It is no secret that while cryptocurrency boomed in 2017, the market cap has struggled to stop falling in 2018. Many investors have been scared away from crypto because of a lack of regulation and large volatility. However, here at Finaviso, we truly believe that cryptocurrency is the future of capital. While many investors know little more about crypto than Bitcoin and Ethereum, there are several alternative coins out there with vastly more benefits. Here’s our pick for 2018:

It may be difficult to recognize how outdated traditional currencies (or even older cryptocurrencies) are, but once you see the upside to coins like Nano, you will understand our enthusiasm about the project. Here’s why you should be invested in Nano.

Instant

You know that annoying 2–3 business day wait between when you click “transfer” on your account and when you actually have access to the money you’re trying to move? This time, required for transaction verifications, exists even for most cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin for example, often praised for being the first of its kind, takes an average of 78 minutes to verify a transaction. And this time will only increase. Bitcoin works on a concept called blockchain, which is one of those buzzwords that very few people actually understand. Basically, all Bitcoin transactions are recorded on a secure public ledger — the blockchain. This list of data continues to increase every time a new transaction is processed. And the longer it is, the slower.

Nano, however, is instant. It uses a concept similar to blockchain, called the block-lattice. Rather than one list of data, each account or wallet has its own blockchain, making the amount of data that needs to be stored on each ledger immensely smaller and thousands of times faster. To give it to you quantifiably, Bitcoin conducts an average of 7 transactions per second. Ethereum can do around 15 transactions per second. Nano, on the other hand, can handle 7000 transactions per second. In other words, instant. Whether you’re paying for a purchase, sending money to a friend, or transferring between accounts, your payments are instant.

2. Fee-less

The longer it takes to verify a transaction, the more energy is being used, and the more expensive the transfer fees are. So for Bitcoin, that averages out to about $28 per transaction, just in fees. The tech behind Nano is incredibly lightweight, translating to zero transfer fees. This makes it ideal for smaller payments, which are usually eaten up by Bitcoin fees.

3. Efficient

What does it mean to be lightweight? Bitcoin has to be mined, meaning that computers are constantly running calculations in order to dig up more Bitcoin. This results in entire warehouses full of machines, burning through energy to mine little of the currency. This puts most of the mining power in the hands of a few rich individuals, while also being incredibly wasteful. Nano is not minable. All the Nano that will ever exist already exists. This makes it immensely more energy efficient and eco-friendly than most coins. Just look at the difference between energy used per Nano transaction and Bitcoin transaction.

The Bitcoin energy usage is simply not sustainable in a hopefully green future. Nano is.