Which cryptocurrencies are best to invest is the question that many people are asking themselves, and like all investments it is to be considered a risky venture.

We at Made, in this article, want to show you how it works, the advantages and the blockchains that we think are worthy of note.

However, this is not meant to be a financial tip.

After this important premise, it must be said that in order to invest in any sector, it is essential to know as much as possible about how it works.

If unfamiliar, we would advise against proceeding towards any investment.

If, on the other hand, you would like to delve deeper into the sector and thus learn which cryptocurrencies are best to invest in, then this article is for you.

Which cryptocurrencies to invest in: The basis of crypto

The foundation of the crypto sector is Bitcoin, the first blockchain and undisputed king of the crypto sector.

Since 2009 it has been growing in bubbles and bubble bursts, at every cycle it is punctually considered dead and systematically resurrects stronger than before.

If you don’t have the time or inclination to delve too deeply but still want to ride the crypto sector, Bitcoin is certainly the most suitable choice.

Of all of them, it is the most popular in economic terms and is also the least risky.

Its value today is approximately $23,000 and, considering that the last downward cycle caused by the bubble bursting has just ended, it could be a guarantee of profit with minimal risk.

The conditional is a must as we do not have a crystal ball.

Bitcoin: advantages and disadvantages

Its advantages remain considerable even compared to the latest alternatives:

• Totally decentralised, its capillary distribution across the globe is unparalleled.
• Free of any form of control by entities, public or private.
• Not subject by the SEC to Security Token (the new frontier of SEC penalties on the crypto sector), therefore not penalisable.
• Nuclear World War III-proof (there are nodes even in satellites).
• Speed and cost made insignificant by Lighting Network (see El Salvador’s Chivo).

Among its disadvantages (or points of criticism):

• The use of the PoW (Proof of Work) system through mining with the associated consumption of electricity (although to date much of this is obtained from renewable sources).

Which Cryptocurrencies to Invest in: Ethereum

Looking at CoinMarketCap you can’t fail to notice Ethereum, which differs from Bitcoin in its ability to write chained Smart Contracts.

Smart Contracts sparked the fashion for ICOs, followed by DeFi, NFTs and most recently the Metaverse.

And this is where the game will be played in 2023, where the new fad will probably be the Metaverse and Games (earn to play) on web3.

Indeed, following Ethereum’s (less recent) serious problems in terms of cost and execution time, countless alternatives have literally exploded to supplant it.

Today Ethereum is listed at $1570 and with the move to the PoS (Proof of Stake) consensus mechanism should have solved the serious problems that plagued this Blockchain.

However, it is crucial to consider that compared to the previous cycle, today there are already around fifty Blockchains competing in offering the same

services, at lower prices and higher speeds.

Ethereum: advantages and disadvantages

Let us therefore see a short list of the advantages that Ethereum would offer today:

• The first and still very popular platform for the development of Smart Contracts, it still has a large number of DeFi projects to date (3789 listed on DappRadar).
• Reliability gained after years of refinements in the code.

Finally, let us examine some of the disadvantages of Ethereum:

• No longer the first, according to DappRadar in fact there are now more DeFi projects on Binance Smart Chain (4555 indicated on DappRadar).
• It will certainly not grow as fast as it did before when it was the only one providing support for DeFi projects.
• It is a project that is totally dependent on the policy of the Ethereum Foundation, including the issuance of new currency and its price devaluation.

Which cryptocurrencies to invest in: interesting alternatives

Should you therefore feel particularly risk-averse, you might consider some particularly interesting alternatives to Ethereum in which to invest.

A short summary list of blockchains that we think are noteworthy:

• Cardano
• Polkadot
• Near
• Binance Smart Chain
• Cronos
• Zilliqua
• Polygon

Certainly many experts or so-called experts would have drawn up a different list, but this is ours.

Let us go into detail and analyse each proposed suggestion.

Cardano

Cardano whose coin is known as ADA, founded in 2017 by Charles Hoskinson, co-founder of Ethereum, is the CEO.

It is an Open Source blockchain, PoS and a finite amount of 45 billion ADA available and a capitalisation of $13 billion.

It has its own web wallet, it is not EVM compatible therefore with MetaMask, and has recently started to develop the first Smart Contracts.

Polkadot

It is an Open Source, NPoS (nominated proof-of-stake) multichain (or ParaChain), today 1,278,582,862 DOTs circulate and has a capitalisation of $7.2 billion.

Through auction allocation, slots are granted for the creation of blockchains within it, such as Acala, Moonbeam, Astar, Parallel and Clover.

Finally, it is also possible to create EVM-compatible Smart Contracts within ParaChains.

Near

Perhaps the real news is Near, the first green, PoS and eco-sustainable blockchain, pledging to plant trees to be CO2 neutral.

A PoS blockchain with a maximum circulating value of 1 billion NEAR and a capitalisation of $2 billion.

It is not compatible with EVM and has its own Smart Contract ecosystem as well as a web wallet.

Binance Smart Chain

Impossible not to know it by now, it is the Binance blockchain cloned from Ethereum. It was the fastest solution to offer itself as a replacement for Ethereum when the latter had serious problems.

It is therefore now home to many DeFi projects and will certainly see a strong growth in its value in the short term, however it is important to consider that being centralised on Binance, it is also easily attacked by some institutions.

BNB, the name of its coin, PoS and EVM compatible, has a market cap of USD 49 billion and a ceiling of 200 million mintable BNBs.

Cronos

Ever the wake of Binance, it has created its own CRO blockchain, copying its direct competitor equally. So same pros and cons.

It already has a decent pool of Smart Contracts, CRO is also PoS and EVM compatible, a capitalisation of 2 billion and a maximum of 30,263,013,692 coinable CROs.

Zilliqua

A totally public chain, therefore permissionless, created by focusing everything on innovation. From the pBFT (Byzantine Fault Tolerance) control system to the Smart Contract programming language developed by them specifically and called Scylla.

Clearly, like any novelty, there is a risk of rejection by the system, as well as it could explode. It is appropriate to keep it as a ‘special watch’.

Zilliqua today has a capitalisation of $421 million and a maximum of 21 billion minted ZIL.

Polygon

It is not exactly a Blockchain but a Layer-2 of Ethereum, thus created to solve the problems of scalability and unsustainable costs.

It uses the PoS method and has a capitalisation of $9.5 billion with a maximum of 10 billion mintable MATICs.

However, it should be considered interesting as there are already a number of Metaverse projects within it that could explode.

The considerations to be made before choosing a good investment should certainly be many more.

This is just a quick rundown and we have not considered many crypto projects that are not in any way related to Smart Contracts but would deserve specific insights.

Like for example XRP (Ripple) and XLM (Stellar Lumen), highly speculative projects that we will perhaps tell you about in the next article.

If you liked this article, don’t hesitate to let us know.