Radix’s native token, XRD, allows holders to take part in the network’s Proof-of-Stake consensus process and receive inflation incentives. Radix’s current token, e-Radix or eXRD, is an Ethereum ERC-20 token that will trade for mainnet XRD tokens in the future.
“You can see here against Bitcoin it had a descending wedge break out, the volume has surged, the price has started to break out, and the momentum is phenomenal. Every time we’ve been pulling back, we made support on previous resistance…”
As of this writing, EXRD is trading at $0.4965, an almost 500% rise from its 30-day low of $0.1017.
Energi (NRG)
Energi is a Proof of Stake cryptocurrency, launched in April 2018. It has decentralised governance, masternodes, and a treasury that finances a team of experts. With a smart contract platform upgrade planned for Q4 2019, Energi 3.0 intends to support existing Ethereum-based dApps.
Tommy Power founded Energi on July 4, 2017. It aims to create a smart contract blockchain network with decentralised governance capabilities. Energi was self-funded and developed by its founding team before going public on April 14th, 2018. Energi is actively updating its software for the network to support smart contracts.
“I think now, with a lot of the fundamentals that are coming out of Energi, it could set the stage where it could pop up higher and start to climb up even further and maybe even kick-off its first major bull rally in some time. I like to find these plays that have been silent, working behind the scenes on fundamentals.”
As of this writing, NRG is trading at $2.28, a 29 percent rise from its 7-day low of $1.62.
IOTA (MIOTA)
IOTA (MIOTA) is a distributed ledger that records and executes transactions between machines and devices in the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem. To account for transactions in its network, the ledger employs a cryptocurrency known as MIOTA. Tangle, a system of nodes utilised for transaction confirmation, is IOTA’s core invention. Tangle, according to IOTA, is quicker and more efficient than traditional blockchains used in cryptocurrency.
The IOTA Foundation, the non-profit organisation in charge of the ledger, has signed deals with well-known corporations such as Bosch and Volkswagen to expand the platform’s value among linked devices.
MIOTA is now trading at $1.39, up 21% from its 7-day low of $1.15.
Also read: Dogecoin and Shiba Inu Fetch Gains as Altcoins Rally
