The cryptocurrency market in August recovered significant grounds that was lost in the May 2021 crash. The cryptocurrency market capitalization gained approximately 28% in the month of August from approximately $1.65 trillion at the beginning of the month to $2.12 trillion. The altcoin market led the rally as the market capitalization gained 43.5% in August from approximately $842 billion to stand at $1.21 trillion at the end of the month with many altcoins posting double-figure gains.
A major topic of discussion was the Poly Network hack, in which approximately $610 million was carted away by a mysterious ‘Mr. White Hat’. This exploit was termed by many analysts the largest in Decentralized Finance (DeFi) history. However, the hacker has fully returned the money and even turned down a $500,000 reward and a job offer given to him by Poly Network.
With the current momentum in the cryptocurrency market, here is a look at 5 cryptocurrencies investors should watch out for in September 2021.
Solana’s SOL
The Solana Blockchain supports the use of smart contracts which enables it to be used for NFTs, decentralized finance and other blockchain-based applications. It has earned the moniker “ETH killer,” alongside tokens like Polkadot and Cardano who are in direct competition with the Ethereum network.
Solana is capable of supporting nearly 70,000 transactions per second at a small price. It recently completed one of the largest fundraising rounds in the cryptocurrency industry’s history, raising $314 million in a token sale led by Andreessen Horowitz and Polychain Capital. The coin appreciated over 215% in August from trading $34.25 at the start to end at $108.48.
The reasons for the massive appreciation in price in such a short period of time are a number of factors which include the U.S. securities regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), registering a Solana-centric fund for institutional investors; cryptocurrency market data network company, Pyth, announced going live on the Solana blockchain; and Solana’s successful venture into non-fungible token’s (NFT’s) this month, with the launch of Degenerate Apes.
SOL is currently trading at $142, up 2.16% for the day, as of the time of writing this report.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin had an impressive rally in the month of August. It started the month trading at $39,974 and ended the month nearly breaking the $50,000 trading zone to stand at $47,166, which represent an 18% gain for the month. Bitcoin has broken through the $50,000 resistance but it is currently struggling to maintain its posture. Many market participants anticipate that once the flagship cryptocurrency breaks through the $51,000 trading zone, a zone which is considered the ‘final resistance’ according to William Clemente, an on-chain analysts’ expert, Bitcoin should trade around $58,000 before the month ends. This is possible as data from Glassnode reveals that the number of BTC that left centralized exchanges last month amounted to 124,501 BTC (approximately $6 billion) which suggest that there is strong demand for Bitcoin. However, investors need to invest cautiously as regulatory FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) especially surrounding the new U.S infrastructural bill may cause a sell-off in the market as news like this is known to affect the market adversely.
Bitcoin is currently trading at $51,800, up 4.48% for the day, as of the time of writing this report.
Cardano’s ADA
Cardano was the most talked-about cryptocurrency in the month of August as its native token, ADA, flipped Binance’s BNB and Tether’s USDT to take the 3rd spot on the most valuable cryptocurrency by market capitalization list with a market capitalization of $92 billion as of the time of this writing. ADA in the month of August gained approximately 110% from $1.32 at the beginning to end at $2.77. The cryptocurrency crossed the $3 trading zone on the 2nd of September, pushing its market capitalization closer to $100 billion. The rally has been a result of the anticipation of its Smart Contract called “Alonzo” launch.
The smart contract mainnet launch is expected on the 12th of September 2021. The date was confirmed by an IOHK mid-month update done by Tim Harrison, the marketing & communications director of IOHK, Nigel Hemsley, the head of delivery & projects at IOHK and Kevin Hammond, a software engineer at IOHK. The smart contract launch will allow users run blockchain-based applications such as NFT’s and DeFi.
Cardano’s native token, ADA, is currently trading $2.90, up 2.45% as of the time of writing this report.
Axie Infinity’s AXS
The Axie Infinity platform is looking to create an entirely new economy through gaming. Users or players of the Axie Infinity game enjoy a play-to-earn gaming service that rewards its users with tokens that can be converted to fiat currency for real-life use. The AXS token gained over 90% in the month of August, from $37.95 at the beginning of the month to end at $72.20. Axie Infinity AXS token is currently the top trending coin according to coinmarketcap as the platform recently launched a ‘Axie scholarship’ program which allows individuals who are new to the game, have access to play the game without needing to buy the AXS token. The individual or ‘scholar’ is given a free Axie team. The scholar will then play the game using these Axies to earn Smooth Love Potions (SLP, the second native token of the platform) on behalf of the manager while taking a cut from the earnings. AXS traded as high as $95 on news of the scholarship program.
AXS is currently trading at $83.09, down 1.68% as of the time of writing this report.
VeChain’s VET
VeChain was launched in 2018 as an enterprise blockchain solution designed to bring accountability, efficiency and transparency to operations. It was originally a fork of the Ethereum codebase and it is focused on enterprise use cases with an emphasis on the Internet of Things and supply chains for secure product lifecycle management. It also created the Thor Blockchain, the core blockchain used for transactions, account management and smart contract development.
In the Month of August, VeChain’s native token, VET, the main currency used for payments and voting, gained approximately 43% from 8 cents at the beginning of the month to 12 cents at the end. Few days ago, VeChain reached a milestone in terms of uptime and processed blocks on the VeChain Thor mainnet. The network has now surpassed 10 million blocks. A unique feature of VET is that when staking, users earn VeThor (VTHO) the second native token of the VeChain ecosystem. The VTHO is issued daily to VET holders and is used to run smart contracts on the Thor blockchain.
VET is currently trading at 15.23 cents, up 5.34% as of the time of writing this report.
