It’s been a rough few weeks for cryptocurrency investors, with the valuations supporting a wide swath of digital assets in this sector driving significant selling pressure over the past month. Indeed, over this time frame, the market capitalization of all cryptos fell roughly 9% as investors seemingly looked to take profits off the table ahead of what many expected could be a wider-spread selloff of all tech-related assets.
Like it or not, cryptocurrencies are supported by blockchain technology, and the native tokens which represent these projects are highly correlated to speculative assets in the equity market, such as unprofitable tech stocks. When we see valuations surge in such areas of the equity market, various top cryptos can soar even higher. The inverse, of course, is also true.
So with “Uptober” having failed its duties in providing historically high performance for investors, let’s dive into three tokens that could be best-positioned to come out of this selloff ahead.
Solana (SOL)
Solana logo on a gold token
I continue to think Solana (CRYPTO:SOL) is likely to remain the go-to layer one blockchain developers and users will flock to for real-world utility on the blockchain.
Thanks to this crypto network’s ultra-fast (and ultra-low-cost) consensus mechanism, Solana is able to process transactions at lighting fast (almost instantaneous) speed, with most transactions costing investors pennies. In contrast to other networks (such as the next pick on this list), that’s an important feature.
Solana has been built with scalability in mind. What this has meant is that investors in the top layer one network have had to withstand and invest through some rather violent bear cycles, driven by poor sentiment around security concerns on the Solana network. Previous outages and issues with the network were once commonplace, but we’ve seen issues largely dealt with in an efficient manner, and few such issues arise in recent years. This speaks to the quality of the Solana team, and the importance the increased stability of this network has had on user growth in recent months.
With some of the best user and wallet growth metrics of any large-scale project, Solana is the blockchain where stuff actually happens. I think that’s an important differentiator, and what makes this project’s native SOL token so valuable.
Until something breaks with this thesis, Solana remains a high-growth crypto that’s going to be on the top of my buy list moving forward.
Ethereum (ETH)
Etheruem logo on a gold token, with a green up arrow
Ethereum’s (CRYPTO:ETH) upcoming Fusaka upgrade could be a bigger deal than most investors think.
Previous upgrades allowed for so-called “blobs” on the Ethereum network, which allow for data to be stored on-chain. This revolutionary move from the Ethereum developer team paved the way for a range of tokenization and application development to take place on Ethereum, which happens to be where a significant portion of developers still choose to build.
But the Fusaka upgrade could further increase the capacity of these blobs, allowing for larger and more complex transactions to be posted faster, and at a lower cost. As I alluded to above, that’s been a big headache for users on Ethereum in the past, with gas fees and transaction times (which can take hours or longer) hampering activity and leading to market share gains from other platforms like Solana.
Those bullish on Ethereum due to its network effects and massive scale in the world of DeFi will like the moves being made behind the scenes. Of course, we’ll have to see how everything pans out at the end of the day, and this upgrade is far from complete. But if we do see transaction costs and efficiency improve, this network’s durability and stability could drive more investor demand, which is what bulls are banking on.
Near Protocol (NEAR)
Crypto traders looking at a candlestick chart
One of the more intriguing crypto projects to watch over the course of the past few weeks has to be Near Protocol (CRYPTO:NEAR), a high-performance blockchain purpose built for the future of AI and machine learning.
What Near Protocol can do better than other layer one crypto networks is handle some of the highest compute necessary to power various AI and machine learning applications. This has earned the network a spot near the top of the crypto market capitalization rankings, as investors have piled into any such project with meaningful ties to the future of AI.
Indeed, if the blockchain is where most innovation will take place over the long-term (as many bulls assert), projects such as Near will need to take the mantle from many of the tech giants developing their own unique systems right now.
It’s still early days with a project like Near, meaning there’s likely plenty of volatility to come. But as far as crypto projects with near-term momentum are concerned, this is a top idea worth paying attention to at the very least.
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