The cryptocurrency industry is still in its early stages, but it has already attracted a lot of attention from investors. While there are many risks associated with investing in this new asset class, there are also potential rewards. If you’re thinking about investing in the cryptocurrency industry, here are five of the top funds that you should consider.
BITCOIN
The leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Bitcoin, was the first asset to be bought by a mainstream investment fund. Galaxy Digital, a multi-strategy merchant bank focused on the digital assets and blockchain technology industry, announced in early 2018 that it had invested $15 million in Bitcoin. The move was made by Mike Novogratz, the billionaire hedge fund manager and CEO of Galaxy Digital.
Other institutional investors soon followed suit. In December 2018, investment firm BlackRock filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch two exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that would track Bitcoin futures contracts. BlackRock has $6.3 trillion in assets under management as of November 2019, making it one of the world’s largest asset managers.
The Winklevoss twins, famous for their involvement in Facebook’s founding, have also been long-time advocates for Bitcoin adoption by institutional investors. Their Gemini exchange launched a regulated BTC product aimed at such investors in September 2019.
ETHEREUM
Ethereum is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of fraud or third party interference.
Ether, the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain is used to pay for transaction fees and computational services on the network.
Ethereum enables developers to build and deploy decentralized applications. A decentralized application or dapp serves some specific purpose to its users. Bitcoin, for example, is a dapp that provides its users with a peer-to-peer electronic cash system that enables online Bitcoin payments. Similarly, Ethereum has been proposed as a platform that could be used to power distributed apps with all sorts of different features and purposes.
While Ethereum aims to be a general-purpose blockchain platform capable of running any type of decentralized application, it has also been specifically designed with certain features in mind.
These include:
The ability to easily create new tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. This has led to the development of numerous so-called “ERC20 tokens” which are based on the Ethereum blockchain but serve different purposes than Ether.
A built-in programming language (Solidity) that allows for more complex smart contracts than those possible on other platforms like Bitcoin. This gives developers more flexibility when creating decentralized applications on Ethereum.
A decentralized virtual machine (EVM) that can execute smart contracts written in Solidity or other languages. The EVM makes it possible to run these contracts securely and reliably even if the underlying network is unreliable.
LITECOIN
Litecoin is a cryptocurrency that enables instant, near-zero cost payments to anyone in the world. Litecoin is an open source, global payment network that is fully decentralized without any central authorities. Mathematics secures the network and empowers individuals to control their own finances. Litecoin features faster transaction confirmation times and improved storage efficiency than the leading math-based currency. With substantial industry support, trade volume and liquidity, Litecoin is a proven medium of commerce complementary to Bitcoin.
Litecoin was created with an open source codebase by Charlie Lee, who remains at the helm of the project today. It has often been referred to as “the silver to Bitcoin’s gold.” While inspired by, and in most ways technically nearly identical to Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin has some technical differences that give it certain advantages over its more famous counterpart.
For one, block confirmation times on the Litecoin network are much faster than they are on Bitcoin’s network. This is due in part to litecoins’ use of scrypt hashing algorithm (instead of SHA-256) for its proof-of-work system. blocks are processed every 2.5 minutes on the litecoin network as opposed to every 10 minutes on bitcoin’s network. This means transactions can be confirmed and added to the public ledger much quicker on litecoin than bitcoin.
Litecoins also have a higher number of maximum coins that can be produced: 84 million versus 21 million for bitcoin.
BITCOIN CASH
Bitcoin Cash is one of the top performing digital assets in the cryptocurrency industry. In 2020, Bitcoin Cash has grown by over 150% and has outperformed Bitcoin by a wide margin. This makes Bitcoin Cash one of the most attractive investment opportunities in the space.
Bitcoin Cash is a fork of Bitcoin that was created in 2017. The key difference between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash is that Bitcoin Cash has a larger block size, which allows for more transactions to be processed per second. This makes Bitcoin Cash more suitable for use as a payment system, rather than simply an investment asset.
Despite its relatively short history, Bitcoin Cash has already established itself as a major player in the cryptocurrency industry. It is currently the fifth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, with a total value of over $10 billion.
Investing in Bitcoin Cash is a smart way to gain exposure to the growing cryptocurrency industry without having to deal with the volatility of Bitcoin. For long-term investors, buying and holding BCH is a sound strategy that will likely pay off handsomely over time.
RIPPLE
The crypto industry is still in its infancy, but it is growing at an unprecedented rate. Many top venture capitalists and hedge fund managers are investing in crypto projects. Here are some of the most prominent investors in the space.
Ripple is one of the most well-funded companies in the crypto space. They have raised over $200 million from investors like Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund. Ripple’s mission is to build a global payments network that enables instant, cross-border payments. Their digital asset, XRP, is used to facilitate these payments.
Ripple has partnered with many financial institutions like American Express and Santander to pilot their technology. They are also working with central banks around the world to explore how blockchain can be used to modernize payment systems.
CONCLUSION
When it comes to investing in the crypto industry, there are a lot of options out there. But if you’re looking for the top 5 funds to invest in, we’ve got you covered. From traditional VCs to hedge funds, these are the firms that are putting their money into the blockchain and cryptocurrency space. So if you’re looking to get involved in this exciting industry, be sure to check out these 5 funds.