- Binance (BNB-USD) — Underlies the world’s largest crypto exchange
- Chainlink (LINK-USD) — Provides a crucial service for the Web 3.0 era
- Ethereum (ETH-USD) — Undeniably the household layer-1 network
- Polkadot (DOT-USD) — Unique parachain ecosystem with Web 3.0 backing
- USD Coin (USDC-USD) — Largest stablecoin without concerning underlying reserves, or lack thereof
The crypto market can be a cruel beast. It chews up weak projects and spits them into the void, leaving room for only the strongest to survive. So, the best cryptos to buy right now are the ones that stand a chance of being around for the foreseeable future.
To that end, it’s not good practice to take a chance on meme tokens right now. With the Federal Reserve’s recent rate hike obliterating the market — and more hikes on the horizon throughout 2022 — there’s a high probability these cryptos just won’t make it. However, there are a grip of fundamentally strong currencies currently trading at a discount due to the volatility.
When investing in the future of crypto, investors have to look past fads. Instead, they should be considering use cases that are rock solid and relevant for the future. Exchanges, layer-1s, Web 3.0 players — these are the coins and tokens that will stick around long-term.
Consider these cryptos to buy on sale right now for a high probability of sustained success.
| Binance | BNB-USD | $317.25 |
| Chainlink | LINK-USD | $8.47 |
| Ethereum | ETH-USD | $2,297.36 |
| Polkadot | DOT-USD | $11.16 |
| USD Coin | USDC-USD | $1 |
Cryptos to Buy: Binance (BNB-USD)
Binance is one of the best cryptos to buy and hold right now because it will continue to play an important role in the crypto ecosystem for the foreseeable future. The project has built itself up to be the name-brand exchange, the first choice to exchange digital money for most places in the world.
This exchange operates internationally. It also enjoys the largest base of monthly active users. Earlier this year, Binance surpassed 50 million active users per month. In its fourth-quarter earnings report, close competitor Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) reported just 11.4 million monthly active users. Moreover, Binance sees far more volume each day than competitors; in the last 24 hours, over $33 billion in assets have traded on Binance. Compare that to Coinbase’s $5.8 billion.
The company has clearly solidified itself as the end-all, be-all of centralized exchanges. It offers more than 600 cryptocurrencies on its platform. And if that weren’t enough, it also holds DeFi services, allowing users to passively earn without taking their assets off of the app.
Chainlink (LINK-USD)
The Chainlink network might not be glamorous, but it does provide a pretty important service. As many aspects of the internet begin to slowly migrate to the blockchain, users need technology that can bring information from outside the blockchain to the protocols that need it. Chainlink offers just that.
This network provides oracles to different blockchain projects. Using Chainlink, developers can create smart contracts for their decentralized apps (dapps) which use these oracles to pool off-chain data. The network then sends this data to the dapp for whatever purpose it’s meant to serve. Popular use cases for Chainlink range from real-time price data for exchanges to weather data for weather dapps.
Chainlink also continues to boost its use cases by partnering with different data suppliers in order to integrate new types of data on the network. Late last year, it partnered with the Associated Press to provide real-time news to developers.
Cryptos to Buy: Ethereum (ETH-USD)
Ethereum speaks for itself as one of the best cryptos to buy right now. The network is a monolith of the crypto market — and unlike Bitcoin (BTC-USD), it has a countless amount of use cases thanks to its smart contract capabilities.
Today, Ethereum’s market capitalization sits at around $280 billion. That’s a massive number, close to the market cap of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) or Pfizer (NYSE:PFE). But in the grand scheme of things, Ethereum is even larger. The total crypto market is only worth about $2 trillion. That makes ETH worth roughly 15% of the entire asset class — a class with well over 10,000 different currencies.
This is all not to mention Ethereum’s plenty of uses; with its more than 3,000 dapps on-network, Ethereum is one of the largest layer-1s. These networks have helped to bring massive amounts of capital to the Ethereum chain, too. About $94 billion in total value is locked on-chain.
Polkadot (DOT-USD)
Like LINK, Polkadot is another play that’s looking to usher in the Web 3.0 evolution by bringing the web to the blockchain. It’s also doing this in a totally unique way. While it’s another layer-1, Polkadot doesn’t utilize a single chain like competitors. Rather, it uses 100 different parachains, all housed under a single network’s umbrella.
With 100 of these parachains, Polkadot cannot support more than 100 dapps. But, although it lacks in quantity, Polkadot developers have the huge added bonuses that come with a dedicated chain. Most notably, these developers don’t need to share transaction throughput with other projects. They each have added developmental support from Polkadot as well.
As the Web 3.0 era pushes onward, DOT will be a reliable ally. Developers lucky enough to win a parachain through heated (and lucrative) parachain auctions will be receiving all the help they need to succeed.
Cryptos to Buy: USD Coin (USDC-USD)
As cryptos continue to thrive, stablecoins will also thrive in some form or another. Stablecoins as a concept will be evergreen, although many may fizzle out. However, USD Coin is one of the few stablecoin projects that’s likely to stick around.
USD Coin is a $1-pegged stablecoin launched by Coinbase in partnership with a blockchain tech company called Centre. Its use cases are plentiful. But USDC is probably most popular as an avenue through which investors can exchange for tokens on decentralized exchanges (DEXs). It’s also a popular DeFi tool with which holders can stake or liquidity farm for passive income.
What sets USD Coin apart from its peers is not what investors can do with it, though. Rather, USDC is interesting in how it secures its reserves. Stablecoins like Tether (USDT-USD) and TerraUSD (UST-USD) — which are similar in size to USDC — have a massive problem: They have weak reserves underlying their assets, or no reserves at all. Tether, for example, uses commercial paper to underlie its stablecoin. Meanwhile, UST is an algorithmic stablecoin that did not have underlying reserves until it was drastically knocked from its $1 peg earlier this year.
On the date of publication, Brenden Rearick did not hold (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.
