Here is a look at 8 cryptocurrencies investors should watch out for in December 2021.
1: Enjin (ENJ)
We’ve talked a lot about Metaverse tokens in our recent articles on altcoins to watch, as this is a key crypto trend right now. Sandbox (SAND) and Decentraland (MANA) have both risen over 500% since the start of October, according to CoinMarketCap data. Enjin is up almost 170% in the same time period.
Read: Top 15 Metaverse Tokens To Have On Your Watchlist
It’s wise to think carefully before jumping into the latest craze, especially in cryptocurrency, where speculation is rife. But Enjin is an interesting long-term metaverse project, as the platform allows users to create and trade non-fungible tokens (NFTs). NFTs are unique digital collectibles where the ownership information is coded into the token, and they play an important role in the way people own things in these virtual worlds.
It is very early days for the metaverse and we don’t yet know how it will unfold. But if it does take off, NFTs will be a core element. Since Enjin makes it easy for people to store and trade their NFTs no matter which metaverse or game they bought them in, it’s a cryptocurrency you can pay attention to.
2: Chiliz (CHZ)
Chiliz is a cryptocurrency aimed at sports enthusiasts. Fans can get involved with their favorite teams by buying fan tokens through its socios.com platform. Token holders can vote on decisions like celebration songs, messages on the captain’s armband, and other social media activities. They can also win rewards, such as VIP behind-the-scenes access, signed memorabilia, and meet-and-greet experiences.
One reason Chiliz is interesting right now is its new NFT offer. The first live in-game NFT drop took place during a soccer match between AC Milan and AS Roma. Live NFTs are created based on in-game action, and these limited edition NFTs are already proving popular.
Another reason to keep Chiliz in your sights is that it is well-positioned as crypto exchanges move into sports sponsorship. The Crypto.com Coin (CRO) jumped this month on news it had bought the naming rights to the Staples Center. On top of that, Binance recently launched a sports fan token platform.
3: Elrond (EGLD)
Elrond is one of several smart contract cryptocurrencies to grab investor attention this year. It is a faster, cheaper alternative to Ethereum and has already attracted a number of projects.
Elrond recently announced a $1.29 billion liquidity incentive program for its newly launched decentralized exchange, the Maiar DEX DeFi platform. This offers big rewards to investors who stake EGLD and MEX, the Maiar DEX utility and governance token on the platform. As various programmable blockchains jostle for position, this move makes Elrond a coin worth watching this month.
4: Sandbox’s (SAND)
Sandbox is a blockchain-based virtual world allowing users to create, build, buy, and sell digital assets in the form of a game using its native token called the SAND token. Sandbox was launched in 2011 by Pixowl and is built on the Ethereum ecosystem. It combines the powers of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), to create a unique decentralized platform for a thriving gaming community.
On the 29th of November the platform opened up part of its metaverse after four years of development, to 5,000 players for the first time via a multi-week, play-to-earn (P2E), Alpha event called The Sandbox Alpha.
Even with Bitcoin’s price action, it did not stop the SAND token from hitting an all-time high of $8.51 on the 25th of November. Although the token has retraced in price, there is still more room for growth as more investors are trying to get their hands on the metaverse ecosystem, following Facebook’s name change announcement.
5: Polkadot’s (DOT)
Polkadot is an open-source sharding multichain protocol that facilitates the cross-chain transfer of any data or asset types, not just tokens, thereby making a wide range of blockchains interoperable with each other.
Polkadot started its parachain slot auction and Acala, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol operating on the Polkadot network, won the first auction with $1.3 billion worth of DOT tokens staked. The second auction was also concluded with Moonbeam winning with 35.8 million DOT tokens contributed.
Earlier in the month, DOT hit an all-time high of $55 at the start of November but has quickly retraced as a result of price action from Bitcoin’s market dominance. The third auction ends on the 2nd of December and Astar, a DApp hub on Polkadot that aims to be a multi-chain smart contract platform that will support multiple blockchains and virtual machines is favored to win its leads, having received 9.4 million DOT tokens as of the time of this writing.
6: Livepeer (LPT)
Another term that’s being bandied about is Web3, and this is another trend to pay attention to. Web3 is an umbrella term for a next-generation decentralized internet that doesn’t rely on three or four massive companies. There are a number of Web3 projects that decentralize the way our information is stored, shared, and monetized.
One that has performed well recently is Livepeer, a decentralized video streaming network. Network participants can earn LPT tokens by contributing their unused computer processing power. Livepeer uses this network of computers to do the intensive work of reformatting videos for different devices. This way, it doesn’t need expensive infrastructure to provide a cheaper and more reliable way to stream videos.
7: Crypto.com’s (CRO)
Crypto.com is one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. The platform touts selling over 200 cryptocurrencies at ‘true cost’.
Recently they launched their blockchain called Cronos and the main net launch was on the 8th of November. The price of CRO, the native token of crypto.com rallied to an all-time high of $0.9698 on the 24th of November. The CRO blockchain serves primarily as a vehicle that powers the Crypto.com Pay mobile payments app.
Cronos is the EVM chain running in parallel to the Crypto.org Chain. It aims to massively scale the DeFi ecosystem, by providing developers with the ability to instantly port DApps from Ethereum and EVM-compatible chains, with funding from Particle B’s $100m EVM fund and access to the 10M+ user base of the Crypto.com ecosystem.
The exchange also reached an agreement to rename the Staples Center to Crypto.com Arena for the next 20 years.
8: Avalanche’s (AVAX)
Avalanche is a layer one blockchain that functions as a platform for decentralized applications (DApps) and custom blockchain networks. Its network consists of three individual blockchains: the X-Chain, C-Chain, and P-Chain. Each chain has a distinct purpose, which is radically different from the approach Bitcoin and Ethereum use, namely having all nodes validate all transactions. Avalanche blockchains even use different consensus mechanisms based on their use cases.
At the beginning of the month, the Avalanche Foundation launched “Blizzard”, a fund offering more than $200 million to developers as an incentive to build on the Avalanche network. According to the announcement, the fund will provide liquidity to those early-stage projects that innovate decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, nonfungible tokens (NFTs), and other products on Avalanche.
Also, the AVAX token made its way into the top 10 by market capitalization in November, flipping Dogecoin and Shiba Inu. This was because of a partnership announcement with Deloitte, one of the ‘Big Four’ accounting firms. Deloitte has decided to build its disaster relief platforms atop the Avalanche blockchain platform.
Disclaimer: This content is informational and should not be considered financial advice. The views expressed in this article may include the author's personal opinions and do not reflect The Crypto Basic’s opinion. Readers are encouraged to do thorough research before making any investment decisions. The Crypto Basic is not responsible for any financial losses.
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