Cryptos are the future of money, with Bitcoin (CCC:BTC-USD) being one popular alternative. It does not have any physical form. However, you can use it as an online currency for purchasing goods or services from merchants who accept it in their payment system — making crypto a quicker and safer option than other currencies because there’s no third party.

Every day, more and more people are investing in cryptocurrencies. It’s not just a fad anymore.

The prospect of exponential growth had already attracted many buyers looking to get ahead of what may become another major bubble burst like 2017 when everyone underestimated how high Bitcoin would go before crashing down. However, this time around, experts seem much better prepared. A growing number of institutional investors are looking to make their first purchases in crypto. Hence, cryptos are a more relatively stable investment than a few years ago.

However, not all cryptocurrencies will fare equally well. Much like the stock market, there are winners and losers. I’m going to tell you what I think makes one stand apart from another so we know which ones have good momentum heading into next year

Remember when talking about cryptos, whether it’s Bitcoin or Ethereum (CCC:ETH-USD), it doesn’t matter much as long as people buy whatever coin is fashionable at any given moment. The following coins have momentum on their side.

But keep in mind, in the world of cryptocurrencies, things can change on a dime:

• Cardano (CCC:ADA-USD)
• Wazir X (CCC:WRX-USD)
• Chainlink (CCC:LINK-USD)
• Solana (CCC:SOL-USD)
• Chiliz (CCC:CHZ-USD)
• Stellar Lumens (CCC:XLM-USD)
• Monero (CCC: XMR-USD)

Cryptos to Buy: Cardano (ADA)

Cardano is a jurisdiction-less blockchain from Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson. The development team, led by the Cardano Foundation in Switzerland, oversees and supervises all activities of this project. That ensures the platform runs smoothly for its users every day. It has been designed specifically for conducting financial transactions without fees or commissions, making it much faster than Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Cardano has seen an incredible 631% price increase over the last year. However, at its current value of $1.28 per coin, it is down substantially from a September high of $3.10 when prices were near their peak values. With any emerging asset class, market volatility is something you cannot escape.

Cardano is making strides to bring more accessibility and usability into blockchain-based projects as ADA prices continue to climb with no sign of slowing down. With Cardano’s application building platform called Marlowe, non-programmers can create groundbreaking smart contracts that would otherwise be impossible without coding knowledge. In the runup to the upgrade, the price did very well. It is important to keep up with Cardano’s many upgrades if you want to purchase and trade this coin.

The largest cryptocurrency to use a proof-of-stake blockchain, Cardano is seen as an environmentally friendly alternative to the traditional, miner intensive proof-of-work protocol. This is the future of finance. We’re going to see more and more people using cryptocurrency in their everyday life because these types of contracts draw from a global liquidity pool that can revolutionize how money moves around the world.

WazirX (WRX)

The WazirX exchange offers a seamless experience for Indian traders to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. WRX is the native token of this platform, which allows users access to low trading fees and other unique features. Cryptocurrency is a hot topic in India, which has over 1 billion potential users. The potential for growth within this market alone makes it worth consideration — after all, not every service or product will succeed here.

Cryptocurrencies, which have had a tricky history in India, have seen an exponential increase in the world’s second-most populous country. Indian exchanges are noticing impressive user additions and sustained trading volumes daily.

Cryptocurrencies are becoming increasingly popular in India, where households own 25,000 metric tons of gold. The country’s investments increased from $923 million to nearly $6 billion within 13 months this year. Much of this has to do with a youthful and tech-savvy population.

Overall, WazirX is in a good position to succeed. The only issue for investors is navigating the murky legal waters in India. A bill is on the table to ban crypto trading and restrict its uses in a fresh development. It isn’t law yet, and it is unlikely to go through. But it presents a problem for crypto traders.

If the regulatory environment remains healthy, WRX will continue to do well. Although not as prominent as some of the other major cryptos out there, it is one of the better cryptos available at a steep discount.

Cryptos to Buy: Chainlink (LINK)

Chainlink is an atypical crypto. It trades at levels more akin to conventional stocks than cryptocurrencies, where we see coins like SHIB increasing significantly in value over short periods. But it might be worth checking out this new exchange if you want an alternative way to invest some money without having any risk associated with the coin dropping below $1 per share on either the buy or sell side.

The LINK network is made up of decentralized oracles. These are essentially functional units that transfer data on and off the Chainlink network, acting for any other node within its system easily. Blockchain technology is the future of data integration on a global scale. It’s an evolution of internet services, but it takes it one step further by providing greater consensus and trust in decision-making processes through blockchains for this new age we live in now, where information flows freely everywhere without boundaries or restrictions like never before.

Cryptos need to provide effective use cases and functionality to succeed. Chainlink has this in spades. A cross between the blockchain and off-chain data, Chainlink allows for secure interaction. The blockchain network rewards readers who securely feed-in reliable data. It is the leading oracle service, with more than 300 partnerships locked in so far. These are more than enough reasons to invest in the coin at this stage.

Solana (SOL)

Solana is an innovative blockchain that is fast and scalable. Bitcoin and Ethereum have been criticized for the high cost of transactions. The Bitcoin scalability debate has not gone away, with NFTs playing a key role in discussions regarding how best to move forward as adoption grows rapidly across industries.

At the same time, prices remain stagnant or decline over time because they’re stuck on Bitcoin’s blockchain (or at least what we think will become its main chain). A glance through Reddit’s online forums suggests this issue may be one many people want to be resolved: Solana seems poised to provide relief by taking advantage of all those complaining about fees when creating new digital assets.

Solana can process 50,000 transactions per second and enjoy exceptionally low fees. The scalability of Solana’s blockchain is unparalleled. It has harnessed the power behind proof-of-history and several other innovative technologies. Solana’s success is largely due to the sheer number of people who have already joined its network.

Solana’s main competition is with Ethereum. Solana will continue to feel the heat from Ethereum, as the latter moves close to launching its version 2.0. However, both coins represent strong opportunities for investors with deep pockets. They offer a high return on their risk profiles while still being volatile in price by nature — something that will be sure to keep them fascinating.

When considering which cryptocurrency to invest in, your risk appetite is an important factor to consider.  Undoubtedly, it would help if you only considered the potential for returns on your investment. But how much risk you are willing to assume also matters. If an investor has more cautious financial goals, they might opt for Ethereum. However, those willing to take on a bit more risk will find Solana more appealing.

Cryptos to Buy: Chiliz (CHZ)

Chiliz is a new cryptocurrency that allows sports fans to trade Fan Tokens and Chiliz coins. The company offers blockchain-based tools to various sporting entities. Consequently, these companies use them to engage with an audience of fanatics on all sorts of entertainment platforms.

The goal of Chiliz is to make fans more involved with their teams. For instance, you can buy your favorite team’s token from international sports teams such as FC Barcelona or Juventus; they are limited only by how many there are. These tokens also hold value because they’re fungible — meaning that users may trade one person’s assets for another with no loss of worthiness due to their original owner still having control over its next use(s).

Chiliz is an Ethereum token that powers Socios.com. On this platform, users can trade their support for professional sports teams with other fans to earn rewards and promotions while also influencing decisions via popular voting on the Chiliz blockchain. Apart from the fans, the sports clubs also benefit. In exchange for their participation, they get commission fees and a percentage of trading fees.

Chiliz has yet to break out truly. But sports fans are excited by this new currency. Socios.com recently inked a deal with the LA Lakers, bringing their total partnerships to 24 NBA franchises. Chiliz’s rise in popularity was due largely to NFT hype. Hence, the partnerships with more franchises translate to more moolah.

Considering the risk-return profile of your portfolio, Chiliz might be a profitable investment. It is incredibly cheap at the moment. Hence, buying a few tokens will not cause much damage to your savings.

Stellar Lumens (XLM)

Cryptocurrencies are often volatile. But it’s been a good year for Bitcoin, which means Stellar Lumens has also had an excellent run. Throughout its history, XLM has traded in correlation with BTC.

The Stellar network launched in early 2014, and it’s already revolutionizing the way people do business. The decentralized system allows users to create their digital representation of virtually any currency — and then trade or send them across a single peer-to-peer network without intermediaries like banks getting involved. Developers can use this technology on sites they develop too by building functions for exchanging currencies directly into your app.

As an IBM (NYSE:IBM) customer, Stellar’s Universal Payment Solution has been used to provide better and more efficient ways for companies around the globe. If other businesses start adopting cryptocurrency as well, you can expect that value of Lumens will increase because there is increased demand on their network.

One of the great things about Stellar is lowering transaction costs and time lags connected with blockchain technology. At 0.00001 XLM per transaction, the transaction fees are almost a non-factor. The Stellar Lumens cryptocurrency is impressive to function without integrating with millions of merchants online.

Finally, banks are starting to adopt central bank digital currency using Stellar’s blockchain. CBDCs are viewed as the next big financial disruptor on Wall Street. Hence, there are several reasons to invest in Stellar Lumens. With the broader crypto selloff taking place recently, this coin should make your list of cryptos to buy.

Cryptos to Buy: Monero (XMR)

Monero is a digital currency providing a significant level of anonymity. It offers you and your transactions total privacy. Meanwhile, Bitcoin is easily traceable through its public blockchain ledger for all transactions to date.

It provides users with increased safety by masking their identities when making any purchase online, so there’s no chance anyone will know who paid. All users are given a unique address or key that cannot be traced back to them, thanks to its end-to-end encryption system with Ring CT, short for Ring Confidential Transactions.

With Bitcoin, the sender can see how many bitcoins their recipient has once they know that person’s public address. Through blockchain technology, all coins transferred from one wallet to another are recorded and made available for viewing by anyone with internet access.

With Monero, the sender does not know how much currency is in a recipient’s wallet and cannot observe their transactions. Transactions are unlinkable and untraceable because coins sent to someone else go through an address that could be anywhere for them — it even changes after each transaction.

There is growing concern surrounding crypto regulatory activity. In such an environment, Monero will continue to gain ground among those looking to complete their transactions without leaving behind an electronic “paper trail.”

On the publication date, Faizan Farooque 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.

Faizan Farooque is a contributing author for InvestorPlace.com and numerous other financial sites. Faizan has several years of experience in analyzing the stock market and was a former data journalist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.