After a significant dip in the second quarter of 2018, cryptocurrencies are becoming popular again among retail investors, appearing in the mainstream media headlines every day. There are a few cryptocurrencies that have grabbed investors' attention. What are the best cryptocurrencies to invest in in August this year?

Before we share with you our top 11 list, here is our little hack: use the cryptocurrency investment idea tool to stay up-to-date on the best investment opportunities in the altcoin space.

1. Bitcoin

Bitcoin is by far the most popular cryptocurrency today, garnering a plenty of investors' attention. We think Bitcoin may be a good opportunity to invest in now because:

It is the most established cryptocurrency.

Stock market volatility and political uncertainty are good for Bitcoin. In general, political unrest is not good for the stock market, because its value is tied to established companies that depend on government services. But given the political climate across the world, and decreasing faith in government institutions, Bitcoin is becoming increasingly more popular.

In general, political unrest is not good for the stock market, because its value is tied to established companies that depend on government services. But given the political climate across the world, and decreasing faith in government institutions, Bitcoin is becoming increasingly more popular. It's easy to invest in it: investing in Bitcoin is as simple as buying a stock on an online exchange. You can use also a zero-cost brokerage such as Robinhood to do that.

Bitcoin (BTC.X) is trading at $7,654.54, up 0.27% from yesterday. Over the last 30 days, BTC.X gained 20.64%. 2. Stellar Lumens

Stellar is also based on the blockchain technology. It connects banks, payments systems, and people with a goal to move money quickly, reliably, and at little or no cost. Here are the main reasons why one should consider investing in the cryptocurrency now:

Stellar offers low-cost transactions and accounts. 1 USD will cover about 400,000 transactions, and there are various licensed exchanges where Stellar Lumens can be purchased.

1 USD will cover about 400,000 transactions, and there are various licensed exchanges where Stellar Lumens can be purchased. There is a good market opportunity for the cryptocurrency as Stellar is the first distributed ledger protocol which received Sharia compliance certification in the money transfer and asset tokenization space.

as Stellar is the first distributed ledger protocol which received Sharia compliance certification in the money transfer and asset tokenization space. Security is one of the main focus areas for Stellar, and the company solved security-related challenges in a very creative and effective way. Stellar's nominal base fee, paid by transaction initiators, deters malicious attacks that can flood the network. Whenever there is a suspicious account submitting transactions, this base fee increases.

Stellar (XLM.X) is trading at $0.27, down by 0.75% from yesterday.

Over the last 30 days, XLM.X gained 39.58%, which is 18.94 percentage points higher than the 30-day return of Bitcoin (BTC.X). 3. IOTA

IOTA has a market capitalization of $2.5 billion USD today. It focuses on the emerging machine-to-machine (m2m) economy of the Internet-of-Things (IoT) and other applications where a scalable decentralized system may be warranted.

Unlike other cryptocurrencies that are based on the blockchain technology, IOTA makes use of its unique infrastructure known as Tangle. We think IOTA is a good investment opportunity now, because of the following reasons:

It has good scalability, no-fee transactions, and no blocks. It targets the up-and-coming market opportunity called the Internet of Things (IoT), which could reach more than 1 billion transactions by 2020 , thus necessitating a secure, cheap and scalable micro-billing mechanism for everyone.

, thus necessitating a secure, cheap and scalable micro-billing mechanism for everyone. Its partnerships with the mainstream companies such as BOSCH, Volkswagen, and Porsche seem to be very promising.

It can be easily bought in a hasslefree manner using many exchanges (e.g., Coinhako). With the growth in the ecosystem every day, buying or selling IOTA will become even easier.

IOTA (IOT.X) is trading at $0.91, down -2.8% from yesterday.

Over the last 30 days, IOT.X lost -12.87%, which is 33.52 percentage points lower than the 30-day return of Bitcoin (BTC.X). 4. EOS

EOS is one of the most used blockchains in the world today. It has a market capitalization of $6.3 billion USD.

EOS is a blockchain project that enables horizontal scaling of decentralized applications, allowing developers to efficiently create high performance distributed applications. It is a good investment opportunity because:

It is simple to use, and accounts are easily recoverable in case of security breaches. This is very helpful for the mainstream public that doesn't have much experience with private keys and account security issues.

This is very helpful for the mainstream public that doesn't have much experience with private keys and account security issues. The EOS network is pretty efficient with handling volume bottlenecks on high transaction days.

EOS has zero transaction fees. When a smart contract is executed, EOS requires the user to stake tokens which are returned back to him or her after the execution.

EOS (EOS.X) is trading at $7.04, down by 3.68% from yesterday.

Over the last 30 days, EOS.X lost -12.01%, which is 32.65 percentage points lower than the 30-day return of Bitcoin (BTC.X). 5. Ethereum

Ethereum is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third-party interference. It is one of the most promising coins in the crypto world and one of the best long-term investment choices for crypto investors because of the following reasons:

Since many Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) intend to release their tokens on the Ethereum network, its price is expected to appreciate over time.

It has the potential to transform the financial system just like Uber and Airbnb did in their own industries. The Casper and Sharding technologies depict significant milestones in its development.

A decreasing trust in the traditional financial markets is prompting traditional investors to look into the most established cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum.

Ethereum (ETH.X) is trading at $418.08, down by 1.82% from yesterday.

Over the last 30 days, ETH.X lost -7.15%, which is 27.80 percentage points lower than the 30-day return of Bitcoin (BTC.X). 6. NEO

NEO is the first Chinese cryptocurrency to be globally accepted. Founded in 2014, its mission is to reinvent the way commerce is done.

NEO entered the top 15 coins by market cap and its capitalization is north of $1.7 billion today. We consider it to be a good investment option because of the following reasons:

NEO is not just a cryptocurrency, but also a project that helps in the creation of digital assets, smart contracts, and other applications on its blockchains.

In the NEO platform, a straightforward transfer of shares, equity, and assets is possible because users are able to issue and trade assets. In order to prove an asset's ownership, tokens are distributed.

The platform is powerful enough to process 10,000 transactions per second, so there is virtually no transaction latency. This capability attracts a huge number of partners from all over the world, besides China.

NEO (NEO.X) is trading at $29.19, down by 2.89% from yesterday.

Over the last 30 days, NEO.X lost -10.87%, which is 31.51 percentage points lower than the 30-day return of Bitcoin (BTC.X). 7. NEM

NEM is a blockchain built for enterprise-grade performance. Here are the reasons to invest in NEM now:

Compared to Bitcoin, NEM has more real-time case uses.

It is the best option for portfolio expansion. No programming knowledge is needed to use the platform as it is quite user-friendly.

With cryptographic signatures, NEM is capable of acting as an authentication and notary-type service. It is targeting the retail industry with its blockchain technology. The customers' loyalty points can be converted into money which would reduce the shortcomings such as mistakes in the loyalty points program.

NEM (XEM.X) is trading at $0.16, down by 2.08% from yesterday.

Over the last 30 days, XEM.X lost -7.8%, which is 28.44 percentage points lower than the 30-day return of Bitcoin (BTC.X). 8. Ripple

It is one of the popular cryptocurrencies among the crypto traders. XRP offers banks and payment providers a reliable, on-demand option to source liquidity for cross-border payments. XRP consistently handles 1,500 transactions per second and can scale to handle the same throughput as Visa.

We consider Ripple to be a good investment option because of the following reasons:

It is used in the real world today to enable high-speed and low-cost money transfers worldwide.

Ripple is going to build more financial market partnerships in the upcoming period, which means its applicability will spread over time.

xRapid, used for payment providers and other financial institutions that want to minimize liquidity costs, is gradually being adopted in the market. It can complete international settlements in a short span using XRP as a bridge currency.

Ripple (XRP.X) is trading at $0.44, down by 2.71% from yesterday.

Over the last 30 days, XRP.X lost -3.7%, which is 24.34 percentage points lower than the 30-day return of Bitcoin (BTC.X). 9. Litecoin

It was created by Charlie Lee with the intent to make a lighter version of Bitcoin. Litecoin is a peer-to-peer currency that enables instant, close-to-zero cost payments to anyone. Here are the reasons why it may be a good investment option now:

A Bitcoin transaction needs 10 minutes to execute, whereas Litecoin takes around 2.5 minutes. The transaction cost for Litecoin is smaller compared to Bitcoin: $0.23 vs. $2.83.

This digital currency can be bought easily. Because of its popularity, it is traded on Coinbase (the top digital currency wallet and exchange).

Litecoin was the first crypto asset to be traded on eToro. It's potentially on the upside because of its robust usage, evidenced by the number of active addresses per day.

Litecoin (LTC.X) is trading at $77.47, down by 0.78% from yesterday.

Over the last 30 days, LTC.X lost -2.64%, which is 23.28 percentage points lower than the 30-day return of Bitcoin (BTC.X).

10. Ethereum Classic

Ethereum Classic is the continuation of the original Ethereum blockchain, prior to the July 2016 DAO hack. Here are the reasons why it may be a good investment option now:

Currently, Ethereum Classic processes 48,000 transactions per day and is soon expected to reach the 100,000 mark, upon being licensed on Coinbase.

The Ethereum Classic Development Team (ETCDEV) has big plans around IoT, since Ethereum Classic has the most secure blockchain. There is a pretty decent probability that the company will capture a share of the IoT market. ETC's scalability will be enhanced after the inclusion of side chains.

There is a pretty decent probability that the company will capture a share of the IoT market. ETC's scalability will be enhanced after the inclusion of side chains. Its partnership with a South Korean exchange Zeniex will help ETC enter the Asian market per Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two companies.

Ethereum Classic (ETC.X) is trading at $15.21, down by 5.26% from yesterday.

Over the last 30 days, ETC.X lost -3.72%, which is 24.37 percentage points lower than the 30-day return of Bitcoin (BTC.X).

11. Binance Coin

Binance is one of the largest and most powerful cryptocurrency exchanges with a market cap of about $1.5 billion USD. Reasons for investing in Binance Coin include:

Binance processes about 1.5 million orders per second and over $1 Billion per day. The company's native coin BNB has been the best performing coin since July 2017 (its inception time).

The interface is user-friendly, so investors can enjoy a seamless trading experience.

The Binance exchange is one of the most secure exchanges in the world, so the chances of a hack or malicious cyber attack are significantly reduced. Also, its stability provides assurance to its users.

Binance Coin (BNB.X) is trading at $13.61, up 1.11% from yesterday.

Over the last 30 days, BNB.X lost 3.43%, which is 24.08 percentage points lower than the 30-day return of Bitcoin (BTC.X). Do you want a daily updated view of cryptocurrency news, price analyses and speculations? Check out Finstead Bites, to get your scoop on cryptocurrencies and make your next bet.