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Fundamentally Strongest Crypto Projects in 2020

Fundamentally Strongest Crypto Projects in 2020 Blockchain PlatoBlockchain Data Intelligence. Vertical Search. Ai.

There are numerous new promising cryptocurrency projects coming out every year. Some of them die quickly either because they offer nothing innovative to the cryptocurrency industry or a myriad of other reasons. However, some manage to thrive, lingering around long enough to grow through the ranks and eventually become staples of the industry.

In this article, we will take a look at four projects which due to their strong fundamental basis and value added, could eventually become mainstays in the crypto industry.

Elrond (EGLD)

Elrond is a blockchain that sports a very impressive performance, allowing for speeds up to 10,000 transactions per second. It was first launched in July 2020.

Besides its spectacular speed, what makes Elrond stand out from the pack is its use of sharded stake architecture. As a result, while for the majority of other blockchain the use of complex hardware is essential, Elrond can smoothly run on an ordinary computer. The network also has its own token called EGLD.

Sharding is a scaling technique that is used with the goal of parallelizing transaction and data processing. Elrond has a unique approach called ”adaptive state sharding,” which allows each node to process only a small fraction of the transactions in the entire network, and do them simultaneously and parallelly, increasing the efficacy of transactions.

Furthermore, the performance of Elrond scales up relative to the quantity of computers that are present in the network.

There are three main types of sharding that are emphasized by Elrond:

  • Network which groups nodes into shards in order to enhance communication between them. Afterwards, communication inside these shards occurs much faster than that in the entire network.
  • Transaction which administers how transactions are depicted to the shards and processed.
  • State. Each shard handles only a portion of the state. Transactions in accounts which are handled by different shards occur once communication between the shards is done. This reduces the susceptibility to malicious attacks, therefore greatly enhancing security.

Elrond is the initial network to bring forward a feasible solution which successfully implements all these sharding aspects simultaneously.

In addition to this, Elrond also employs a secure proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanism, mitigating risks resulting from potential attacks which seek to gain unauthorized access to the network. This is achieved through an improvement to the method which selects validator nodes, which in this case is based on the amount of EGLD held.

This model incentivizes users by allowing holders to earn income by either staking or acting as a validator. The most favorable reward is achieved when becoming a Validator Node, providing nearly 36 per cent yearly return.

However, this requires active participation in the network through an online machine. On the other hand, staking provides a 29 per cent yearly return, without active participation.

Finally, the Elrond Virtual Machine allows for the use of more programming languages in order to develop smart contracts, including Rust, C/C++, Typescript, among others.

Therefore, Elrond is capable of providing a more than satisfactory performance with relatively average computers through its novel handling of the sharding and consensus issues, generating low costs per transaction.

MANTRA DAO (OM)

MANTRA DAO is a decentralized finance (DeFi) project which is governed by its community. The main thing that sets MANTRA DAO out from other projects is its attempts at including its own users in maintaining the platform and creating activity inside it.

It attempts to do this through incentives, done by focusing on lending, governance and staking. MANTRA DAO employs its own token, OM.

  • Staking. MANTRA DAO website allows users to stake their OM holdings and gain a return of 28.93 per cent annually.
  • Lending. MANTRA DAO uses both proprietary lending protocols and open sourced ones, with the goal of allowing users to receive interest for their crypto assets. This is done by offering loans to other users.
  • Governance. Users have governance and voting rights, giving them a portion of the ownership of the MANTRA DAO ecosystem. Therefore, each time an important decision is made — regarding anything from interest rate adjustment or grant allocations — OM holders have a say in that decision.

Furthermore, MANTRA DAO employs the KARMA mechanism, which rewards users when they contribute positively to the MANTRA DAO ecosystem. This effectively incentivizes them to use the platform. KARMA includes ten tiers, each providing new perks such as higher rewards for staking or reduced fees for transactions.

In order to support its financial products, MANTRA DAO employs Rio Chain, a blockchain which is scalable and highly secure. Rio Chain has embraced a federated model with the aim of ensuring security, speed, and scalability.

Besides being an interoperable system, which means that it allows different blockchains smooth interaction with each other, Rio Chain is able to process 3,000 transactions per second.

Another interesting feature is the burning of OM tokens, which is done each time they are used in order to either complete transactions or pay fees on lending activities. This process is expected to continue until 50 per cent of the total supply of OM is burned.

Stacks (STX)

Stacks — previously known as BlockStack — allows developers to build smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps). In order to power smart contracts, Stacks uses “Clarity,” a programming language which further amplifies security.

Therefore, developers can be sure that their data remains private when they create an application. Stacks uses its native token STX in order to complete activities in its blockchain. 1.3 billion of these tokens were minted in the genesis block.

There are four main layers to the Stacks network, them being:

  • Application layer which allows for the creation of new applications.
  • Protocol layer which facilitates in the processes of storage, financial services and authentication.
  • Stacks blockchain which serves to hold the entire ecosystem together.
  • Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain is used in order to create new coins.

Stacks is dependent on bitcoin, since it reuses its computing power as part of a new mechanism called proof-of-transfer (PoX). This is probably the most interesting aspect of Stacks.

PoX serves to determine the requirements of miners in order to create new blocks on the blockchain. Proof-of-work (PoW) was the earliest such method, requiring miners to solve complex mathematical problems.

Afterwards came by PoS, which required users to stake their holdings in order to power the ecosystem. Finally, proof-of-burn (PoB) destroys coins in order to gain block rewards, usually working hand in hand with PoW.

Proof-of-transfer was introduced in 2020, and aims to be a long-term sustainable solution that rises above the shortcoming of the previous three methods.

There are two types of participants in proof-of-transfer:

  • Validating Nodes. The ones who transfer BTC to the Stacks network and then earn STX as a reward for their mining contribution.
  • Stackers. The STX token holders, who are recipients of BTC from validating nodes.

Since Stacks uses the consensus from the existing BTC blockchain, mining is more energy efficient. While similar, PoX is more efficient than proof-of-burn, since instead of burning coins they are transferred to the ”stackers.” In a nutshell, PoX results in the creation of a new STX coin through a BTC transfer.

Furthermore, since Stacks uses the BTC platform, each action taken in the Stacks platform can be verified in the BTC one. This is especially useful with ever increasing instances of security breaches on different platforms. Therefore, leveraging the security of bitcoin greatly reduces this risk.

Stacks 2.0, a layer-1 blockchain is expected to launch on Jan. 14, 2021.

Enjin (ENJ)

Enjin is a blockchain platform that is focused primarily on the gaming industry, more specifically on the creation of digital assets that are owned by the user. Users have ownership of their in-game items, which means that they can trade them and gain value in return.

Furthermore, an item is not used exclusively in one game, rather it can be carried throughout different games as if they were part of the same world. This is possible since assets are stored in a blockchain which is decentralized, thus all developers have access to it.

Enjin uses its native token called Enjin Coin (ENJ). The value of ENJ comes from its lock-up mechanisms. As more and more items are created, ENJ is locked up (stored), while when items are destroyed (through burning), ENJ is released. Therefore, as the ENJ platform is used by more people, hence creation of items increases, the ENJ supply actually decreases.

Blockchain technology for Enjin is used for four main benefits:

  • Item ownership.
  • Convenient exchange. Provides the opportunity to instantly trade items.
  • Reserve value. Items that are unwanted can be burned for ENJ.
  • Use of a single wallet. The Enjin wallet can store all digital assets in one location.

The Enjin ecosystem allows for the creation, trading and storage of these items. It does so by the use of:

  • Enjin wallet that safely stores items and cryptocurrencies.
  • EnjinX, an explorer that is used to observe items and transactions.
  • Unity Plugin, a plugin which permits developers to implement and release games on multiple platforms.
  • Marketplace, a secure space in which items are traded.

Enjin has partnerships with multiple well-known technology companies, including Samsung and Microsoft. Finally, ENJ has set foot in the DeFi game sector since it is supported by AAVE, which allows depositing ENJ on the AAVE protocol platform and receive interest while others are borrowing the ENJ you have provided.

Unique areas of interest

To conclude, all of the coins we have analyzed have their own unique areas of interest, which set them out from the pack and provide potential for future growth.

The main area of interest for MANTRA DAO is its governance system, which allows users to benefit from active participation in the ecosystem. For Elrond, the most interesting aspect is its sharding mechanism, allowing it to work effectively even when used by average computers.

What sets Stacks out is its PoX mechanism and relationship to BTC, while Enjin allows for opportunities to create fully owned collectible items which can either be used or traded.

NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the author’s and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of BeInCrypto.

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Valdrin is a cryptocurrency enthusiast and financial trader. After obtaining a masters degree in Financial Markets at the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics he began working at the Ministry of Economic Development in his native country of Kosovo.
In 2019, he decided to focus full-time on cryptocurrencies and trading.

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Source: https://beincrypto.com/fundamentally-strongest-crypto-projects-in-2020/