First off, I’d like to say that this is not a sponsored article. I’m not being paid in any way by any company to write this. It is worth noting that some of these projects are well established. Others, not so much. For this reason, I do not recommend investing in any of the projects mentioned, but definitely recommend researching further about them.



With that said, cryptocurrency prices continue to be as volatile as ever. With most currencies holding at undesirable levels, the FUD train is cruising along and I can’t pretend to not understand why. Every time we see Bitcoin seemingly poised for a bull run, it pulls back and cryptocurrency as a whole suffers. These swings are causing more people to exit and it’s starting to feel as if interest is dying out.

Okay, Enough FUD. There are many cryptocurrency projects out there doing amazing things with their technologies. As we move forward, I continue to look into projects who are impacting the world in a positive way. This is not financial advice! Do your own research before purchasing any of the tokens mentioned here.

Basic Attention Token

BAT is another great cryptocurrency. First of all, they have a crack team chock full of experience in the tech industry. That alone, is incredibly promising in the cryptocurrency space. BAT is advertised as a unit of account between advertisers, publishers, and users. BAT does not encourage the trading of their tokens on any exchanges (though they’re happy to advertise ALL exchanges who list BAT, ironically). Citing the data usage, energy use, and expense that users face for unwanted ads on their mobile devices, the Basic Attention Token White Paper addresses issues we all can relate to.



Why I love this project: The Brave Browser. The Brave browser seamlessly integrates with the BAT token. Blocking trackers and ads that steal your information and sell it to companies who spam your various inboxes, the browser protects you while you surf the web. Oh, and it can also push malware away from your computer.

Stratis

Stratis is a blockchain-based platform which simplifies development, testing, and deployment of C# applications on the dot NET framework. Even with the decline of ICOs, Stratis can still thrive. Stratis launched an ICO solutions platform back in May, and can offer solutions to government regulations in the space and helps to gain user trust.

Why I love this project: Despite the hype around Stratis disappearing recently, it still has its use case moving forward. Stratis’s market price consistently outperforms the US dollar since the beta launch of its mainnet. With regulation almost certainly on the way, I can see a world where stratis thrives.

Stellar

This is not the first time I’ve sung Stellar’s praises, and it probably won’t be the last. The Stellar Blockchain project mainly pointed at remittances or cross country payments in a fast, efficient, and cheap way. Stellar offered their solution to the resource usage issue that many proof of work networks encountered with their Stellar Consensus Protocol (Can be explored in the Stellar Consensus Protocol White paper Here).

Why I love this project: Stellar is very very fast. We’re talking sub 5 second transaction times. Stellar is very cheap, It is said that Tempo running on the Stellar blockchain as a remittances dApp can facilitate 600,000 transactions for 0.01 USD in fees. This cryptocurrency offers the solution to the obscene fees currently being charged for international business transactions (Paypal – 4.5%) on top of being days faster than a wire transfer. Also, Stellar continues to partner with the biggest names in technology.

ZCash

ZCash is a permissionless cryptocurrency that has options to completely protect the privacy of a transaction using zero-knowledge cryptography. Plain and simple, your transactions are private.

Why I love this project: A privacy token always needs to be mentioned. ZCash is my favorite of the privacy tokens. Everyone wants privacy and should have the right to privacy. Privacy comes at a cost, especially given that these tokens could be used to influence the use of dark markets. Regardless of philosophy though, ZCash continues to improve upon issues such as memory consumption of a private transaction.

Cardano

Cardano is a smart contract platform, much like Ethereum. Cardano’s major innovation is that it will help balance the needs of its users with regulators. Taken from the Cardano Website, “it is a technological platform that will be capable of running financial applications currently used every day by individuals, organisations and governments all around the world.”

Why I love this project: In part, because Coinbase seems to have their eyes on Cardano. Coinbase does their research before adding coins to their platform. Not only this, but Cardano is truly innovative. Rather than creating another Ethereum copy, Cardano has developed their own cryptocurrency network for their use case. That, in my eyes, is an underrated aspect in the cryptocurrency space.

4New

A new project on this list, 4New is my personal favorite in terms of tech. 4New collects trash from cities and burns it in specialized combustion tanks pollution free. This generates electricity which is then used for cryptocurrency mining. Their token, the KWATT token, is purchased by a user, and can be staked by the user. This token is backed by the electricity they’ve created and the value raises as more crypto is mined.



Why I love this project: Well, they’re working to help clean the mess humans have made on this earth. That alone is enough for me. 4New is also offering a solution to the resource usage that PoW (Proof of Work) systems encounter as they continue to grow, in a manner that is eco-friendly and 100% sustainable.

Dash

Dash is cash. Built on Bitcoin’s code, Dash upped the privacy of transactions and the speed. Dash has made big news over the last year aiming to solve the cannabis industry’s banking issues (being that banks wont work with the cannabis industry.) It’s this particular niche that makes me think that Dash is doing it well.

Why I love this Project: On top of their payment system being on point, Dash has an ecstatic community. Maybe it’s the cannabis talking, but they certainly love spreading the word of Dash over public forums, twitter, and more. Communities like Dash’s will be instrumental in bringing Cryptocurrency to the mainstream. Dash has also seen very consistent growth over the course of its life, making it very promising.

As always, don’t take my word for it. This article isn’t even scratching the surface of these tokens technologies.

For more information about the author, visit his BlockDelta Profile here.