Cryptos have become a hot asset class. With billions of dollars invested into crypto, the crypto frontier may finally be coming into the mainstream. However, there are some problems, for better or for worse, that persist with decentralized finance. One issue could be drastic price changes off the back of massive crypto influencers opining on the subject at large or on a single crypto. Arguably the greatest of these people is Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), with over 55 million followers on Twitter (NYSE:TWTR). Musk wields an overwhelming power on social media, moving the crypto market every time he tweets. His posts can often affect the price momentum and dictate the crypto narrative.
Recent weeks have seen Musk emphasize the environmental impact of cryptos. He recently tweeted, “When there’s confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend, Tesla will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions.” Many digital assets surged instantly even amid the broader market selloff, boosting Bitcoin (CCC:BTC-USD) 10% to the $40,000 territory. With that in mind, let’s discuss seven cryptos that could catch Musk’s attention soon.
New initiatives, such as the growing use of renewable energy and carbon offsetting, promise to accelerate the shift to a more sustainable crypto space. Musk says Tesla is “looking at other cryptocurrencies that use <1% of Bitcoin’s energy/transaction.”
A few of these cryptos could soon find themselves tied up to the Musk crypto rollercoaster. But we should remind readers that the crypto market is extremely volatile. Therefore, they should weigh the appropriateness of altcoins for their portfolios.
Against that background, here are seven cryptos he might look at:
- Algorand (CCC:ALGO-USD)
- Chia Network (CCC:XCH-USD)
- Dogecoin (CCC:DOGE-USD)
- Eosio (CCC:EOS-USD)
- Hedera Hashgraph (CCC:HBAR-USD)
- Nano (CCC:NANO-USD)
- Ripple (CCC:XRP-USD)
Possible Musk Cryptos: Algorand (ALGO)
52-week range: $0.2032 – $1.8246
Market capitalization (cap): $2.8 billion
Founded by MIT professor Silvio Micali in 2019, Algorand is a relatively newcomer to the world of cryptos. ALGO-USD aims to converge decentralized and traditional finance by “enabling the simple creation of next generation financial products, protocols and exchange of value.”
Its network utilizes a high-performing foundational blockchain designed for the future of finance, what it calls “FutureFi.” Algorand claims to offer a cost-effective payment infrastructure, allowing developers to create new financial tools, protocols, and services. The platform’s blockchain, which is scalable and secure, has been adopted by around 600 organizations.
This permissionless pure proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain protocol supports smart contracts. Users are selected on a random basis to propose blocks and vote on proposals. In that way, the blockchain guarantees that the influence of users on a new block is proportional to their stake in the system.
Algorand does not involve mining. The platform is trying to lead the way in blockchain sustainability by creating a carbon-negative network. In April, Algorand announced that its blockchain is fully carbon-neutral, thanks to its partnership with ClimateTrade, “a blockchain-marketplace for CO2 carbon offsetting.”
ALGO-USD, which ended 2020 at $0.34, currently trades shy of $1, up over 120% year-to-date (YTD). However, it has lost about half of its value since the peak in April.
Chia Network (XCH)
52-week range: $370.97 – $1,934.51
Market cap: N/A (at this point, “The CMC team has not verified the project’s Market Cap.)
The Chia Network was created in 2017 in response to the excessive energy use involved in mining crypto. Bram Cohen, founder of BitTorrent (CCC:BTT-USD), has been the force behind the protocol. Its native currency, XCH-USD, was launched in early May as a less energy-intensive crypto than its peers.
Users don’t need high-powered graphics processing units (GPUs) to participate in the mining process. They can “farm” the coin on the unused storage of their laptops or desktops in return for XCH-USD rewards. Chia makes it easy for individuals to participate in the mining process without substantial investment.
Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Web Services (AWS) allows for the altcoin to be mined on the cloud platform, too. Chia’s unique selling point is “farming,” an eco-friendly version of crypto mining. The farming process uses the “Proof of Space and Time” protocol, created by Bram Cohen.
A recent white paper released by the network claims that the crypto uses almost 10,000 times less energy than what is required in mining Bitcoin. Cohen and colleagues point out that XCH-USD coin is auditable, secure and regulatorily compliant, making it user-friendly for regulatory authorities and multinationals.
Chia Network has increased its valuation significantly, after raising $61 million from investors. COO and President Gene Hoffman called the amount “rocket fuel” for accelerating the company’s aspiration to become a trading and payment system used by governments, banks and other institutions. Investors are excited that the company is looking forward to becoming public as early as this year.
The short trading history of XCH-USD shows a bumpy ride, as it was launched right before the recent market selloff. It currently hovers around $315. In the past month alone, it has lost over 60% of its value.
Possible Musk Cryptos: Dogecoin (DOGE)
52-week range: $0.0023 – $0.7376
Market cap: $34.8 billion
Dogecoin was created by software engineers Billy Marcus and Jackson Palmer in late 2013 as a playful joke for crypto fans. The altcoin takes its name from a once-popular meme. Despite such an unusual story, DOGE-USD has blasted in popularity in 2021.
Its market cap makes it the sixth-largest cryptocurrency. Yet DOGE-USD is highly volatile. Users on Reddit and TikTok often join forces to boost the price of the altcoin. Celebrities, such as Elon Musk, affect these wild price swings, too.
For instance, Musk’s tweets helped to spark a rally in DOGE-USD earlier in the year. Musk named Dogecoin the “people’s crypto,” and promised to plant a physical Dogecoin token on the moon.
Dogecoin runs on blockchain technology. Unlike Bitcoin, however, it was not designed as a feasible store of value. There is no cap on the amount of Dogecoins that may be created by mining. As it is highly inflationary by design, many analysts see little incentive to hold DOGE-USD in the long term.
The altcoin uses the Scrypt algorithm that represents a less energy-intensive approach to mining. DOGE-USD uses only 0.12 kilowatts of energy per hour (kWh) per transaction, lower than most of its peers. Therefore, we can expect Musk to talk about the crypto in the future, too.
This year’s social media frenzy boosted DOGE-USD by about 12,000% YTD to an all-time high (ATH) of close to $0.74 on May 6. The digital coin then plunged to $0.18 on June 20. DOGE currently hovers at $0.30 territory.
Eosio (EOS)
52-week range: $2.0341 – $14.8765
Market cap: $3.8 billion
EOS-USD is the native cryptocurrency for the Eosio blockchain platform, developed by Block.one and released as open-source software in 2018. Supported by well-known investors Michael Novogratz and Peter Thiel of Palantir (NYSE:PLTR), EOS-USD had the most successful initial coin offering (ICO) of all time, and raised over $4 billion.
The Eosio ecosystem enables the creation and development of decentralized apps (dApp). It offers all the functionality of Ethereum (CCC:ETH-USD), but also claims to be faster and easier. The platform is more scalable than many other blockchain networks, capable of processing one million transactions per second without any fees.
The Eosio blockchain uses the Delegated Proof of Stake model, a faster and more efficient consensus model that allows delegates to validate blocks on behalf of all nodes on the network. As a result, it is catching the attention of dApp developers as being highly user-friendly.
Block.one plans to launch a cryptocurrency exchange with $10 billion in funding, backed by Nomura (NYSE:NMR), Galaxy Digital (OTCMKTS:BRPHF), Thiel Capital, and other venture capital (VC) funds. Bullish Global was created as a subsidiary of Block.one to launch the exchange, a blockchain-based cryptocurrency exchange.
The exchange is expected to attract new traders, potentially leading to more bullish EOS-USD price predictions. Block.one is currently looking for ways to increase staking rewards, which could also lead to more interest in the crypto.
The digital coin ended 2020 at $2.61. EOS-USD came close to $15 by mid-May, driven by news of the upcoming Bullish exchange. However, the price plunged as sharply as it surged. EOS-USD currently hovers at $3.95, up about 52% YTD despite the sharp decline in its price.
Possible Musk Cryptos: Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR)
52-week range: $0.0278 – $0.4495
Market cap: $1.6 billion
Hedera Hashgraph is a decentralized public network used for in-app payments and micropayments, whereby developers can build secure applications with near real-time consensus. Users highlight that its robust network capacity empowers low-fee, highly customizable transactions, smart contracts, file service and consensus service.
Crypto enthusiasts watch total transaction counts of different blockchain networks. Ethereum passed 1 billion transactions earlier in the year, and so did Hedera Hashgraph.
In other words, Hedera is now one of the world’s largest networks in the crypto space. The speed of transaction verifications increases as more transactions are added to the network. Transactions are processed in parallel rather than serially going through the whole blockchain.
Its native currency, HBAR-USD, is a PoS token. Hedera has a fixed supply of 50 billion coins. The altcoin is already being used to facilitate sustainability projects. Digital energy platform, Power Transition estimates that the Hedera Hashgraph platform is 250,000 times more energy-efficient than Bitcoin, using just 0.001 kilowatt-hours per transaction.
Power Transition, which allows users to control energy use from microgrids to national grids, has become a partner. Hedera Hashgraph helps the network reach maximum energy efficiency by improving communication between players in any network.
The list of other partners looks impressive, and includes names such as Boeing (NYSE:BA) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL).
HBAR-USD currently hovers at $0.18, up around 450% YTD. The digital coin trades for less than half its peak value in April.
Nano (NANO)
52-week range: $0.6734 – $17.4948
Market cap: $663 million
Nano is another emerging eco-friendly cryptocurrency that claims to “make money efficient for a more equal world – simple to pay with, easy to accept and open to all.” Its crypto, NANO-USD, was developed by Colin LeMahieu, the CEO and founder of the Nano Foundation.
The network, which does not rely on mining, minting, or printing, is scalable. Thus, it has among the lowest energy footprint in the market, using only 0.112 kWh per transaction. Its block lattice technology, a lightweight proof-of-work model that creates an account chain for each user on the network. NANO-USD is capable of processing a high transaction throughput with minimal resources.
At only less than a $1 billion market cap, the crypto has the potential to grow further. NANO-USD currently hovers at $5, up 385% YTD. It is down more than 50% from its peak in mid-May.
Possible Musk Cryptos: Ripple (XRP)
52-week range: $0.1742 – $1.965
Market cap: $34.9 billion
Ripple is a digital payment and money transfer platform, based on a shared, public ledger. Its native token, XRP-USD, is among the top ten cryptos by market cap.
XRP-USD, a pre-mined token, does not require any additional energy for production. Ripple currently boasts one of the lowest energy footprints in the crypto space, using only 0.0079 kWh per transaction.
Over the past year, investors have been concerned with a lawsuit brought on by the SEC. William White of InvestorPlace recently wrote about the potential developments in the months ahead that could point to “a good sign for investors.”
As regulatory risk potentially decreases, Ripple Labs will likely go ahead with its initial public offering (IPO), to follow Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) in the list of businesses going public in the crypto space.
At the beginning of the year, XRP-USD traded around $0.22. It almost hit $2 before the market selloff wiped out well over half its value. It currently hovers at $0.67, up 184% YTD.
On the date of publication, Tezcan Gecgil did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
Tezcan Gecgil, Ph.D., has worked in investment management for over two decades in the U.S. and U.K. In addition to formal higher education in the field, she has also completed all 3 levels of the Chartered Market Technician (CMT) examination. Her passion is for options trading based on technical analysis of fundamentally strong companies. She especially enjoys setting up weekly covered calls for income generation.
