For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Mr. S. I run a private blockchain education program. Many students in the community have asked where I’ll be focusing my attention in the following months. My answer to them is the following:

Projects that highly leverage a DAG based architecture, or a Directed Acyclic Graph, will dominate the cryptocurrency landscape in the coming years.

What I am referring to here is a cryptocurrency that does not use a blockchain, but rather, a distributed ledger more in line with IOTA’s Tangle. If you are not familiar with DAG or the Tangle , I invite you to do a bit of research before the new year. A quick google search will provide a comprehensive overview of the key differences between the Blockchain vs. DAG. Here is a great video breakdown that distinguishes these two types of distributed ledgers:

There are many reasons one should be excited about the recent interest in DAG, primarily because:

Hypothetically, DAGs are infinitely scalable. DAG’s seem to be better equipped for micro-transactions. Most DAG based projects offer zero dollar transaction fees. DAGs offer the ability to create a more decentralized and distributed network compared to ‘blockchain’ based cryptocurrencies. At the time of this writing, Only three projects really leverage DAG to the extent that they can be considered ‘DAG’ projects, while others may leverage those projects within their own tech stack.

These are:

IOTA

RAIBLOCKS

BYTEBALL

My personal belief is that DAG tech will dominate 2018 for the following reasons:

As the IOTA tech matures, the cryptocurrency market will see IOTAs ability to ‘infinitly scale’ and wonder what distinguishes it from other blockchain based cryptocurrencies. Drawing more interest to the DAG.

In addition to supposedly Infinite scalability, Raiblocks and IOTA BOTH offer free transactions. A component which is highly coveted for investors, traders, and builders.

As centralized Proof of Work (POW) projects fall out of style, investors and technologists will search for alternatives (Hint: There are other options besides Proof of Stake) .

DAGs seem to be better suited for micro-transactions, or, small packets of data that will foster communication between smart devices within the machine economy. Many cryptocurrencies would like to support the machine economy, but only a few are really capable due to their scaling issues and high transaction fees.

Whispers of new projects that incorporate a DAG architecture are generating a disproportionally large amount of buzz in the circles I travel.

Everyone loves the next big thing. This is it…

Due to the upcoming popularity of IOTA and Raiblocks, smart investors will naturally see a trend emerging. Both public interests (traders) and private interests (organizations) will talk of the powers of IOTA and Raiblocks, and forward thinking traders will sniff out opportunities that incorporate the DAG. Similar to the Masternode, ASIC RESISTANCE and privacy coin trends we saw in 2017, we will see a larger, macro trend where coins that solve the scalability issues of the blockchain will garner attention from investors, industry and enthusiasts.

In forums and chatrooms, I’m already starting to see DAG projects with lofty goals looking to supplant big name blockchain projects. Some of these have a real shot of becoming big contenders in 2018, with novel ideas that could seriously reshape the scalability debate and ease or eliminate the transaction cost problems that other blockchains face or will face in the future.

So, for all of you asking, DAG technology is where I am focusing my attention in the coming years.

For future articles, follow me on Medium.

-Mr. S.