Despite a dip in the market over the last couple of months, the crypto market remains buoyant, with demand for tokens still quite high. This is true for the established and well-known cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, but is also being seen for newer tokens that are not as popular and do not have that sort of history and track record in the market. This reflects the growing confidence around the crypto industry for investors, and thus there are quite a few tokens to keep an eye on for 2021. We will look at some of the best new crypto prospects for 2021 here.
Internet Computer (ICP)
Internet Computer (ICP) is a new crypto token that was only launched in May 2021. It proved to be an immediate hit, with trading volumes of over $35 billion in just the first three days of trading. The token has a market cap of around $8.5 billion at the moment and is already being touted as one of the crypto stars of 2021. The crypto is developed by the Dfinity Foundation, a nonprofit based in Zurich, Switzerland, and aims to create a decentralised version of the internet. It is also apparently faster than Ethereum, which makes it even more attractive, and has already led to ICP becoming one of the world’s largest cryptocurrencies by market cap. ICP runs on its own proprietary protocol called Internet Computer Protocol. It allows anyone to build software and publish content on the Internet without the help of Google and Facebook for instance. The company claims to provide a ‘hackproof platform’ at ‘dramatically’ reduced costs with interoperability. It is reportedly backed by venture capital companies Andreesen Horowitz and Polychain Capital, and also intends to launch decentralized finance (DeFi) capabilities, which would make it a credible rival to Ethereum. Dfinity claims it can scale up its capacity as demand increases and it should be seen as a network that uses blockchain technology to power apps rather than as a cryptocurrency. ICP is already available to buy at Coinbase and Binance, two of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, which shows its growing popularity.
Enjin (ENJ)
Enjin (ENJ) is an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency which was recently launched to provide backing for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). One of its strongest use-cases which has also been the most popular has been in gaming, with developers using its blockchain to manage in-game purchases. The coin has already reached a market cap of $1 billion, and is predicted to grow even further as more and more developers begin to use blockchain for managing game stores and mechanics. The idea is that by using blockchain technology to manage in-game items across many different properties, Enjin can help reduce the high fees and fraud that have plagued the transfer of virtual in-game goods and collectables. Toward that goal, Enjin has released software development kits (SDKs) allowing users to both create digital assets on Ethereum and integrate them into games and apps. Each minted asset is customizable to fit the desired platform and recorded in a smart contract, giving the items the advantages of cryptocurrency, namely speed, cost and security. Central to managing the digital assets on its platform is ENJ, Enjin’s cryptocurrency, and each in-game item created on Enjin is assigned a value in ENJ.
Safemoon
Safemoon is another of the recently launched crypto tokens that has caused a buzz in the market, having been launched in March 2021. It has over 2 million holders in just a few months, and a market cap of over $2 billion. It is a community-driven DeFi token. One of the most unusual features about this currency is that it imposes a 10% selling fee on anyone who sells their tokens – half of that fee goes to all other holders of the currency, and this serves as a deterrence towards selling the coin. It also uses static rewards. Static rewards, known as reflection, attempt to correct the problems with farming rewards. It does so in two ways – the reward amount is conditional upon the volume being traded, which mitigates against selling pressure caused by early adopters selling their coins. Secondly, it encourages those holding the tokens to collect higher payments based on the total number owned. SafeMoon’s static reward approach attempts to mitigate the problem of early adopters selling their coins en masse.
Diem
Diem is probably one of the most anticipated cryptocurrencies at the moment. It is Facebook’s digital currency and was previously known as Libra. It is a centralized, global, stable cryptocurrency project. For investors wanting a more stable cryptocurrency, this might be a good option. Investors expect Diem to have low volatility because of its reserves of other currencies and assets.
NKN
NKN is a new token based on a blockchain designed for a decentralized internet. It supports millions of nodes, low latency and decentralized peer-to-peer operations, making it incredibly fast and capable of supporting large amounts of data and information. It has already crossed $2 billion in market cap, and is available for trading on Binance.