What do Vladimir Putin and Burger King have in common? 

For starters, they both have a cryptocurrency named after them. Actually, PutinCoin and Whoppercoin might be the only thing they have in common. But their namesake cryptocurrencies are among the thousands of different virtual currencies making up a growing marketplace grabbing investors’ attention.

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have a growing track record of holding and increasing in value over time, though recent dips have wracked the market, while lesser-known cryptos are considered much more speculative and unpredictable. And while PutinCoin and Whoppercoin belong to a category of cryptocurrencies marked more for their absurdity than their potential as either an investment or cryptocurrency, they show just how unique different types of cryptocurrencies can be.

Here’s Where to Start:10 Most Popular CryptocurrenciesDecentralized FinanceDigital GoldDigital Cash or Internet MoneySoftware Platforms Stablecoin or Digital FiatMemecoins, and Other Strange Cryptocurrencies

In general, cryptocurrencies can be grouped by utility: What is the purpose of the cryptocurrency? What is its value proposition? What is it for?

“They all have different utilities, they all have different founders who have different visions for where that cryptocurrency is going,” says Mike Uehlein, founder and financial planner of WealthU advisors. Uehlein regularly talks to clients about investing in cryptocurrency. 

10 Most Popular Cryptocurrencies

There are thousands of cryptocurrencies, most with very little value and unclear potential. Many advisors recommend investors stick to Bitcoin and Ethereum — if any — and pass on the smaller cryptos. 

Leading cryptocurrency news outlet CoinDesk maintains a Coindesk 20 list of the most popular cryptocurrencies currently being bought and sold. This list includes cryptocurrency assets and networks by their most common names. Some, like Bitcoin (BTC), have one name for both the blockchain network and the cryptocurrency. Others, like Ethereum, are named for the broader blockchain network, but have a different name for their associated native cryptocurrency (Ether, or ETC, in the case of Ethereum).

Updated quarterly, the list ranks cryptocurrencies based on dollar volume and other data from third-party cryptocurrency exchanges, where people can buy and sell different arChainlinkUniswapPolkadotUSD Coin

Note: This top 10 list was last updated — using the Coindesk 20 — on May 26, 2021. 

Bitcoin

As the first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC) is also the most popular and highly valued, despite high volatility over the course of its history. Bitcoin was initially created to be used as a digital payment system, but experts say it is still too volatile to be used for that.Ethereum

Ether (ETH) is the cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network, an open-source blockchain upon which developers can build apps and other cryptocurrencies. It’s also the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, behind Bitcoin. Ether’s value has risen sharply since its creation in 2013, to nearly $3,000 for one token as of late May, but still lags well behind Bitcoin’s value of nearly $40,000 per coin. 

XRP

XRP is the cryptocurrency of the Ripple digital payment network. Built for digital payments, XRP touts itself as a faster and more efficient way to power global payments. Ripple and XRP also allow for third-party development on other uses for XRP.

Tether (USDT) is a fiat currency tied to the U.S. dollar. This keeps its value more stable, allowing Tether to present itself as a stable cryptocurrency alternative to cash deposits and withdrawals. Amid high volatility with other cryptocurrencies, Tether’s value hovers around $1 on account of its tie to the U.S. dollar.

Cardano

Cardano (ADA) uses a technology called Ouroboros, a peer-reviewed blockchain protocol. It describes itself as a more secure and scalable way to maintain decentralization.

Stellar

Stellar’s native cryptocurrency is the Lumen (XLM). Stellar is designed as an “open network for storing and moving money” that allows people to create, send, and trade digital money. It’s designed to sell and trade all digital monies, not just Stellar’s own associated cryptocurrency, the Lumen — although you’ll need to own some Lumen to make transactions.

Chainlink

Chainlink (LINK) uses “real-world data and off-chain computation while maintaining security and reliability,” according to its website.

Uniswap

Uniswap (UNI) is a decentralized crypto exchange that operates on Ethereum’s blockchain. Its developers promise to get rid of unnecessary intermediaries, which it says gives users more control.

Polkadot

Polkadot (DOT) says its mission includes allowing different blockchains to exchange information and transactions with one another. Its website plays up data and identity security and users being in control.

USD Coin

USD Coin (USDC) describes itself as “the world’s digital dollar.” Created by a global financial firm called Circle, USDC is the result of work that has been invested in by Goldman Sachs, Baidu, and IDG Capital, among others. USD Coin is tied to the U.S. Dollar, which makes its price much more stable than other cryptocurrencies. That stability lends itself more toward digital payments, while other cryptocurrencies have more potential to increase in value as investments (along with more risk of losing value, of course).

Bitcoin Cash 

Bitcoin Cash is a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, which was the original intention of Bitcoin. The currency allows you to send money anywhere for very low fees.

While each of these top cryptocurrencies is unique in its own way, they all tie into an underlying principle called  decentralized finance (DeFi). 

Decentralized Finance 

In its simplest terms, decentralized finance refers to financial activities conducted without the involvement of a traditional bank. 

Think about all of the activities in which you’d normally use a bank or some other financial institution — getting a loan, insurance, investing, even using a credit card. “All of these [activities] are traditional-finance based and have intermediary companies,” says Ollie Leech, learn editor at CoinDesk. “Now people are creating these products in a completely autonomous way with [cryptocurrencies].”

It can seem counterintuitive — where else would you go for a loan, if not an established lender? But that’s one of the appeals to DeFi, says Leech. 

In the same way people have increasingly brought “smart” technology into their homes, proponents say cryptocurrency has potential to automate and digitize more and more aspects of the financial system. The appeal of this happening outside the conventional — or centralized — finance system depends on who you ask. 

Many Americans may not understand the appeal of a finance system that operates beyond government control. But things can be very different in countries with less financial stability, says Roger Aliaga-Díaz, principal and senior economist with Vanguard Investment Strategy Group. If cryptocurrencies offer as much or more stability as a given national currency, it’s an entirely different equation than if your national currency is the safe and stable U.S. dollar.

Just like there are different types of accounts and tools in conventional finance — from savings accounts to investment accounts to credit cards — that are used for different purposes, different cryptocurrencies can have similarly unique uses in this emerging decentralized finance system.

Instead of going to a bank to draw out a loan, you might “go to a decentralized application that’s not owned or operated by anyone in particular,” says Leech. 

Where conventional loans involve humans at a bank who take part in processing, reviewing, and approving loans, a DeFi loan — with funding in the form of cryptocurrency — could run via app on a network like Ethereum with an algorithm processing it. The borrower would put up some cryptocurrency as collateral, which they’d get back minus interest when they repay the loan.

“The code runs autonomously using smart contracts,” Leech says. “So once the developers release the data they’re pretty much hands-off, and everything runs automatically so there’s no intermediary.” 

Ethereum’s website offers a comparison chart contrasting decentralized from traditional finance. Along with these technical differences, a big consideration to keep in mind is that the conventional financial system is regulated to serve the interests of everyday customers, while cryptocurrency and decentralized financial systems are largely unregulated, and subject to governance and oversight only by their creators/users.

Unlike the money kept in a bank account, money you have in crypto may not be FDIC insured. Some exchanges offer this insurance while others don’t — something you’ll want to look into before buying crypto from one or another. For exchanges that don’t offer this insurance, there’s no guarantee you will be repaid if there is a hack or the exchange goes out of business.

You hold your moneyMoney held by financial institutions Transfers happen in minutesPayments can take days to processTransactions are pseudonymous Financial activity is coupled to your identity (social security number, name, address, etc.)Market is always openMarket closes Built on transparency – anyone can inspect the systemFinancial institutions are closed books.comparison-table tr td:nth-child(){border-left: 10px solid #5bffb1;border-right: 10px solid #5bffb1;}.comparison-table tr:first-child td:nth-child(){border-top: 10px solid #5bffb1}.comparison-table tr:last-child td:nth-child(){border-bottom: 10px solid #5bffb1}

With that in mind, here are some of the broad categories of cryptocurrencies that tend to organize the market.

Digital Gold

Digital gold refers to cryptocurrency comparable to real gold in its ability to store and increase in value. There’s a limited amount of gold on earth, in the same way that digital gold cryptocurrencies have a limited supply. 

“People buy gold not because they expect to be able to go to the store and spend it, but because they expect it to hold its value and maybe, probably, increase in value over time,” says Galen Moore, director of data and indexes at CoinDesk. 

The primary example of a digital gold cryptocurrency is Bitcoin, though that was not its original intention. Bitcoin was originally put forth as an electronic peer-to-peer cash system, but its volatility, among other things, limited its potential for that purpose. 

In use, such digital gold cryptocurrencies are bought and held, “for the same reason people would have diamonds, or some $100 bills, or some gold coins in a safe,” says Moore. Litecoin is another example — it’s been described as silver to Bitcoin’s gold.

Digital Cash or Internet Money

Internet money is exactly what it sounds like — you use it to buy things over the internet. 

Bitcoin was originally intended to be digital cash, but speculation led to the creation of another cryptocurrency, Bitcoin Cash (a variation of Bitcoin). Bitcoin’s price was too volatile for it to be a suitable currency, which proponents for Bitcoin Cash argued was the entire point of the currency to begin with. 

“There was a big debate about what the future of Bitcoin was going to be. Was it gold or was it cash? The people who wanted it to be more like gold won out,” says Moore. The decision was a “turning point for Bitcoin where it really went down to be digital gold.” 

But the group that wanted Bitcoin to remain internet money split off — or forked, in crypto parlance — the currency and created Bitcoin Cash. The network is devoted to digital payments (with faster processing and lower fees). In these ways, Bitcoin Cash is “meant to be cash. That’s the value proposition,” says Moore.

Though Bitcoin Cash is designed and intended for transactions, its price is still volatile and probably not your best option for making or receiving payments. 

Software Platforms  

Ethereum represents another type of cryptocurrency: It operates as a cryptocurrency network and along with its native cryptocurrency, Ether, offers a programmable crypto environment for developers. Similar to how smartphones allow third-party apps to be downloaded and used, Ethereum allows developers to create “dapps” — Ethereum-based apps that tap into the network. 

Investors can buy Ether just like they can buy Bitcoin, hoping it increases in value. Ethereum’s programmable network allows for other, more customizable uses. One example is the creation of NFTs — nonfungible tokens — that caught the attention of people far beyond the cryptocurrency community this year. NFTs are Ethereum-based digital assets, which hold value based on demand and supply on the Ethereum network.  

Stablecoin or Digital Fiat

A stablecoin pegs its value to some other currency or commodity. A digital fiat represents a fiat, or government-backed, currency on the blockchain, says Moore. One of the most popular examples of a digital fiat is Tether, a cryptocurrency whose value is pegged to the U.S. dollar. 

Tether is a system that enables you to have a cash-like currency that is always worth $1 — but only on cryptocurrency exchanges. A digital fiat like Tether comes in handy when you want to quickly move your assets within a cryptocurrency exchange. For example, if you think the market for smaller, more unpredictable coins is going to crash, you might put your money in a stablecoin like Tether, and then buy back at a lower price after the crash, says Moore. 

Stablecoins enable the exchange to flow better, says Moore. Taking the previous example, you could theoretically cash out your smaller coins for actual dollars, and then reinvest those dollars after the crash, but it could take days to convert your coins into dollars and back again, says Moore. 

Memecoins, and Other Strange Cryptocurrencies

There are thousands of cryptocurrencies available. Many of them have little to no value, and no discernable value proposition, which lands them in the category of memecoins. Experts recommend avoiding investing in this category of coins and sticking with more well-known options like Bitcoin or Ethereum, if you decide to invest in crypto at all. 

Whoppercoin and PutinCoin fall into this category of cryptocurrencies, as does another famous memecoin of recent fame: Dogecoin. While Dogecoin has seen a rise in demand — and thus value — in recent weeks, it still is highly volatile, as evidenced by its drop in value when Tesla CEO Elon Musk made it the subject of a joke on a recent episode of “Saturday Night Live.”

Any cryptocurrency that’s not Bitcoin is referred to as an “altcoin.”

Bitcoin, Litecoin

Bitcoin Cash, XRP

Ethereum, Cardano, Polkadot

Tether, USD Coin

Dogecoin, PutinCoin, Whoppercoin

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It’s been a hot year for cryptocurrencies, and 2021 isn’t even halfway over. The total value of cryptocurrencies briefly surpassed $2.5 trillion in May as a plethora of new investors jumped in, and now approximately 14% of American adults own cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrencies are digital assets that are exchanged online on exchanges like Coinbase (the largest U.S. crypto exchange) and Gemini or via online brokers like Robinhood and SoFi Invest. Cryptocurrencies are hardly new. Bitcoin, the first and largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was created in 2009 and has been followed by more than 7,700 others. You may have also heard of ethereum, tether, or even dogecoin, which began as a joke and now sits among the 10 largest cryptocurrencies.

While some people are investing purely to speculate, others look at cryptos as a way to store value or hedge against inflation. Here’s how to invest in crypto now, whether you should get into it, and what to know before you do.

While investing in cryptocurrencies has gone mainstream, it’s not an option at many traditional online brokers — yet.  Here are a few brokers that allow you to directly hold cryptocurrencies alongside other assets like stocks and bonds, but fees vary and it’s key to do your homework:

TD Ameritrade, Interactive Brokers, and Charles Schwab offer bitcoin futures trading.

If your broker doesn’t offer cryptocurrencies, you might consider signing up for an account with a crypto exchange, such as one of the following:

Not all cryptocurrencies are created alike, and each token has unique characteristics that help dictate its price swings. That’s why it’s important to learn as much as possible about a specific token before investing, including why it was created (what problem it’s trying to solve) and by whom (the governance structure), recommends Chris Kuiper, vice president of equity research at CFRA Research.

“The more you understand it, the more you’re going to approach investing in the ‘right’ way,” Kuiper says. For example, he likens bitcoin to “gold 2.0” because the digital coin has a finite supply and is seen by some as a way to store value and hedge against inflation — characteristics that don’t apply to ethereum, for example. (Note that this bitcoin-is-the-new-gold take is certainly not shared by everyone, as this MarketWatch column reveals). 

Cryptocurrencies fall under the umbrella of alternative assets (like commodities or real estate) because they offer a way to diversify your portfolio and have a low correlation to other assets, like stocks and bonds, Kuiper notes. But cryptocurrencies are volatile, and because trading occurs 24/7, 365 days a year, that allows traders to react immediately to news — or even tweets. Indeed, this year, tweets from Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, caused crypto prices to both jump and slump.

“Look, this is the Wild West, so you have to be ready for it,” Kuiper says. While bitcoin has experienced average annualized returns in excess of 200%, that’s come with huge price slumps, he adds. “You need to embrace the volatility if you want those gains.” 

If you are ready to invest in crypto, here are a few of your options: Coinbase, Gemini, eToro, Robinhood and SoFi Invest.

Investing in crypto is not for everyone. Those who do dive in should remember this: Given the extreme volatility, moderation is key, notes Matt Schwartz, senior advisor and a certified financial planner with Great Waters Financial. Just as you shouldn’t invest all of your money in one asset — like a stock or bond — cryptocurrencies should have a limited impact on the risk-reward dynamics of your overall portfolio, he adds.

“If you have 2%-5% of your portfolio allocated to any asset class, that isn’t going to move the needle on your overall portfolio that much,” Schwartz says, adding that the exact allocation is unique to each investor. “It’s important to think about your own situation and how it may or may not help you accomplish your goals.” 

Some investing pros say that if you do want to dive into crypto, a smart way to do it may be through dollar-cost averaging, which simply means investing a fixed amount at regular intervals. And be sure to consult an accountant about the tax implications of trading (it can get pricey).

Finally, be mindful of how investment decisions affect you. “Don’t take on so much risk that you can’t sleep at night,” Kuiper says. “But the opposite is true: If you’re constantly watching bitcoin because you have 0% invested and you’re watching it go up, you probably need to buy a little of it for peace of mind.”

If you are ready to invest in crypto, here are a few of your options: Coinbase, Gemini, eToro, Robinhood and SoFi m>About the author: Anna-Louise Jackson is a financial journalist with more than a decade of writing and editing experience. She was a reporter for Bloomberg News, covering the U.S. economy, U.S. stock market, and corporate finance. Her work has also appeared in/on NerdWallet, CNBC, The Associated Press, USA Today, Forbes, Fortune, and Money. 

You can buy more things than ever with cryptocurrency these days, from video games to new furniture. But should you?

“I wouldn’t,” says Kiana Danial, author of “Cryptocurrency Investing for Dummies” and the personality behind @Investdiva on Instagram. While there are a few circumstances where it can make sense, the practical answer for most people is no. 

Cryptocurrency markets are notoriously volatile, and the price you pay for an item today may not be what your purchase is worth tomorrow. Plus, many companies experimenting with crypto payments only accept Bitcoin, which experts say is one of the worst cryptos you could choose to pay for something. 

Nevertheless, people are interested in how crypto might work as a payment method. Nearly 20% of all U.S. adults say they’re likely to make a purchase using crypto, according to a recent report by PYMNTS.com, a news and research platform for payments and commerce. But before you cash in your Bitcoin to top up the balance on your Starbucks app, here’s what experts have to say about purchasing with crypto:Don’t Pay With Bitcoin

Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency, was originally intended to be used exactly like money. Its white paper dubbed it a “peer-to-peer electronic cash system.” But Bitcoin’s frequent and volatile price fluctuations make that unrealistic in practice. 

“The price volatility kind of makes it useless as an electronic cash system,” says Ollie Leech, learn editor at CoinDesk, a leading cryptocurrency news outlet. “No person in their right mind would want to buy a coffee with Bitcoin. Say you pay $3 for the coffee, and tomorrow your Bitcoin could be worth $30. That’s a loss.” 

Just one year ago, in June 2020, Bitcoin’s value was under $10,000. Since then, it reached a high of more than $64,000 and, despite a recent price drop, remains close to $40,000. Imagine a video game that cost $50 worth of Bitcoin last June. If you waited until today to buy it instead, the same price in Bitcoin today would now cost you $200. 

People buy Bitcoin “not because they expect to be able to go to the store and spend it, but because they expect it to hold its value,” says Galen Moore, director of data and indexes at CoinDesk.

What About Other Cryptos?

Bitcoin has failed at its intended mission to become a new currency, but experts say there are other cryptocurrencies better for transacting. “Every one of them are optimized for certain things. For example, you wouldn’t go to the store and pay for groceries with gold,” says Danial — in the same way you shouldn’t spend Bitcoin on your morning latte. 

Some popular cryptos specifically designed to work better for spending include Dash, Manero, and XRP, according to Danial. Stablecoins, like Tether or USD coin, can also make better alternatives for purchasing, since their prices are tied to existing currencies. 

“There are coins that are more like cash,” says Pat White, co-founder and CEO of Bitwave, a company that helps businesses with crypto tax reporting. These coins are a better choice for spending, in theory, thanks to faster processing and lower fees. “They are designed to be spent and used very quickly.”

But in reality, there’s still a downside to using crypto developed to mimic cash to make payments. Take Bitcoin Cash (BCH), for example. BCH came about after the original Bitcoin proved itself too volatile to be used as a new kind of internet money. A group of creators decided to split off from the original crypto and create Bitcoin Cash, which was designed as a more stable version to be used for transactions.  But in practice, Bitcoin Cash is still highly volatile. In the last year its price has run from around $250 per coin to over $1,500, highlighting the risk of using it to buy something at the wrong time.

Taxes are another complication. While you don’t need to report your crypto purchases to the IRS, you do need to report when trading a cryptocurrency for goods or services. Each time you make a purchase using crypto, you need to track your cost basis, or the fair market value of the crypto when you bought it versus when you used to transact, and report that capital gain or loss.

Are There Other Real-World Uses For Crypto?

For American citizens in America, “There’s probably not going to be a good reason to buy things in crypto,” Danial says.  

That’s because the U.S. dollar fluctuates less than the vast majority of cryptocurrencies out there. However, when you consider a currency that’s less safe and stable than the U.S. dollar, the case for cryptocurrency payments increases, says Roger Aliaga-Díaz, principal and senior economist with Vanguard Investment Strategy Group.

Take a volatile currency like the Iranian Rial. “It loses value every single day,” Danial says. “I’m Iranian, my parents are as well, and whenever they go to Iran they try to never convert any money to Rial, because it just goes down.”

Would You Ever Buy Things With Crypto?

While it’s not the wisest financial decision, crypto payments can provide an alternative transaction method for those who don’t have the necessary requirements for opening a bank account, or can’t access traditional financing in a certain place. For example, unbanked people can transfer money to others, even internationally, using their crypto wallets, or make purchases using crypto with participating merchants using apps like BitPay, all without the need to go through traditional financial institutions.

Some people may also choose to buy goods with crypto to capitalize upon the speed of transaction. Globally, “a lot of deals are being made with crypto,” Danial says. “Like, maybe a prince in Dubai wants to buy a Lamborghini from Italy, and wants it immediately and doesn’t want to wait for deposits and bank information and everything, so they purchase it using crypto.”

Crypto transactions are also relatively anonymous — which is why they have a reputation as being used by criminals to buy and sell on online black markets. Crypto’s prevalence as a form of payment for illegal trades persists. It played a role in recovering the Colonial Pipeline — a key gas line servicing the U.S. Gulf and East Coasts — last month, after hackers shut down its computer systems until they were paid $4.4 million in Bitcoin. The U.S. government has since seized back $2.3 million of that ransom fee (most of what was originally paid, since the price of Bitcoin has dipped recently). 

As for businesses willing to accept payment in crypto, expect to see more as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies grow in popularity. Some companies may be looking to cash in on the latest craze, or take part in the novelty of a new payment form, while others believe cryptocurrency is the way of the future. A bullish perspective on the future of crypto was behind Tesla’s recent decision to begin offering the option to pay with Bitcoin, although the company declared it would stop accepting Bitcoin payments for cars last month, citing concerns about its environmental impact. 

There may be a future in which digital currencies become more commonplace forms of payments, but for the average American crypto investor considering paying for groceries in crypto, “I think we are not there yet,” says Danial. 

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It’s been brewing for some time, but 2021 is finally seeing established payment companies take the opportunities of cryptocurrency seriously, and among those leading the pack is Visa V . 

An industry that was previously plagued by volatility and speculation is beginning to see its enterprise-friendly side blossoming, and according to the card network, the opportunities are abundant. 

“The world of digital currencies and crypto has moved and evolved quite significantly since the 2009 launch of Bitcoin,” explains Nikola Plecas, head of new payment flows, Visa Consulting and Analytics, Europe at Visa. 

“Visa's strategy is to be a network of networks and really be able to originate and terminate new payment flows outside of card rails. We have made tremendous push into these new flows over the last couple of years with products such as B2B Connect, Visa Direct, Push to Pay – and digital currencies naturally fall into that category.”

However, this doesn’t mean that the world’s most famous cryptocurrency – Bitcoin – features heavily in the card network’s plans. Instead, Visa characterises the industry as made up of two distinct groups: conventional, untethered cryptocurrencies and fiat currency-backed digital currencies, often known as stablecoins, which are attracting greater interest from institutional and government organizations despite currently a smaller part of the overall market.

The former is seen by the company as a tradeable asset with limited industry potential – CEO Alfred Kelly described it as “digital gold” in the company’s Q2 2021 earnings call. However, the latter is where Visa sees significant potential for payments.

“We see these as having the potential to be used by consumers and merchants in the same way as existing fiat currencies are,” says Plecas. “And when it comes to areas of opportunity, there are many for organizations such as ours.”

While many use the terms cryptocurrency and digital currency interchangeably, Visa has chosen to characterize the area it is focusing on – the stablecoin side of the industry – as digital currencies. 

Visa’s digital currency efforts currently fall into five areas. Some of these are well-established and already contributing to the company’s revenue growth, while others are in the early stages and are unlikely to make a meaningful impact on Visa’s top line in the near future. However, they together represent a long-term view of the market.

The first is perhaps the most obvious: making it easy for consumers to buy cryptocurrencies, which has involved working with wallets and exchanges “drive acceptance”. This area earned a mention in Visa’s most recent earnings call as being the second biggest contributor of growth in its card-not-present excluding travel segment – the biggest growth was the surge in ecommerce.

Second is a natural progression from the first: enabling cryptocurrency to be cashed out to fiat. 

“We want to make sure that you as a consumer, once you exit your cryptocurrency positions in exchanges and wallets can cash onto a Visa credential and then start spending at any of our 70 million-plus merchant endpoints,” says Plecas.

While those two are in full swing, a newer development is the third pillar, which is the use of digital currency APIs to enable banks and neobanks to add cryptocurrency options for their clients. This is in the early stages, with US neobank First Boulevard becoming the pilot customer earlier this year, however Plecas highlights that Visa is “looking to extend to other markets and regions” with the product.

“We quickly realized that there's potential to be the next gen of neobanks,” he explains. “They're also doing a lot of their treasury operations, paying vendors and employees already in stablecoins.”

In order to do this, the company needed to enable customers to “stay within their ecosystem when they also settled their obligations” with Visa, which is where pillar four, settlement in stablecoins comes in. This has seen Visa settle its first transaction in a stablecoin, US dollar-tethered USDC, this year. 

“Settling in USDC is very similar to settling in USD,” he explains.

“What we've done is an upgrade of existing treasury infrastructure operations to be able to receive these assets, because actually receiving them is now done through public blockchain rails. And as time evolves, we want to support other stablecoins.”

The final pillar, however, is the most long-term: central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). According to the Bank for International Settlements, 86% of the world’s central banks are now considering the launch of CBDCs of one form or another, with more than one in ten currently engaged in pilots. 

CBDCs have a variety of benefits, including the potential to better reach the underbanked, and Visa argues that their implementation will require public-private partnerships.

“That way, they will be integrated in the right way into the existing payments' ecosystem,” says Plecas.

“At Visa, we want to make sure that our products and services are acting as a bridge between our existing clients and the new clients and blockchain rails involved with digital currencies.”

While much of this is focused on the consumer side of cryptocurrency and digital currencies, Visa also sees significant potential in B2B payments.

“B2B is an area of high growth, high importance and high interest to all of Visa. And we see that digital currencies can supplement and compliment some of the existing solutions that we have in the space,” says Plecas.

However, while digital currencies can impact the B2B space, and in some cases are already doing so, broader institutional adoption is likely to take time. 

Nevertheless, in areas with poor infrastructure, the potential of CBDCs in particular is strong for B2B.

“In some countries the infrastructure is just not there yet, and for these types of countries and regions, digital currencies can complement what we already have.”

One of the areas that is often raised in digital currency discussions is cross-border payments, with many citing potential speed and cost benefits. However, Plecas stresses that while there is potential, it is not a simple clean fix.

“The cross-border space is highly complex, and it has a large number of actors who are trying to solve for consumer experience in terms of end user price and time efficiency,” he says.

“It's not easy to solve for this, even if you're trying new technologies that would give you some advantages theoretically with this aspect.”

However, he says Visa sees particular opportunities in global marketplaces that bring together buyers and sellers from different currencies.

“In those instances, potentially digital currencies can help them reach some of these markets in a more time and cost efficient way.”

Daniel is Founder and CEO of FXC Intelligence, a financial data company specializing in the cross-border payments, cards and ecommerce industries. Daniel is a leading

Daniel is Founder and CEO of FXC Intelligence, a financial data company specializing in the cross-border payments, cards and ecommerce industries. Daniel is a leading influencer in the cross-border payments space globally. He is frequently invited to speak at industry conferences and provide insights and data on the sector. His weekly industry newsletter is the most widely read in the international payments market.

Reported by Nina Bambysheva, Michael del Castillo and Steven Ehrlich

The meteoric rise of bitcoin - from $10,000 since last year’s list to an all-time high of $65,000 this April –  and other major cryptocurrencies over the past few months secured a record eight spots on this year’s Fintech 50 list for blockchain and cryptocurrency focused companies. The ensuing wave of institutional adoption also brought hordes of capital to crypto startups, giving birth to new crypto unicorns (companies with a $1 billion plus valuation) and signaling a ‘coming of age’ for the industry.

First-time members include crypto lending platform BlockFi, which scored a $350 million investment, the third largest venture round ever among crypto startups, in March at a whopping $3 billion valuation, and Paxos, a blockchain infrastructure company best known as the partner for PayPal PYPL and Venmo’s crypto brokerage services, providing access to bitcoin, ether and a handful of other major cryptocurrencies to more than 350 million customers. 

Other debutants include leading cryptocurrency custodians Anchorage and Fireblocks. As more corporations and institutional investors awoke to the crypto disruption and engaged in amassing sizable bitcoin positions, crypto custody services saw a massive spike in interest. In January, Anchorage became one of the first crypto-native firms to be granted a conditional national trust bank charter by the Comptroller of the Currency, while Fireblocks saw a 2023% growth over the previous year, having transferred over half a trillion dollars in digital assets since launch in 2019. 

Amid the novel non-fungible token (NFT) frenzy, San-Francisco-based Alchemy emerged as a new breed of fintech leaders. Alchemy’s technology powers just about every major NFT platform, including OpenSea, Nifty Gateway, and NBA Top Shot, connecting users to the Ethereum blockchain, on which most non-fungible tokens, or digital collectibles, are built. 

But the veterans are still going strong. Cryptocurrency investigation and compliance company Chainalysis, previously included in the 2018 and 2020 iterations of the Fintech 50 list, achieved a unicorn status in November after closing a $100 million Series C financing round. Chainalysis could be dubbed as “the guardian of crypto” as it is helping government agencies in 50 countries analyze blockchain data to investigate illicit transactions and ensure compliance with anti-money laundering regulations. 

One notable graduate of the list is Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, which shook the industry and public markets with its April 14 Nasdaq debut – the largest direct listing in history. At one point during the opening day, Coinbase’s market cap exceeded $100 billion, setting a high bar for crypto startups still eyeing a public offering. Two of this year’s members, Kraken and Gemini (also cryptocurrency exchanges), have discussed going public in the future. 

But fintech is no longer just a tale of corporate success. Cryptocurrency lenders and exchanges are slowly giving way to the new hot shot of the class - decentralized finance (DeFi). An umbrella term for blockchain-based applications and protocols aiming to replace traditional financial intermediaries like banks and brokerages, DeFi skyrocketed in popularity and market capitalization over the past 12 months – from just over $1 billion in locked value in June 2020 to the current $67.9 billion. The largest among DeFi platforms are lending and borrowing protocols, such as Aave and MakerDAO, and decentralized exchanges like Uniswap and SushiSwap – all built on Ethereum. DeFi’s rise contributed to the surge of ether, Ethereum’s native cryptocurrency, which hit an all-time high of over $4,000 earlier in May. Although ineligible for the Fintech 50 list because of their composition, they deserve recognition for their success and ingenuity.

Alchemy

Headquarters: San Francisco, CA 

Sometimes called an Amazon Web Services for crypto, the company’s user interface lets non-coders write and read info on a blockchain. Alchemy provides the service for free to some clients, but charges $49 a month and up to others. Users include traditional organizations like PwC and UNICEF and crypto players like Dapper Labs, creator of the Flow blockchain. 

Funding: $96 million from Coatue, Addition and Pantera and individual investors such as Charles Schwab, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, Jay Z and Will Smith. 

Latest valuation: $505 million

Bona fides: Despite having just 22 employees, its infrastructure has been used for $30 billion in transactions and has been key to the NFT explosion. 

Cofounders: CEO Nikil Viswanathan 33 and CTO  Joseph Lau, 31

Anchorage

Headquarters: San Francisco, CA 

Regulated custodian offering institutions lending, trading, financing and staking of crypto. In January, Anchorage, a South Dakota trust company, became among the first crypto-native firms to be granted a conditional national trust bank charter by the Comptroller of the Currency.

Funding: $137 million from Andreessen Horowitz, Blockchain Capital, the sovereign wealth fund for the Singapore state government and others

Latest valuation: $520 million, according to Pitchbook

Bona fides:  Working with partner (and investor) Visa V , served as custodian for first stablecoin payment on the Visa network 

Cofounders: CEO Nathan McCauley, 35 and President Diogo Monica, 35

BlockFi

Headquarters: Jersey City, NJ

Fashioning itself as a crypto wealth manager, BlockFi offers its 300,000 account holders crypto-collateralized loans at interest rates as low as 4.5% and up to 8.6% annual return on their crypto holdings via interest-bearing accounts. The four-year old startup is also preparing to launch a bitcoin-reward credit card.

Funding: $504 million from Tiger Global Management, Susquehanna Government Products, Pomp Investments and others

Latest valuation: $3 billion

Bona fides: Over the past year, assets under management have grown from $1 billion to $20 billion, while monthly revenues have jumped from $1 million to more than $45 million and its workforce has expanded from 75 to 500. 

Cofounders: CEO Zac Prince, 34, and SVP of operations Flori Marquez, 29, a member of the 2021 Forbes 30 under 30 list

Chainalysis:

Headquarters: New York City

This blockchain analysis pioneer with 200-plus employees helps governments and businesses in 50 countries analyze blockchain data to investigate illicit transactions and ensure compliance with anti-money laundering and know-your-customer regulations. 

Funding: $266 million from Addition, Accel, Benchmark and others

Latest valuation: $2 billion

Bona fides: Has 350 clients including the IRS, Gemini, Barclays and Square SQ .

Cofounders: CEO Michael Gronager, 50; Chief Strategy Officer Jonathan Levin, 31; and  former CTO Jan Moller, 49

Fireblocks:

Headquarters: New York City 

This cryptocurrency institutional custody startup is already helping more than 250 clients, including BNY Mellon, Revolut and other banks, fintechs, exchanges and hedge funds store and transfer a wide variety of digital assets. It both serves as a custodian and helps larger institutions establish in-house custody services.  

Funding: $179 million from Coatue, Ribbit, Silicon Valley Bank and others

Latest valuation: $700 million

Bona fides: Has already transferred nearly $700 billion in digital assets since launching, reflecting a 2023% increase over the previous year.

Cofounders: CEO Michael Shaulov, 38 and CTO Idan Ofrat, 39

Gemini:

One of the earliest crypto exchanges, it has grown to 350 employees and now conducts some $30 billion in transactions annually. As a licensed and regulated New York trust company, it’s well positioned for growing institutional adoption of crypto. Recently expanded into non-fungible tokens with the purchase of Nifty Gateway, now the largest NFT exchange. 

Latest valuation: $5 billion

Bona fides: As of late March, Nifty Gateway had sold $132 million of the $188 million worth of such work bought by collectors

Cofounders: CEO Tyler Winklevoss, 39 and president Cameron Winklevoss, 39, twins made famous for early legal battle with Mark Zuckerberg over the idea for Facebook. 

Kraken

Headquarters: San Francisco, California 

Second largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S. by transaction volume. Became the first U.S. cryptocurrency firm to receive a banking charter, obtaining a Special Purpose Depository Institution license in Wyoming, and plans to open Kraken Bank and provide accounts to current clients  this fall. Also operates reference rate and index provider, CF Benchmarks, which is used to display prices or price derivatives and indexes by Bloomberg, CME Group CME , and Nasdaq, among others.

Funding: $32 million. Also, undisclosed private equity round in April 2021

Latest valuation: Shares are trading in private markets at an implied $20 billion valuation 

Bona fides: Processed more than $230 billion in trading volume as of May 3. Average daily derivatives volume of $690 million 

Cofounder and CEO: Jesse Powell, a Cal State philosophy major whose first venture helped online gamers manage in-game currencies

Paxos

Founded (as itBit) way back in 2012, the blockchain infrastructure provider has quietly built a backbone for Paypal and Venmo’s crypto brokerage services that allows their customers to buy, hold and sell bitcoin, ethereum and a few other cryptocurrencies directly from their accounts. Additionally, Societe Generale, Credit Suisse and Nomura Instinet use Paxos’ blockchain-based service to settle trades directly with each other, without the traditional intermediary, the National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC)

Funding: $537 million from PayPal Ventures, Declaration Partners and others

Latest valuation: $2.4 billion

Bona fides: More than 100 institutional clients 

Cofounders: CEO Charles Cascarilla, 44 (a former Goldman Sachs financial analyst) and CEO Asia Rich Teo, 41

I report on cryptocurrencies and emerging use cases of blockchain. Born and raised in Russia, I graduated from NYU Abu Dhabi with a degree in economics and Columbia

I report on cryptocurrencies and emerging use cases of blockchain. Born and raised in Russia, I graduated from NYU Abu Dhabi with a degree in economics and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where I focused on data and business reporting. 

In this article, we discuss the 10 best cryptocurrency startups to watch. If you want to skip our detailed analysis of these startups, go directly to the 5 Best Cryptocurrency Startups to Watch.

Cryptocurrencies have exploded in value from humble beginnings in 2009 when Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency in the world today that touched a market capitalization of more than $1 trillion towards the end of February, was created and launched as the first decentralized cryptocurrency. Since 2012, Bitcoin has gained more than 193,000% in value and accelerated the launch of hundreds of different types of cryptocurrencies. By 2026, the market size for cryptocurrencies is expected to cross $1 trillion in value.

There is little doubt that crypto-related ventures are some of the hottest items in the technology sector. Many big companies who want to integrate revolutionary new technology onto their platforms or just want some exposure to the industry are funding crypto startups. Big tech names such as Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG ) and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN ) are part of this list, along with payments giant PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL ). Hedge funds and retail investors are jumping on the crypto gravy train as well.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has invested in Blockchain.com, one of the largest online crypto platforms in the world. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) owner Jeff Bezos has backed Chipper Cash, a fintech company based in Africa that has rapidly gained popularity across the continent and is now looking to expand overseas. PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) earlier this year announced that it was in the process of allowing hundreds of millions of users on its platform to checkout with cryptocurrencies.

As consumer confidence in crypto offerings increases through institutional investments and it becomes clear that crypto is indeed the future of financial services in a digital world, startups that aim to solve crypto-related problems in the market have been gaining in popularity. Cybersecurity, health, and coin exchanges are some of the key segments that investors should monitor as they offer explosive growth potential in the crypto market. It remains to be seen whether the wider finance world, stil reliant on fiat, can weather these tailwinds.

The entire hedge fund industry is feeling the reverberations of the changing financial landscape. Its reputation has been tarnished in the last decade, during which its hedged returns couldn’t keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. On the other hand, Insider Monkey’s research was able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by more than 124 percentage points since March 2017. Between March 2017 and February 26th 2021 our monthly newsletter’s stock picks returned 197.2%, vs. 72.4% for the SPY. Our stock picks outperformed the market by more than 124 percentage points (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that significantly underperformed the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 13% through November 16th. That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. You can subscribe to our free newsletter on our homepage to receive our stories in your inbox.

Photo by Mario Gogh on Unsplash

With this context in mind, here is our list of the 10 best cryptocurrency startups to watch. These startups were selected keeping in mind the crypto-related problems they aim to solve, the quality of products or services they offer, and their basic business model underpinning the earnings philosophy.

CoinSwitch Kuber is a cryptocurrency exchange primarily facilitating crypto transactions in India. In late April, the firm raised $25 million in funding from Tiger Global Management LLC , the New York-based hedge fund with $43 billion in assets under management. With the latest funding, the company is now valued at over $500 million. Scott Shleifer, a partner at the hedge fund, has told news media in India that the fund is excited to partner with a firm that is well positioned to cash in on the crypto boom among retail investors in the country.

Chase Coleman of Tiger Global

Previously, the crypto exchange had also raised funding from Paradigm, an investment firm founded by Fred Ehrsam. Ehrsam is one of the founders of Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN ), the largest crypto exchange in the world.

Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) went public in April in one of the biggest IPOs of the year so far, ending the first day of trading with a market cap of $86 billion.

Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) has earned bullish ratings from many investment advisories in recent weeks even as crypto stocks tumble with the fall in price of Bitcoin.

Just like Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), and PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL), Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) is one of the best crypto stocks to watch.

Bitwise Asset Management is a cryptocurrency index fund manager offering clients exposure to crypto investments. Recently, the fund raised $70 million in a Series B funding round led by big names in the hedge fund industry such as Stanley Druckenmiller, who runs Duquesne Capital , and David McCormick, the CEO of Bridgewater Associates. The crypto fund manages more than $1.2 billion in assets and has plans for aggressive expansion in the coming months, CEO Hunter Horsley trying to double the size of his team by the end of the year.

The backing of institutions like Duquesne Capital, one of the leading investment firms in the US with more than $3 billion in assets under management, will help crypto-related offerings gain wider acceptance. A top holding of Duquesne Capital is Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT ), which is also bullish on the crypto industry.

Out of the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Washington-based investment firm Fisher Asset Managemen t is a leading shareholder in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) with 23.3 million shares worth more than $5.2 billion.

Just like Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), and PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is one of the best crypto stocks to watch.

Fetch.AI Limited is an artificial intelligence (AI) company that markets AI solutions for blockchain networks. In late March, the company launched a new version of its Mainnet network with 30 validators that included Outlier Ventures, Forbole, and InfStones, among others. The company has so managed to raise more than $26 million in three funding rounds.

GDA Group and Outlier Ventures have contributed to these rounds. The company is based in the United Kingdom and is placed eight on our list of 10 best cryptocurrency startups to watch.

Another firm with a thriving artificial intelligence business is Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU ), the Chinese technology company that operates the leading internet search engine in the country. The artificial intelligence unit of Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) was recently called undervalued by investment advisory Daiwa.

At the end of the first quarter of 2021, 89 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $6.5 billion in Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), up from 51 in the preceding quarter worth $4.6 billion.

Just like Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), and PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL), Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) is one of the best crypto stocks to watch.

Provenance is a company that markets supply chain and product transparency. It operates software that uses blockchain, mobile, and other open sources of data to provide users with the origin, tracking, and impact of products. It has raised more than $1.2 million in funding so far over five rounds. Digital Currency Group and Working Capital Fund are some of the big names that have invested in the company. The company is based in San Francisco and is ranked seventh on our list of 10 best cryptocurrency startups to watch.

A company that operates on a similar business model to Provenance is MongoDB, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDB), the software company providing commercial support for source-available databases. MongoDB, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDB) recently beat market predictions on earnings per share and revenue for the first quarter of 2021.

Out of the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Boston-based investment firm Whale Rock Capital Management is a leading shareholder in MongoDB, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDB) with 1.2 million shares worth more than $338 million.

Just like Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), and PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL), MongoDB, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDB) is one of the best crypto stocks to watch.

Solve.Care is a company that markets a decentralized blockchain platform for healthcare and related services. The firm links patients to health professionals and coordinates all kinds of benefits, care packages, payments within the system using a smart blockchain contract. It has so far managed to win the backing of several big insurance companies as the platform of the firm can be used to settle different kinds of insurance claims quickly and cheaply. The company has so far raised $30 million in funding over two rounds.

Another company making waves in the healthcare sector with the innovative use of new technology is Teladoc Health, Inc. (NYSE: TDOC), the telehealth stock that has seen a flurry of hedge fund interest in recent months as the coronavirus lockdowns helped the company grow dramatically with people opting to consult health professionals online instead of making the trip to a doctor.

At the end of the first quarter of 2021, 42 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $3.3 billion in Teladoc Health, Inc. (NYSE: TDOC), down from 50 in the previous quarter worth $2.6 billion.

Click to continue reading and see 5 Best Cryptocurrency Startups to Watch.

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Disclose. None. 10 Best Cryptocurrency Startups to Watch is originally published on Insider Monkey.

THE value of cryptocurrency Tether has remained steady in recent days as others have crashed.

We explain all you need to know about the cryptocurrency and its price.

🔵 Read our cryptocurrency live blog for the latest Bitcoin updates

If you're thinking of investing, keep in mind it's a risky business and you're not guaranteed to make money.

You need to make sure you know the risks and can afford to lose the cash, and never invest in something you don't understand.

Cryptocurrencies are typically also highly volatile, so your cash can go down as well as up in the blink of an eye.

Tether (USDT) was originally launched as Realcoin in 2014, but has since changed its name and been updated over the years.

It's described as a "stablecoin", which is a type of cryptocurrency that aims to keep crypto values stable.

Tether aims to do this by pegging the price to a regular "fiat" currency, like US dollars, Euros or the Chinese yuan.

British pounds aren't currently available, according to its website.

By using blockchain technology, Tether users are said to be able to store, send and receive digital tokens mirrored against their chosen currency.

Tether claims to keep values steady by holding reserves in that currency in a bank, Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, told The Sun.

However, she added: "Tether has still witnessed spikes and sharp falls in price.

"It has also been criticised for a lack of transparency, has had to settle US lawsuits and trading in the currency is banned in the state of New York."

While Charlie Barton, investment specialist at comparison site Finder, added: "Tether is the largest stablecoin by circulation and market capitalization.

"This isn’t really a cryptocurrency people would look to invest in, it’s just a way to trade cryptocurrencies within the cryptocurrency ecosystem."

Tether was founded by Brock Pierce, Reeve Collins and Craig Sellars.

The value of Tether is currently sitting at 71p ($1), according to CoinMarketCap.

It's remained at this level in the past 24 hours, in comparison to larger plunges in the wider cryptocurrency markets today.

Tether dropped to its lowest level ever on April 27, 2017, when it fell to a value of 65p ($0.92).

A month later, Tether then hit its record peak of 79p ($1.11) on May 27, 2017.

Its market cap is currently £41.1billion ($57.7billion), according to CoinMarketCap.

Investing in cryptocurrencies is essentially gambling and there are no guarantees that you will see what you pay in go up in value.

Cryptocurrencies are VERY high risk and a speculative investment, with limited track records and no underlying value.

There is also no guarantee that you can convert crypto assests back into cash, as it may depend on the demand and supply in the existing market.

If you're planning to invest in newer cryptos, keep in mind these are riskier than others, such as Bitcoin, and would make you more open to fraud.

Ms Streeter said: "Investors should treat trading in cryptocurrencies with extreme caution, and dabble at the edges of their investment portfolio, only with money they can afford to lose."

In January, the Financial Conduct Authority warned that Brits risk losing ALL of their money if they invest in cryptocurrencies.

Meanwhile, an advert for a bitcoin exchange Coinfloor was banned in March for telling savers cryptocurrencies are a safe investment.

People considering investing in Bitcoin or shares and stocks have also been warned over "risky" tips being shared on TikTok.

Tether, the biggest stablecoin by market capitalization, recently announced that it launched the Tether USDT cryptocurrency on Solana, which has become the 7th network to support the stablecoin.

The stablecoin is already supported by the Ethereum, Tron, Algorand, EOS, Liquid Network, Omni, and Bitcoin Cash networks, which has allowed the currency to reach a market capitalization of over $37 Million and occupy the 4th spot in the cryptocurrency ladder.

The Solana Token, SOL, saw its price spike after the announcement by reaching a value of $16.32, the closest the token has got to its all-time high of $18.12 back on February 24th.

Tether expects that with the addition of USDt to Solana, users will be able to enjoy the speeds of more than 50k transactions per second and low fees the network offers, facilitating the adoption of the currency and boosting innovation in spaces like Decentralized Finance (DeFi).

The addition of USDt support has proven to be beneficial for networks that have integrated in the past by attracting investors who see the stablecoin as safe haven in times of high market volatility, as well as crypto enthusiasts that rely on the stablecoin due to its 1-on-1 peg to the US dollar.

Back in late February, Tether announced that there were forged documents circulating online that aimed to undermine Tether and cryptocurrency’s credibility.

The group behind the extortion was asking 500 BTC to be sent to prevent the leak of the documents, which according to them could “harm the bitcoin ecosystem”.

Tether stated that they believe the extortion was a “pretty sad attempt at a shakedown” but it was being taken seriously, with all the information being forwarded to law enforcement for an investigation to take place.

The alleged documents supposedly show an email thread in which a Tether employee’s communicated with a representative from Bahamas bank Deltec would put in doubt the companies claims of its currency’s backing.

Fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) campaigns are not unusual in the cryptocurrency ecosystem but attempts to extortion companies of the size of Tether are pretty unusual.

However, as the cryptocurrency ecosystem continues to grow and more attention is paid to companies behind the projects, these types of actions are expected to increase.

Despite being the most popular stablecoin used by millions, Tether has been in the eye of controversy since its inception in 2014 due to its claims of being backed by US dollars, which has been contested by multiple experts.

The controversy recently resulted in New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, investigating Tether’s operations and going as far as branding the company as “fraudulent” back on February 23rd and imposing an $18.5 million fine.

The reason behind the assertion was that Tether had been operating with the funds that backed the cryptocurrency by interacting with Bitfinex, which according to the attorney general was not aware of the location of the money during the investigation.

While Tether and Bitfinex settled with the general attorney’s office, both companies were banned from offering trading services in the state. Both companies denied any wrongdoing and claimed to pay the fine to “put this matter behind”.

Tether also agreed to disclose additional information about its reserves every quarter to the attorney general’s office and its users, increasing transparency to regain investor confidence.

The stablecoin is seen by many as one of the most influential forces in the crypto market, with personalities like Vitalik Buterin going as far as calling it a “ticking time bomb demon” when referring to the Bitcoin ecosystem, as it has proven to have a considerable impact on the most popular coin’s performance.

In this article we discuss the 10 biggest cryptocurrency predictions in 2021. If you want to skip our detailed analysis of these predictions, go directly to the 5 Biggest Cryptocurrency Predictions in 2021.

Cryptocurrencies have widely been hailed as the future of finance across the globe but the price volatility surrounding these digital offerings still makes them risky investments. For example, after registering record increases over a period spanning more than twelve months, Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, fell from around $64,000 in April to below $30,000 in the middle of May after social media speculation around coin mining, before recovering slightly to above $40,000, but has since fallen to $32,000 again. 

The freefall was initiated when Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) chief Elon Musk took to Twitter to question the environmental impact that coin mining had on the globe. Musk is a world renowned tech mogul with a cult-like following in many countries, and his followers, which had until then been bullish on Bitcoin, started cashing out, leading to a chain reaction that ultimately ended up hurting many crypto-related stocks, including Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) itself. This fall came in tandem with a broader lull in the market around technology growth stocks. 

As growth stock volatility stoked institutional concern, hedge fund managers, many of whom are bullish on companies that accept crypto transactions like Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP) and Square, Inc. (NYSE: SQ), sought to ease the concerns, revealing their own holdings in cryptocurrencies and even buying up some crypto stocks at lower prices in anticipation of a crypto boom in the latter part of the year.

There is still a lot of uncertainty in the market surrounding cryptocurrencies in general. Amid all the high drama, financial experts, hedge fund managers, government officials, and even some of the founding members of popular digital currencies have recently appeared on news platforms, spoken at conferences, and engaged with their followers on social media to predict the future of the crypto industry and provide some much-needed context to the conversations around crypto and fintech and their power as disruptors of traditional finance.

There is no doubt that the finance world is evolving around new technology. The entire hedge fund industry is feeling the reverberations of the changing financial landscape. Its reputation has been tarnished in the last decade, during which its hedged returns couldn’t keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. On the other hand, Insider Monkey’s research was able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by more than 124 percentage points since March 2017. Between March 2017 and February 26th 2021 our monthly newsletter’s stock picks returned 197.2%, vs. 72.4% for the SPY. Our stock picks outperformed the market by more than 124 percentage points (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that significantly underperformed the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 13% through November 16th. That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. You can subscribe to our free newsletter on our homepage to receive our stories in your inbox.

Luis Louro / shutterstock.com

With this context in mind, here is our list of the 10 biggest cryptocurrency predictions in 2021. We mentioned predictions, important statements, analysis and forecasts by famous experts about cryptocurrencies.

Prediction: Blockchain Will Change How Money is Moved Around the World

Jed McCaleb is the chief technology officer of the Stellar cryptocurrency, a digital currency that is developing a name for itself by offering expertise in enterprise-level crypto transactions. Stellar has partnered with popular companies like International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM) to facilitate cheaper and quicker cross border money transactions. 

While announcing the partnership between Stellar and International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM) back in 2017, Jed McCaleb predicted that the new collaboration represented a significant milestone for Stellar as well as the financial technology industry as a whole. He added that blockchain tech was being used to facilitate cross-border payments.

Predicting the future of the crypto industry, he noted that once fully scaled by International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM), the new technology could potentially change the way money was moved around the world. Stellar has competition in the enterprise crypto solutions market from Ripple, another cryptocurrency with low cross border transfer fees. 

Just like Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA), Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP), and Square, Inc. (NYSE: SQ), International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM) is one of the top crypto stocks according to the 10 biggest cryptocurrency predictions in 2021.

Prediction: Going to Take Years to Become a Decentralized Autonomous ­Organization

Changpeng Zhao is the CEO of Binacce, a cryptocurrency exchange platform, like Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN), that is the largest digital currency exchange in terms of trading volumes. The exchange also offers Binance Coin, a cryptocurrency used for transactions on the Binance platform. Zhao gave an interview to business news publication Bloomberg in April. 

When asked about the future public listing of his exchange, following the blockbuster debut of Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) on the stock market earlier this year, Zhao was adamant that the Binance exchange had no such plans, saying that his company was cash-­sufficient and able to grow without help.

Binance is the chief rival of Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN), the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world in terms of value of transactions on their network. When pressed about his company being run by just software, Zhao said it was still possible for Binance to become a decentralized autonomous ­organization, but it was going to take a number of years.

Just like Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA), Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP), and Square, Inc. (NYSE: SQ), Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) is one of the top crypto stocks according to the 10 biggest cryptocurrency predictions in 2021.

Prediction: Disruptions In Stablecoin Value Could Wreak Havoc on Crypto

Timothy Massad is the former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and an expert on digital currencies. In an opinion piece for business news publication Bloomberg in May, Massad delved into a lot of detail about Tether, a cryptocurrency tied to the US dollar that companies like Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) have supported in the recent past.

Since Tether is tied to a stable fiat currency, it is much more stable in terms of price than other coins on the market, making it a suitable crypto candidate for Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA). In his Bloomberg piece, Massad elaborated how this key differentiation between Tether and other digital currencies would impact the wider crypto industry. 

He likened the hypothetical fall in value of Tether to below $1 to the collapse of the Lehman Brothers before the 2008 financial crisis that even affected market giants like Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA). Massad wrote that disruptions in a stablecoin’s value could wreak havoc on the broader crypto market unless regulators step in.

Just like Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA), Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP), and Square, Inc. (NYSE: SQ), Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) is one of the top crypto stocks according to the 10 biggest cryptocurrency predictions in 2021.

Prediction: Cardano More Energy Efficient Than Bitcoin

Charles Hoskinson is the CEO of research firm Input Output Hong Kong and one of the founders of Cardano, a blockchain-based cryptocurrency that is not very different from the crypto coins used by big firms like DocuSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: DOCU) to widen the overall trust in digital currencies in the business world. 

However, Cardano is different from the digital coins accepted by DocuSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: DOCU) as it is more energy efficient than the other currencies, a point that Hoskinson raised in an interview with business news publication Forbes in April. The founder of Cardano said that his currency was 1.6 million times more energy efficient than Bitcoin. 

The overall strain that mining coins puts on the environment has put firms like DocuSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: DOCU) under pressure to switch to energy efficient options, resulting in a dramatic fall in value of cryptocurrencies that are energy intensive or do not use clean energy solutions for mining.

Just like Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA), Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP), and Square, Inc. (NYSE: SQ), DocuSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: DOCU) is one of the top crypto stocks according to the 10 biggest cryptocurrency predictions in 2021.

Prediction: Use Cases Will Increase Value of Bitcoin Cash Like Other Cryptocurrencies

Brian Kelly is the CEO of BKCM LLC and one of the earliest proponents for the wider adoption of Bitcoin Cash, a Bitcoin spinoff mined using powerful computer hardware marketed by companies like NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA). Bitcoin cash offers several advantages over Bitcoin, including faster transaction speeds. 

However, the market has been slow in catching up to the untapped potential of Bitcoin Cash, much like the undervalued visual computing power of NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) chips. Kelly, a veteran financial expert, believes that value can only be added to new cryptocurrencies by increasing their use cases.

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA), by making its hardware more adaptable, has successfully become a top computer hardware firm through this strategy. In an interview with business news publication CNBC a couple of years ago, Kelly called Bitcoin Cash a must have cryptocurrency based on news around the setup of a Bitcoin Cash Development Fund. 

Just like Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA), Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP), and Square, Inc. (NYSE: SQ), NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) is one of the top crypto stocks according to the 10 biggest cryptocurrency predictions in 2021.

Click to continue reading and see 5 Biggest Cryptocurrency Predictions in 2021.

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Disclosure: None. 10 Biggest Cryptocurrency Predictions in 2021 is originally published on Insider Monkey.

Market Cap:24h Vol:Cryptocurrencies: 2252Markets: 19005ENGESTRUSTURDEUCHIKORITA USD TWDTZSUAHUGXUYUUZSVEFVESVNDVUVWSTZARZMWZWLCurrencies Exchanges BlogBlockfolio Watchlist Currency Converter Website Widgets Buy / Sell Instantly Mining Equipment Bitcoin Blockexplorer Exchange Currencies Top Gainers Top Losers High / Low Exchanges Blog Initial Coin Offerings Events Wallets Mining Pools Currency Converter Website Widgets Buy / Sell Instantly Blockfolio Watchlist Bitcoin Blockexplorer Mining Equipment Advertise Contact Us Login Register Exchange Market Cap24h Vol2252Cryptocurrencies19005MarketsCryptoNewsZ2019-06-23 10:20:05 Tether has finally admitted to the court that they invested some of their reserves in Bitcoin. It seems finally the judgment is taking place. In fact, David Miller, the attorney for Bitfinex was confident in quoting that Tether was investing many instruments which include Bitcoin along with cash and the equivalent of the same. Followers The post Tether Price Analysis: Tether (USDT) To Make Its Way Steadily And Stable! appeared first on CryptoNewsZ.Most Read 6-232019-06-23Related News23 Jun 201923 Jun 201923 Jun 201923 Jun 201923 Jun 201923 Jun 2019Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.Get Crypto NewsletterMarket Cap24h Vol58.44%Bitcoin Share30Today News

Bitfinex executives deny claims that Tether (USDT) is used to manipulate the price of Bitcoin (BTC). 

Tether is a stablecoin pegged 1-to-1 to the US dollar and used as a digital dollar to facilitate transactions between cryptocurrencies. The coin was created by Reeve Collins, Craig Sellars, and the 2020 US presidential election candidate Brock Pierce, who called it a successful experiment of putting fiat currency on a blockchain.

Tether claims that it issues new coins in response to need, but critics argue that the token is used in an elaborate scam to buy and ramp up the price of Bitcoin.

In a 2018 study, researchers from the University of Texas concluded that Tether appears to have been used to stabilize and manipulate the price of Bitcoin, but Bitfinex executives deny the claims. 

In a new interview with What Bitcoin Did host Peter McCormack, Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino and general counsel Stuart Hoegner again pushed back on the allegations.

They acknowledged that the flagship cryptocurrency is among the reserve assets that Bitfinex uses to back USDT. Still, they dismissed the idea that Tether is issued only to buy Bitcoin. Ardoino reasoned that Bitfinex can use the fiat money it has to buy BTC.

Hoegner also claims that the stablecoin is fully backed by assets that include cash, cash equivalents, and BTC amid reports that only 74 percent of USDT is backed. Ardoino and Hoegner refused to reveal the exact makeup of Bitfinex’s reserve assets, though. 

As to why Bitfinex is not hiring outside auditors to conduct a full audit, Hoegner justified this with consulting reports from an accounting firm and a law firm, and a report from Btifinex bankers.

Listen to the full interview below:

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The bank, called Xapo, is an entity that specialises in cryptocurrencies. It provides a bitcoin wallet combined with a cold storage vault and a bitcoin-based debit card. Xapo has been granted a European e-money license in Gibraltar which has allowed it to provide electronic fiat money custodial and transfer services.

Gibraltar’s Finance Minister Albert Isola told news outlet Decrypt: “Xapo have now established themselves in Gibraltar as a fully-fledged bank."

A representative from international law firm Isolas LLP, Joey Garcia spoke about how Gibraltar is extending its regulatory guidelines for digital asset exchanges.

Mr Garcia said: “The framework aims to guide those who have the potential to form important foundational concepts for the work of other international organisations, such as the Financial Action Task Force, the European Commission and the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).

“Gibraltar has long been a leader when it comes to fostering innovation and in the development of virtual asset service providers’ regulatory standards and we are confident the 10th Core Principle will aid us even further in our mission to achieve this.

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“Particularly as the integrity of these markets is such a key focus internationally.

"We already have some of the largest groups in the world regulated in Gibraltar and this should continue to place those groups at the forefront of standard-setting in the industry,”

Xapo is capitalising on the boom in cryptocurrencies and was founded by the Argentine businessman Wences Casares.

The bank now has its physical headquarters in Grand Casemates Square, Gibraltar.

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The bank is the first such entity in Europe to have a physical branch.

Within the Xapo building is a series of ATMs where customers can manage their cyber-currency transactions.

Another hint of the forward-thinking atmosphere at the bank's headquarters is the fact that the furniture within has been manufactured using 3D printing technology.

A statement from the new bank said: "Xapo exists to provide you with the gold standard of protection for your wealth.

"Now that we’ve established ourselves in Gibraltar and acquired a banking license, we’re thrilled to be able to offer you a full-fledged suite of financial tools.

"Xapo is a licensed bank regulated by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC).

"Your funds are safe in a crypto-friendly financial hub with a lengthy history of outstanding legal protections for consumers."

The company has described how "the private keys that lock your bitcoins away are protected from every angle" in a deep vault within the Swiss Alps.

Xapo state that they have employed a global team of experts in financial crime and use the latest in blockchain analysis technologies to ensure that savings are kept secure.

The bank plans to focus on clients “mostly in emerging markets."

Speaking to Coindesk the bank's founder Mr Casares said that these clients must have between $30,000 and $1million in funds to invest in cryptocurrencies.

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Shiba Inu is still quite new, meaning not much is known about the crypto and its legitimacy. Shiba tokens, known as SHIB, are listed and incentivised on ShibaSwap, the crypto coin’s own decentralised exchange platform. Earlier this month the value of SHIB soared to $0.00000977, huge gains when compared to lows of $0.00000006 in mid-April according to CoinMarketCap. SHIB’s value is sitting at $ 0.000008535 according at the time of writing on June 7.

Hailing itself as the ‘Doge killer’ in reference to former crypto Dogecoin, SHIB has shown extensive growth in the market.

Fans and investors are now, inevitably, wondering whether SHIB will follow Doge to the moon and hit the one dollar mark.

SHIB is likely to reach $1, according to analysts, but that could take some time as it’s unlikely to happen overnight.

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The self-claimed doge killer could reach $0.000085 by the end of June 2021, as forecasters predict.

If the trend continues on its upwards trajectory, the cost of SHIB could climb to $0.0003 by January 2022.

By the same calculations, there is a very low chance the coin will reach $1 by 2025.

However, according to other reports SHIB is primed for a breakout as some analysts predict the price could double imminently.

FX Street writes: “Despite almost two weeks of consolidation, SHIB has overcome indecision, working in favour of the bulls after gaining over 55 percent in market value from its bottom.

“An adjacent parallel channel could be drawn to determine the possible price target for SHIB if accelerating interest is confirmed.

“Shiba Inu needs to escape above the upper trend line of the current parallel channel, coinciding with the strong resistance level given by the 50 four-hour moving average.

“Should the mim-coin manage to break above $0.00001100, its market value could double.

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“Indeed, it could reach $0.00001816, which coincides with the 27.2 percent Fibonacci extension level.”

However, since there’s little to no price history for an asset like SHIB, it’s essential to consider the downsides of investment before putting your money in.

Senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, Susannah Streeter, warned against investing in SHIB.

She said: “The Shiba Inu coin appears to have been created just to give Dogecoin a run for its money.

“It features the same dog which became a meme and aims to replicate Dogecoin’s success of turning a joke into a money making machine.”

Ms Streeter added: “Investors should treat trading in crypto currencies with extreme caution, and dabble at the edges of their investment portfolio only with money they can afford to lose.”

Nigel Green, chief executive of deVere Group added: “Extreme caution should be exercised before investing in untested cryptocurrencies.

“The price swing can be expected to be wild and there is a legitimate risk that investors could g3et burned.

“There are major differences between the likes of bitcoin, which runs on cutting edge tech and has a limited suppled giving it scarcity value like gold, amongst other valuable attributes, and unknown digital tokens which seemingly have no inherent value.”

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India's predicted move could have a very positive effect on the price of bitcoin as the nation is the world's sixth-largest economy. This could open up a $10trillion economy to bitcoin investment and daily transactions. About the possibility of India following El Salvador's lead, editor at Invezz, Jayson Derrick said: “Encouraging developments in the move towards greater adoption of bitcoin aren’t limited to poorer countries.

"India, a G20 member with a $10trillion economy, is reportedly close to classifying bitcoin as an asset class”.

Referring to the trajectory of mainstream adoption of the world's preeminent cryptocurrency, bitcoin pioneer Max Keiser told Express.co.uk: "India, like all nations, will follow El Salvador and make bitcoin their official currency.

"I can say this with 100 percent certainty because Game Theory is hardcoded into the bitcoin protocol, reckless money printing by central banks is unstoppable, and the best safe-haven asset in the world is bitcoin."

Many Latin American nations such as Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and Brazil, with economies that struggle with inflationary issues, may follow the example set by El Salvadoran lawmakers who made bitcoin legal tender on June 8, 2021.

The text of the law ratified by the El Salvadoran congress stated that “every economic agent must accept bitcoin as payment when offered to him by whoever acquires a good or service".

Already financial institutions and experts are looking at El Salvador's move as a "historic" precedent.

Avik Roy, president of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, said the move would “transform El Salvador into one of the world’s most important financial centres, and affect the way people around the globe use digital currencies".

The price of bitcoin jumped by 12 percent today partially in reaction to the announcement that billionaire US investor Paul Tudor Jones would transfer 5 percent of his balance sheet into the cryptocurrency.

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Speaking to CNBC today Mr Jones said: "Bitcoin is math and math has been around for thousands of years, and two plus two is going to equal four, and it always will for the next two thousand years.

"So, I like that idea of investing in something reliable, honest, secure, and 100 percent certain.

"Bitcoin has an appeal to me in being able to invest in certainty."

More news that has helped bolster a renewed positive sentiment in bitcoin is Tesla's announcement it will Tesla accept bitcoin payments once Miners Use 50 percent “clean energy”.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk was lambasted by Sygnia CEO Magda Wierzycka who said, “what we have seen with bitcoin is price manipulation by one very powerful and influential individual."

Yesterday the Tesla CEO responded with a revealing tweet: "This is inaccurate.

"Tesla only sold 10 percent of holdings to confirm bitcoin could be liquidated easily without moving market.

"When there’s confirmation of reasonable, 50 percent plus, clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend, Tesla will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions."