If you’ve been on Crypto Twitter recently, you might have seen many influencers talking about this thing called “Altcoin Season” and how it may be coming soon. So what exactly is this Altcoin Season?
Altcoin season generally refers to a cycle of the cryptocurrency market when altcoins (i.e. cryptocurrencies apart from Bitcoin) suddenly increase in value. While there is no way to certainly predict when altcoin season happens, many believe that altcoin season comes after a Bitcoin bull-run, when investors will tend to sell some BTC to cash out their gains. After selling BTC, they would then purchase altcoins with the profits, which leads to altcoin value increasing.
The right time to hold some altcoins would hence be before altcoin season, but since it is not always possible to project, you should always diversify your crypto investments and have some altcoins on hand. With Bitcoin having fallen in value over the past few months, there is definitely a chance for altcoins to gain value in comparison.
To start your altcoin investment rocketing, here are some altcoins that are likely to explode in 2022:
Solana (SOL)
Solana is a blockchain-based platform created to achieve high-speed transactions and low gas fees. It is a direct competitor of Ethereum (the next-biggest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, or the largest altcoin at this point of writing) and has even been dubbed the Ethereum crusher. Similar to Ethereum, Solana is both a decentralized blockchain and a friendly host for crypto applications.
With the Russo-Ukrainian war going on, the price of SOL has been increasing with its utility increasing as well. It has outperformed many other cryptocurrencies that are as old as it, and will likely continue to grow throughout the year.
Terra (LUNA)
Terra (LUNA) is a blockchain network powered by an algorithmic stablecoin to leverage a global payment system. The Terra blockchain is built on Cosmos SDK, a framework that allows developers to create custom blockchains and build their own decentralized applications for various use cases. There are many natively built projects within the Terra ecosystem right now, including NFT collections, DeFi platforms and Web 3 applications.
According to Terra’s White Paper, the founders’ goal was to create Terra as a P2P electronic cash system. To achieve that, Terra deploys a system of stablecoins, for example UST. It achieves its peg to the dollar using the ecosystem’s other token, LUNA. LUNA is used to maintain the price of the Terra stablecoins and reduce market volatility so they remain stable. Many experts believe that Terra will continue to be a crucial token in the market in time to come.
United DAO (UTD)
United DAO is a Singapore-based DAO project that aims to make DeFi 3.0 a reality by working on the current problems in DeFi, through establishing credibility, governance, and risk management. It’s the newest on this list with the largest growth potential after having had a successful soft launch in early March. United DAO is planning for a larger V2 protocol launch along with airdrops, marketing efforts, and several improvements to look forward to.
The project’s founders are doxxed and experienced in relevant sectors such as finance and economics, which means that bad treasury management, lack of accountability or even responsibility to handle the project is unlikely to be a problem. They plan to overcome token volatility through tokenomics that offer potentially lower risks and higher gains. Apart from earning from the core protocol, stakeholders can also earn passive income from their affiliate program United Allies Program, which promises up to 2.5% of referral bonding rewards with no limit on how much one can earn from it.
This could be the best time to invest in the UTD token as grabbing an altcoin in its early stage of development and mass appeal means that you could possibly see large price increases in the token later.
Ripple (XRP)
Ripple is a real-time gross settlement system, currency exchange and remittance network created by Ripple Labs Inc., a US-based technology company. XRP can be safely stored and kept, and uses cryptography to protect participants, but the nodes it’s protecting are “trusted” operators within the Ripple network – which means the currency can use the advantages of the blockchain ledger, in a closed ecosystem that makes it more efficient.
XRP is a fairly controversial crypto, that has experienced dramatic ups and downs throughout its past 10 years. However, being one of the top five most-searched cryptocurrencies this year, there is potential for XRP to increase from this point and hence can be considered as a promising altcoin for this year.
