Next week may be tumultuous, but keep an eye out on these top three coins to hold their ground into and through the month of March.
As the market continues to get beat down by macro factors and economic instability, these three projects are poised to hold strong and weather the storm during what is poised to be another wild few weeks in crypto.
3. The Graph ($GRT)
Recommended: What is The Graph?
The Graph has been getting some major web 3 buzz recently, quietly been plugging along the last few weeks in a tough market. The Graph is an Ethereum based indexing (search) protocol dubbed “the Google of blockchain.” Last week, Digital Currency Group raised an enormous sum of $250 million dollars to kickstart the ecosystem into overdrive.
Going live in December of 2020, the Graph is still in the crypto cradle, but currently supports “indexing data from 31 different networks including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, Avalanche, NEAR protocol, Celo and Fantom.” The service they provide is underrated and quite needed in the decentralization that web 3 seeks to bring.
From a price perspective, the Graph is doing quite well over the last 7 days, down just over 1%, far better than most in the top 100. The Graph is over 80% off from its all-time high, and crypto assets such as GRT that have already fallen the most, have less of a cliff to fall further. With web 3 and metaverse continuing to find its way into the mainstream, the Graph is poised to rise along with it.
Building a custom @graphprotocol NFT API with @dabit3 💕 pic.twitter.com/PezubLV9am
— CyberCodeTwins.eth 👾 Eth Denver🦬/LA 🏈🐏🏆 (@cybercodetwins) February 18, 2022
2. Algorand ($ALGO)
Recommended: What is Algorand?
The bullish news has not stopped for Algorand in the last week. See here, here, and here. Somewhat in the same vein as the Graph, Algorand has held quite strong the last week, down only ~3%. Compared to its peers like Elrond, down a whopping 18%, it’s not bad. Also like the Graph, Algorand has not had “its day in the sun” and is poised for a moment of mainstream recognition.
With 3 billion Algo’s (half the circulating supply) locked into governance until March 31st, the sell pressure will be greatly diminished. Addresses are also on a perpetual rise, up past 22 million at press time. Algorand is also releasing a protocol upgrade soon, which will include support for their much-anticipated state proofs, which allow Algorand to seamlessly bridge to other chains like Ethereum.
Earlier this week, @AlgoFoundation announced it has awarded @AppBlockchain a grant for the development of the London Bridge, a trustless bridge between #Algorand and #Ethereum! Read more 👉 https://t.co/3eeJCSDmcK pic.twitter.com/OAWwVpb8EG
— Algorand (@Algorand) February 18, 2022
The thesis of “how much further can it fall” applies to Algorand too, which performed atrociously in January compared to its peers. Moreover, as the market is on thin ice, Algorand is somewhat of a good “safety” bet, as they have the institutional groundwork laid, and a solid “corporate-style” structure, which is seen in their new CEO hire, a former JP Morgan executive.
1. Ethereum ($ETH)
Recommended: What is Ethereum?
Yes, this may not be the most exciting pick for #1 of our top three coins list, but think about it. ETH Denver is wrapping up soon which saw the top projects, developers, and investors in the world coalesce around the most important smart contract chain in the world, and that is still Ethereum.
As incredible a rise projects like Polygon, Fantom, and Avalanche have had, they all still ‘orbit the master oracle’ that is the EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine).
Ethereum is actually down more than the above 2 projects on the weekly, down over ~7% in the last 7 days. Considering the immense fundamentals that Ethereum still brings to the table, it is easy to see how a lot of money will flow from riskier coins into the stalwart that is Ethereum.
Of course, DeFi is still utterly dominated by Ethereum, with over ~100 billion in TVL, the closest is Terra with ~15 billion. Considering 2021 was the year of the Avalanches, Solana’s and ETH killers writ large, perhaps they have run out of steam, and Ethereum will continue to dominate in 2022. Lastly, Vitalik himself is still the most important man in crypto other than Satoshi, and that in itself cannot be ignored, even in the near term.
Epic night with the Web3 community at #ETHDenver and meeting @VitalikButerin I left inspired. pic.twitter.com/JEo9ugVdNo
— 𝙺𝚒𝚖𝚋𝚊𝚕 𝙼𝚞𝚜𝚔 (@kimbal) February 19, 2022
Recommended: Three Top Coins To Watch For The Week Of February 14th