Currently the 17th largest cryptocurrency by market cap on Coinmarketcap, Lisk (LSK) is a fairly new cryptocurrency. Also, just like most newcomers, the development team have a unique technology and vision. In order to stand out in the competitive crypto industry, new altcoins have to come up with something worth turning our heads for. Lisk has that going for it, and that is why it is among the top 20 and rising.

How is Lisk different from other cryptocurrencies?

The first thing that sets Lisk apart is its technology. As the company itself describes it, ‘Lisk is the first modular cryptocurrency utilizing sidechains’. What this means, basically, is that instead of using a public ledger to store all transactions, the Lisk network operates in modules. Developers and anyone else using the central/main network branches away to create a sidechain. By so doing, the main network remains unencumbered. Transactions will still be processed as usual on a sidechain as if you were using the main blockchain.

Such a design eliminates one fatal flaw in most cryptocurrencies, and that is bloat. If everyone uses the same blockchain, then it is bound to be slow in processing transactions. Therefore, Lisk promises to be faster all the time. Besides, it has also been built with scaling in mind, which is why it won’t suffer as bitcoin did.

Besides the sidechains, other things done differently too – using Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS). You may recognize PoS from Ethereum’s Casper update, but DPoS goes even further. Depending on the number of LSK you hold, anyone can become a delegate, but there are a maximum of 101. These delegates are responsible for making decisions, thus there is no miner centralization.

Finally, it was designed with a similar goal as Ethereum’s – to allow for creation of decentralized apps (dapps). The target audience for Lisk are developers, who can create their own apps using Javascript and enjoy the benefits of blockchain technology. Additionally, they can even create their own tokens for their own apps.

How is Lisk doing in the crypto markets?

Lisk just surpassed the $1 billon market cap ceiling about a month ago. Yet considering that this company was launched about 18 months ago, it is still excellent growth. In fact, when it launched, it did so through an ICO that netted 14,052 bitcoins. At today’s bitcoin value of $13,000, this is about $182 million, greater than any other successful ICO to date. In the past month alone, Lisk has appreciated by over 100% from $4.58 to the current price of $9.20 at the time of writing.

The main driver of Lisk’s growth is its potential applications with dapps, competing against Ethereum. If developers begin to prefer to use it over ethereum, then it will definitely see more growth in 2018. Furthermore, there is a strong team behind the project, and this should give investors more confidence in the company. As the year winds down, Lisk will definitely reach $10, but may continue to rise further in 2018.