Solana and Cardano + $40 billion in crypto value can challenge Ethereum.

When most market participants think about cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin is the dominant asset in conversation and analysis. As the “granddaddy” of the asset class, Bitcoin experienced an incredible rise from five cents in 2010 to almost $70,000 in 2021, sparking a frenzy of speculative buying and opening up space for thousands of new currencies.

Ethereum is the second-ranked cryptocurrency, and last year it performed even better than Bitcoin. Ethereum’s price increased almost four times (391.75%) in 2021. Bitcoin is a medium of exchange, but the flexible Ethereum platform has spawned several new cryptocurrencies, which explains its better performance.

As of the beginning of 2022, the asset class had more than 16,650 tokens, and the number of new participants was growing every day. Solana and Cardano are among the top 10, with a market capitalization exceeding 99.9% of the asset class.

Cryptocurrencies gain recognition as their market value increases.

In 2021, the crypto marker cap increased by 182.18% to $2.166 trillion as of December 31, compared to $767.482 billion. For the end of 2020.

This substantial increase in market value was attributed to the increased utilization of the new asset class. In 2021, more and more companies started accepting cryptocurrencies as a means of payment. In addition, the speculative frenzy that has skyrocketed in recent years continues to grow, resulting in cryptocurrencies becoming popular as investments as financial institutions allow their clients to invest a percentage of their portfolios in this market.

Support from a big name in the corporate world, such as the CEO of TeslaElon Musk, did not hurt the cryptocurrency. In 2021, even top athletes and celebrities were advocating for cryptocurrency payments.

2022 may be a crucial year.

After reaching almost $70,000 in mid-November, Bitcoin was trading below the $43,000 level on January 11. Ethereum peaked at $4,900 on November 10 and was still below $3,250 in early 2022.

Cryptocurrencies will face constant bullish and bearish trends in 2022у.”

On the positive side:

• Speculative euphoria is expected to continue.
  The number of tokens continues to grow. The demand for cryptography supports a growing number of options, as market participants look for the next token that will generate revenue similar to bitcoin or Ethereum;
• Cryptocurrencies have become very popular as investment instruments, encouraging market participants to diversify their portfolios at the expense of cryptocurrencies;
• Faith in fiat currencies is falling, making cryptocurrencies a viable alternative.

On the downside:

• Regulators are preparing to take on a more significant role in market surveillance to “protect society”;
• Over time, governments will release digital versions of their fiat currencies to compete with cryptocurrencies from a technological point of view.
• Cryptocurrencies threaten the control of governments and legislators over the money supply, which the latter will not easily give up. Money is the backboneа of power, which in turn рассматриваеsees cryptocurrencies as a challenge to its control.

The cryptocurrency market worth $2 trillion as of January 11 is significantly inferior to Apple, the world’s largest public company. Therefore, cryptocurrencies with capitalization do not pose a systemic risk to the financial system. However, if its market capitalization grows to $4-5 billion or more, governments will probably get nervous and change their attitude towards cryptocurrencies.

Solana is the fifth leading cryptocurrency.

As of January 13, Solana was the fifth leading cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $47.40 billion (at a price per token of $151.25).

Solana is an innovative blockchain platform using the Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism combined with Proof-of-History, a decentralized “time source”.

Solana allows you to streamline transactions without reaching an agreement between all nodes in the network at the same time. That’s why everything happens so fast.

Solana uses PoS, or rather “Bonded Proof-of-Stake” (BPoS). It means that any SOL owner can delegate their votes to the validator they choose and share with him the rewards (or penalties) for verifying transactions.

SOL’s key innovation is the Proof-of-History mechanism. In most blockchains, miners or validators need to communicate how to arrange blocks. On Solana, all the blocks act as radio towers that can check with a watch.

Bitcoin’s proof-of-work mechanism is energy-intensive, while proof-of-stake requires much less computing power and is, therefore, a greener protocol.

Solana potentially competes with Ethereum because transactions with SOL are faster, and the associated costs are lower.

SOL tokens had an initial price of 78 cents on the market, the maximum of which at $258.93 was reached on November 5, 2021 – a few days before Bitcoin and Ethereum reached their historical maximum. On January 13, the SOL price was at $151.25, about 42% below its November high. Its drop was more significant than Bitcoin and Ethereum, which had a drop below their highs, respectively, by 38.2% and 34.2%.

Cardano is the seventh.

Cardano is a public, decentralized, open-source blockchain platform with a share verification protocol. Cardano has been on the market since 2015 and can conduct peer-to-peer transactions using its ADA cryptocurrency. In addition, Cardano’s energy efficiency makes it a more eco-friendly cryptocurrency since its mining is not energy-intensive.

ADA was the seventh leading cryptocurrency as of January 13. For $1.30 per token, its market capitalization was $43.45 billion.

ADA began trading in October 2017 for 2.6 cents and peaked at $2.9634 on September 1, 2021. At $1.30, its price is down 56% from its high. In early November 2021, ADA recorded a high of$2.2735 and has outperformed Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana since November.

Invest just that you can afford to lose: SOL and ADA offer liquidity for trading.

SOL and ADA are liquid cryptocurrencies for traders with about $40 billion market capitalization. At the same time, its have the same risks as all cryptocurrencies. Therefore, investors should only put up capital that they are willing to lose since a sizeable potential return is associated with the risk of его losing it altogether.

A participatory protocol that follows a greener path for the environment is likely to be a bonus for the asset class. However, the intensity of bullish and bearish forces for this asset class will determine the path of least price resistance in 2022.

You can buy altcoins and BTC and ETH, except for the most significant crypto exchange Binance, on the trading platforms of the largest CFD brokers, Forex.com and CityIndex, Plus500 online broker eToro and AvaTrade online trading platforms.

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