Value of Rebranded RaiBlocks/NANO Coin Has Been Rising

On Thursday, as the broader cryptocurrency market was correcting, there was one crypto forging its way up north. While the major cryptos like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), and Litecoin (LTC) were all drenched in crimson, the Nano cryptocurrency (NANO) was trending in green.

So, why exactly was the NANO coin price surging?

A quick look at its 24-hour trading volume gave us a good starting point. Nano’s trading volume hit an all-time high in the trailing day. On Binance, which is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, Nano was the third-most-traded cryptocurrency by volume, beating the likes of Ripple and Litecoin.

With the Bitcoin price falling, the NANO to BTC rate was up more than 22% on February 22, which helps explain why money was flowing into NANO. It was getting cheaper to buy and investors were scrambling to get their hands on it.




Chart courtesy of TradingView.com

Let me clarify that Nano’s ascension up the crypto rankings did not transpire overnight. If you have never heard of Nano before and are wondering how it suddenly appeared on the scene with a market capitalization of more than a billion dollars, perhaps Nano’s old name “RaiBlocks” may ring a bell.

What Is Nano/RaiBlocks?

When Nano was formerly known as “RaiBlocks,” it traded under the symbol “XRB.” It was rebranded as Nano last month to give it a more marketable, investor-friendly name.

This cryptocurrency is a direct Bitcoin/Litecoin competitor, which means it’s a pure crypto alternative to fiat currency. But it’s Nano’s underlying technology that sets it apart from Bitcoin, Litecoin, and other cryptocurrencies.

Nano is built on the concept of “block lattice,” which is different than “blockchain.” Recall that, on a blockchain network, transactions are validated by miners who are rewarded by the network with fees.

By contrast, in Nano’s block lattice-based network, each user has their own little blockchain, where they somewhat control the validation process. Since there are no miners involved, there are no fees and no wait times.

Those are Nano’s biggest selling points: lack of fees and infinite scalability—the two biggest problems facing Bitcoin today.

Bitcoin has been losing its touch because of its slowing platform. To give you an idea, take the example of payment processing company Stripe. The company used to accept Bitcoin payments and allowed swift conversion between Bitcoin and fiat currency. But Stripe gave up on Bitcoin last month because it is no longer viable as a digital currency.

As transaction volumes increased on its platform, Bitcoin’s processing speed slowed and transaction fees shot up, making it infeasible for day-to-day transactions.

Nano/RaiBlocks is vying to fill the niche left by Bitcoin, which is why many are showing a willingness to invest in it.

Analyst Take

Despite the apparent technological edge that Nano sports over Bitcoin, it’s still a very young cryptocurrency with not enough market visibility. The value ascribed to NANO coin seems inflated, considering the fact that the crypto hasn’t yet made a mark in the real world.

In our view, Nano may take a year or so to reach the mainstream—if it succeeds in presenting a practical use case.