Bitcoin (BTC)
Following the FTX collapse and depreciation of a number of altcoins that made up the major holdings of the exchange and its affiliate Alameda Research, BTC dominance has dropped to nearly 40%. During the last week, some TOP 30 altcoins suffered significant drops: Solana (SOL) dropped by 50%, Cronos (CRO) by 41%, Algorand (ALGO) by 39%, NEAR Protocol (NEAR) by 36%, and ill-reputed FTT by 94%. This shows that altcoins have lost much credibility, and Bitcoin and stablecoins will be attracting more investments for some time (until the market "digests" the FTX crash). This also means that BTC dominance may go up and even surpass the 40% mark.
Another driver of BTC adoption, which pushes its price upward, is the continued expansion of the
Lighting Network (LN) ecosystem. Every day, more and more wallets and exchanges integrate this technology of instant BTC transfers, which leads to an increase in BTC balances and stimulates demand for the old cryptocurrency. This trend will gain momentum in 2023.
When the market finally hits rock bottom and reaches a new growth cycle, Bitcoin will traditionally top the list of crypto gainers. And the ALT season will finally start.
Cardano (ADA)
Cardano is a project known for its technological sophistication, rivalry with Ethereum, and the powerful development team that is constantly improving the coin and its blockchain. The latest Cardano's Vasil hard fork, named in honor of one of its developers, was executed in late September 2022. The project's upgrade was expected to enhance network security and reduce transaction fees. The Vasil hard fork also improved the efficiency of the smart contract platform, general transaction throughput capacity, and the ecosystem's scalability. This upgrade also drove new momentum for DeFi solutions and the development of the NFT ecosystem.
Being a speculative exchange asset, ADA did not benefit much from the hard fork. However, developers' activity and high demand for this coin, which has long been in the TOP 10 CoinMarketCap, shows that it is one of the best-to-hold coins.
Monero (XMR)
Monero is the most popular anonymous cryptocurrency, which veils transaction, as well as the sender and the recipient of the transfer. This feature makes it the leader in confidential transfers. Monero attracts more and more users with its wide global reach, high demand, and limited supply of coins.
The Monero development team works hard either, releasing a significant number of updates every year. The latest hard fork was executed in August 2022. The upgrade reduced the typical transaction size and transaction speed. The hard fork increased the blockchain's ring size from 11 to 16, making transfers even more private and efficient. The upgrade helped reduce transaction fees and greatly improved integration with Ledger and Trezor, the
most popular hardware wallets. According to the Monero roadmap, the project's team has huge plans for 2023. They include several new hard forks, an increase in the blockchain's ring size up to 100+, and much more. This project is definitely not going to get moldy.
If you need to make a private transfer, there is no better tool on the market. That's what makes the coin popular, with a daily trading turnover of over $100 million and much higher transaction volumes. So despite the regulators' concerns and delisting from several exchanges (that flirt with those same regulators), Monero is looking to the future with confidence and going for new ATHs.
Stellar (XLM)
Stellar is another technological project, which allows its users to make nearly free transactions. The fee is so small that it does not even exceed 1 cent. This asset has become a popular tool for crypto arbitrage as it allows for quick transfers between trading platforms. Stellar is also often used for instant cross-border transfers. It's a crypto analog of Western Union or Anelik, although it wouldn't be a good comparison – cash transfers in fiat currencies move a lot slower compared to almost instant XLM transfers. That's why many large local cross-border money transfer operators, including MoneyGram, and IBM World Wire, use the Stellar blockchain.
Stellar also has a robust development team. They regularly implement upgrades (the last one was in June 2022) and plan to introduce even more innovations. Stellar plans to complete virtual machine (VM) integration and smart contracts support by the end of 2022. This will give a boost to the development of DeFi services, which have already become commonplace for users of other blockchain platforms. Of course, this should positively affect the asset's price.
WhiteBIT Token (WBT)
WBT is a native token of Europe's largest exchange WhiteBIT, with Ukrainian roots. The exchange is committed to staying a cutting-edge platform and offering competitive services and tools. In addition to traditional markets (spot, margin and futures markets), WhiteBIT has launched WhiteSwap, a decentralized exchange (DEX) on Ethereum. The exchange also offers a wide range of staking options and intends to expand the list of coins for earning passive income (savings).
WhiteBIT's recent takeover of Georgia's largest banking institution PayUnicard, the local market leader in loyalty programs and e-wallets, has attracted two million new customers to the exchange.
The WBT token is progressing in leaps and demand. Given WhiteBIT's ambitious strategic plans for new markets and mergers, it has strong prospects for further growth.