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Of Ben Popken
Bitcoin is then 2017. If you missed out because the virtual currency has gone from $ 1,000 to over $ 19,000, here are five other digital resources where you can jump with your vacation money and try to ride the next wave … or lose all in the next accident.
Several alternative currencies also recorded significant movements in the last year, increasing anywhere from 600 to 37,000 percent. But before buying, do your research.
The first thing to remember is that you can buy a fractional piece of almost every cryptocostolo for a few dollars – you do not need to shell out thousands of dollars for a complete bitcoin, for example.
Some digital resources are designed to be real currencies for conducting transactions. Others are "tokens" issued by specific companies as a way to raise funds. The value of the token can increase or decrease based on how well their product is doing … or they can simply be bought into a speculative spree.
"The same rules apply to speculate in cryptocurrencies and tokens like any other investment class," said Nick Colas of DataTrek Research, an analyst who has covered cryptocurrency for over four years. "You need to know who is responsible, what problems should the product solve, what competition exists" and why someone would like to use the underlying product.
Can not I answer these questions? Does the idea of seeing your nest egg swing up and down double-digit points in a few hours give you indigestion? So you can limit yourself to low-cost indexed funds. If not, insert the buckle. Prices and percentages are rounded.
Ripple (token)
January 1, 2017 close: less than one cent
January 1, 2018 close: $ 2.40
Rise: 37.400 percent
Ripple is designed to be a cheaper, faster and more direct way to send money around the world. This has led some large banks to try it. But after having fluctuated under one dollar for a month, the price suddenly swelled at the end of 2017 on the back of an increase in South Korean word of mouth purchases. It is now in the top 10 of all cryptocoins by market capitalization.
IOTA (token)
June 13, 2017 close: $ 0.60 (launched in June)
January 1, 2018 close: $ 4.00
Increase: 570 percent
We have heard about how the "Internet of Things" devices will one day talk to each other. But what do you say if you pay one another? "One day, when your fridge orders more milk, you could pay with IOTA," said Colas. The bulk of the token launch occurred in November, when the company announced that it was starting a data market with 35 participating companies, including Microsoft and Samsung.
Monero (coin)
January 1, 2017 close: $ 14
January 1, 2018 close: $ 360
Increase: 2,470 percent
It's like bitcoin, except that it's even more anonymous. This made the new currency of the kingdom for technophiles and transactions on the dark web.
Vertcoin (coin)
January 1, 2017 price: $ 0.03
January 1, 2018 price: $ 6.80
Rise: 22.500 percent
One of the criticisms of bitcoin is that it should be deregulated and decentralized. But "coining" or "extracting" more bitcoins requires the use of faster and more expensive computers to solve more complex mathematical problems. This puts more power in the hands of those who have the time and money to manage mining systems, especially specialized machines whose sole purpose is mining. Vertcoin is an optimized version of bitcoin that its developers say is "resistant" to being exploited by some of these systems. They are attracted fans on the Reddit social link sharing site, and popularity has grown in the last year.
CryptoKitty (application)
Faithful to the nature of the Internet that generated them, these speculative products are a little bizarre. Case in point, "CryptoKitties", which are not token or cryptocurrencies themselves but a special kind of digital app that uses Ethereum, another cryptocurrency that was hot in 2017. They are a bit like the Tamagotchis ( remember those?) Except you can raise them and create a offspring that shares the qualities of both parents. Whether you think it's fun or frivolous, there's real money in the virtual toy. Over 10 of these digital cats have sold over $ 100,000.
"The whole area is the Wild West," Colas told NBC News. "Many ICOs make dot com boom stocks like Blue Chip stocks."
