A crypto winter is fully underway. Accordingly, even the most renowned top cryptos aren’t feeling the love they once did.
Rising interest rates have impacted the valuation of risk assets across the board. And with investor sentiment near multi-year lows, it’s clear that this market may be bumpy for some time.
Accordingly, many looking for a replay of last year’s incredible bull market run may be disappointed for some time. We may be in a trading range for some time here, with beaten-down cryptos the rule rather than the exception.
That said, for those looking to add exposure to some top cryptocurrencies, here are two top picks I think are worthy of consideration right now.
Top cryptos: Solana
Solana (CRYPTO:SOL) is one of the fastest-growing smart contract ecosystems out there and one of the fiercest competitors of Ethereum. With Ethereum’s upcoming merge on the horizon, many investors may seek to isolate other blockchains with upside potential. After all, if hiccups are encountered, Solana could be a big beneficiary right now.
This blockchain has seen impressive growth due to its ultra-fast processing speeds and ultra-low transaction fees. This has become the basis upon which a number of projects have proliferated of late.
Notably, in March, Solana launched a “build your own online store” application on its blockchain: Solana Pay. This application enables users to develop a storefront and accept global, low-fee payments directly into their wallets without the requirement for a credit card or bank. Since its launch, more than 600 merchants have got involved with Solana Pay.
More interestingly, Solana has actually opened a store in the real world. Recently, a Solana store, the first cryptocurrency store of its kind, opened in New York City. This store is a collaborative effort of several ecosystem partners and the Solana Foundation.
These sorts of projects provide the growth potential many investors are looking for. There are headwinds with Solana (network disruptions being the main concern); however, I do think that over the long term, this is a project that should continue to get lots of attention from aggressive growth investors.
Avalanche
Over the past 12 to 18 months, Avalanche (CRYPTO:AVAX) has also been attracting some significant attention from growth investors. That’s because Avalanche’s network has seen a surge in developer interest in part due to this network’s status as another Ethereum rival.
Many of the same catalysts Solana has seen have driven Avalanche’s token to incredible highs last year. This is one of the fastest blockchains in terms of time to finality, a key metric in the crypto world. It’s an operable blockchain, and relatively cost efficient. These are the sorts of growth drivers that long-term investors care about.
Avalanche’s goal is to become one of the fastest and most scalable blockchains, without compromising security. Thus far, it appears most in the community are on board with this thesis. However, a recent Crypto Leaks report has shed some doubt on the ethical nature of Ava Labs (the parent company of Avalanche).
Avalanche’s team has disputed the various claims outlined in this report. For Ava Labs, it’s all about the technology, and there’s nothing to the allegations in this report. For investors bullish on Avalanche’s long-term growth prospects, this recent dip may be one of the best opportunities to pick up AVAX tokens at a discount.
