Nowadays, many people are considering owning crypto but don’t know the right time to buy or what token or coin is best, while others still don’t know what cryptocurrencies are. Before you uncover the best crypto to buy now, we will explain what they are, how they operate, and if it’s a smart idea to purchase cryptocurrencies at this time.
What is cryptocurrency?
As of September 2022, more than 21,000 cryptocurrencies existed on the market, and if the space continues to expand, that number looks set to keep growing.
Should I buy crypto now?
The crypto space is volatile, so there’s no straightforward answer as to whether it would be a good idea to buy cryptocurrency now, what crypto to buy now, or which is the best crypto to buy. Even the most well-known projects, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, can experience dramatic price movements. Like buying or stock trading on the stock market, you will be more adept at making an informed decision after weighing various factors, such as the effects of inflation, increased interest rates, and political and economic turbulence. The cryptocurrency market tends to move in cycles; using technical analysis such as support and resistance levels will help you identify the market’s low and high points. Crypto beginners’ corner:
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What Crypto to Buy Now? Top 10 Best Picks
With more than 21,000 digital currencies, picking some of the best cryptos to buy now can be overwhelming, so as a beginner, you should first invest spend time getting your bearings in the middle of the crypto space. To help you with the search, we have compiled a list of the best crypto to buy now based on various factors that affect their performance, such as market capitalization, features and fundamentals, and suitability for investment.
1. Bitcoin (BTC)
The pioneer cryptocurrency set the foundation for the development of other crypto assets. With a market cap of slightly more than $350 billion at the time of publication, Bitcoin commands the largest share of the entire crypto market. Bitcoin embraces the concept of scarcity, and its ability as a store of value continues to draw investors towards the asset. The maximum supply of Bitcoin is 21 million; out of this, around 19.15 million are already in circulation. What’s more, Bitcoin uses a Proof-of-Work (PoW) validation mechanism that attracts risk-averse investors who are more concerned about the safety and security of their funds. Notably, Bitcoin is not backed by any government authority, nor does it have a central bank to facilitate its use. Furthermore, many companies, such as Visa and MasterCard, also allow the use of Bitcoin and other cryptos to facilitate payments, which increases the chances of adoption as more people shop using crypto. As a result of its growth, the flagship digital asset is also experiencing more institutional adoption. The Nasdaq (NDAQ), the second-largest stock market operator in the United States, announced in September 2022 that it would launch a crypto custody service. Nasdaq’s goal is to capitalize on the growing demand for cryptocurrency among institutional investors. BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), the biggest asset management firm in the world, also announced in August that it would provide cryptocurrency services, including Bitcoin, to its institutional customers. It’s also worth noting Investment giant Fidelity also added Bitcoin exposure to its exchange-traded funds (ETFs); at the same time, Bitcoin ETFs continue to rise.
2. Ethereum (ETH)
Ethereum is the second-largest blockchain network by market cap after Bitcoin. Launched in July 2015 by a team of developers led by Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum is arguably the largest smart contract platform in the market, which attracts multiple developers due to its ability to support multiple use cases, such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Since its launch, Ethereum has witnessed tremendous growth of 14,155% as of the beginning of September 2022. As the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, Ethereum is way ahead of most crypto projects and has only Bitcoin to beat in the crypto space. Ethereum’s unique blockchain technology puts it among the best crypto to buy now. For example, it allows developers to generate their cryptocurrencies and install smart contracts using the blockchain. Importantly, it’s expected to gain more traction since it successfully completed “The Merge” upgrade on September 15, 2022, which saw its transition from Proof-of-Work to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. This upgrade aims at reducing the network’s energy consumption and gas fees while making it more readily scalable. With these changes in place, the Ethereum blockchain is expected to attract more investors who would want to take advantage of the decreased gas fees. All the same, as a precaution, transactions still take longer to process on the Ethereum network due to overload. Those looking to buy Ethereum should also be aware its security has also been a bit of a problem on the platform previously, but the upgrade aims to make it more secure.
3. Cardano (ADA)
Cardano is a blockchain that uses the Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm and has increased scalability characteristics. These features allow Cardano to boost decentralized finance (DeFi) projects and NFTs. The construction of decentralized apps, or dApps, may also be carried out on its blockchain in a variety of different domains, including as gaming, polling, and access management. The Alonzo hard fork, which went live in September 2021, included the incorporation of smart contract capabilities, which was a significant update for Cardano. As a result of this hard fork, ADA is now capable of scaling and operating at a higher speed than it did in the past. In addition to this capability, it enabled ADA to provide the developer community with a DeFi application development platform and enhanced programmability. The upgrade also included the ability to run smart contracts on the Cardano blockchain, in particular, the Plutus smart contracts facilitate the dependable, speedy, and secure development of dApps. In addition to this, a second hard fork known as Vasil was released on September 22, 2022. This fork is anticipated to boost the scalability of the network even more. Elsewhere, Cardano has also seen widespread adoption with the world’s first digital asset bank Sygnum Bank announcing that their ‘clients can conveniently and securely stake Cardano’ through the bank’s institutional-grade platform ‘to generate staking rewards.’ While Georgia’s wine industry made a partnership with the Cardano Foundation to implement a traceability solution based on its blockchain technology to ensure the authenticity and quality of Georgian wine. Finally, Cardano plans to establish an incubator program to help drive innovation and solve everyday challenges across Africa. If it lives up to the aims of that plan and it continues to scale, it will add to the reasons it’s one of the best cryptos to buy right now.
4. Binance Coin (BNB)
Binance Coin (BNB) is the cryptocurrency that underpins the Binance ecosystem. It is a coin that was minted on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) blockchain that complies with the BEP-20 standards. Furthermore, Binance Coin is the native token for Binance crypto exchange where it is traded as well as on multiple other exchanges and platforms. BNB provides users additional benefits such as cheaper costs and the ability to make investments, facilitate loans and transfers, donate to charitable organizations, and purchase virtual gifts, among others. In 2017, when it was first introduced, the BNB coin was worth just $0.10. The value of the coin went on to reach an all-time high of $690.93 on May 10, 2021, setting a new record. The BNB token has proven to be a very useful asset for the Binance ecosystem, which has developed from a simple token trading platform into a complex and varied marketplace. Binance Coin is not just the native cryptocurrency that exists inside this burgeoning ecosystem, but its uses have also grown considerably, for instance, users of BNB can:
Earning staking rewards through staking on the BSC blockchain;
Paying for goods and services through the Binance Card feature;
Accepting and making payments on the Binance Pay service;
Claiming discounts for transaction fees on spot, margin & futures market trades.
Binance after its introduction, implemented a system for the quarterly buy-back or burning of its tokens, with the goal of lowering the total amount of its circulating tokens and increasing their value. In December 2021, the company introduced the quarterly auto-burn process that allows on-chain automatic calculations to verify how much of the token must be burned according to its prevailing price and the number of blocks produced on the BNB chain in a particular quarter. Perhaps something users should be aware of, however, is that BNB is also vulnerable to regulatory issues. For example, in June 2022, BNB plummeted following an investigation launched by the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) into whether Binance abided by the procedures during its initial coin offering (ICO) in 2017.
5. Ripple (XRP)
A project of Ripple Labs Inc., XRP’s primary use case is as a blockchain that facilitates cheaper and more convenient cross-border transactions. XRP uses neither Proof-of-Work nor Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism. Instead, it uses validating servers that verify the requested changes to the last ledger. XRP uses a decentralized technology with no central authority to determine who may set up a node or confirm transactions. That helps it process transactions between multiple currencies instantly and attract more investors who are moving away from the outdated SWIFT network that can incur delays. The XRP blockchain has rapid transaction settlement, as ledgers are produced every three to five seconds. Ripple estimates that the XRP ledger can generally handle 1,500 transactions per second (TPS) and can scale up to 65,000 TPS. In contrast, the settlement speeds of Bitcoin and Ethereum are 5 TPS and 15 TPS, respectively. More importantly, while Ripple is still embroiled in a two-year-long court case with the SEC, the company is confident of a win. Indeed, the company is also collaborating with universities across the world to support and accelerate academic research, technical development, and innovation using blockchain, cryptocurrency, and digital payments. For instance, the XRP Ledger is maintained by more than 150 independent entities, including financial institutions, universities, and crypto exchanges. These developments may lead to a significant price climb for XRP and attract more investors.
6. TRON (TRX)
TRON (TRX) is a decentralized blockchain-based operating system developed by the Tron Foundation and launched in 2017. Tokens based on the TRX protocol were first launched as ERC-20 tokens on Ethereum before being migrated to the TRX network a year later. Notably, Tron was the best-performing assets in 2022 by returns as per a ‘State of the Network’ report by the blockchain analytics platform CoinMetrics published on December 20, with its best month in May recording +33% and second in March with +19%. In 2022, TRON also broke numerous records, registering more than 4 billion network transactions in 24 hours alone after rumors of its founder Justin Sun being the real buyer of the crypto exchange Huobi. On top of that, TRON’s staking value exceeded $12 billion, and the number of accounts created on the network surpassed 116 million, three months after TRON became the second-largest public chain by stablecoin market capitalization. What’s more, TRON has also been in a deflationary state for over a year, in addition to other positive developments, such as the TRON-issued stablecoin USDD peg slowly coming back after previously de-pegging to $0.96, Not to mention Tether launching the offshore Chinese Yuan on TRON and TrueUSD launching a TRON-based stablecoin TCNH pegged to Offshore Chinese Yuan. Finally, the TRON network enables the use of smart contracts, as well as a variety of blockchain systems and decentralized apps (dApps). The platform for cryptocurrency transactions, known as UTXO, utilizes a transaction model that is analogous to Bitcoin.
7. Decentraland (MANA)
Decentraland is a virtual reality platform operating on the Ethereum blockchain to allow users to develop, experience, and earn money from their content and applications. As the leading metaverse platform with a market cap of more than $1 billion, Decentraland continues to attract more users and investors in the video gaming space. Decentraland uses the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) technology as one of its integral highlights. The DAO technology ensures genuine, decentralized governance where users have full control over the content and experiences generated on a specific parcel of virtual land. Over the last year, Decentraland has generated millions of dollars from virtual land sales, which must be paid for in MANA, the platform’s native currency. With more than 20,000% gains since its official launch in February 2020, Decentraland is destined for more success, which makes it one of the best cryptos to buy now.
8. Dogecoin (DOGE)
Dogecoin (DOGE), based on the popular “doge” Internet meme featuring a Shiba Inu on its logo, has quickly risen to be one of the most popular cryptocurrencies in the market. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), is an avid supporter of Dogecoin and has played a significant role in the cryptocurrency’s rise to prominence. Early in the year 2021, Musk began tweeting about Dogecoin, subsequently impacting its price. Given the fact that Musk is now the owner of Twitter, many crypto traders are hoping that Dogecoin will be integrated into the platform as a payment mechanism. Notably, Musk allowed the support of Dogecoin as a payment Tesla ‘merch’ with Dogecoin after saying it ‘is better suited for transactions’ than Bitcoin as the total transactional flow is much higher. Besides Elon Musk, other bullish factors remain that can benefit the price of DOGE, such as the launch of a lunar satellite directly related to the brand. The SpaceX Falcon 9, with DOGE-1 and IM-1/NOVA-C lunar payloads, set to take off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 14, 2023. Although Dogecoin currently operates under the Proof-of-Work (PoW) protocol, the Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and the new Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) CEO are rumored to begin working together to improve DOGE. Back in September 2021, Buterin said at the time that the DOGE developers should consider switching to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) algorithm, adding that the Ethereum code can easily be used for that transition.
9. Fantom (FTM)
Fantom is a platform for directed acyclic graph (DAG) smart contracts that uses its own proprietary consensus algorithm to provide decentralized finance services to blockchain developers. The Layer-1 blockchain which utilizes a scratch-built consensus mechanism and independent consensus layer, and attempts to overcome challenges connected with smart-contract platforms, notably the speed of transactions, which the developers claim they have lowered to less than two seconds in conjunction with Fantom’s native token, FTM. As of November 29, 2022, Fantom is ranked among the top 70 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Notably, the platform’s monetary assets as of November 2022 included over 450,000,000 FTM (currently worth $96.84 million), over $100 million in stablecoins, $100 million in other cryptos, and $50 million in non-crypto assets. As an alternative to Ethereum, Fantom was designed to function as a decentralized smart contract platform that can host decentralized applications (DApps) and digital assets. Fantom was designed with the intention of overcoming the restrictions imposed by blockchains of earlier generations and striking a balance between three distinct aspects: scalability, security, and decentralization. In addition to a comprehensive staking reward system and built-in DeFi instruments, the project provides a set of tools that facilitate the process of integrating pre-existing DApps.
10. Shiba Inu (SHIB)
A single person or a group of persons going by the moniker Ryoshi is credited with the creation of the Shiba Inu (SHIB) meme token in August 2020. The primary goal of its development was to establish a community of people who shared similar values in order to produce a cryptocurrency that could compete with Dogecoin. As per its whitepaper, the project was created to answer one question: “What could happen if a cryptocurrency project was 100% run by its community?” Shiba Inu has since grown into a fully-fledged ecosystem comprising a decentralized token exchange called ShibaSwap, and two extra tokens; LEASH and BONE. The dog meme token Shiba Inu, has been ranked as one of the most interesting cryptocurrencies in 2022. Indeed, per data acquired by the world’s largest crypto exchange Binance, Shiba Inu is among the top three most-watched cryptos in 2022. Despite a prevailing bear market, SHIB has been recording growth in the number of holders, with the addition of over 7,000 holders in December 2022. In October, Finbold reported that Shiba Inu had added over 100,000 holders in 2022 despite price swings. Albeit, data suggested that global searches for the keyword “Shiba Inu” over the past year dropped to the lowest point in over a year in July 2022. For traders and investors interested in purchasing SHIB, the Shiba Inu team implemented the burn mechanism to lower the number of SHIB tokens in circulation, enhance scarcity, and boost the price, however, the recent rise in the burn rate has yet to have an effect. SHIB’s burn rate had previously reported a 24-hour surge of 2,350% on December 11; this was one of the highest that has occurred lately. SHIB is ultimately a speculative token, that users can earn passive income through staking, provide liquidity, and participate in Shiba Inu governance. At the same time, the platform has established a foothold in the gaming industry by capitalizing on the non-fungible token’s market. Along these lines, the SHIBOSHIS project is a collection of Shiba Inu non-fungible tokens with the goal of enabling holders to actively engage in non-fungible token minting, trading, and digital land purchase in addition to VR gaming. The community’s focus is continuously shifting toward the idea. Despite suppressed market conditions in 2022, SHIB has managed to attract more holders overall as the development team aims to give the asset more utility.
How we rated the top crypto picks to buy now
Every crypto asset promises high yields and other benefits. However, not all of them live up to their promises. In selecting the best crypto to buy now, we considered the following factors:
Technology
The crypto space contains more than 21,000 cryptocurrencies already in existence with different technologies. We looked at how a cryptocurrency compares to others in terms of security and usability.
Performance record
Some crypto projects have been around for more than a decade with good history and reputation. Others have existed for barely two years. Without being biased against new projects, we looked at how a crypto asset has performed for the time it has been in business to have a glimpse of its price stability, popularity, and adoption.
Longevity
A crypto asset’s historical data is one of the ways to compare it with similar projects on the market. This guide considered the longevity of the projects as one of the ways to rate their performance from their launch up until now.
Adoption
Many crypto projects have had fewer people interested in their operations since they launched. We looked at investor interest and adoption as some of the ways to rank cryptocurrencies. Projects with a high level of adoption often have better liquidity, making them easier and more convenient to trade, sell, or spend.
Mistakes to avoid when deciding on what crypto to buy now
While cryptocurrency is relatively easy to purchase, cryptocurrency investments are still extremely risky. There are a few cautionary steps to take prior to deciding on what crypt to buy. Even though data shows cryptocurrency scams have been recently declining, it is still crucial to avoid common mistakes and do your own proper in-depth research and due diligence before investing to minimize losses and maximize profits. Amid the Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX bankruptcy scandal and the cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius meltdown, after the earlier Terra (LUNA) ecosystem crash, adding the largest-ever Ponzi-scheme type crypto scam, these events show how extremely volatile the cryptocurrency market still is and that investments come with a high risk. So, while most can invest without being an expert, it’s not something to master overnight, and it’s crucial to practice with great caution when investing in crypto. Following the FTX crash, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao has warned investors on Twitter. Learn from the mistakes of others and take cautionary steps before deciding on which crypto to buy and on which platform:
Choose the right crypto exchange (profitable company, low fees, no hidden fees, security, reputation, user-friendly, educational content, etc.); Avoid projects surviving by selling their own tokens; Avoid projects giving high incentives for locking away your tokens; Avoid coins that have a large complete supply, but only have a small share in circulation; Crypto projects that involve loans; Don’t believe everything you read – don’t lean on just one part (e.g., only trusting the project’s white paper and road map, also consider other aspects); Diversify your portfolio, don’t invest all of your money in one cryptocurrency; Don’t trade based on FOMO; Do your own research (DYOR).
Final Thoughts
While buying crypto now could be a good idea, investors need to be cautious. A great opportunity to buy crypto doesn’t rule out the possibility of risks that usually arise in the market. The crypto market is volatile, and anything can happen at any time. Even so, the crypto assets mentioned in this guide remain some of the best options to buy now with solid reputations in the industry. Most of them are available on major crypto exchanges such as Binance, its alternatives, Coinbase, and Kraken. Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.
Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.
