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Dash ranks in the top three best-performing cryptocurrencies following their initial listing on exchanges.

According to U.Today, exchange pricing data pulled from DataLight show the top largest gainers from their initial exchange listing price to be, in order, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dash. These three grew past their initial listing price by 1.3 million percent, 68,200%, and 39,500%, respectively. More than regular year-on-year growth over time, these statistics reflect the discrepancy between initial exchange valuations and current rates, singling out those who began trading as under-hyped, rather than over-hyped, projects. An additional factor specifically regarding Bitcoin may be the relative underdevelopment of the cryptocurrency exchange world in 2010 when the first trading pairs appeared.

On the lower-performing end of the spectrum lie many newer projects, which may reflect the shorter time window to achieve higher valuations, or, alternatively, a more realistic initial listing price due to a more mature crypto ecosystem and market. Coins like Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, and IOTA currently reflect valuation decreases, possibly reflecting an over-abundance of hype at the initial trading launch of the project.

Link found between frequent cryptocurrency trading and problem gambling

While many cryptocurrency traders have found an avenue towards realizing significant gains, as in the above examples, there is a dark side to the trading world as well. According to new research from Rutgers University-New Brunswick’s Center for Gambling Studies, a link was discovered between frequent cryptocurrency trading and gambling issues. Over half of regular gamblers were found to have traded in cryptocurrency over the past year, drawing distinct parallels between speculative crypto trading and other risky behaviors. As such, seeing cryptocurrency as a long-term, multi-year investment, rather than a quick flip, has the potential to avoid unhealthy, potentially destructive behavior patterns similar to problem gambling.

Use cases and innovation, rather than pure speculation, drive sustainable growth

The long-term valuation increases represented by the top performers reflected above draw parallels to innovation and practical use. Bitcoin pioneered the entire cryptocurrency space and solved many issues plaguing centralized money and payment networks today. Ethereum jump-started the smart contract space and popularized the tokenization of assets and crowdfunding. Dash brought advanced privacy to the forefront, pioneered instant transactions and governance, and is set to take protocol-level consumer-grade usability into uncharted territory with the release of the Evolution update.