As we move further into the final quarter of the year, this week’s choices are set to benefit from significant developments and announcements that should strengthen their market positions and benefit their communities. The news should also result in increased amounts of attention to each respective currency over the coming weeks.

1. Bitcoin (BTC)

Bitcoin is regarded as the world’s first decentralized digital currency, and was created in 2009 by a mystical figure named Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin is a deflationary currency whose issuance is capped at a total supply of 21 million coins. Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency and is traded on various exchanges and is also used in peer to peer transactions.

Why Bitcoin?

After the launch of Bakkt’s daily and monthly Bitcoin futures services in September, attention has shifted away from the market’s premier digital asset. However, a flurry of activity took place this week which was stimulated by speculation linked to the Chinese government embracing blockchain technology. As a result, Bitcoin touched a price of $10,000 on certain exchanges, and the next round of CME Bitcoin Futures contracts are scheduled to settle on October 28. With a significant amount of “capital” flowing back into the market, Bitcoin is the main coin to watch as it will continue to dictate just how the market moves.

Buy/Sell Bitcoin (BTC)

How to buy Bitcoin (BTC) on Binance?

2. Stellar Lumens (XLM)

Stellar Lumens is a crypto platform that’s designed to enable fast, secure, and low cost money transfers. Designed for individuals as well as enterprises, Stellar makes it possible to send money across borders and facilitates low-cost payments between currencies as transactions sent via the Stellar network take an average of 2-5 seconds to clear, while the base fee for sending a transaction currently stands at 0.0001 XLM.

Why Stellar?

Network validators can vote on whether to upgrade the public network to Stellar-core v12.0.0 on October 28 at 1600 UTC, and the team have prepared a number of software releases ahead of the Protocol 12 Upgrade vote. These include Horizon v0.22.1 which includes support for Stellar-core v12.0.0, and allows community members to download a run the correct software in order to take part in the voting process. The team have outlined their release schedule and explain the developments in their official blog post.

How to buy Stellar Lumens (XLM) on Binance?

3. Achain (ACT)

Achain is a public blockchain platform that enables developers of all levels to create applications and blockchain systems, as well as to issue tokens and smart contracts. The Achain team is committed to building a global blockchain network for information exchange and value transactions.

Why Achain?

The team have announced that the main network is scheduled to launch on October 31, and they have also finalized a dApp incentive plan which allows dApps to earn up to 1 million in ACT rewards. After reviewing all the submitted dApps the Achain review team will give out A, B, C, or D ratings and each level receives the following rewards:

Class A: 1,000,000 ACT

Category B: 500,000 ACT

Category C: 100,000 ACT

Class D: 20,000 ACT

Class E: 10,000 ACT

Class F: 5,000 ACT

The giveaway aims to incentivize dApp developers and the team outline the entire process for anyone interested in their official Medium post.

How did the coins perform last week?

The seven day period led to positive results across the market and the previous week's coins to watch also benefited as a result. TRX improved by around +14% in value and is currently trading at around $0.01. WTC gained +13.2% in value, and is currently trading at $0.76. LSK had a more modest performance, improving by +3.8%. Over the course of the week, the total crypto market cap jumped from $222B to $246B.